


Alternate Universe

by Unda



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Magical Realism, Amnesia, Animated GIFs, Canon-Typical Violence, Emetophobia, F/F, June Egbert - Freeform, M/M, Possession, unwarranted slander towards georgia as a state
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-04
Updated: 2021-02-02
Packaged: 2021-02-26 10:41:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 45
Words: 735,520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22551601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Unda/pseuds/Unda
Summary: An Alternate Universe is a fictional device wherein characters are taken from their 'canon' setting and placed into a different one, such as, say... a magical university.Or: In which Karkat Vantas finally gets to leave his miserable life behind to attend the prestigious Salem University for magical studies. Finally he can make friends, learn things, hopefully work out just what species he is. And Karkat Vantas being who he is there might be a romance or two on the cards.
Relationships: Dave Strider/Karkat Vantas, Rose Lalonde/Kanaya Maryam, Sollux Captor/Aradia Megido, Sollux Captor/Dave Strider/Karkat Vantas, Sollux Captor/Karkat Vantas
Comments: 1732
Kudos: 534





	1. Everyday Is Like Halloween

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Español available: [Universo Paralelo](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25546876) by [Lauren_Anders](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lauren_Anders/pseuds/Lauren_Anders)

> Hello again wonderful people, a few notes before we begin:  
\- I'm hoping to keep with my Tuesday update schedule but sometimes life happens and I fall behind. I will do my best though!  
\- If you want to be aware of what I'm doing or if an update is gonna be delayed your best bet is to follow me on @UndaNewNeon on twitter, I also have a curiouscat under the same name  
\- Like with Dayvhe's Broken Diamond Club this fic also has a playlist which I'm pretty fond of, the public version that'll be added to each chapter is here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/03QaTb4NJHX0ckT2FRax7N?si=hXhK3cjvSpy4RuQwNKU8Og  
\- I'm going to *try* to respond to comments this time, I always feel guilty about not doing that because I do read them all and they do make me scream, I promise! I'll do my best. 
> 
> That's all I had to say and I'll let you get on with the start of what I'm sure you'll all believe me when I say is a fic that totes won't be a bajillion words long >:D

Dear KARKAT VANTAS,

We are pleased to offer you a place at Salem University for an undergraduate degree in a magical field. Should you accept your place with us you will first need to complete or test out of several foundation modules (please see attached course list) before choosing a school and eventual major. 

Accomodation is provided on or near the campus in one of our many halls of residence, the cost for this as with your tuition is free as per the conditions of scholarships that we have been set. For more information on the accommodation assigned to you please refer to the enclosed letter from the accommodation department. Similarly if you have any special needs regarding your living situation, i.e. modified furniture, biological needs, diurnal/nocturnal schedule, UV sensitivity etc please contact the accommodation department who will be happy to assist you. 

One way teleportation to campus from your nearest port is included with your acceptance of your place. 

If you wish to accept your place at Salem University please mark this letter with your blood/equivalent biological life essence within the marked circle below no later than the 20th August. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us.

Kind regards,   
Student Services,  
Salem University

Your blood on the letter is old and dried by now, despite having not applied for a place at all you accepted immediately. It’s one of the most prestigious institutions in the country, if you were trying to be a lawyer or something this would be like getting into Harvard. Wait, is that a law place? You have literally no clue, you think it is though. Yeah. Whatever, the point is you accepted. Of course you did, what else were you going to do? Stay here?

You look around your basic, bland, cookie cutter apartment. Near enough a duplicate of every other one in your building the place is soulless and you’ve never really been happy here. Sure, it’s free as it is for everyone in the building but it’s not a home.

All of your things are packed away in your bag of holding which set you back a decent chunk of your savings from your government allowance. Now the place is bare and empty, just like it’s always felt. Today is your last day here because you really don’t intend on coming back.

You pick up your bag of holding and survey your empty apartment. You close your eyes and try to visualise what it’s going to be like when you get to Salem, you hope it’ll be better than here. Well, time to leave.

“Goodbye, apartment and GET FUCKED!” your voice pitches up massively in volume at the end of your sentence, the sound bouncing off of the walls and the incredibly thick glass in your windows ringing with the noise. Instinctively you clap your hand over your mouth. Fuck, you didn’t mean to go loud, it just happens sometimes. You’ve had to replace so much goddamn glass from breaking it with your voice.

The wall next to you bangs as one of your neighbours slams their fist into it, you hear their front door slam and then a banging on your front door. Great. With a sigh, you open the door and step outside before your neighbour can start berating you. You turn your back on her and close the door.

“-can’t just keep DOING that! You’re always waking my kid up, how many times do I have to report you?!” she demands.

“You won’t.” you say flatly and lift your hand. The gold ring around your finger gleams in the light, you think of your front door and the key melds out of the metal for you to take it in your other hand.

“Oh, you think I won’t? You think I’m scared of you, mr. nothing? Huh?” she hisses at you. God, you hate this woman so much. You never really got on with your neighbour before. He didn’t like that you were often loud unexpectedly and sometimes blew the windows out with your voice but you also weren’t a fan of how every lunar month he’d howl out of his windows and throw his furry body around at the walls. You were both shit neighbours, it was fine. But noooo now he met this chick she’s decided that you’re the worst person on the planet and complains endlessly about you.

“You won’t have to complain, because I’m leaving.” you snap and lock the door. You flick the key back into your ring and turn to face her. Your neighbour’s girlfriend’s eyes are wide with shock and the feathers in her hair sink down flat instead of flared with hostility like you usually see.

“You’re leaving? As in moving out?” she says in surprise.

“Yeah, got accepted to Salem University.” you tell her tartly and wish you had the paper in your hands still instead of in your bag so you could wave it in her stupid face. Said stupid face is currently displaying skepticism.

“Tch, yeah right.” she sneers.

“I did. Oh, I have something for you, picked it up and meant to give it to you.” you say and shove your hand in your pocket. You dig around for a second and pull your hand out again, with just your middle finger raised. Very appropriately flipping her the bird.

“I’m going to-” she starts angrily as you push past her.

“Report me? Go ahead, I won’t be here.” you say, throwing your hands up in the air.

“Fuck you!” your neighbour’s shit girlfriend squawks at you indignantly.

“No, FUCK YOU!” you yell at her and you can out yell ANYONE. She yelps and claps her hands over her ears. This is the time to make your hasty exit down the stairs before other people on your floor come out to express their displeasure about your volume.

God, you’re glad to be out of this place. Down the street you catch a bus to the port, there’s no seats so you’re left standing with your hand looped into a grimy plastic strap for poor suckers like you. You rest your head on your arm as the bus trundles on and vacantly watch the electronic adverts above the seats change.

‘Patented whitening rune enriched toothbrush! Nine out of ten saw a difference in just one use!’

You packed your toothbrush, right? You must have, you packed everything and you barely own jack shit. You’re not looking through your bag for it on the bus just in case, if you don’t have it you’ll buy a new one when you get there. On the screen a hairy man with yellow eyes is frowning as a human woman covers her mouth in a ‘whoops’ gesture.

‘Think you might be the victim of an accident that wasn’t your fault and you don’t remember? Call our specialist memory-mancers now on-’

You grit your teeth and look away. It outrages you that those scam artists are still going, what outrages you more is that you know they’re a scam because they scammed YOU before. Not your proudest moment that’s for sure.

For your own wellbeing you stop looking at the adverts and instead just stare out of the window until you arrive at the port. A fair few other people get off and just as many get on there too. The Southwest Georgia Regional Port is your closest, being that Albany is the city that has unfortunately been your place of residence as far back as you remember. The city has a population of 77 thousand and according to the local racists far too large a portion of that is not fully human. To be fair you have the dubious privilege of having no obvious outward signs of being nonhuman as long as you’re not yelling too loud and as long as the human that you’re talking to isn’t unusually sensitive to ‘otherness’. Unfortunately for you, although you look human, some regard you as not the right shade of human so you get shit from different racists which is fantastic.

Alright, you’re sure that there are nice things to say about Albany, Georgia, but currently you can’t think of any. Ugh, ok you like some of the food and it’s nice that it never really gets that cold but it’s way too hot in the summer. Wait, you’re complaining about it again. Look, it’s fine for other people, you’re sure. It’s just never been home to you and you’ve never belonged here. You could not be more relieved to be walking into the port building.

Once inside you head to the domestic port section, you’re not leaving the country so you get in the line for the US and wait your turn as the line slowly snakes along. You rummage in your wallet for your ID and take the time to get your offer letter out of your bag as well as the follow up travel permit that they sent you when you accepted the place. You’re all ready when it’s finally your turn to go to a booth. Mostly behind a thick perspex wall is a bored looking woman with wildly ugly glasses, without being asked you hand over your ID and your letter which she looks over, her eyes catch on your ID and she peers at you.

“Species unknown?” she asks and cranes her neck slightly to get a better look at you.

“Yes.” you say instead of ‘that’s literally the fucking thing you just read off of my government issued ID you dribbling moron’. You do still want to travel today because you’re getting out of here, remember?

The woman sighs like you’ve personally inconvenienced her and pulls a sheet of paper from a drawer as well as a badge on a cord.

“Did you pack your bag yourself?” she asks without looking up, too busy filling something in on the badge that you can’t see.

“Yes, just me.” you confirm.

“Do you have any living creatures within your bag large enough to see with the naked eye? Any cursed items? Are you carrying anything for anyone else?” the woman recites off monotonously.

“No.” you tell her.

The woman stamps the badge, slips it into a plastic wallet on the cord and slides it along with your ID and your letter back under the slit in the glass.

“Put your badge on, go to the specialist security, fill out this form.” she says and slides another sheet of paper out for you. You take everything and stare as the woman buzzes for the next person to come to the booth.

“But where-” you start.

“Go.” she tuts and waves you off.

Well, okay, fuck her. You’ll need to ask someone else where to go or find a signpost. You put your ID back in your wallet, put your letter in your pocket and slip the badge over your neck and- oh! Right before you a giant floating arrow appears. You take the badge off and it vanishes, put it back on and it appears. That’s actually really cool. You glance self consciously around but you don’t think anyone saw your childish amazement. You obediently follow the arrow through the port, stopping only once for coffee and sure enough it takes you to a specialist security waiting area.

Taking a seat you finally look through the form that woman gave you, which may as well be labelled ‘you don’t know what you are but we need to know if we can transport you safely’. A lot of the questions you’re able to just say no to and skip past all of the ‘if yes then’ sub questions.

No, you have never been possessed to your knowledge. No, you have never been cursed to your knowledge. You are not wanted for any magical or nonmagical major crimes (who would say yes to that?). As far as you are aware this has always been your body and you have not gained or lost any body parts in your life.

The section about magical ability makes you hesitate. Your voice is loud, glass shatteringly so at times and it goes that way without you meaning for it to, hence why you were so popular with your neighbours. But you don’t think that’s magical as such, more a physical thing. You can interact with and use magical items just fine but you’ve never shown any magical skill of your own. The letter in your pocket from one of the top magical institutions in the world suggests otherwise however. They don’t make mistakes and they chose you.

You write down what you think is best and wait until the floating wait sign in front of you beckons you to get up and pass through a gate into a room.

“Form please.” the woman there says, holding out a hand. She seems human and is maybe in her thirties, her clothes are the standard uniform of port employees except she gets a dark blue robe as well. Her eyes scan your form so you take the chance to look around the room.

The room is perfectly square maybe about ten foot wide, within the middle is a white painted circle with magical script written around. There are several very large blank spots within the circle and notably nearby there is a low table with a pot of paint and a brush. The floor is linoleum with grates around the edges along with a bucket, mop and jug of sanitizer next to it. The lights are somewhat dim and large candles burn in several points of the circle.

“Okay Mr Vantas, my name is Opal and I’ll be your transporter today.” she smiles and holds out a hand. You shake it awkwardly.

“You wrote ‘none’ for parents and their species. Do you have no memory of your parents or do you mean you never had any?” the woman asks.

“I don’t remember anything before the event.” you tell her and she nods.

“And about your magic…” she asks.

“I’ve never done any but I got sent this.” you say as you pull your acceptance letter out. Opal’s eyebrows shoot up in surprise and she gives a low whistle of admiration.

“Wow, congratulations. I didn’t even meet the standards to apply there.” she says and hands your letter back, not something super reassuring to hear from someone who’s going to magically send you across the country.

“You’re right though, there must be something about you they see. I’ll need to run some checks on you, first for curses and the like.” Opal explains and pulls a metal ball on a string from a pouch at her hip. She sways it near to you and there’s an odd prickle on your awareness but nothing happens.

“No curses! Just for curiosity’s sake try this, it measures raw magical power. Look.” she says and takes out another device. This one fits within the centre of her palm, it’s a solid disk of metal but as it settles in her hand parts of it flick out of the surface and slowly spin like a tiny carousel.

You’re pretty sure this isn’t a needed part of your travel checks but, whatever, you’ll humour her. Besides which knowing that you do have some magical power will ease your vague paranoia that they somehow sent a letter to you by mistake and when you get there the magical elite will take one look at you and laugh your ass back to Georgia. With some trepidation you hold out your hand as Opal plucks the metal device from her palm and settles it into yours.

In her hand parts moved and gently spun. The moment this device sits in your palm it explodes out into a hundred swirling parts, they glow white as they whizz through the air, trailing sparks behind them. In your hand what remains of the metal disk is getting hotter and hotter until you’re forced to drop it on the ground with a hiss of pain. The metal clinks on the linoleum and bubbles slightly, around the room the little chunks of previously airborne metal drop to the floor.

You make very sure that your volume is going to be acceptable before you force out a strangled “Holy shit.”

“Oh… wow. I can see why they sent you that offer. Wow.” Opal whispers. She crouches and picks up the device, or what remains of it at least.

“I broke it, didn’t I? I’m so sorry.” you whisper.

“No, no! It was worth it just to see that, I’ve never… whatever you are is really strong!” she insists as she jerks back up to her feet again. She looks on edge, that happens sometimes, you unsettle some people. You’re not sure if that’s a magical thing or whether your awful personality is just detectable at range even with you keeping your trap shut.

“In any case I should send you where you need to go, if you could stand in the circle there, the smaller one in the middle please.” Opal says, suddenly back to business. She indicates the centre of the circle and so you go there, careful to step through the cleared spaces and not over the lines. You might not be magically trained yet but even you know that some things are just dangerous.

Opal pulls a tablet out of her bag and taps a few things on the screen before setting it on the ground. She then takes the brush and with it closes the smaller circle that you’re standing in. You watch as she shuffles around the circle and carefully copies your name down from your form into one of the blank spaces in the otherwise mystic writing. With that done, she moves to another blank space and pulls her tablet over. She copies across a number of symbols and when she’s done she double checks them as well as your name.

“This is the correct spelling, yes?” she asks, pointing at your name.

“Yes.” you confirm, “What happens now?”

“I’ve put in your details as well as the location of where you’re going. Now that I’ve closed this last part of the circle I’m just waiting for confirmation from the receiving circle that no one else is trying to send to there, just booking a slot essentially. Ah, here we go.” she says as her tablet pings.

You want to ask what happens if you were to teleport into a circle at the same time as someone else but you have a feeling that you don’t want to know.

“Please stay inside the circle at all times and thank you for teleporting with us.” Opal recites in a tone that suggests she’s said it thousands of times before. She holds her hands out at her sides, palms up, and the room starts to hum. On the floor around your feet the lines glow and you feel something catch.

Colour smears across your vision, your ears pop and suddenly you’re in a different room. You’re facing a sign that says in large letters ‘PLEASE EXIT THE CIRCLE PROMPTLY’. Remembering your speculation about being in a circle when someone else tries to get in you hastily rush out through a clear path and step out of the nearest door. You realise all of a sudden that your port badge is gone, it must have been left behind when you teleported.

“Excuse me?” a voice calls. You turn and see an open area with desks and shelves just a few paces down the hallway that you’re seemingly in now.

“Please come here, you’re a new student, yes?” the man asks. You walk closer and see that the man is neatly dressed although his crisp white shirt doesn’t entirely hide the full body tattoos that cover his skin in strange patterns, sigils and arcane writing.

“Uh, yeah. I am.” you admit.

“I figured as much, that dazed look gives you away. First time teleporting?” the man asks with a smile as he nudges his glasses up his nose. You nod.

“Well then, if you give me your name I can register that you’ve arrived and give you your things.” he says cheerfully.

“Karkat Vantas.” you tell him.

“Excellent. KARKAT VANTAS.” the man says, his voice taking on a different quality as he says your name. He holds a hand up and a thick envelope whizzes through the air and drops into his waiting hand. He flicks the envelope open and pulls its contents out.

“Alright, some keys for you. Your dorm building key, your apartment key and finally the one to your individual room. You’re in a shared apartment with one other person, as you didn’t request otherwise it’s mixed sex. I see we did get your soundproofing request which is fine as your roommate requested the same it seems, so that’s not a problem.” the man says and hands you three keys in succession. You turn your hand so your keyring is accessible and meld each key with the metal one by one as you clearly think on their purpose.

“Here’s a map of the campus, your dorm is here and the details of your room are on this sheet. You’re on the fourth floor, room thirteen, lucky number! Your class schedule is here, some things are missing still but it will fill itself in when the last few professors finally get their act together and confirm things. Classes don’t start until Wednesday though so don’t worry.” he explains and circles a building on the map in pink highlighter.

“You have a small kitchen area in your apartment but food is provided to students between six am and eight pm in this building here. There’s shopping places all around Salem, I’m sure you know how to Google things. If you need anything you can call us on this number here but read everything in here first because the answer is usually in the pack we give you. Your student ID is inside, you’ll need to keep that on you and the instructions for getting a photo on it are included with it. So, here’s your map, I’ll put the rest in here. You get out down that hall and it’s the first door on your right, okay?” the man says brightly and puts the envelope and map in your hand.

You blink a little gormlessly at him, that was such a rush on information but you think you got the gist. Go out that way, read your map and the papers they’ve given you, stupid.

“Right, yeah, okay, thank you.” you nod and step away from the desk. The man smiles and then looks at his computer screen, starting to type, which is probably what he had been doing before you cluelessly blundered into the hallway.

You push through the double doors and reel slightly at the sudden shock in temperature, it’s not like it’s exactly cold here, it’s still September after all but it’s a lot cooler than you were on the other side on that whole teleportation deal. The air outside feels crisp and clean as you walk further out. The building you just left is clean and modern looking with pale bricks but around you are far older and grander buildings, their previously light stonework slightly discoloured with age into a greyish colour. A fountain bubbles away merrily in the shape of a tree with leaves of water. Other people your age are wandering about in groups talking to each other, other students no doubt.

Orienting yourself on the map you glance at the buildings around you to work out what they are. That over there seems to be the department of magi-medical studies, to your right in the very old and fancy building is the history department. You squint over the roof of it and see a tower in the distance that you’d bet from the dome on top is the astronomy building. Well, first things first, you need to get to your apartment.

You follow the map out onto the street and pass pretty houses with jewel toned wood siding and cutesy light catchers in the windows. There are bakeries, coffee places, small shops. Everything seems to be leaning heavily into the magical vibe and you’d bet the place gets a lot of tourists too. Within maybe five minutes though you find a large multistory building, which is one of three in a horseshoe shape to the road, outside of which is a large stone sign that reads ‘STUDENT ACCOMODATION - PROVIDED BY GENEROUS DONATION’. Donation from who you don’t know.

With your building spotted you head inside, today at least the front doors are open and a security guard chilling at the front lets you in with a flash of your student ID. Fourth floor, room thirteen. The door is unremarkable from the rest, distinguished only by the number screwed to it at eye height and below that a small whiteboard is half filled by the single word ‘Rose’. You hesitate for a moment and then get your key out, taking a moment to recall which one it was. You slide your key in the lock, turn it and open the door.

The room that greets you is mostly bare and when the door swings shut behind you on its own all sound from the hallway vanishes immediately. There is a living area with a square dining table that could perhaps fit four people around it, there is a small sofa that looks well worn and to your right a little kitchen area currently crowded with a clutter of items and boxes. At the far end of the room are three doors in different directions, one of which is half open. It then swings all the way open and a girl steps out, looking right at you.

“I thought I heard someone.” she says and walks over to the kitchen area, dumping the boxes in her arms on the surface there.

“Yeah, sorry it’s… it’s amazing how well that soundproofing works, wow.” you whistle and look back over your shoulder at the door. There’s a painted on circle over the door and the frame that presumably breaks and re-seals whenever the the door is opened or shut.

“It’s nice work. I assume that you are my new roommate and not just an especially nosy and inefficient burglar.” the girl says and looks sidelong at you. Her eyes are phenomenally purple, dark jewel tone that aren’t so much pretty as they are intimidating as if she can see more than she should. Her skin is dark and her black hair is held back by a purple headband that is the exact shade of her skirt and shoes, her whole appearance is very polished and put together in a way that makes you acutely aware of how yours is not.

“I- yeah, I am. Somehow. You’re Rose, I guess? From the door? I’m Karkat.” you say and hold out your hand. Rose smiles and takes it, her prim, purple manicured nails against your skin.

“Well, Karkat, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I hope that you don’t mind that I’ve already started setting things out in our shared areas.” Rose says, gesturing to her unpacked stuff.

“I didn’t really bring much so I don’t mind at all.” you say.

“Well, I don’t mind sharing any equipment that I bring and I don’t mind sharing anything simple like bread, tea, coffee, and the like if we can both be adults about replacing things evenly.” she offers.

“I can agree to that, I’m not going to be the asshole that uses up all of your stuff and doesn’t replace anything.” you laugh.

“You say that but my friends and brother often have no such consideration.” she sighs and leans on the edge of the kitchen counter.

Your eyes drift once more to the little magical circle over the door that keeps this place so silent. Hmm.

“I know why I need that, can I ask why you do?” you ask, pointing to it.

“I am- was, a seer. I’m trying to regain my powers of prediction now that my deity no longer speaks to me. A quiet environment always aided my meditations and visions before, I’m hoping it’ll do the same here.” Rose answers with a touch of sadness.

“Ah… I’m sorry. Who was your deity?” you ask and immediately regret doing so, but isn’t regretting your words the prime Karkat Vantas ™ experience?

“Cthulhu.” Rose answers lightly, her intense gaze boring into you.

Oh. Cthulhu, the god that wants to do terrible and unknowable things to humanity, the cosmos and everything living in it. That’s what’s been whispering visions to Rose before? That’s… great. Ok, cool.

“I needed the spells because I can’t control my voice sometimes, it gets really loud. My last neighbours hated me.” you blurt out instead of saying anything of what you just thought.

“Really? Why is that?” Rose asks curiously, her eyes flicker over you and you know she must be checking you out to see how human you do or don’t look. Fine, you have to live with her so you may as well be open with this.

“I think it’s a thing for whatever species I am. Not that I remember what that is.” you sigh and shrug.

“Ah.” Rose nods.

You look around the room again, that’s a nice TV set up there and you’d bet that it didn’t come with this apartment.

“Right, I already picked the room on the left there, so the one on the right is yours. Our bathroom is in the middle, feel free to unpack or what have you. I’ll try to sort this mess of stuff out.” Rose says with a wave towards the pile of things on the kitchen counter.

You nod, desperate to move away from this godawful conversation that you got yourself into. Rose pries open the lid of a box and so you head off to the room that she indicated earlier. The room itself has a large single bed in it, albeit currently bare of bedding. There’s drawers, empty bookshelves, an empty clothing rail and a basic desk and chair. Nothing super fancy but it also doesn’t look cheap either. When you investigate the window you find that it too has that silencing circle on the top of the frame and the glass is several inches thick to protect it from your voice.

You pass several hours unpacking, finding spaces for your things and despairing a little at how plain your room still looks. Needless to say you’re thankful when Rose eventually eases your door open.

“I did knock but then I realised that the sound wouldn’t transmit. We should probably get a system of hanging things on doors if we don’t want to be disturbed at all.” Rose says thoughtfully.

“We could make a flip sign of some kind. Like ‘don’t come in at all’ and ‘you can come in but I might be busy’ and then leave the door open the rest of the time.” you suggest.

“That’s a good idea.” she nods. You watch as she looks your room over.

“That’s a very organised collection of books.” Rose remarks and nods towards your overflowing shelf and subsequent pile on the floor by your desk. Books are the only thing you have in any abundance in your room.

“Oh, yeah. Well, I wish I had more but there’s only so much space. I only bought the ones I really wanted to re-read, other than that it was the library for me. I’m actually really excited to check out the library here.” you tell her. To your surprise Rose’s face sours slightly, if just for a moment.

“What, you don’t like libraries?” you say flatly.

“I definitely do, don’t you worry about that. My room is just as filled with books, you’re in good bibliophile company here. Listen, I don’t know if you have other plans or maybe you just want to relax but I think if I have to unpack one more thing any time soon I’m going to scream. I was going to go get some lunch and coffee at one of the local coffee shops that I passed on my way here. My brother and two of our friends are upstairs as well so if you want to join us you’re very welcome.” Rose offers.

The paranoid voice in your head says that she’s just being polite but you don’t think she is. You wanted to make friends here, start a new life. You shouldn’t shove away any chance for that.

“I’d really love that, if that’s okay with you.” you agree.

“I wouldn’t have offered otherwise. Come on, let’s go.” Rose tells you and walks back out into the main room. You follow her and stare in amazement at how different the place looks. The previously worn sofa is now covered with a finely knitted throw, delicate string lights ring the tops of the walls and the curtains have been changed out for a glittering purple gauze to screen the outside world away and thick black velvet to block out the light when you want to. The kitchen is no longer a mass of boxes but now filled with a fleet of new and expensive looking appliances as well as a stack of mugs and cups that teeters precariously without a single one of them matching another. Jars of tea and coffee stand in array, all labelled with neat handwriting. The place feels like it belongs now. Not exactly to you but it’s a hell of a lot nicer than your old place was and far more personalised than it was mere hours ago.

“Wow.” you whisper in awe.

“I was slightly worried I might have overstepped on the decorating but I’m happy to see you approve.” Rose beams and opens your front door. You jolt slightly at the noise from outside and Rose pauses.

“I wonder how we’ll know if anyone is knocking to get in here. Stay here, let me test it.” Rose says. She steps outside and shuts the door, a moment or two later the room suddenly gets brighter and the door flashes. You open it and see Rose’s hand still held up from knocking.

“There’s a light, I bet it does that in every room.” you tell her.

“Let’s… not tell my friends that or else we’ll be blinded in the middle of the night.” Rose says after a moment. You can agree to that with no problem, you’ve no desire to be woken up in the night to strobing lights because some chucklefuck thinks it’s funny to hammer on your door.

“That’s probably what they do for students who can’t hear that well, right?” you say as you step out after Rose and listen to the door lock after you. You jiggle the handle to be sure it did lock and then follow your roommate as she leads you down the hall.

“I would imagine so. Their accommodation department seemed very, well, accomodating to me.” she agrees and leads you up two floors. Their room is more or less in line with yours, the two of you being in the thirteenth room and the room she stops at is the twelfth. The whiteboard on this door reads ‘dave’ and then underneath that ‘2ollux’ and that second name is underlined twice, once in red and once in blue for no obvious reason.

Rose knocks sharply on the door twice and waits. A guy pulls the door open and you immediately conclude that this guy can’t be Rose’s brother. Her skin is darker than yours and this guy is possibly the palest person you’ve ever seen, the dark sunglasses on his face only add to the contrast.

“Lunch? I brought my roommate, don’t be a tool.” Rose says. The guy’s face turns in your direction and his lips quirk into the slightest smile.

“Hi Don’t-be-a-tool, my name is Dave.” the guy drawls in a deadpan voice.

“Oh no, my sides. They’re splitting. All my guts are spilling out now because of that fantastic joke you just told.” you say back, just as flatly.

“Ignore my brother. I often do, I find it’s the best course of action and I highly advocate for it.” Rose sighs and shakes her head.

Brother? Your eyes flick to Dave again. Aside from his totally different colouring you can maybe see some resemblances there, the hair, maybe the shape of their mouths. Or maybe not. Either way you hate people asking you what species you are and you’re pretty sure ‘why does your brother not look like you’ is an even ruder question than that. You’re filing it under ‘not your goddamn business’.

“I’ll remember that, thanks.” you say instead.

No, you should be nice. At the very least you should be polite. You offer your hand to him.

“I’m Karkat, it’s nice to meet you.” you say politely.

Dave stares at you for a second before reaching out to take your hand. He doesn’t do it like a normal person though, oh no. Instead he takes your fingers and folds them until your hand is a fist and only then does he bump it with his own.

“Sup.” he says.

What the fuck?

“Anyway, Dave, where’s your better half? Normally the mere mention of lunch would pique his interest.” Rose asks.

“Aw, Sol got here, ditched his stuff and prowled around the room for like ten minutes and then bounced. I guess he’s… I don’t know, scouting the area? He moves in mysterious ways.” Dave shrugs.

“That he does. Well, perhaps we should go and when we’ve chosen a place you could message him with our location and then if he wants to join he can.” Rose suggests.

“Hell yeah, I’m hungry as fuck too so I’m absolutely down to eat. Also Egderp’s just a few doors down so we may as well get the rest of our crew together.” Dave says and steps outside.

“Three people is not a crew, even with Karkat padding our numbers to four.” Rose counters. This bickering convinces you that they’re siblings more than their words ever could. Down the hall Rose and Dave stop at another door and knock on that one. When this one swings open you’re eye to eye with a girl who is unnaturally pretty. Her eyes are big and forest green, her hair almost floor length in wild black waves, her features are elfin fine and her ears are-

Oh. She’s fae. Something in that spectrum of species anyway. She looks at the three of you with polite confusion and adjusts her big round glasses.

“Hi, did you want something?” the girl asks.

“Sorry, we just wanted to-” Rose is cut off by a loud shout from within the apartment and suddenly she’s barrelled into by a blur of blue and black.

“ROSE THIS IS SO EXCITING!” the living cannonball yells in delight.

“You saw us like, yesterday dawg.” Dave remarks.

“Can’t breathe.” Rose chokes and the newcomer finally releases her.

“I know but I’m excited, this is exciting! We’re living somewhere totally new and actually really close to each other. You’re just down the hall instead of a bajillion miles away in the woods!” the girl says.

“We’re being rude, we should do introductions.” Rose insists and pats the girl’s arms. She spins around, giving you a better look at her. Her hair is black as well and maybe about shoulder length, it’s a little hard to tell because it looks like she’s been out in a hurricane recently and it’s sticking up at all angles. She’s beaming with joy, showing off slightly uneven teeth. Behind thick glasses her eyes are violently blue and they sparkle with delight as she waves a hand as the still puzzled girl in the doorway.

“Sorry, sorry, this is my roommate Jade. She’s so cool, she lived on an island in the middle of the ocean before this!” the girl explains.

“Aren’t all land masses technically islands in the ocean?” Dave wonders aloud although nobody acknowledges that he said anything.

“Hi!” Jade says cheerfully.

“Jade, this is Dave and Rose, they’re my friends from back home. The twins that I told you about, remember?” the girl explains.

“Sup.”

“It’s lovely to meet you.” say Dave and Rose respectively.

“So, uh, right. Jade, Dave, Rose, Karkat. We all know each other now!” the girl says brightly.

“Oh, you know him too?” Jade asks.

“How the fuck did you know my name?” you ask at the same time.

The girl freezes and looks at you with wide blue eyes behind her square glasses.

“I… Rose said it. Right?” she says.

“I didn’t, nor did Dave. Although given that a few minutes have passed since then Dave has probably forgotten Karkat’s name anyway.” Rose says primly.

“That happened one time with one girl you never even kept in contact with anyway!” Dave protests.

“So how did you know his name?” Jade asks curiously.

“I… who knows? This place is so weird and magic, it’s wild!” she laughs awkwardly.

“Well you know my name but I don’t know yours.” you say flatly.

“I’m June, sorry about that, hah!” she laughs and holds out her hand, you shake hands like normal goddamn people.

“Anyway, sudden magical knowledge aside we were heading to get some lunch. Would you like to join us?” Rose asks, politely moving the discussion along.

“I’d kill for something good to eat right now! Jade, you should come with us!” June says brightly.

“Psh, I think I’d kill to not unpack things for a bit. I’d love to come if it’s okay for me to tag along.” Jade grins.

“They’re letting me come along.” you point out, making her laugh.

“No Sollux?” June asks Dave curiously, though he doesn’t pout Dave manages to give as stoic an impression of pouting as possible.

“He’s not my actual shadow, you know.” Dave protests.

June just snickers and throws her arms around the twins. The five of you leave the building and wander semi aimlessly until you find a likely looking coffee place and step inside. You’ve explained where you had been living before, June, Dave and Rose all lived close to each other in rural New York which you didn’t know was a thing. As you go through the door Jade is explaining where she’s from.

“It’s this little island in the middle of the pacific you see, really remote.” she says and unwinds a thick scarf from her neck as you sit down around a table.

“What, like uninhabited?” June gasps in amazement.

“Well, no, we lived there. We habited it, you dork. Well, I say we, my grandpa died a long time ago so it’s just been me there for a good while. I suppose it’s uninhabited now if you don’t count all the animals there.” Jade says as she tucks her hair behind her pointed ears.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been anywhere like that, I certainly don’t remember it. It sounds so beautiful though, tropical islands, sand, waves, exotic plants.” you sigh just imagining it.

“It’s so pretty, all the plants are lovely. I managed to breed all kinds of hybrid species of my own, too! It was- it was great!” Jade smiles, although the expression doesn’t quite reach her eyes.

“What made you decide to come to Salem University, Jade?” Rose asks as she hands the menu to her brother and another to you across the table, June peers over your shoulder to read.

“Mmm, well I partly got the place because my grandpa used to do research work for the university. But given that I’m not human I’m already pretty magical so it’s not like I wouldn’t be capable of it. Plus, I wanted to see the world and meet people, you know?” Jade answers her.

“I think that’s great! I’m so psyched for all the people we’re going to meet and all the cool stuff we’re going to learn. I know Rose is desperate for anything in the divination field but what about you, Karkat?” June asks and plucks the menu from your hand, it’s fine you were done reading anyway.

“I don’t know. Truthfully I didn’t think I was human either, but I don’t know what I am, I didn’t think I had any magic until I got an invitation. I can’t deny that I’m worried they’re suddenly going to declare they made a mistake.” you admit. Even the magical test in the port doesn’t settle your nerves there, the paranoid voice in your mind worries that maybe there’s some other explanation for it all and this is all going to be over. You’ll have to go back to your stupid apartment with your awful neighbours and face the truth that you’re nothing.

“Nah, trust me that won’t happen. The systems they use on the rare times they do select people are flawless, if they asked you here there’s a reason.” Dave says. He’s leant back in his chair with his arms folded behind his head like he couldn’t possibly be more at ease. You hate him a little for that, you wish you felt half as relaxed as he looks.

“Not to call you a liar but how do you know that? How do I know that you’re not just saying something nice to make me feel better instead of saying something actually true? It’s looking pretty unsubstantiated from here.” you point out.

“I think you just described anything nice anyone could ever say about you. If I was bullshitting you I would insist that I wasn’t, right?” Dave points out.

“And if you were telling the truth you’d go on a rambling tangent about how truth is inherently unknowable or something.” Rose says with a smirk, you hear Dave kick her chair.

Your dialectic on truth and the nature of bullshit is interrupted by a waitress asking for your food and drink orders and there’s enough back and forth about it that by the time she goes the topic of conversation has moved on.

“I mean I’m like Dave, I think I want to study a bit of everything but I’m way more into the idea of creating actual physical things. Charmed items, making something from nothing, real physical magic, you know?” June beams.

“See, I’m totally the opposite. I’ve been doing magic and influencing physical stuff my whole life, I want to know how it all works. The theoretical and experimental side of it. Like all that research people did in the twenties about ‘blood of virgins’ and all that, it seems like such a stupid idea because there’s no ‘not a virgin’ marker in your blood that changes and people have different ideas about what makes someone a virgin or not. It didn’t perform the same culture to culture and even between genders. It took ages until they worked out that you have to have had an experience that YOU think changes your status, what you think counts. Your life essence, as it were, remembers that information even when you forget it, they did follow up tests on people with memory loss and even when they couldn’t remember their blood still did because they have the same soul that recalled that experience. That’s why hereditary magic works but sometimes hexes intent on following family lines do weird things with adopted family and people you accept in your soul as your family! That’s fascinating, I want to learn everything about how magic works!” Jade says in a rush of overexcited words.

You’d heard about your soul retaining information even when your mind forgets it, it’s half of what’s sold you on fake memory recovery things before. It’s at least a little reassuring to know that it is a real thing and not just a scam that you totally fell for.

Rose starts talking to Jade about the validity of that research and June elbows Dave, you hear her whisper about how she knew they’d get on. You have a strange moment, an almost out of body experience where you see yourself as you are right now. You’re in a coffee shop near a prestigious university with people who invited you to be there with them, you’re having a good time and awaiting nice food and drink. It’s a nice day, you’re enjoying this. Finally something you’ve felt was missing for so long actually seems to be happening to you. It’s crazy, it seems like things like this never happen for you. Your food arrives and the moment passes.

“Oooh, what did you get, Karkat?” Jade asks, leaning over to look at your food and drink.

“A chilli chicken wrap and a mocha.” you tell her.

“That’s coffee and hot chocolate, right? Grandpa had cocoa on the island but I can’t say I liked it much, then again it was all well past its use by date by the time I got to it. It wasn’t bad for me or anything but it wasn’t as good as it looked on the tub that’s for sure!” Jade chuckles. You glance at your mug and then offer it to her.

“Want to try?” you offer.

“You’re sure? Do you want a sip of mine? It’s just coffee but…” she says and looks at her own mug.

“I’m well versed in coffee by now, don’t worry about it. If you want to try some you can, or don’t, no skin off my balls either way.” you say and as the words pass your lips they then go through your brain, they really should do that the other way around but here you are. Dave chokes a little on his frappuccino and June snort laughs loudly.

“Those sure were words that I just said aloud in company.” you groan. Jade laughs and takes the mug from your hand.

“Well, if your balls are at stake I suppose I should try!” Jade says with a wink. She takes a sip and her face lights up.

“WOW that’s really good!” she gasps.

“What, his balls?” Dave snickers and Rose laughs quietly behind her hand.

“I don’t know about THAT but I’d definitely order that drink next time I come here.” Jade answers, saving you at least a little embarrassment.

“Cool, good, great. Happy for you.” you choke out.

“Fucking hell Karkat, that was amazing to see.” Dave snorts and naturally you flip him off.

There’s a noticeable ping and a red phone charm around Dave’s wrist flashes. Dave flicks his wrist and catches the phone in his hand.

“Who is-” Rose starts but then the phone charm at her wrist pings as well. Rose more elegantly pulls her phone from the pocket dimension of the phone charm and taps at the screen.

“Uh, Rose.” Dave says slowly, his face turned towards her. Rose’s eyes go wider as she reads and a muscle in her jaw twitches.

“I don’t think they meant it like that.” Dave says quickly.

“I got this place on my own goddamn merit! I had tests! They can’t just- oh I’m going to have WORDS!” Rose snarls and gets up.

“Rose, Rose, aw shit. Sorry, gotta go!” Dave yelps and rushes after her right out of the door of the coffee shop.

“What was that about?” you wonder aloud.

“Noooo idea, when Rose looks that mad I try to not be noticed by her. Good advice to you if you’re going to be her roomie.” June intones wisely over her coffee.

“I hope everything’s okay for her.” Jade says with a sad little downturn of her mouth that lingers after.

“I’d be more worried about whoever sent that message to her.” June laughs.

“Hey, I was thinking we could see if we can find some fresh herb plants to put on the window. I’m sure we’ll need them in classes eventually or else cooking.” Jade suggests.

The conversation between the two of them keeps veering into their shared apartment and you obviously can’t contribute to that discussion. Maybe you should leave them alone. You find a lull in the conversation to make your exit.

“I think I might go and look at the library, I’m sure it’s around here somewhere.” you say and rummage in your bag for your map.

“I saw it over that way before. I accidentally went too far past the dorms and caught a glimpse of it, it’s really big. I’m going to have a look through it sometime as well, I just want to get unpacked first.” Jade tells you and indicates a little further past where you came from.

“That sounds very responsible,” you say and get up, “I’m going to go procrastinate instead of doing that.”

Jade laughs and June grins, the expression only faltering when her phone buzzes. Clearly everyone else has more people in their life than you, although you can’t help but note that Jade doesn’t have a phone charm on her wrist. Given that she just got here from a deserted island she probably doesn’t have a phone or anyone to call her if she did. June clicks the phone with her finger and holds it to her ear.

“Hey man!” she chirps brightly.

“I’m gonna go.” you whisper to Jade.

“I’ll tell June you said bye.” Jade reassures you.

“No, no, they left. …No idea, Rose got some text and flipped out. Dave got it too but they’re not here any- yeah.” June says. You wave at her and she wiggles her fingers at you as she listens on the phone to whoever called her.

You excuse yourself and slip out of the coffee shop into the fresh air outside. Still feeling pretty good about things you tuck your hands into your pockets and walk in the direction Jade pointed before. There are a mix of people wandering the streets, a lot are clearly students but others just look like local residents. Maybe it’s just because you’re close to the university itself but there’s a higher portion of visibly nonhuman people around the place. You felt like you were in a pretty slim minority back in Georgia and though there’s still more humans here than not the ratio is a little more diverse.

You pass a pretty dryad girl talking to a boy, further on there’s a guy who seems human at first glance until you clock the slightly pointier ears and faint blue sheen to his skin. And over there, an actual demon. Holy shit you’ve never seen one before but there he is just leaning against a building. He seems to sense your eyes on him and his attention snaps to you. Quickly you avert your eyes, it’s rude to stare and you shouldn’t do it. Still, this is exciting, you’re excited!

Walking on a little further you get close your dorms and a prickle of awareness creeps up the back of your neck, making you glance around. Walking behind you on the street, his eyes locked on you, is that demon from before. His eyes are a featureless glow, one red and one blue and you feel as if he’s staring right into you. You avert your gaze, unsettled. He probably just lives in the dorms same as you, of course he’s coming this way. You shouldn’t keep staring, he probably wanted to come here and study and not be gawked at, same as you do.

You go on, heading towards where you think the library is but your back is tense and you swear you can feel a burning gaze right between your shoulderblades. You’re imagining it, you have to be… right? You swallow the lump in your throat and focus on the library, that’s where you’re going. There’s nothing and no one coming up close behind you. Fuck it, you chance a look and oh shit the demon is even closer than before. His mouth splits into a slight sinister grin when he sees you looking and it makes you whip your head around so fast. Shit, he’s following you. He is definitely following you!

Walking with a little more speed you look around urgently for the library. Just as Jade said it’s a huge building and you can see it when you pass the building to your left that was previously hiding it. You can make out the sign on it too ‘LALONDE LIBRARY’. Maybe if you can make it in there you’ll be okay, right? It’s across a decently sized square with a small market going on in the middle. You could lose the guy in there perhaps.

The speed that you’re going at now is decidedly not a run because that would imply that you’re afraid of this guy and you don’t want to let him think that, but you are going about as fast as you can go without actually running. One last time you look back and he’s right there, so close you could almost touch him. Oh God, you break into a run through the market, dodging around people as you run full pelt through it. Looking behind you as you rush past a spice stall you find that you’ve lost him, at least that’s what you think until you catch sight of him on the roof of that very stall.

You run, as fast as you possibly can, weaving through stalls and people and eventually sprinting towards the library. You’re exposed out in the open but there’s nothing you can do it. You explode through the doors and roll through the barriers there, you sharply skid over the floor and when you see the sign for the stairs you hurl yourself through the doorway there and into the stairwell.

Staring at the shut door to the stairwell you gasp for breath and shakily back up the stairs but the door doesn’t open again. Fuck, that demon was definitely following you. Can he not come into the library? Perhaps not if it’s university property, they probably have some wards or some shit that protects against evil intentions or something, right? Looking at your hands you see that they’re shaking, you take the time to calm down. You’re fine. God that was freaky.

Well, you’re in the library now, it’d probably be wise to stay in here for a while in case that demon is lurking outside somewhere for you. Besides, you wanted to check this place out, didn’t you? Somewhat recovered you ascend up to the next floor of the building, it helpfully has a list of what’s on this floor and the others. Skimming over the subjects you get your breath back and let your heart rate drop a little. Your eyes stick on one a few floors up, demonology, demon history, demon culture and magical traditions. That could be useful, you could find out what the hell kind of demon that guy was and just how scared you need to be of him.

It is a fair few floors up though so you may as well take the elevator instead of sprinting up the stairs like a crazy person. When you get out at the floor you want you find yourself in no hurry to get to the right section, instead you’re caught in admiring the library itself. The place is lavishly decorated, the shelves are heavy dark wood as are the ornate desks set around in clusters throughout the room. Thick carpets run the aisles between the shelves with polished white stone as the floor between the stacks themselves. Ambient magical lighting illuminates the area generally but you note that little motes of glimmering light gather around people as they walk about so that wherever they are is well lit. The smell of old paper fills your nose and the soundtrack of pages turning and soft pen scratchings reach your ears.

The place is, well, magical.

You follow the numbers towards the section that you want, passing several ornate oil paintings of historical magical figures. The last one you pass has a man with a long grey beard shooting lightning out of a staff, you’re not sure who it’s supposed to be though.

Alright, demonology books. You run your fingers over the titles until you come across a likely tome, ‘demon classification’. Sliding the book out you crack it open then and there.

_‘Demons can be broadly categorised by several metrics and understanding them is easier when these are known. Firstly a demon’s purpose, every demon has at least a broad purpose although some seem to choose their purpose rather than strictly being made for it. For example a demon created purely to guard something will do that and function very differently from a demon whose purpose is to seduce people’s souls out of them. The same species can thus appear remarkably differently, as such ascertaining a demon’s purpose will allow a witch to better understand the likely capabilities of that demon._

_Secondly demons are categorised in power. The full power level of a demon cannot exceed that of their creator but they can and often are created to be less powerful. The rough power level of many high level demons is already recorded, if you know who made a demon by way of them announcing it or sigils they may wear you can make an estimation of their power. Similarly demons rank themselves by power so if you have the opportunity to see how other demons react to that demon you can stand a better chance of estimating their power. Demons, as with all creatures, should be regarded with caution and an understanding of their capabilities._

_The third category is physical appearance. The way a demon appears tells you what kind of demon they are. Broadly speaking demons possess horns, skin in shades of grey, black, red and blue are common, their eyes are also notably inhuman. Tails, sharp teeth, claws, scales and fur can appear but these can vary a lot. All demons have some control over their forms given that their true forms are not technically physical. Their physical form is an indicator to their purpose, the more humanoid they appear the more their purpose is likely to be interacting with other humanoids. Succubi and Incubi have extensive shapeshifting properties, to the extent that they can appear fully human for short periods of time, other demons seem to only be able to perform minor alterations on their habitual standard form. The reasons for this are not widely understood._

_The first tips to identifying a demon-’_

You’re stood there with your head down reading this book when a strong puff of air goes across the back of your neck. You can’t help it, you scream and jump away throwing the book up in the air as you do so. As you twist around, your voice still echoing with horrible volume off of the walls around you, you see him. The demon who was following you is leaning against the bookcase snickering to himself.

“I thought you were supposed to be quiet in libraries.” he chuckles. He flicks a grey finger and your dropped book flies into his hand. His glowing eyes flicker and you feel the weight of his gaze shift to you, pinning you in place.

“Aw, did you miss me?” he grins and turns the book around like you hadn’t seen the cover.

“You followed me!” you hiss at him. The demon cracks the book open and flicks through it, all he offers you by way of confirmation is a vague ‘mm-hmm’. That’s not the response you really needed from your accusation but at least you have a chance to look at him, maybe you can apply your new knowledge on this demon.

He’s certainly humanoid, you’ll say that much. He has grey skin, glowing eyes and four horns. They’re not especially impressive horns, the longer set are perhaps the length of your hand from fingertip to the heel of your palm, the smaller ones are maybe half that. He has a tail, you watch it swish to the side as he reads and correct that assumption to two. The demon is tall, or taller than you at least but still within normal human ranges and his physique is less ‘I’m going to rip out your bones and eat the marrow’ and more ‘hello I work in IT’. Nevertheless the guy gives off this unsettling aura that agitates you and he very clearly followed you here and is trying to intimidate you. You’ve no idea how powerful he really might be or what his ‘purpose’ is. That book was no help at all. Okay, you need to be brave.

“What do you want?” you demand, trying to keep your volume low.

“Right now I want to know if you just picked this up to piss me off because mission accomplished if so.” the demon snorts and shoves the book back in the shelf.

“Why did you follow me here? I’m- I’m sorry if I was staring earlier but you can’t just do that!” you snap at him.

The demon frowns slightly, he doesn’t really have eyebrows, or not much of them. What a stupid thing to notice.

“Wow, you’re in a shit mood. If you’re going to be a little bitch maybe I’ll come find you again later, what the hell?” he hisses at you.

“I wasn’t in a shit mood until you showed up!” you insist, jabbing your finger at him.

“Oh come on, I get that you’re probably pissed but it’s not like this was my doing. I didn’t know anything, KK!” he insists. He’s holding his arms out to the side a little like he’s daring you to take a swing at him and behind him his two tails are snapping sharply from side to side like a pissed off cat’s might.

“Wait,” you say slowly as his words sink in, “what did you call me? KK?”

“Seriously? That’s what you’re going to- fine. Sorry for not addressing you properly oh mighty Karkat Vantas, go fuck yourself, I’m leaving.” the demon hisses and turns.

In a blind panic you grab his tails and he yelps. The demon reels on you with fury written all over his face.

“How did you know my name?” you blurt out before he can murder you.

The demon freezes, his snarl falling off his face leaving his mouth just slightly open in surprise. His eyes go wide and to your alarm what you’d thought was stupid eyebrows turns out to be a second, smaller, set of bicoloured eyes. He stares at you with all four eyes as his expression shifts quickly through something to carefully blank.

“Forget I said anything.” he says hoarsely.

“No, you know my name. You know my name and you’re surprised that I’m surprised that you know it. You thought I knew you, didn’t you? But it’s not like you mistook me for someone else, you said my name.” you insist and keep your grip on his tails tight.

“Let me go.” he demands.

“Tell me the truth! Do you know me? Do you know who I am, what I am? I don’t remember anything from before the event but if you know me you have to tell me!” you beg him. Past your shelves you hear a few other students demand for you to be quiet but this is more important than them so they can take a hike.

“I can’t, let go.” the demon snarls at you.

“TELL ME THE TRUTH!” you yell, far FAR too loudly. He winces and you hear several more people shout back at you to be quiet.

“Is there a problem here?” a woman’s voice makes you look up and around the demon. She’s a tall and imposing with her skin radiating light, long fangs nestle against her bottom lip. She’s a vampire. Sharp claws dig into your inner wrist and out of sheer reflex you open your hand and try to pull your wrist back, unfortunately that means that you let go of the demon who promptly vanishes in a puff of blue and red smoke that smells faintly of… synthetic apple? It’s like a cloud of candy apple vape smoke from some stupid hipster fuck, that’s literally all that you’re left with.

“No, no, no.” you whisper in horror but it’s too late, he’s gone. That demon knew who you were and now he’s gone, along with him is any chance you have of finding out who you really are. You slump against the bookshelf, your hand over your mouth in muted horror.

“I think you should come with me.” the woman says. She delicately takes hold of your arm and guides you out of the stacks and into the elevator, you go down to the bottom floor and then into a glass walled office near the entrance. She pushes you into a chair very gently and putters over to a counter.

“Just stay there a moment. I was going to tell you that library regulations require that students be quiet in the library and you made quite some noise there but I get the feeling this was a rather exceptional circumstance.” she says as she pours hot water from a canister into a mug and brings it back to you. She sits in another chair and presses the mug into your hands.

“Why don’t you tell me what happened?” the vampire lady suggests.

You sniff a little pathetically and curl your hands around the warm mug, there’s a metal tea strainer submerged in the water that’s delicately tinting the liquid inside.

“I don’t have any memories before the event.” you croak.

“Ah, you’re one of those with total amnesia before five years ago then. There’s a few things I don’t recall but I can’t imagine how hard it must be to lose everything, I’m sorry about that.” she says sympathetically, you nod.

“That demon chased me in here.” you begin to explain.

“Yes, you did sprint past my office.” she points out, indicating the glass wall behind you. You turn to look and imagine that you must have looked exceptionally stupid running past like that.

“Sorry. He just chased me and I freaked out, then I got in here and I thought I’d lost him so I figured I’d stay low. Plus I’m in a library so maybe I should look up stuff on demons. Then he appeared out of nowhere and scared me! I- I have this problem with my voice, I’m too loud sometimes. It’s something to do with whatever species I am I guess but I don’t know what. But when he talked to me he knew my name.” you tell her. Your voice trails off as you get to the end

“Was he perhaps reading your mind?” the vampire suggests thoughtfully.

“No, he seemed shocked that I didn’t know who he was. When it became obvious that I didn’t know how he knew me or who he was he shut down and tried to get away. I was demanding to know what was going on when you showed up, then he clawed me and vanished.” you explain.

Your wrist still has fading scratches on it but he didn’t even break the skin.

“Now I’m never going to know who I am.” you sniff.

The vampire sighs and scoots her chair a little closer, she leans in and rests a hand on your shoulder.

“I’m really sorry about that, it sounds awful and you have my sympathies. But you may still find the answers that you’re looking for, and you could very well see this demon again, it doesn’t mean that everything is ruined forever even if it feels that way right now.” she tells you and squeezes your shoulder.

You don’t really believe that but she’s trying to be nice. You nod and wipe your face with the back of your hand.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t even ask your name.” you say.

“Kanaya Maryam, I’m one of the librarians here and a graduate student.” she explains and smiles at you again, it shows off her fangs. You won’t ask about that, you’re not that dumb.

“Karkat Vantas, I just moved in today to start my… uh, foundation courses I guess? I still feel like they must have made some mistake asking me here. I’m not sure I’m magical at all.” you admit unhappily.

“Despite being on first name terms with a demon in the past? Anyway, that is silly, I have a very good sense for magic and you are, in technical terms, real fucking magical.” Kanaya nods and gets up.

“That’s the technical term?” you laugh.

“Surely you wouldn’t question a graduate student and librarian, would you?” Kanaya asks you teasingly.

“Shit, if there’s one thing I’m afraid of it’s librarians.” you say with as serious a face as you can manage.

“As well you should be. Though we’re a little short staffed at the moment, perhaps when you’ve finished your tea you can help me with a few of these books here as punishment for screaming in the library.” Kanaya suggests.

“I’m pretty sure that I owe you for you not throwing me out for screaming the place down. I am definitely willing to help.” you agree.

“Good, then drink your tea, it’ll calm your nerves.” Kanaya tells you.

You take a sip, it’s floral but not something you can place off of the top of your head. Then again you’ve always been more of a coffee than a tea person. Rose seemed to be into tea, maybe she can educate you a little on the subject.

“By the way, you should really swipe your card to get into the library instead of combat rolling over the barriers. Have you registered your card yet?” she asks.

“I have no idea.” you admit and juggle the mug and your wallet in your hands until you’re able to give her your student card.

Kanaya takes your card and looks at it for a moment, then she turns it around to show it to you.

“You’ve still not done your picture yet, do you want me to show you how? I had to have mine painted in the end because, you know, vampire. I don’t show up in pictures or mirrors.” she says with a rueful little shake of her head.

“You don’t look like someone who can’t see herself in a mirror.” you blurt out, doing that talking before thinking thing again. You’re right though, Kanaya is incredibly put together. She’s got flawlessly applied eyeliner and green eyeshadow, perfect lipstick and her clothes look like she could run a fashion blog.

“I… am going to take that as a compliment. I think.” Kanaya says slowly.

“That’s how I meant it, I apparently just shouldn’t talk to people today.” you say and shove your face in your hands. Thankfully she seems to find this amusing and crouches on the ground in front of you with your card in her hands.

“Alright, look at me.” she says, holding your card up in front of you. You look at her and your eyes widen slightly as your card glows with green light.

“What’re you doing? It looks cool.” you whisper.

“Taking your picture, here.” Kanaya says and hands you your card. Looking at it you can see that there is indeed a picture of you on there now and it moves a little as you look at it. When you tilt the card it rotates the picture so you can see yourself from other angles, that’s a pretty good idea for an ID.

“Thanks.” you smile.

“No problem. I’m glad to see you feeling a little better. Feel up to helping me out since you’re almost done with that tea?” Kanaya asks. She points at your mug and you see that as you’ve been sipping at it throughout this conversation you’ve almost got through the whole thing. She was right, you do feel a little better now.

You’re firmly decided on the fact that Kanaya is really nice, you settle into helping her out and chat about where you lived before. Kanaya’s passed through your previous state but never lived there but she understands how people can be sometimes and you can only imagine that it’s harder for her being more obviously not human. You scan in returned books as you chat and find that the conversation flows easily, you don’t forget about your encounter with the demon but it feels a little less like the end of the world.

“So you’re a graduate student then, what’re you focused on?” you ask curiously as you scan another book and set it in place.

“Essentially on magic in textiles. There are large periods of history where magic was regarded with suspicion and hostility and magical texts as a means of passing on knowledge were hard to come by. Plenty of schools of magic used weaving as a tool of essentially encoding such information, but as magic became more accepted the knowledge of how to read these tapestries has been lost to us.” Kanaya explains. Her green eyes gleam with excitement and her skin starts to glow white again, previously it had settled back into a tone more reminiscent of your own but some things make her fluoresce. You wonder if perhaps it’s intensity of emotion that does it but, again, it would be tactless to ask.

“So it’s like computer code almost, stitches and stuff telling you information?” you ask her curiously.

“A little more complex than that, but basically yes.” Kanaya agrees as she arranges books on a wheeled trolley from your pile of scanned in returns.

“Wow, if we stopped being able to read those think how much magic we could have forgotten in there.” you say in awe as your mind runs wild with the possibilities.

“Oh, I like you. Listen, there’s going to be adverts for part time jobs here going up soon. If you bring your details in next time I can see what I can do about getting you hired if you’re interested, you’d just have to promise to try to keep it down in here!” Kanaya laughs a little at that last part.

“I could probably do with the money, yeah. That’d be really great actually, and I’m really sorry about earlier. I know I’ve already said but-” you try.

“Then you don’t need to say so again. Anyway, I need to put these away upstairs now and I’m sure you have things to do as well.” Kanaya says, which is polite code for ‘you should leave so I can lock this office and get on with my work’. You get to your feet and hold the door open for her, you note when you do that you can suddenly hear someone walk past. This room must be enchanted with silence just like your apartment is, that makes sense for a library.

“My room does that, the silence thing.” you say as you point at the door.

“It’s a good spell. We have charms that go off if there’s too much noise in any area of the library that isn’t sanctioned for it like a group study room. Your shouting set one off so I went to investigate.” Kanaya says, pointing to a series of weird crystals and chains hanging up by the window. A little bit of guilt bubbles under your skin again but you get the feeling that Kanaya won’t accept you apologising again.

Kanaya wheels the trolley of books out, you follow her and she locks the door to the office.

“Thanks again.” you say a little awkwardly.

“Don’t worry about it.” Kanaya smiles and walks off with her books.

You linger for a moment and then leave the library, the market outside is starting to wind down but thankfully no one in it recognises you as the maniac who hauled ass through it mere hours ago. At least no one is pointing at you and saying anything as you go past so you can assume they don’t remember you. You follow the path to your room and let yourself inside. You’re surprised to see Dave on your sofa but as you can hear Rose through her open bedroom door you suppose he’s here for her. He does look around when you come in but aside from nodding at you he doesn’t react to you coming in.

“-she must have called them or something!” Rose shouts angrily from the next room.

“I doubt that, Rose. Also Karkat’s back, so maybe you want to stop screeching about this.” Dave says wearily.

“Karkat.” Rose says, sticking her head out of her door to look at you.

“I… guess whatever you went off for earlier didn’t go well?” you say hesitantly because it’s not really your business.

“Sherlock Holmes over here.” Dave snorts.

“No, it did not but I suppose it will be fine. I just have to prove myself further it seems.” Rose says with a bit of a huff.

“Augh, almost like the thing I’ve been saying but noooo don’t listen to me.” Dave groans and flops back on the sofa cushions. You decide to ignore these theatrics of his, you get the feeling paying attention will only encourage him.

“If it makes you feel any better my afternoon went kind of sideways into crazy land too.” you tell her.

“Really, what happened?” Rose asks curiously.

“So I left June and Jade, right? I figured I’d check out the library or something because books and I should really try knowing where things are on campus. I’m on my way there and I feel someone staring at me, you know when you can just kind of feel it?” you ask.

“I know what you mean, like the hairs on the back of your neck stand up or something.” Dave says with a nod, seemingly having paused his theatrics to listen.

“Well I look and there’s this demon guy a little way behind me and at first I think oh that’s unusual, I’ve not really seen demons before but I’m not going to gawk at the guy so I go on my way. I go a little further and I swear I can feel it again, I turn around and he’s closer and TOTALLY staring me down. Long story short it ends up with me sprinting into the library with him chasing me. I figure I’ve lost him and I go looking for books and then out of nowhere this guy just appears again!” you shout, at a thankfully not earsplitting volume though.

“A demon, wait…” Rose says and glances at Dave.

“But here’s the weird thing, he knew my name and seemed shocked that I didn’t know who he was. Like he remembers me from before the event and when I tried to get him to tell me he how he just vanished in a puff of multicoloured synthetic apple scented smoke!” you shout, throwing your hands up in the air.

Rose and Dave stare at each other and then at you.

“Please tell me it wasn’t this guy.” Dave says, thumbing at his phone screen before turning it around to you and showing you THE EXACT GUY YOU WERE TALKING ABOUT.

“That’s him! That’s the fucker! How do you know him?!” you demand. Rose groans and puts her face in her hands and Dave sighs.

“He’s my best friend and roommate, that’s Sollux. I don’t know why he’d do any of that though.” Dave says unhappily.

“Sometimes Sollux’s idea of what’s fun is a little off Dave, you have to admit.” Rose points out.

“Not chasing some stranger into the library kind of off!” Dave protests.

“But I’m not a stranger, I’m telling you, he knew who I was!” you insist.

“Alright, let’s clear this up, Dave, get Sollux here and we’ll sort this out.” Rose tells him.

“Wait, what do you mean by ‘get him here’?” you ask warily.

“He can summon him, though he says he doesn’t like doing it.” Rose explains.

“Cause it’s rude as fuck but in this case I’ll do it, hold up.” Dave says though he doesn’t sound pleased about this whole thing at all. You’re expecting circles on the floor in chalk, muttered incantations, maybe drops of blood spilt, but no. All Dave does is sit up a little straighter and stay silent for a second or two, you only know he’s done anything when there’s a woosh of displaced air and that waft of synthetic apple scent. Turning around you see that very same startled demon by your small excuse for a kitchen.

“Oh fuck this.” he says as he lays eyes on you, all four of them that is.

“Don’t you go anywhere.” Dave tells him and the demon visibly wilts. How can some human tell a demon what to do like this? What does he have on him?

“Did you chase this guy into the library?” Dave asks, pointing at you.

“No.” he says petulantly.

“You lying sack of shit, you absolutely did!” you snap, you can hear your voice edging louder so you try harder to restrain your volume.

“Did he run into the library where you followed after him at a greater speed than what could be considered normal travel and indeed your travel speed minutes prior? Did you then make contact with him within the library?” Rose asks.

“I don’t have to tell you shit.” the demon sneers at her and sticks out what appears to be an actual forked tongue. It looks all the more childish and petulant when he’s squeezing two sets of eyes shut to do it.

“Sollux.” Dave says flatly.

“I may have done something like that.” the demon, Sollux, admits.

“You know me, don’t you? You knew my name!” you say, pointing your finger in his face.

“We’ve met.” he says with a shrug.

“Before today!” you snap.

The demon just blinks lazily at you and says nothing. You can feel your temper bubbling over even though you try to reign it in.

“What the FUCK is your problem?! I’ve been trying to work out who I am for years, I’ve had no one and suddenly you know my name, you obviously knew me and you can’t spare me even the slightest goddamn answer?!” you screech and your volume creeps upwards once more.

Dave sighs and gets up off of the sofa, he gets between you and his pet demon and tries to intervene.

“Dude, seriously, I know you don’t want to be here-” Dave starts but Sollux interrupts him, his face suddenly concerned.

“That’s not true, I never said that.” he protests.

“But this guy is Rose’s roommate, it’s not cool for you to be messing with that for her by terrorising some random dude.” Dave tells him.

“That’s not what I was doing.” Sollux mumbles.

“Then how about this,” Rose interrupts and walks into the middle of your group, “how about as a show of good faith you agree to honestly and truthfully answer questions that Karkat has for you, that seems fair.”

“Fuck no.” Sollux snaps.

“Sol.” Dave says reproachfully and the demon wavers a little. He seems to dig himself in a bit, drawing his shoulders up and looking away from all of you before something gives and he speaks again.

“Even if I did agree to that there’s stuff I’m already bound to not talk about, I can’t make an agreement that would make me say things that go against other things.” Sollux protests.

“Naturally, if previous engagements silence you we can’t go against that. Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent.” Rose nods.

“Or helpfully say that he can’t answer, instead of saying nothing.” Dave corrects her.

“What if he got a number of questions, you had to provide truthful and honest answers as long as those answers did not break other contracts that you’re already under, sound fair? How many questions would be good, this obviously can’t be a forever thing.” Rose says and looks at you.

“Ten.” you say, that ought to give you enough to work with.

“No way. One.” Sollux counters your request with his own offer.

“Split the dif, five.” Dave interrupts.

“Fine, five questions.” you concede.

“I can’t believe I’m even considering this, I don’t want to do this.” Sollux grumbles folding his arms tightly and blatantly sulking.

“We’re only having to do this because you chased the guy into a building and freaked him out, he’s actually okay. We had lunch before that, you know. Which you could have come to if you weren’t off doing whatever you were doing wherever you were. So now you gotta play nice, go on.” Dave says and pokes him in the arm. The demon’s tails are flicking around irritably but he sighs and looks properly at you.

You stare as he opens all of his eyes and looks right through you.

“Karkat Vantas, I, Sollux Captor agree to truthfully answer five questions that you ask of me. Provided that I know the answer and am not expected to withhold that information because of previous agreements. Do we have a deal?” Sollux says. He offers his hand to you although you can see it faintly glowing in blue and red.

You run his words over in your head for a moment.

“Honestly and truthfully answer them. Also we’re defining a question that you have to answer as one that’s preceded ONLY by the words ‘this is a deal question’. I’m not having you answering some statement that I slightly upturned my tone at the end and claiming that was a question.” you tell him.

Sollux growls and Rose chuckles slightly, you suppose she approves of your amendments.

“Fine. Karkat Vantas, I, Sollux Captor agree to truthfully and honestly answer five questions that you ask of me. Questions preceded by the phrase ‘this is a deal question’ are the only ones which will count. I will answer provided that I know the answer and am not expected to withhold that information because of previous agreements. Do we have a deal?” Sollux says stiffly.

Thinking over his wording you can’t see anything else that might give him room to wiggle out. You take his hand and shake it. As you do bright red and blue light arc over your wrist, settling down to a faint mark that flares brighter only when you look at it. There’s tiny script under your skin that you can only assume is this deal itself. You just made a deal with a demon.

You look at Sollux who is back to a blank expression with just a hint of irritation as he waits for your questions. Now there’s a thought, what do you ask him? Closed questions would give you an answer that he’d be able to squirm out of less easily but potentially the answers wouldn’t be as helpful. Think, you only have five questions.

“Alright… how about this? This is a deal question, why were you surprised that I didn’t know who you were?” you ask. You’re assuming a lot here, you’re assuming that you did indeed know him before based on his reaction, it’s a gamble but if he answers you a certain way he’s confirming that too.

Sollux seems to consider his answer, still watching you intently with all of his eyes.

“Typically I expect people who know me to remember me.” he answers.

“So you did know me.” you whisper.

“Is that a question?” Sollux asks immediately.

“You know it isn’t.” Rose interrupts and Sollux glares at her.

“That’s helpful, sort of. Try this, this is a deal question, have we met since what is commonly known as ‘the event’ five years ago?” you ask.

“No.” Sollux answers quietly.

What were you doing with a demon when you were thirteen? Who were you before this?

“This is a deal question, what species am I?” you question him, this is your third question now.

“You don’t know what you are?” Sollux says, his eyes widening. He seems to look at you a little closer.

“Hey, you can’t answer a question with a question motherfucker!” you snap at him. You feel the band around your wrist tug and the one around his flares slightly.

“I am asking you a question so I know whether I can answer it or not. Also I don’t have a mother so you’re wrong, as usual. Do you know what species you are or not?” Sollux hisses at you.

“Would I be ASKING if I knew?!” you argue back.

“You might!” he says waspishly and folds his arms. Ugh, fine.

“No, I don’t know what species I am. I don’t remember, same as how I don’t remember you.” you tell him since he’s clearly not going to progress this if you don’t.

Sollux looks away, towards your kitchen and away from everyone else in the room. When he speaks his voice is quiet.

“I can’t answer your question if you- because of other obligations that I have I can’t tell you the answer to that.” Sollux says softly.

Does that mean he could have confirmed it if you knew? So whatever he’s already agreed to only applies if you remember things? What does that mean? Why would that be the case? You want to ask him why no one remembers anything but you’d bet that he can’t tell you that either. There has to be a smarter way to find out what you are but right now you don’t know enough to ask the right questions. Can you ask him who made that rule or is there likely to be some secrecy clause in whatever agreement he’s already got?

“Shit.” you mutter. Sollux looks back at you but now only his larger and you suppose ‘normal’ eyes are open, you don’t know if the smaller ones do anything specific or not but you guess he doesn’t need them now. He’s still waiting and his tails are moving around but not so angrily as before.

“Did I hurt you?” you ask before you think better of it, “Before I mean, when I grabbed you by the tails.”

“I- no. It’s not like something like that could hurt me.” Sollux insists with bravado but he looks thrown by your question, as if he didn’t expect you to say something like that at all.

“Really?” you say.

“Are you going to get to your other questions or not?” the demon demands, suddenly leaning more aggressive again. Overcompensating no doubt, yeah you’re starting to get his number you think.

“I don’t have any more that I want to ask right now, I don’t know enough about what to ask yet.” you tell him.

“I’m not telling you shit for free.” Sollux says and tilts his jaw as if to say ‘so there’ about it.

“Wasn’t asking you to. I’ll tell you when I have another question, I have two left after all.” you reason. Sollux looks like he just bit into a lemon, he actually recoils from you a little.

“Ohhh, you never said it was time limited. Karkat can absolutely hold onto those.” Rose says with an ominous smile.

“Fine.” Sollux says through gritted teeth.

“Dude, I…” Dave starts to say but Sollux just poofs out of the room in a cloud of bicoloured fruity smoke.

“Welp, that’s going to be fun. I feel kind of bad about asking him to do that now.” Dave sighs.

“Well if nothing else this provided a delicious distraction.” Rose says in a cheerful voice.

“Gee, I’m glad you’re happy. I’m going to go talk to him. Uh, Karkat, look Sollux really isn’t a bad guy. I don’t know what history you two have and I guess you don’t either but he’s legitimately a cool person. Sorry you two got off on the wrong foot, yeah?” Dave says and then leaves without waiting for another word from you.

“You’re quite the quick thinker. I do wonder how the two of you could have met though. Sollux is one to come and go as he pleases, much like a cat, but he’s typically always stuck around Dave. It seems odd for him to know you when we didn’t. An intriguing mystery for sure.” Rose muses.

“I’d love to know that too, I mean you didn’t live anywhere near me. And I don’t know what his problem with me is either.” you say.

“Fascinating indeed. I do agree with Dave’s statement though, Sollux is genuinely a decent person for all that he can be sulky and insulting at times.” Rose says.

That begs the question then, what happened five years ago?


	2. Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)

You have two days to settle into your new life, during which you discover a few things. Firstly that textbooks are wildly expensive, secondly that the food served in the campus cafeteria is best described as simply ‘okay’, and lastly that Rose shares your love of coffee and not talking first thing in the morning. You’re content to both sit there bleary eyed on the sofa with coffee as both of you wake up in pretty much total silence.

Also on your list of discoveries is that Dave, June and Jade all seem really nice but mysteriously whenever you spend time with them Sollux is suddenly absent. He’s definitely avoiding you. You suppose there’s a certain logic to it, you can’t ask him questions if you can’t find him. Unfortunately for him the two of you are still enrolled for classes and being that you’re in the same foundation classes he has to see you. He doesn’t evidently have to sit next to you but being as Dave wants to sit with his sister and his friend while you want to stick to Rose it turns out that he ends up near you. The lecture hall has bench seating and you end up sat between Rose and Dave with June and Jade on Rose’s other side and Sollux just on the other side of Dave.

“Are you gonna be cool Rose? Please be cool.” Dave whispers across you.

“When you have so famously claimed to have soaked up our entire family’s supply of cool, how could I possibly be?” Rose replies a little sharply.

“So what if you know it all already, you can always test out after a class or two if it looks that way.” Sollux suggests, leaning on Dave’s shoulder to look at Rose.

“I don’t see that going down well. Besides, reliable sources of information and all that. I never claimed to know it all.” Rose says with a shake of her head.

You have no idea what they’re talking about.

A female professor walks into the room who you think is human, she looks it at least. She moves to stand behind the desk at the front of the room. You’d noticed before but there is a walnut on the table and before it a range of other objects. A key, a doorhandle, a nutcracker, a hammer and a chef’s knife. With her presence in the room everyone naturally starts to go quiet, when the room is totally silent she begins to speak.

“Good morning class, welcome to magical languages 101, your primer course to several specific magical languages and a course which will hopefully give you an understanding of how languages work altogether. In this class you’ll work through several languages until you can cast the same spell in all of them.” she explains.

A student at the front raises their hand and the teacher looks their way.

“What spell will it be?” they ask.

The teacher seems to think on her words for a moment before speaking.

“I don’t know how many of you have found your way through the park near here but when you do you will find a memorial statue, to the Salem witch burnings. Magic was not always accepted and so you will be expected to learn what was often the first spell witches taught their apprentices, hoping they would never need it. A spell of fire resistance.” she says gravely.

She holds out one hand and a ball of flame bursts into existence. She raises her other and a ring of light forms before her fingers and runs down her arm as she sticks it into the fire.

“Perfectly cast you can hold yourself in fire entirely without harm. You’ll be casting this on yourself as your final exam for my course.” she says and muttering springs up through the room.

“Ah, yes?” the teacher says, suddenly looking in your direction. You see that Sollux has his hand raised.

“Seems a little pointless for me. I can do that without magic.” he points out and the teacher laughs, she extinguishes the flame and shakes her hands out.

“Hm, yes you do have a point there. I’ve never taught a demon before, I must admit. I’ve had students with some natural heat resistance but none totally immune like I suspect you are. No matter, you can cast it on someone else, we’ll just hold you responsible for their wellbeing.” she says with a shrug.

“It’s ok dude, I trust you.” Dave says quietly.

“Alright then, let’s get started. There are many different magical languages, none are better than any others inherently but each are better suited to specific tasks than others. Being monolingual in magical languages is simply not good enough. If you look here, I’ll show you.” the lecturer explains and plucks the walnut from her desk.

“Here we have a walnut and what I want to do is to open it. Almost every magical language has a spell to open things but some languages execute that operation in this circumstance better than others, it’s about choosing the right tool for the job. Every item I have here on the table can open this walnut. A doorhandle works best to open a door but you could certainly smash a nut with it. A key is best suited for a lock and a knife works better on flesh, yet both could prize open a walnut shell with skillful leverage. A hammer will open it just like a doorhandle will but there’s no promise on what the inside will be like afterwards. The nutcracker is the best tool for the job and so every situation will have a most ideal language for the job. If you want to open a door instead your choice will be different.” she explains and cracks the walnut open with the nutcracker. She pops it in her mouth and chews with a grin on her face.

“Who can name me some magical languages?” she asks and turns to the board.

“BASIC.” June calls out.

“Yes, standard human magical code language, standardised relatively recently. It is as it sounds.” the teacher nods and writes it up.

“Basilisk.” someone else says.

“Oh, very good. A language adapted from nagas, very wide library of functions and is very good for spells that keep running in the background.”

“~ATH.” Sollux suggests and you see the teacher laugh slightly.

“I suppose, yes! ~ATH also known as the infernal magical language, used by demons of all stripes. For obvious reasons not much is known about it beyond the very powerful curses it can inflict and the binding agreements it makes. It’s a language very tethered on the concept of death, it’s proved very tricky for humans to use outside of summoning spells and only a few have managed it. But I suspect…” the lecturer pauses and looks over her shoulder at your group. Rose inhales sharply and Dave whispers her name super quietly.

“Well, It won’t be taught in this module, don’t worry. Any more?” she asks.

“C?” someone says.

“Ah, yes, a favourite of mine. Developed by selkies as they interacted with human witches, a very flexible standard language if a little prone to water puns. We’ll be learning that one.” she agrees and writes it down with the others.

“Java!” another person calls out and a fair few people giggle, you don’t, you’re too busy writing everything down.

“No, we don’t teach the corporate magical language of Starbucks here, thanks.” the teacher groans, her head thumping the board.

The list goes on for a while. Lisp: a very old magical language, not taught in this class but in ancient magical studies. Pascal-Wager: a finnickety language but very good for running lots of subprocesses, she’ll give you a basic intro but if you’re into it then maybe mechanical magic is for you. EsQueueEll more of a scrying language but also used in libraries and other storage places for retrieving items or information. And so on.

Finally your teacher has exhausted the list of languages that she’s going to take you through and opens a drawer in her desk. From within it she takes out a green cube about six inches wide and otherwise featureless, she sticks it to a whiteboard off to the side so you assume it must be magnetic or something.

“For today we are going to walk through the basic components of spellcasting. You can cast spells in purely written form, as I imagine those of you who teleported here will have noticed. You can cast with the addition of physical components and you can cast with words. However both the physical components of a spell and the somatic or spoken parts are other ways of expressing written magic. Your spellcasting will be more accurate when you understand the written form and so that is how you will learn, when you speak a spell you are mentally embodying those words but that can lead to sloppiness. Written work is clean.” she explains.

“Can anyone tell me Lalonde’s five points of spellcasting? Perhaps a Lalonde? Hmmm, David.” the teacher says and looks up right next to you to Dave.

“Easy.” June says under her breath, you can feel the anger radiating from Rose.

“It’s Dave.” Dave corrects her.

“Dave, then.” the teacher says by way of amendment.

Dave sighs ever so slightly but then starts to speak, a little louder than normal because the whole class is staring at him. Except for Sollux that is, you note that his tails have curled around Dave’s waist as he stares down at the teacher like a cat watching a mouse.

“You need five things. A target for your magic, so what you’re doing it to. The use, so what you want the spell to do. The… constraint I guess, that’s limitations so if you’ve got a ‘do this if’ part that’s where that goes. A source used to be something divine, so a god but that doesn’t work anymore so idk what you want to tether your magic to but anything you believe in. The power of sunshine and puppies or whatever. And the termination just tells it when to stop the spell so you don’t make infinite popcorn forever or what have you.” Dave explains.

“Very good, let’s see if we can do that today. I want to turn this block turquoise, let’s see if we can.” the teacher nods and moves on. Dave relaxes and Rose slowly does as well, but you’re full of curiosity. The library that you hid in was called the Lalonde library, Lalonde’s five points sounds like some pretty important magical work and apparently it’s Dave’s last name which means it’s Rose’s too. Are they from some bigshot magical family? Is that why Dave is cool wandering around with a demon?

The class progresses as you all workshop the process of banging out a spell, the teacher does the hard parts in that she actually codes it but she gets you to phrase the logic of it and pulls you up when you all suggest something that wouldn’t work.

You hadn’t considered before how specific you have to be. You know what she means when she says ‘turn this cube turquoise’ but to write out the specific commands are hard. Even putting the object in a circle doesn’t solve it because if you don’t specify the cube you turn everything within there turquoise. Someone has the bright idea of measuring the cube and specifying to only turn things that are that dimension in the circle turquoise. Then you have to define turquoise, then specify how long you want the thing to stay turquoise and when the magic can stop. The hard part is the source.

“All magic has a source, before five years ago almost all magic was divinely tethered. Faith in a higher power fuelled our magic. People making machines tethered their spells to Hephaestus, the weather to Freya or Thor, people varied depending on their personal allegiances but we knew the gods existed because our magic worked. We asked for their power and were granted it. Five years ago that all stopped, seers stopped receiving visions and magic tethered to the gods mostly failed. That which didn’t was ironically sloppy spellcasting where people had tethered the faith to their faith that it would work rather than to the god themselves. Verbal spellcasting is less precise like I said. The event broke our magical connection with the divine and damaged a great many things and people.” she explains.

You remember.

You remember opening your eyes, laid on your back on the road in some dirt road in the middle of nowhere, Georgia, with nothing but a key in your hand and your own name on your lips. Countless other people woke up like you and others missing huge chunks of their memory, everyone lost at least a little. It was pandemonium, demons suddenly on Earth, and buildings with apartments in requiring the kind of key that you woke up with. Everyone who lost everything was mysteriously gifted somewhere to live. It was chaos, people had to rework magic on so much stuff all over the world.

So much was damaged, you were damaged. Worst of all; no one knows why it happened, no one knows why the gods no longer answer anything and why their magic no longer sticks.

“Now we draw from other sources. The heat of the Earth’s core, the brilliance of sunshine, the power of the sea. You can tether magic to the moon or even personal belief although that’s a lot less stable. I personally recommend the power of the tide, and as I’m writing this in C that always goes well.” your teacher goes on and fills out part of the circle with her arcane writing.

“Alright,” she says stepping back, “what we have here is this. Within this circle is a cube six inches in height, width and depth, its appearance shall be altered to the colour turquoise as perceived by the human eye to be between blue and green. It shall remain this colour for sixty seconds, after sixty seconds from the spell beginning it shall end. I will this to be done by the raging power of the sea, the reliability of the tides and the majesty of the ocean. Are we happy with that?”

“This is so different from ~ATH.” Sollux murmurs.

“I’m not sure about this.” Rose says quietly but most of the rest of your class is nodding.

Your teacher shrugs and smacks her hand on the board. The circle flares with blue light but within the circle nothing happens.

“Oh it didn’t do anything.” you say, but most of your class claps.

“It did… something. I saw magic, I still can.” Sollux says and you see that he’s looking with all four eyes.

“It’s still green.” Jade protests.

“As some of you may be realising, what you have done is not change the colour of the cube. What you have done is made a colour changing test to tell someone if they’re human or not. If you are, you’ll see the cube is turquoise, if you aren’t in possession of human eyes it will still appear green. This is why magic is tricky.” the teacher grins.

She goes on to explain about how you’ll be attending magical language labs in C first of all before moving on to other languages, being tested on each one with your fireproof test. Though seeing how well just changing the colour of something went you’re a little hesitant to jam your hand in fire.

Still, your eyes linger on the cube. You’re not human, but maybe that can tell you what you are. You hang back after class and try to catch your teacher.

“I couldn’t see the cube change colour.” you tell her as you hold your notebook to your chest.

“Because you’re not human. Wait, you did know that didn’t you? I’ve not just revealed some past infidelity in your family have I?” she says as her eyes go wide with alarm.

“No, no. I thought I wasn’t, I don’t remember anything is all. I don’t know what I am though, no one seems to. Could that test me for what I am?” you ask and point at the cube that’s now sat on her desk.

“Oh. Ah… strictly speaking no. I simplified the code when I read it out but the thing with magic is that it relies on your understanding. As your fellow students settled on ‘the human eye’ as the metric for colour perception I allowed it because I have human eyes and I know exactly what they see, the statement refers to an experience that I possess. I couldn’t do that with another species.” she explains and your shoulders slump in disappointment.

“That said if you found people of other species willing to execute the same spell with the words altered you might have more luck. Unfortunately tests of species are notoriously hard because ‘species’ as a concept is very artificial. Species crossbreed all of the time and so it’s hard to define what’s what, or how much of a species you have to be to be counted as one. It’s a minefield and politically not one that many people want to wade into. Asking a spell to test your species is akin to asking it if food tastes good, it’s more of an opinion. Granted there are things unique to each species but it’s… it’s complicated I’m afraid.” she says a little regretfully.

“I thought that was too easy of an answer.” you say unhappily. If it was that easy you wouldn’t have had to wait this long to find out what you are, when you got your ID surely someone could have tested you if it was possible to make such a test.

You can see why people might not want to make a test for that kind of thing, there are purists out there who don’t like species intermingling. Not even just within humans, plenty of fae are notorious for holding themselves to a higher standard than ‘mere’ humans. Being able to see if someone was ‘pure’ human or not would be a nightmare. Even if finding out what you are would benefit you it’s pretty clear that’s a can of worms no one wants to open. Much easier to just claim that the magic doesn’t allow it.

“Thanks anyway. This was… interesting.” you thank her.

“No problem, I hope to see you in the labs.” your teacher nods and turns back to the board and starts cleaning it off.

Heading outside you find that your friends seem to have all left. That’s fair you suppose, you don’t know each other that well and you didn’t have plans after, plus they didn’t know how long you might take. You ignore the sting and figure that you should do some more learning of your own instead, you don’t have another class for an hour so you could use that time wisely.

You make your way over to the library again, this time not at a full run and this time going through the barriers with your card instead of launching yourself at the library like a siege projectile from a fucking trebuchet or something. To your luck Kanaya is in her clear office and looks up when you wave at her through the glass, she points to the door so you let yourself in.

“There is a special place in hell for people who write in library books and when I find who did this I will send them there after flaying their skin off.” Kanaya says by way of a greeting.

“Savages.” you agree and move swiftly on.

“Do we have books about the library or its history?” you ask.

Kanaya turns from the open book on the desk and looks pensive for a moment or two.

“What exactly are you looking for? The architecture? The history of the land or…?” she asks.

“Why is it called the Lalonde Library?” you ask.

“Oh, that’s easy. It’s for Doctor Lalonde, a truly outstanding witch, her work was incredible.” Kanaya says brightly, her skin goes appropriately bright too.

“Who was she? I’ve literally never heard of her.” you say.

“Really? Well, she was- I think perhaps still is a witch. She was an expert in magical languages but she specialised in the demonic ones, timing hugely powerful spells on the death of celestial objects. She was very open minded about species as well, it’s really thanks in part to her that I could study here at all. A genuine shining star, it’s a real shame she’s not around anymore.” Kanaya dims a little at the end of that speech.

“Why isn’t she?” you press.

“I’m not really sure, there’s a lot of different stories. She had children and the official stance of the university was that she had retired to look after them. But I was an undergraduate when she was still here, after she got back from maternity leave, she seemed odd. There’s a rumour that it was a magical accident and that something happened to her, something that stopped her work forever. It’s all rumour though, and she’s still regarded as a real prodigy. But maybe there’s something to that, the whole candle that burns twice and bright burns half as long kind of thing.” Kanaya sighs.

You’re starting to feel guilty now. Rose and Dave probably aren’t cool with people poking at this kind of thing and here you are doing just that. This isn’t how you make friends, stupid.

“Why do you ask?” Kanaya asks you slowly.

“My roommate, her last name is Lalonde. Her brother lives a few floors up from us with the demon that chased me in here before.” you explain.

“Ah. That’s tricky, I didn’t realise how much time had flown if her children are here now. Still, I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised if one of her children has an affinity for the demonic as well. I… it’s funny I can’t remember anything about her children. I remember that she went on maternity leave but- oh well.” Kanaya shrugs.

You do a little back of the napkin math. Kanaya was an undergraduate here when Doctor Lalonde still worked at this university, she’d just had her kids and returned to work then left again. That means that Kanaya has at least been here for as long as Dave and Rose have been alive and yet she looks your age. Well, obviously she does, she’s a vampire. They don’t age.

“I can see you brimming with the urge to ask me exactly how old I am.” Kanaya says, her eyes narrowing at you.

“That… strikes me as something that would be wildly rude to do.” you say tentatively.

“Good instinct.” Kanaya smiles sweetly. There’s fang in that smile, it could be accidental but you suspect not.

Change the subject.

“Rose- my roommate, seems really angry about a lot of this. One of our teachers called her and Dave out directly to answer a question on the Lalondian… uh… the Lanlondian… five points of…” you literally JUST learnt this, dipshit.

“Lalonde’s five points of spellcasting?” Kanaya suggests, you nod gratefully. You’re going to have to re-read your notes later, aren’t you?

“I suppose no one gets to be that well known without inspiring a certain amount of jealousy, for her children to show up at the same school could irritate some people. Perhaps they think they’re getting a free pass or something, or they’re trying to see if they’re as good as their mother.” Kanaya says.

That sounds about right. Guilt festers away in your stomach making you feel a little sick.

“I feel bad for prying now, it’s probably what everyone else is going to be doing.” you say quietly.

“Well you didn’t know and besides I think it’s what you do with this information that counts. You came here wanting knowledge and there’s nothing wrong with that.” Kanaya reasons with you, she’s trying to make you feel better.

“Yeah I’m sure Pandora told herself the same thing but I’ve opened this box now, haven’t I? Well, fuck it, I don’t think either of them should be held to different standards or get questioned on why they’re here. It’s no one else’s business and everyone can just fuck off!” you say firmly as you settle on your stance. Rose is your roommate who was nice to you and invited you out with her friends, Dave seems nice enough if deeply odd. Who their mother is has no bearing on that and you refuse to treat them differently!

“I don’t think I understood the descriptor ‘aggressively nice’ until I met you, you are both nice and aggressive all at once.” Kanaya smiles at you.

You make some vague noise of protest then some fumbled excuses to leave and the entire time that you back off Kanaya is just smiling at you as if she’s worked you out and finds you rather amusing to behold. Damn her.

You have ample time until your next class which is great because you have no idea where it is and it turns out that the amount of time it takes to find is almost exactly the amount of time you had left anyway. When you step inside the door of Xenobiology 101 you find your group already there. Jade spots you right away and waves wildly which settles the question of whether you were going to go over there.

“We came back to see if you were done with the teacher and you were gone!” Jade exclaims in her lack of an indoor voice. As a fellow volume-problem-haver you empathise and do not judge.

“Totally gonzo.” June agrees with a nod.

“A fantastic addition to that conversation.” you say flatly before you remember that you’re trying to have these people like you. Thankfully June just snorts and rolls her eyes at you.

“What were you talking to her about, anyway?” Rose asks and pulls out a chair for you. The tables here are all taller with tall stools so you’re sat next to her, in front of you are Dave and Sollux currently absorbed in their own discussion.

“It didn’t change colour for me because I’m not human, I wanted to know if that spell could be altered to tell me what I am but it can’t. Then I went to the library.” you say, glossing over the why you did that.

“You mentioned about applying there, are you going to do it?” Rose asks, making an assumption that you won’t correct her on.

“I think so, can’t say no to money or unfettered access to books can I?” you say.

“Hmm, based on the kinds of books they have I imagine that access will be somewhat fettered but I take your point.” Rose nods.

“Daaaaaave.” Sollux whines. His head clunks on the table in front of you and that attracts your attention. His tails are still and hanging straight down in what you think is probably a pretty morose way. His shirt has actually slipped up a little from where he’s leant over and you can see the point where they diverge from his spine. It’s higher than you might have thought, you think maybe his black jeans have a slight notch in them at the band but you’re not totally sure. His tails don’t start where your tailbone ends, that’s for sure. You vaguely want to see what his skeleton must look like, does his spinal cord split there too or does he not have that? Is he just all magic inside?

“I’m just saying that it sounds like you don’t want to be here.” Dave says.

“It’s not that, I didn’t say that. It’s just that I know all this already.” Sollux complains.

“You don’t know that you know all of it, and even if you did isn’t it interesting to see what they know? What are you gonna do if you’re not here? Play Call Of Duty?” Dave asks.

“Okay, one: video games are always a good thing to do with any amount of time and two: you know I hate that game, it’s full of demons who feed on nerd rage and griefing humans who don’t know what’s going on. Me being there is just awkward. Also I’m literally the smartest person you know so I don’t really need to be here.” Sollux says. Does he always brag like this? It’s really irritating. Next to you Rose narrows her eyes at him but Sollux doesn’t seem to see.

“Dude, besides you I know like… five people now. I wouldn’t brag.” Dave says flatly.

“Well done insulting literally everyone including outing your very poor social skills, Dave. I will still be getting revenge for this slight though.” Rose interrupts and Dave looks around with some alarm, at least until he wipes the expression off of his face.

“Why were you listening?” he asks.

“I’m always listening.” Rose says ominously, the effect somewhat ruined by June snickering next to her.

“Creepy. Hi Karkat, Sollux be nice and say hi.” Dave nudges him. Sollux looks over at you scornfully, this time just with his two main eyes again. Why does he only have the little ones open sometimes? What does it mean?

Sollux blinks lazily and raises one hand with a middle finger extended to you.

“If you’re going to try to claim that’s how demons say hi and spin some cultural sensitivity thing at me when I protest it we could just cut this short and I’ll tell you to go fuck yourself.” you tell him.

“Eh, that requires more shapeshifting and effort than I can be bothered with. Pass.” Sollux shrugs.

You’re putting a lot of mental energy into not considering exactly how that might work given the very little you know about how demons work physically at all. Sollux is just staring you down like he’s waiting for you to crack in one way or another. You’re starting to get the impression that everything is a game with him only you don’t know what game it is, what the rules are and you think he’s stolen a lot of the pieces.

The match ends when an older man with goat legs comes in the room, he’s wearing a very formal jacket, shirt and tie as if to offset the goat legs. You’re not super hot on your xenobiology, hence the primer class, but even you know a satyr when you see one.

“Good morning uh- yes still morning, morning class. Quick show of hands does anyone have any specific intent or interest in going into the magimedical field? This course is an absolute requirement for that but if you are interested in that specifically I can put links up on the online board for that. Ah, yes, good.” he says in a faltering voice, a few of the people in the room raise their hands.

Sollux shifts around in his seat and you relax again. Whatever, you’re not letting him distract you. Besides which this is a class that could well help you figure out what species you are and if you know you can get him to confirm it for you. In fact he could well be trying to distract you just so you DON’T find out! That sneaky fucker!

The first fifteen minutes of the class are the basic explanation of textbooks you’ll need, how you’ll be graded, and finally a justification for the course even existing.

“To make a properly integrated society we need to know what is and isn’t safe for people of all species to be sure that we don’t accidentally hurt someone. Later courses will go over specific illnesses to various species and how to heal those but this first 101 course is essentially a primer on how not to harm and how to learn from the past of human interaction with other species.” this last part your teacher says with some distaste.

“Some of the information in this course was gathered through unfortunate means and I’ve gone to every trouble to be sure that no unreasonably upsetting images are included and those that are were taken from ethical sources and I will of course tell you beforehand. Naturally we are talking about how our biologies differ and how not to hurt so hurt itself is a topic, but still.” your teacher says.

“Nevertheless I like to start off on a topic that won’t personally involve anyone,” the teacher says and nudges his glasses up his nose before turning to the board, “demons!”

“Did he not see-” Dave starts.

“Shh! Don’t ruin it!” June hisses. Sollux reaches his arm back to her and the pair silently bump fists and eagerly wait for the moment when the teacher will notice that there is someone in class who is, in fact, a demon.

“Demons, naturally, come from hell. However after the event they seem to reside on Earth. Divine symbols used to be a ward against demons but these no longer cause harm, presumably as these items are no longer imbued with the magic they once held.” the teacher explains.

On the board he writes ‘demons’ at the top and under it as the heading of two columns ‘myth’ and ‘fact’. Under myth he writes ‘holy symbols’. Around you other students have noticed Sollux’s presence and species but they too are staying awkwardly silent. You watch as Sollux’s tails swish from one side to the other.

“Any other suggestions?” the teacher asks, still facing the board. No one answers for a while.

“H-holy water?” a brave guy on the other side of the room pipes up.

“Excellent, yes. Holy water is fatal to demons.” the teacher nods, as he writes it in the ‘fact’ side.

“Ehhh, not really.” Sollux says loudly.

The teacher turns, sees Sollux and pales.

“For one thing priests can’t make that shit any more, no holy powers. So you’re relying on old stocks. Second it’s really more of a strength thing, the holier the person the stronger the holy water. You’re talking anything from ‘I just put alcohol hand gel on and discovered I have some cuts I didn’t know about’ to ‘industrial acid’, but the odds of that second kind being around is rare. Most humans just weren’t that holy. It’s not FUN but it probably won’t kill you, kind of a Russian roulette deal though.” Sollux explains lazily.

“I didn’t- I’m sorry. I didn’t see you there, I didn’t mean to offend.” the teacher apologises.

“You didn’t. I wasn’t really into this but now the idea of seeing what you think stops me has me interested.” Sollux says.

To your teacher’s credit he recovers a little and stops looking so nervous.

“Well I’m certainly interested in what you have to say, I’m all about the truth.” he says with a nod.

“Alright.” Sollux shrugs and so the teacher continues.

“We would normally put down salt, not as something that can hurt itself but rather a line of salt is effective at keeping a demon out.” he goes on and moves towards the board again.

“Kinda? I can’t cross a big line of the stuff but I could burn or destroy what it’s on to break that line. It’s more of a delay.” Sollux answers.

“Exorcisms?” the teacher says.

“That’d work on anyone possessing anyone. If you caught me in someone else’s body you could boot me back to hell that way but it wouldn’t work right now, at best you’d screw with my form maybe but that’s unlikely.” Sollux says as he seems to mull that one over.

“What else should we be aware of then?” the teacher asks. Ah, now Sollux has to come up with the goods.

“I mean lots of stuff hurts, being stabbed is no fun for anyone. For most demons though you’ve got stuff that can disincorporate them, so send them back to hell to reform, and stuff that can kill them. The tougher you are the tighter that list gets. A deity smiting would get anyone so I don’t think that counts, silver or iron through the heart’ll send you back down but it doesn’t kill. You essentially have to unmake a demon to kill them which then means are you stronger than what made them, you’ve gotta one up that power level. Obviously the more hurt you are when you go into that the better your odds but you can’t unmake a demon accidentally. You’re more likely to accidentally hurt one and have them decide to eat you to settle the score.” Sollux says, he rubs the back of his neck as he talks and you get the feeling he’s not totally comfortable with the topic. You don’t blame him.

The teacher makes a dubious noise, behind his glasses his eyes narrow at Sollux. He turns his back to the class and starts to talk again as he writes on the board.

“A lot of our historical information on demons has come from unfortunate earlier interactions humanity and demonkind has had with each each other and until relatively recently proper factual information on demons was hard to come by, it was all hearsay and questionable sources.” he goes on and writes a few things on the board.

‘The slaying of Furcas’  
‘Banishment of Aamon’

You’re taking notes on these things, so it’s not as if you’re watching Sollux but you do see him turn and look at Dave. It’s just that the light of his eyes is noticeable.

“He’s not even dead.” Sollux mutters. Dave pats him sympathetically on the back but then freezes at the teacher’s next words.

“Doctor Lalonde, of course, being an esteemed demonologist managed to trap several demons over the course of her life and leverage their freedom for information on their species. I do apologise if the mention of that is upsetting.” the teacher glances to Sollux but moves on without waiting for an answer.

“She was able to ascertain that demons each have a purpose and that they both are meant to fulfil that purpose but they also draw power from it. They owe loyalty to those they have pledged it to or to the demon who made them. She also ascertained that demons cannot get drunk, do not sleep and primarily feed off of humans.” the teacher explains.

“Okay, I’m not staying here for this.” Sollux says and turns to look at Dave.

“Beam me up.” Dave agrees and holds out his hand. Sollux nods, takes it, and the two of them vanish in a burst of bicoloured synthetic smoke.

Your teacher shakes his head and continues lecturing. You take prolific notes about all of the things the teacher says and with Sollux not there his tone shifts.

“Demons are inherently untrustworthy, their inclinations are to lie to and trick others and one has to be very clever to get the truth out of them. Also never wager anything with a demon that you are not prepared or expecting to lose.” he says.

You’re regaled with tales of deals gone horribly wrong in the past, of witches who thought they’d restrained a demon only to have their protections fail and get dragged to hell. It becomes apparent that one such witch was a friend of his and suddenly his very biased attitude makes a lot of sense.

THIS IS BULLSHIT

You write that on the corner of your page, tear it off and slide it over to Rose. She nods ever so slightly but keeps taking notes. Outside rain beats against the windows despite the earlier pleasant day, the turn in the weather seems fitting to your current mood.

Incubi and Succubi will seduce you and steal your soul, maybe eat your corpse too. Small hell imps will swarm, kill and eat you then steal your soul. Demons who specialise in tempting people with deals want, you guessed it, your soul. None of them should ever be trusted at all ever. You stop taking notes about halfway through.

June storms past you the moment that class is finished. Rose stands and neatly shuts her notebook with an unreadable expression. You share a look with Jade who looks about as uneasy as you feel.

“So,” you say as you pass the classroom door with Rose and Jade, “that was fucked up.”

“I dread to think what he’s going to say when he gets to fae, it’s not as if my kind have that great of a reputation either.” Jade says uneasily. Yeah, fae are generally regarded warily by humans. Their upside however is how much human myth about them focuses on how beautiful they are and so there’s a certain exotic attraction to danger there. You imagine there’s a good number of people who chase that appeal with demons too, after all succubi and incubi still exist, but they’re pretty widely understood to be bad.

“We can’t be the first people to have noted this, and I very precisely recorded everything that he said so if one of you wants to complain you can.” Rose says, patting her bag gently.

She’s not going to complain and you bet you can guess why. You should tell Rose what you did, sooner rather than later.

“Jade could you… could you give me a second? I just want to say something to Rose real quick.” you say as you try to stick to your guns. Jade looks around at you expectantly and you think for a horrible moment that maybe she doesn’t realise that you mean you want her to leave so that you can speak to Rose privately. Then you see understanding flicker on her face and she nods.

“Right, yes, I should go find June as well. She seemed really upset.” Jade nods.

“I would venture that she’s gone to see Sollux and Dave, given the subject that was just under discussion.” Rose suggests.

Jade bids you both goodbye and makes herself scarce, leaving you and Rose alone in the hallway. Rose looks at you, her unnatural purple eyes intense and unsettling in a way that you can’t just put down to your guilt. She waits silently for you to speak, her gaze boring holes in your skull as you procrastinate.

“I-” you falter, good start.

You cough, try again.

“You seemed really upset before on the phone and this morning in class when they mentioned Doctor Lalonde. The library is called that too and when I mentioned the library before you seemed irritated so…” you try to do that thinking before you speak thing. You figure going on how your interactions with people go it seems like you’ve only got a limited number of uses of thinking before you open your mouth per month so this seems like a good time to cash in one of those rare tokens of thoughtfulness.

“And?” Rose says. She’s entirely inscrutable.

“And I didn’t want to assume things so I went to the library and asked there and found out she was this genius witch who seems crazy level of revered by everyone. That she had kids and then never really came back. It’s kind of an assumption, not a wild one, but I figure those kids were you and Dave. That maybe you were pissed because whoever was on the phone assumed you were or weren’t deserving of a place because of your name or something. I looked into it because I was worried about screwing up by sticking my foot in something, it’s not like I have had friends before and we have to live together so I really didn’t want to fuck you off by opening my big mouth or asking tactless questions. But now I feel a little like sneaking around behind your back to look shit up without saying anything is a shit thing to do as well. So I thought I should come clean before it comes to bite me in the ass. I’m sorry I invaded your privacy like a creep.” you say in literally one big breath.

Rose looks at you with an expression of faint surprise on her face.

“You are nothing if not intense, Karkat.” Rose says finally.

“That’s a funny way of saying loud and stupid.” you mutter and at the very least she laughs, though probably at you instead of with you.

“Not quite. I do appreciate your honesty, I must admit that I’m not used to such forthright transparency about the feelings and intentions of others. Dave and Sollux can be evasive in their own ways and June I think prefers that no one knows how she feels about some things, herself included. If you must know Doctor Lalonde is indeed my mother. Needless to say she’s Dave’s as well because that’s how that works. I very much got into this school on my own merit but I feel that going through all that trouble was wasted as it seems like people have already decided how me and Dave must have got here. My mother is a complicated subject that I’d rather keep relatively close to the chest, if that’s alright with you. But that said if you have a question so burning that you’d be inclined to research it from other sources I’d rather you came to me first.” Rose nods.

“Really? That’s- yeah, I can absolutely keep my nose out of all of this. That’s completely reasonable.” you nod fervently.

Your mind lingers on the subject of your last class and how her demonology research was being used. There’s clearly something to that and it can’t be a coincidence that Dave is tangled up with Sollux in whatever thing they have. Rose described Sollux as Dave’s friend before but the way Sollux seems to listen to what Dave says and wants makes you feel like it’s more than that.

“You look like you already have a question. Go on.” Rose says slyly.

You hesitate but she did say to ask, so you may as well.

“Her specialty was demons, right?” you begin.

“Hmm, one of her specialties, yes. She had a lot of skill in languages as well as the theory of how magic works under all of that. Conjuration, creating things from nothing, was a specialty of hers too. But yes, demonology was her most recent area of interest. Though I will say that the research quoted in THAT class was wildly out of date and not at all in line with what she thinks is true.” Rose sneers a little at the mention of your class and you relax a little. Their mother not being hugely anti demon makes more sense with Sollux being around Dave.

“Well that was what I was wondering, what does she think of Sollux being around?” you ask.

“Oh, well, her personal feelings on anything is a complicated matter. But she seemed to have no problem with him living with us most of the time. He never set off any of the protective wards in her house so she clearly allows him in. They talk, have a few shared interests, they seem to get on fine. He’s very helpful with her, actually.” Rose says and doesn’t elaborate on exactly what she might mean by help. Still, you suppose that’s that question answered.

“Alright, I feel a little less guilty now. Are… are we cool?” you ask.

“We’ll be just fine, Karkat. Come on, I want to talk to the others about that class.” you nod and the two of you head back to your dorms. You don’t even bother going in your room and instead head right up to the sixth floor to Dave and Sollux’s room. Even from the hallway you can hear voices inside, agitated sounding voices.

Rose knocks, almost immediately afterwards June opens the door with a face like a thundercloud. She’s super pissed off. June steps back and Rose steps in the room, you hesitate for a second and follow.

Dave and Sollux’s room is set up very differently to yours. Your shared space has a classy, mystic, peaceful vibe to it. This is a lot more frat boy. Posters for video games, comics and other inscrutable things plaster the walls and there are no less than six games consoles hooked up to a sizeable TV. At the far end of the room there’s a whole bunch of technical equipment held up on what in your room is the square dining table. There’s a grotesquely coloured skateboard that somehow hurts your eyes to look at stored inexplicably in a glass fronted case on the wall. The sink is filled with dirty dishes and though you’re too far away to touch it you’d bet that the kitchen counters were either covered in crumbs or mysteriously sticky. Gross.

Most weird of all is this thing hanging from the ceiling over the sofa, it’s like a hammock but huge and square, tethered to the ceiling at all four corners. In fact there’s a few things like that. On the far end of the room near all of the equipment there’s a felt looking ball hanging from the ceiling. The floor of their room is black stone and you can feel that it’s oddly warm even though the rubber soles of your shoes.

The square thing on the ceiling shifts all by itself and then Sollux’s face pops over the edge of it. You instantly know what it reminds you of and a laugh explodes out of you before you can stop it.

“OH FUCK, IT’S LIKE A FERRET HAMMOCK BUT FOR IDIOTS!” you laugh far FAR too loudly, making everyone in the room wince. The window thankfully doesn’t explode but you clap your hands over your mouth all the same.

“And you’re like a megaphone with legs, clearly just jealous of my far superior bed. Envy is a sin, you know.” Sollux sneers, dangling his arms over the edge as well now so he can flip you off with both hands.

“Oh God-” you start but Sollux hisses at the word, all four eyes narrowing to slits.

“You know I- don’t say that word.” he shifts his sentence halfway through but you know where he was going with it. You know how he feels about you saying that, except you don’t because you remember jack shit.

“I don’t remember, actually. Why don’t you tell me?” you say sharply.

“Why don’t you try and MAKE ME.” Sollux hisses down at you.

“Do I gotta get a little water pistol and squirt you two if you’re gonna be like this regularly?” Dave groans from where he’s slouched on the sofa.

“Ohhhh yes, we need to do that!” June gasps as her demeanor does an instant about face.

“No we don’t.” you say hurriedly because you have no desire for people to squirt you with water as if you’re some misbehaving cat. Sollux grumbles and slips out of sight again inside his- and you are going to continue to call it this- ferret hammock.

“You two are so funny, but I do feel a little like you’d benefit from having your heads knocked together.” Jade says. You’re a little ashamed to say that you only just noticed her standing there. Maybe it was fae magic disguising her, or maybe you were too busy being judgemental about the cleanliness of Dave and Sollux’s place to see her. You’re not unobservant, no, never.

“Hey, none of this is my fault. Let’s not smack my head against anything.” you tell her. From inside the hammock you can hear a childish high pitched parroting of your voice. You resist the urge to throw something at him. JUST.

“Entertaining as that is should we discuss that class?” Rose suggests.

“June was saying it got more jacked up after we left.” Dave answers her.

“It really did, I wonder what he’s going to say about other species too.” Jade says.

“We could complain but I would say that me or Dave doing so would look bad, I also doubt that Sollux will be listened to either.” Rose says.

“We can complain. I’ll do it!” June says and throws her hands up in the air.

“It’s a compulsory class though. Is there another one with a teacher who doesn’t suck because otherwise we have to go to the class if we ever want to study anything else here.” you point out.

“No you don’t.” Sollux’s voice comes from within the soft confines of the hammock. You have the urge to go over there and poke it from underneath but that would be petty and probably rude. You still want to, though.

“We just have to pass the test, we can in theory test out of the class.” Rose says thoughtfully.

“I don’t think I know enough to test out though.” Jade points out.

“I know a little about a lot of species, I lived in one of the provided buildings which had a huge proportion of nonhumans so I’ve got a passing familiarity with a lot. Not a lot of depth though. I don’t think I could pass either.” you agree.

“Sollux could teach us all about demons and Jade about fae, right?” Dave suggests.

“We could form our own study group, do our own research and teach each other.” Rose says and there’s a chaotic kind of mischief glinting in her eyes.

“One problem, I bet that guy sets the test. If we answer things that are actually true but he says is wrong we’re no better off.” you point out. It’s no good to you knowing unbiased facts about people if the guy determining what is and isn’t the right answer is a festering nutsack of bias, is it?

“Well we could teach ourselves the truth and then give the ‘right’ answers on the test, that way we’ve learnt and we pass.” June suggests with little air quotes around the word right just to show how little she thinks of that.

“And we know the ‘right’ answers how? Is one of us gonna have to keep going to class and sharing notes or what?” Dave asks, doing the air quotes thing too. You’re starting to feel that’s out of hand.

“Oh hell no, but I bet he keeps the test questions, his class notes and all that somewhere. It’d be a shame if those happened to fall into our hands, wouldn’t it?” June grins deviously. Sollux’s head appears over the edge.

“June, it sounds like you’re suggesting shenanigans.” Sollux almost purrs the words out.

“You, me, midnight, ski masks, tomfoolery, a heist. You in?” June beams. She’s pulled down the side of Sollux’s ferret hammock thing, nearly spilling him out of it. He’s got a hand on her shoulder to keep himself balanced, he’s almost nose to nose with her and his smile is a wide slash of sharp teeth.

“Hell. Fucking. Yes.” Sollux beams and the two of them fistbump.

“What if you get caught?” Jade asks, like the only sane person in the room.

“They never get caught.” Dave and Rose say at the same time with equal levels of exasperation. You get the feeling that this is something of a pattern of behaviour and you’re quite happy to have nothing to do with it.

“Nevertheless I think a group study is a great idea, I’ll get a list of topics together and we can take turns researching and sharing our knowledge. I’ll send you all emails to keep you updated.” Rose says with a formal little nod.

“So serious, much business.” Dave says flatly, making Jade giggle. You suppose her main means of communication with people must have been the internet so you probably shouldn’t judge her too much. Dave on the other hand you can totally judge as being an uncool dweeb with his internet memes and judge him you will.

Before you can open your mouth and mock someone you’re trying to be friends with your phone charm at your wrist flashes and buzzes against your skin. You reach through the charm with your other hand and swipe to accept the call.

“Hello?” you say. Your friends look at you and you figure it’s only polite to take the call outside so you head to the door. Four bright points of light shine at you from atop the fuzzy hammock at the ceiling, Sollux is watching you.

“Hello, Mr Vantas. This is Mr… Dewey, the head of the library. I saw that you put an application in through Kanaya.” a man with a smooth voice says into your ear. You open the door to Dave and Sollux’s room and step through, you don’t so much shut it after you as you let it click behind you.

“Oh, yes, I did.” you nod. You hadn’t been sure if you were going to go through with it but now that the opportunity is here you know you want it.

A prickle of something spreads up and down your spine as you stand in the hallway with your phone pressed to your ear.

“Would you be willing to come by for an interview in, say, an hour? No need to dress formally we know that you’re a student.” Mr Dewey says with a voice like smooth jazz.

“I…” you’re stood still in the hallway and you swear you can feel eyes on you, “of course. An hour from now would be fine.”

“Wonderful, see you then Mr. Vantas.” he says and the call clicks in your ear.

You’re pretty sure that you’re not alone. You may as well take a stab at it, if you’re wrong then who’s around to see you look stupid?

“Is the stalking going to be a regular thing?” you ask as you put your phone back.

“Stalking really implies a pattern of behaviour, I’m not stalking you.” Sollux says, you turn and of course he’s right there. All four of his eyes are open and you think he’s looking at your phone charm.

“This is the second time that I remember.” you point out.

“Twice isn’t a pattern and I wasn’t stalking you the first time because there was no history of doing it before-” Sollux says.

“As far as I can remember.” you interrupt.

“And this time isn’t stalking you because, as we established the last time wasn’t stalking. Therefore there’s no history of me doing it before. So I’m not stalking you. I’m in the hallway outside my own room.” Sollux says lightly as if you hadn’t said anything.

“Nice job defining stalking in a way that means you can’t ever be guilty of it.” you snort. That’s got to be some screwy demon logic for sure.

“Don’t know what you’re talking about. Who was that on the phone?” he asks, jerking his head slightly at your wrist.

“The head of the library, I applied for a job. Mr… Dewey.” you tell him, you ought to remember that name. It would be embarrassing if you forgot it.

“As in the decimal system for sorting books?” Sollux asks, squinting at you with just his main eyes this time. The asymmetry of the expression is kind of fascinating but you’re not going to stare, it’d be rude. You’re trying not to be a douchebag with no friends and as irritating as Sollux is he has close ties to the people you’re becoming friends with so it’d be smart not to hack him off completely.

“Yeah, I thought that was weird but maybe it’s that thing where people get jobs that are related to their names.” you say thoughtfully.

“There’s a word for that.” Sollux frowns.

The two of you stand there in silence as you try to remember what it is. From the way Sollux is frowning and looking off to the side you think he is too.

“A… like a something. Aptonym! Because apt name, yeah!” you snap your fingers as it comes to you.

“That’s what you think is happening there.” Sollux says, he doesn’t sound like he’s asking.

“I mean I’m not going to be that guy and point it out, I’m sure he gets that all the time. I want the job, obviously.” you shrug. Sollux closes his eyes and sighs, when he opens them again it’s just the large set.

“Can I ask you a question?” you blurt out without thinking better of it.

“Evidently.” he replies.

“Why… okay I have two eyes and generally I use both of them. If I’m only using one it’s because I’ve deliberately shut it because I’m trying to do something specific like, I don’t know, look through a narrow gap or something and having both open would screw with that. You have four and sometimes you’re using all of them and sometimes you’re not. Why?” you ask.

“You’ve just answered your own question and I didn’t need to be here for that.” he tells you somewhat irritably.

“Okay, but that makes me think that the smaller set see something different to the main set and it’s confusing using them all unless you’re actively trying to do… whatever they do.” you go on.

He just looks at you blankly.

“Should I take that to mean that just because you said I can ask you a question doesn’t mean you’re going to answer?” you guess.

“He can be taught. I’m leaving.” Sollux says and turns back towards his door.

“Wait, Sollux!” you call after him.

Sollux stops but doesn’t turn around.

“Look, I don’t know how you knew me before the event, if we were friends or what. You obviously knew me well enough that me not remembering you threw you. I know me not remembering isn’t my fault but I’m sorry that you had to deal with that. It can’t have been nice-” you start to tell him sympathetically.

You don’t get to finish because he goes from facing away from you to sinking his hands into your hoodie and slamming you against a wall. His face is so close to yours and the terrified parts of your brain are just noting how many teeth he has, how sharp they are and how very close to your very maulable face they are.

“Don’t you DARE. Don’t you dare feel sorry for me, I don’t want or need your fucking PITY. I never have and I never will! So don’t fucking try. K̵͓̣͌̚a̵͇̓̏r̵̟͆k̵̯̙͐͋a̴̻͋̉ţ̶̐ ̸̰͋V̵̜̅a̷͈̅̃n̶̗͘ṭ̷͐̕a̶̲̓s̶̩̅̕ I know your true name and I could destroy you with it, if you ever pull that shit on me I’ll make your life hell. Do you understand me? Trust me, I KNOW hell and I won’t hesitate. So fuck OFF.” Sollux snarls right in your face.

He shoves you hard and vanishes in a flash of light and imitation vape cloud.

What the… what the fuck?

You were just trying to apologise for hurting his feelings and he goes all Hannibal Lecter on you! Did you just do something you’re not supposed to with demons or something or is he personally just deranged? What in God’s name just happened here?

The wall is your friend for a good few minutes as you get your nerve back and feel confident enough to go down the stairs without falling down them from shaking legs. You sure as shit don’t want to go back into his room after that.

Despite being told not to dress up you do go back to your room and check that you don’t have food on your shirt and spend a little time trying to coax your hair into behaving. That effort is ultimately fruitless as the moment you step outside you can feel the slightest breeze undo all of your hard work.

You make it to the library in good time and stick your head inside the glass office to see Kanaya.

“Hey, they called me for an interview.” you tell her in a whisper. Then you figure you’re being dumb and just step inside, sealing the door and letting the silence spell work its magic.

“I know. I’m supposed to take you to one of the offices to wait for your interview to start, come on.” Kanaya nods and gets to her feet.

She leads you down the hallway and through a door marked staff only.

“We do book restoration down here, the university is lucky enough to have some very old and valuable texts that we’ve been able to care for. Those ones there are drying after some restoration, they’re completely priceless so please be careful.” Kanaya explains, gesturing to a low table near some chairs with several old books opened. There’s almost no other space on the table as it happens.

“Have a seat, I’ll see you afterwards.” Kanaya says and politely excuses herself, leaving you alone with the rare books and several empty seats.

Curiosity prickles at you and so you lean over the books and try to get a good look at them. The paper looks gossamer thin and the text is faded with age, the edge of the pages are soft with wear. You’re in no doubt of how old the book is because the words themselves seem to be in some kind of Old English based on the spelling and just the style of how it’s written. Priceless indeed.

“Are you Mr. Vantas?” a woman’s voice asks.

You look up from the page to see an elderly looking fae woman with ghostly pale skin and entirely black eyes, she’s draped in colourful fabric but looks like she’s about a thousand years old.

“I am, yes. Sorry, I probably shouldn’t be reading this should I? I didn’t touch it, I swear.” you tell her hastily.

“No, no, don’t worry about that dearie. I’m Ms. Paint, I work here. Would you like some tea while you wait?” the old woman croaks.

“Oh, uh, sure. If you’re making some anyway, I mean. I don’t want to interrupt you or anything.” you tell her awkwardly.

“Don’t be silly. You’re here for the job, yes?” Ms. Paint says, the door to the little room she came from is open now and you can hear her as she bustles about making tea.

“Yeah, Kanaya told me about it so I thought I should apply.” you say with a nod and sit back in your chair a little so that you’re not looming over the priceless books.

“You’ve no experience though.” she says and your shoulders fall.

“No.” you admit.

“That’s fine, everyone starts somewhere. Experience can be gained, other things not so much. Here we are, this is turmeric tea. It’s lovely but don’t spill it on your clothes or they’ll be yellow forever!” Ms. Paint laughs and totters back towards you. Her hands are shaky and you can see bright yellow drops of tea sliding down the edge of the teacup and to your horror it looks like she’s going to put the cup right down on the book!

“Wait, the book!” you gasp.

“Hmm?” Ms. Paint says and as she turns to look at you it’s clear that she’s going to spill that bright yellow tea all over the priceless book.

You move before you can even think about it, skidding forward and scooping the book out of danger. The tea falls but it’s only going to hit you instead of the book. Only it doesn’t, it halts just above your sleeve and then whooshes back up into the cup.

Baffled you look up at Ms Paint who no longer seems shaky and unstable, rather she seems sharp as anything and there’s a glint in her black eyes.

“You’re hired.” she says, her voice smoother and less frail sounding.

“I… what?” you stammer out in shock.

“I said you’re hired. Come on young man, up you get.” Ms. Paint says. She floats her cup of tea in the air and pulls you to your feet with a deceptively strong hand. To your embarrassment she bends over and dusts off your knees from where you’d skidded across the floor.

“Experience can be gained but I can’t teach someone to care about books. So, if you’re still interested in working here I say we should look at your schedule and see when we can arrange that.” Ms. Paint says with a nod.

“But the-” you stop your protest when you look and see that the priceless book in your hands is suddenly a phone book.

“Ah, I wouldn’t risk a real book, don’t worry about that! Although given how people don’t really make phone books much anymore maybe it’s more rare and worth preserving than I think it is. Come on now, and drink your tea, it really is very good.” she chuckles. The teacup floats over to you and you carefully take it from the air, you set the phone book down on the table with what is now obviously several magazines and another phone book as well, it was all an illusion. But you passed the test, she hired you!

Ms. Paint, it turns out, is nowhere near as frail or out of it as she had been pretending to be. As you sit down with her and show her your schedule she negotiates shifts with you and tells you that since Kanaya recommended you she would be responsible for training you.

“If you don’t mind my asking dear, what are you? Only I can see you’re not human and some of the more advanced books get a little snappy around some species.” she asks as she makes notes on your staff sheet.

“I don’t remember, sorry.” you apologise.

“Hmm. Can I see your hand, please?” Ms. Paint asks and holds out her pale and wrinkled hand in expectation. You hold your own out and she peers at it, palm side up. She examines the lines on your hand and the tips of your fingers and even scratches at your skin lightly.

Ms. Paint is clearly old and she’s a fae. She’s far more otherworldly looking than Jade is and you suspect she’s far older and far more powerful. Perhaps someone as wise as her might know what you really are. Hope bubbles up inside you, the treacherous thing that it is.

“Do you know what I am?” you ask, your hand must be trembling in hers for how excited you are for her answer.

“I can’t say that I’ve ever seen anything like you. Hm, of course you could be a mix between two nonhuman species that’s made an unusual hybrid. Or perhaps you’re just different to a species that I’ve met before, it’s hard to say. Sorry I can’t give you an answer, Karkat.” Ms. Paint says regretfully and lets you go.

Disappointment settles in your belly like a rock but it’s a sadness that you’ve swallowed many times before. You will find out, you’re determined to figure this out. You will get there, no one can stop you!

“Well, I guess we’ll just cross that bridge when we come to it and make sure you don’t go near the dangerous books without supervision. It’d be quite a way in the future before we’d let you do that anyway so, really, we shouldn’t get ahead of ourselves.” Ms. Paint says and gives you a wrinkly smile.

A little while later you leave her office with a schedule and a staff ID badge hanging around your neck on a lanyard. Kanaya spots you the moment you’re even slightly in sight of her office, she waves you over as if you weren’t going to see her on your way out already.

“I got the job!” you tell her, probably redundantly because you are wearing the staff badge now.

“You passed the test! What did you do with the books?” Kanaya asks eagerly, this must be something Ms. Paint pulls often if Kanaya already knows about it.

“She was going to put a turmeric tea soaked cup down on what you told me were priceless books, so naturally I flung myself across the room to save them like a lunatic.” you explain. On another note you’re not really sure about that tea, the best descriptor you have for it is just ‘yellow’ which isn’t a ringing endorsement. You’re a little concerned it might have stained your teeth but you’re not going to ask Kanaya that.

“I yanked the whole table out of the way, you’ll do just fine here.” Kanaya nods sagely.

“My first day here is the day after tomorrow and apparently I’m your responsibility, sorry about that I guess.” you tell her.

“Tomorrow is one of my days off, that’s why. And I don’t mind training you at all, as long as you listen to me when I tell you something is dangerous we’ll be fine.” Kanaya says. Yeah, you have no problem taking instructions from someone trying to stop you getting hurt. You have zero ego here about knowing more than she does, Kanaya absolutely knows more and you’re cool with that.

“I’m kind of glad that I get better lending privileges as staff now too, I think I’m going to be needing it. I’ve already got a study group going.” you tell her and run your thumb over the laminated surface of your badge. The holographic foil on it shines appealingly with an air of achievement and very minor authority.

“That was fast.” Kanaya says.

“Oh man, you wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” you groan.

“Try me.” Kanaya challenges you.

So you do, you catch her up on the teacher and his very anti-demon lecture. You explain how it clearly pissed off your friends and how you’re all wary about how his course is going to go from now and your plan to just study the truth yourself and try to just take the test without going to the classes. Naturally you leave out the theft you suspect that Sollux and June are going to try to pull off.

You also mention about how Sollux reacted to you trying to be sympathetic to his feelings. You understand that it must suck to have someone not remember you and you thought apologising for that was the decent thing to do even if it wasn’t your fault but clearly he didn’t agree.

“Hmm, demons are tricky. Their ways of thinking can be quite alien but also very human at times, but that said I’ve never met a demon that I didn’t eventually like. Their society is very hierarchical, who outranks who is very much a focus so I suppose it is possible that you could have stumbled into some turn of phrase that’s an insult to that kind of thing in their culture.” Kanaya says after you’re done talking, you didn’t even mean to tell her all of that but she’s a disarmingly good listener.

“I definitely got the feeling that I was missing something there, either I said the wrong thing or the guy is just a complete psycho. Everyone else seems to like him though so it has to be me, right? But what do I do? Apologise for offending him somehow? I think that’ll just end up the same way.” you reason. If sympathy brought out that kind of rabid reaction then another dose of it won’t do you any favours, will it?

“I would say that actions speak louder than words. If you don’t think he means you actual harm then I would suggest continuing to behave as normal, then if he did interpret your words as an insult to his station he would be more likely to write it off and see how you actually act.” Kanaya suggests.

You lean back in your chair and fiddle with a torn off receipt for a book return.

“That’s pretty good advice. Usually if someone was like this with me I’d tell them to fuck off and just avoid them but he’s my roommate’s twin’s best friend, she lived with the guy. I don’t want her to hate me so I’m stuck with the him.” you sigh.

In truth it isn’t just that, although the social ties between you and him aren’t to be ignored. No, you have a feeling that his outburst was weird for him somehow. Something is amiss, you’re lacking information but in your gut you don’t feel like he actually has any intentions of really hurting you at all. Maybe that’s foolish. Maybe that kind of feeling is the sort of thing that gets people killed around demons but all the same you can’t shake it. If the guy doesn’t like you then that’s fine, but you don’t think he’s going to eviscerate you messily in the hallway or anything.

“Well, I should go. I guess I have to introduce myself to the other people who work here when I’m next in. I- wait, I never saw the guy who called me on the phone!” you gasp as the idea suddenly occurs.

“Mr. Dewey you mean? That old trick.” Kanaya chuckles and you stare blankly at her.

“If Ms. Paint had called you herself then you would have recognised her voice and acted like you had to impress her. She cares about how people treat other people who aren’t above them, she’s kicked applicants out before because they were condescending to the old lady with the tea, they thought they just had to impress the man who called them in.” Kanaya explains.

“But… then who…?” you ask dumbly.

Kanaya smiles and holds up her fingers, green light and tiny letters gather in a circle around them in orbit of her first two fingers. She presses them to her throat and speaks.

“It’s a staff spell, the smooth tones of Mr. Dewey Decimal are very useful.” she says in the smooth jazz voice from the phone. She takes her fingers away and flicks them until the light vanishes.

“Very fun at parties too.” Kanaya chuckles.

“Wait, so you called me?” you gasp.

“Hah, no. That was Ms. Paint, we just all know the spell. I’ll teach it to you when you’ve passed your basic spellcasting course.” Kanaya promises.

You’re looking forward to it. The immature part of your brain is tempted to use it to call up people who annoyed you in the past and mess with them but you should probably not immediately be planning on how to misuse magic that you’ve not been taught yet.

When you get back to your dorm there’s a note from Rose on the whiteboard on your door saying that she’s gone to dinner. Inside there’s a little paper note on the table that says that she’s realised that she doesn’t have your phone number and she’s left you hers. Out of sheer habit you don’t send her a regular text but rather put her number into the free trollian app. You wonder if they’re going to change the name because some activists have been going on about how it’s unfair to name something after a magical creature without that culture’s permission, but trolls aren’t a species that really interacts with humans so you don’t see the problem. Anyway, you get in touch with Rose.

carcinoGeneticist [CG] began trolling  tentacleTherapist [TT]  
  
CG: HI ROSE, IT'S KARKAT. I'M BACK AND SAW YOUR NOTE  
CG: OBVIOUSLY.  
TT: Hello Karkat, I'm just in the dining hall now.   
TT: I hope that Sollux hasn't scared you off, we heard a bit of an incident going down outside but by the time we came to investigate Sollux had shut himself up in his room and you were gone.  
CG: YEAH, THAT'S SOMETHING ALRIGHT. I THINK I OFFENDED HIM SOMEHOW BUT I'M NOT GOING TO GO INTO IT.   
CG: I GOT CALLED IN FOR A JOB INTERVIEW AT THE LIBRARY, I GOT THE JOB ACTUALLY.   
TT: Congratulations!   
CG: YEAH I'M PRETTY HAPPY ABOUT IT ACTUALLY. I'VE NO IDEA WHY THE GOVERNMENT AUTOMATICALLY GAVE PEOPLE WHO LOST ALL OF THEIR MEMORIES MONEY BUT WHO KNOWS WHEN THAT'LL SUDDENLY STOP. BETTER TO HAVE MONEY SAVED UP AND AN EMPLOYMENT HISTORY, RIGHT?  
TT: Certainly. It is strange how that legislation was already in effect the day the event happened but it was my impression that although people talked about removing it and the provided housing because ~socialism~ that people were too scared to really do it.   
TT: A magical force powerful enough to affect the world like that is not to be trifled with.   
CG: YEAH BUT SINCE WHEN HAVE PEOPLE BEEN SENSIBLE?  
TT: Quite. What are your plans for the evening? Are you joining us? Sollux isn't here if that sways your decision.   
CG: OH GOD, I'M TRYING TO AVOID THAT TWEEN BULLSHIT. AVOIDING EACH OTHER AND MAKING OTHER PEOPLE INFORM YOU ON THE STATUS OF THE OTHER ONE.   
CG: I WAS GOING TO STUDY, I DON'T REALLY FEEL LIKE GOING OUT. I'M SURE I CAN SCRAPE SOMETHING TOGETHER FROM WHAT I BROUGHT FROM MY PLACE.  
CG: CEREAL IS AN ACCEPTABLE DINNER, FIGHT ME.   
TT: Or I could perhaps bring you back something from the dining hall if you're not dead set on suffering through the most studenty meal possible.   
TT: Far be it from me to defile your aesthetic if that's what you're going for.   
CG: OH I'M NOT WEDDED TO SUFFERING. IF YOU'RE ACTUALLY OFFERING TO BRING ME FREE FOOD FROM THE DINING HALL I'D BE MORE THAN HAPPY TO EAT IT.   
TT: I'll do that then, I was going to come back soon anyway. Anything you don't eat?  
CG: I'M NOT PICKY, ANYTHING SHOULD BE FINE. THANKS, ROSE, I APPRECIATE IT.   
TT: It's no trouble.   
  
tentacleTherapist [TT] ceased trolling  carcinoGeneticist [CG]

You leave your door open and sit at your desk reading through the textbook that your introduction to spellcasting class told you to get. You’re reading over how the first language that you’re going to learn works. The advantage of C is that the characters it uses are primarily English so reading it is easier, although it is clear that some words have a very specific meaning that you wouldn’t assume in just common speech. That said there are symbols for things that English has no words for but it doesn’t look like you’ll need those just yet.

When Rose stops by almost an hour later with a takeout box of lasagne you’re happy for the break, you’re even happy for slightly stiff pasta and cheese that’s definitely been under a hot lamp for a little while.

“Thanks.” you tell her gratefully as you take the box from her and rub your tired eyes.

“No problem. Reading ahead are we?” Rose notes as she looks past you to your open textbook.

“I really want to be good at this, but the more I read… I am learning things but at the same time I’m understanding just how much I don’t understand. If that even makes sense, I don’t know.” you mutter and nudge your book aside so that you don’t risk getting food on it.

“I understand what you mean. I must admit that I can do magic in this language but my skills extend far more into reading already completed work or just doing instinctive verbal magic. Actually composing written magical instructions isn’t something I’ve done a lot of. I’m a touch concerned that mine and Dave’s previous experience might have taught us bad habits.” Rose says a little regretfully. Yeah, you suppose if her patron god was Cthulu before The Event that C would likely be her favoured language, or one of her favoured ones at least.

“At least you know you can do magic, I think until I write something out myself and really do it I’ll still worry that they’ve just made some big mistake with me.” you sigh.

“Then I suppose our test really will be a trial by fire for you.” Rose smiles.

“Har har.” you laugh flatly and without humour. Nightmares about burning yourself are probably going to crop up a lot until you pass those tests. That’ll be fun, you’re sure.

“On another note, I’ll be out tomorrow evening. I have a clairvoyance class in the evening and since it doesn’t require written magic-” Rose starts.

“We’re allowed to take it before we pass the other classes. I know because I’m taking it too.” you tell her.

“I didn’t see that coming.” Rose says in surprise.

“Ironically.” you snort.

“Ugh, don’t talk to me about irony.” Rose groans. You pause, a sheet of pasta halfway to your mouth.

“Sorry?” you venture. Maybe Sollux isn’t weirdly sensitive, you could just be incredibly bad at interacting with people in a way that makes them not hate you. Your life experience thus far holds that up.

“That’s very much a thing that Dave is into, irony and his lack of understanding of it. Deeply irksome, as I’m sure you’ll come to agree in time. Regardless, I look forward to attending the class with you, it’ll be nice to have the company.” Rose nods.

She pretty much leaves you to your dinner and studying after that. You think you like Rose as a roommate, you have your own separate spaces and she isn’t intrusive when you do interact with her. Even when you’re reading in your room with your door open and she’s doing the same it’s nice knowing that you’re not by yourself for a change.

The next day your group skips Xenobiology and meets up in June and Jade’s room which is by now lousy with plants, including several species that you’ve never even seen before. To your surprise when you walk through the door Sollux is just floating crosslegged in the air by June’s shoulder.

“Guess what I have!” June declares as you and Rose walk through the door.

“A hairbrush?” you blurt out before you think about it, because as usual June’s hair is crazy.

“What, no.” June frowns seeming confused.

“Of course.” you nod.

To your surprise Sollux laughs loudly and has to cover his mouth with his hand to stop himself going on. June seems to clock that you just insulted her and she folds her arms across her chest, the papers quite visibly in her hands rustling as she does so.

“Gee, Karkat, you’re kind of an asshole you know.” June tells you sharply. Sollux is still laughing and is undeterred when June scowls at him.

“I’m sorry, it sort of came out of my mouth without going through my brain.” you admit.

“Don’t apologise, that’s stupid. Ruining a burn like that.” Sollux tuts in disapproval. God, he’s weird.

“What I HAVE here, Karkat,” June says and smacks you in the face with a stack of papers, “are the questions and the answers to the test to get out of that stupid class.”

“Exactly how did you get that?” Jade asks.

“By being awesome.” Sollux says and shares a fistbump with June.

“That absolutely explains everything, no further questions here.” Dave says flatly.

“I knew you’d understand.” Sollux says brightly.

“Leaving aside the ethics of theft from speciests you’ve done it now so we should probably commit to this, perhaps it would behoove us to go over the original material and the test answers and then break up our research schedule for the actual truth. We could, perhaps, take turns researching and teaching the information to each other to better share the workload.” Rose suggests.

“That makes sense. We’ve got six topics as well so that breaks up nicely. Sollux do you want to take demons?” June asks, looking at him.

“Oh, so just because I’m a demon that means I must want to be the one teaching about demons? That’s what you’re saying to me?” Sollux gasps in offence.

“No I’m saying you’re a lazy person and this is a topic you don’t have to research.” June snorts in amusement.

“I prefer efficient but sure I’ll do it.” Sollux nods.

“I’ll do fae, the research could be pretty interesting. I haven’t really had contact with other fae so much.” Jade says.

“Fae are cool. I’ve got respect for any species that does deals like we do, plus they make nice stuff.” Sollux tells her and Jade beams with very obvious delight. Why can he be nice to her and not you?

“What other topics have you got? Oh, cool, I’ll take werewolves.” Dave says as he pulls at June’s papers until he can see.

“I’m going to go with merfolk, which leaves selkies and vampires.” June says.

“My coworker is a vampire.” you comment.

“Well perhaps you should take that topic then, you can see if your coworker might be willing to check your sources for you. I’m happy to take selkies.” Rose suggests.

“Yeah, ok that sounds good.” you agree.

With your work divided the six of you look over the notes for your subjects. A lot of the information about vampires seems like the stuff you have absorbed from general culture. Not being able to enter places without permission, not being able to be exposed to sunlight, warded off by holy symbols etc. Except you imagine that if the holy symbol thing ever worked it doesn’t now, just as Sollux pointed out for demons. You also doubt the not being exposed to sunlight thing because unless the library windows filter out whatever is dangerous in sunlight you know that you’ve seen Kanaya in the daylight. You’ve exclusively seen her in the daylight actually.

In the afternoon you have your C magical language lecture and lab and since you’re all skipping Xenobiology 101 your group instead hits up the dining hall and loads up on lunch and coffee. Making friends, remember?

“So, June, how do you know those three?” you ask as you eye an ambigious fruit jello cup before figuring ‘fuck it’ and adding it to your tray.

“Oh we go way back. I didn’t live all that far from them you see, me and dad lived more in town and they lived in the woods but we’d hang out a bunch and we went to the same school. It’s actually nice to go to school with Sollux though.” June explains.

You cast an eye at the very obviously demonic figure ahead of your group, he’s not paying attention to you at all but rather listening to some rambling stream of words from Dave.

“They didn’t let him go to school, huh?” you guess.

Higher education is one thing but humans can be funny about that sort of thing. Getting half humans into schools only happened in the last hundred years but Sollux whose species, not without reason, has a reputation for evil? Yeah, no. ‘Somebody think of the children’ would have kept him well out of there.

“In fairness I don’t think he super wanted to go either.” June shrugs.

“Actually, surely he’d have been too old, right? Demons don’t really age do they? Would have been odd for him to go to middle school looking like that, although the mental image is great.” you snort as you picture Sollux sat next to tween Dave looking just as he does now.

“Actually, wait hold on…” June hums and moves along as the line goes forward. She’s flicking through her phone and finally she turns the screen around to show you a young teenage Dave, Rose, June and indeed Sollux. Only Sollux looks the same age as them, he’s clearly younger in the picture.

“Holy shit is he actually our age?” you whisper in shock.

“He’s younger than me, actually. Don’t tell him I told you.” June winks at you.

She slides up to the register and checks out as you marvel over that information. That’s got to be young for a demon if he’s, what, eighteen? Or do demons not work that way? Perhaps he changed his age to match the people he was around, a subtle form of shapeshifting maybe. You’re pretty sure he won’t tell you if you ask but you’re super curious.

“I guess that explains why he doesn’t seem to be into the classes thing if he’s never done school before.” you say and slide your tray over to check out with your student card.

“Yeah, it’s kind of a change I guess. But he’s a smart guy, he’ll get into it the moment he runs into something that’s challenging for him.” June says with a shrug.

You take your card back from the lady at the checkout, thanks to some miracle everything is somehow covered in that tuition that you’re not paying for.

“What about you, Karkat? What was your life like before you came here?” June asks.

You frown at your tray as you step away from the line.

“I lived in one of the buildings for people who don’t remember their past and got keys to rooms there. I lived on my own and I never had any friends. I don’t know what I am but you only need a few kids at school to work out that you’re SOMETHING and shit gets shittier way fast. I’m kind of amazed that I have a job now and people willing to talk to me.” you tell her.

“Oh.” June says in a surprised voice.

“Sorry, bringing down the mood. Where did the others go?” you try to steer the conversation into distraction and look around for the others. Ah, over there you can see them at a table already.

“But I’m sure it wasn’t all bad though! Sure kids can be mean but I bet it was fun in your building, right? Everyone in the same boat, it must have been a real community, yeah?” June says hopefully as you start walking towards the others.

“No, living in the magic amnesia ghetto building wasn’t fun. My neighbours hated me and I couldn’t move.” you tell her a little more sharply that you’d meant to.

“Karkat, I was thinking about tonight.” Rose says as you draw close to the table, hopefully that’ll cut off your unfortunate conversation with June.

“Yeah?” you say and sit down and start getting your food off of your tray so you’re not taking up an unreasonable amount of space on the table.

“That we should probably come down here to eat at eight and then go afterwards.” Rose suggests.

“Where are you going? You’re way too gay to be taking him on a-” Dave starts.

“OW!” Sollux yelps and lifts his legs out from under the table so he has his knees to his chest.

“Kicked the wrong ankle. Like I said you’re way too gay to take Karkat on a date so whatcha doin?” Dave finishes asking.

Rose picks up her knife and throws it at Dave, only it stops in midair just before his face. The utensil promptly floats back over to Rose and melts right over her dessert.

“Thank you, Sollux. I wasn’t trying to kick you, I do apologise for that at least.” she says wearily.

“You were trying to kick Dave and throw a knife at him.” Sollux growls.

“Yeah, Rose.” Dave grins.

“If I tell you where we’re going will the idiocy stop?” you ask, already knowing the real answer.

“I doubt it.” Rose mutters and nudges at her still glowing dessert remnants with her fork.

“We have a class on seeing the future. Dream interpretation, tarot, all that sort of thing. They hold it at night, tonight in fact. Happy now? Done divulging other people’s personal information?” you ask him.

“That’s all I wanted to know. See Rose, didn’t have to be a production.” Dave sneers at his sister.

“I’m going to build a fancy mausoleum and lock you inside it when you’re still alive.” Rose tells him without looking up from her inedible dessert.

“Why do you want to see the future?” Sollux asks, ignoring the death threats going on beside him. He’s watching you curiously, his eyes bright and inhuman ears pricked to attention.

“Why do you care?” you retort immediately.

“Why do you not want me to know?” Sollux fires back immediately.

You- ugh. Fine, accept that you may have had a cultural mishap before and move past it for the sake of social niceness, right? That was your resolution.

“First of all, seeing the future would be cool as heck.” you tell him, holding up one finger.

“Heck?” Sollux repeats incredulously, you ignore that.

“Second, it’s not so much the future that I’m interested in but more the whole process of gaining knowledge from forces outside myself. If I can do the future then maybe I can do the past.” you reason.

“You’re trying to remember things.” Sollux says slowly.

“Obviously.” you tell him. Why wouldn’t you?

“Not to, like, discourage you or anything but people have tried that sort of thing a lot over the last five years.” June says regretfully, like a parent breaking it to their kid that the Easter Bunny isn’t real.

“Well I haven’t tried it. Plus, what do I have to lose?” you reason.

“But-” June starts.

“If I can do something then I have to, it doesn’t matter how miniscule the odds are.” you say emphatically.

There’s a puff of red and blue smoke and suddenly there’s no Sollux there at all, at least everyone else looks as confused as you feel.

“What did I say this time?” you ask.

“That’s pretty weird.” Jade agrees.

“Hey, how come you’ve got entirely desserts? I only just noticed!” June laughs, pointing to Jade’s plate. True enough she has cinnamon rolls, buns, jello and other assorted things.

“I’m just trying things we couldn’t get on the island is all! I'm not really sure I like this so much though.” Jade admits and pokes the ambiguously fruity jello with a spoon.

There’s another flash of light and apple-y smoke and Sollux is back, this time with hot sauce in hand. Maybe you didn’t say something wrong and he just suddenly remembered that he wanted something from his fridge back in his dorm. That explanation is convenient but you don’t entirely feel it’s right. He’s also putting hot sauce on literally everything but you’re not going to question it, other people’s weirdness is their problem, not yours.

Your first C class after lunch goes over a lot of the technical stuff that you had already been reading but it’s good to hear it explained and a few things that hadn’t quite clicked for you when you were studying alone become clearer. In the lab itself you’re not writing your own spells out but rather assessing provided examples so you can accurately translate them. Given that C is almost entirely written in English you’d think it’d be easy but it functions so differently from natural speech that it takes some time to get your head around it.

By the end of the class you’ve managed to correctly translate everything and you think you’re getting a hang on the unusually rigid grammar of the language.

“There’s a certain clarity to it that’s appealing but there’s no poetry to the language. I don’t think it’s the language for me.” June sighs as you all walk back to your dorms.

“~ATH is way better.” Sollux agrees.

“I’d be interested to learn that sometime.” Jade tells him.

The others keep going past you as you and Rose let yourself into your room, you wave your goodbyes but all the same relish in the silence when the door shuts. You enjoy the company of people but having spent your life so isolated it’s a lot to get used to.

“If it wasn’t for how badly June clearly wants me to I’d ask how they managed to get hold of that teacher’s notes and the test overnight. Part of me thinks I’d be happier not knowing, though.” Rose says out of nowhere.

“What, are you imagining some mission impossible style nonsense?” you ask her and Rose gives you a sly conspiratorial look. Maybe that’s more likely than you thought. She offers no more explanation and instead wanders off to her room, leaving you alone until later when you’re going to get food and then go to class again.

With the mention of movies your eyes slide to Rose’s nice TV. You’ve no intention of watching Mission Impossible but you might relax with a movie that’s more your taste before you have to leave later. After the uncertain fiddling that comes with using any TV setup that you’re not familiar with, you finally get Netflix working and settle down to watch 50 First Dates. It’s a good time, as it always is. You can always rely on romance movies with happy endings to make you feel better. Unfortunately by the time you and Rose walk into your class all of the relaxed mindset that you’d watched so much Adam Sandler to cultivate burns away in favour of anxiety. What if you can’t do any of the things that you’re taught here? What if you learn nothing at all?

Your classroom is atop a tower, up far too many fucking stairs and after that a crapptonne more stairs. If nothing else, attending this class will be great for your cardio. The classroom itself is filled with crystals, stacked up teacups, jars of small bones and a whole bunch of things that look like a hoarder went through a props department. None of the furniture in the room matches at all but you sit down at a small round table with Rose and await the start of class.

“Hmm.” Rose says dubiously, her eyes roaming over everything on the walls. You eye a large star chart for a moment or two, it all looks very complex.

“What’re you thinking?” you ask her as quietly as you can.

“I got visions from Cthulhu, I was gifted with sight. All of these methods of seeing just struck me as so trite and tacky, it’s both depressing and humbling to have to be here. I can’t say I’m a fan of the feeling.” Rose says under her breath, clearly hoping to only be heard by you. You doubt anyone else in the class will appreciate her words.

“It does seem a little…” you try to find the word as your gaze lands on a carved crystal skull.

“Kitchy?” Rose suggests, you nod in agreement. That’s about right.

When your teacher walks in the feeling is only solidified. She has long black hair with gold chains and crystals woven through it, her clothes are floaty multi-coloured fabric, her entire demeanour gives you the impression that somewhere in her house is driftwood with ‘live, laugh, love’ on it and genuinely thinks that kale chips are good.

“Hello class!” she says in a breathy sigh. You and Rose share a skeptical look.

“I’m so delighted to have you all with me this semester, I hope I can guide you to your personal method of seeing the beyond.” she says and turns to the chalkboard behind her.

“To begin I would like to describe to you the main families of second sight. Firstly is when a witch receives information from a deity or other higher power. Prophets and lots of seers generally fell under this bracket, of course this no longer works.” she says and writes ‘gifted knowledge - higher power’ on the board.

Rose’s fingernails dig into the star patterned tablecloth on the table between you.

“The second is knowledge given to us from the afterlife or other non-corporeal beings. So this can be voices of the deceased or elemental spirits. The methods of this vary but there are plenty of practical applications for this. Understanding that a river spirit will lash out can prevent construction going up in an inappropriate place, therefore saving people’s homes from flooding in the future. There are also mediums who work with private investigators, although at the moment such evidence is unfortunately not admissible in court it can direct an investigation to find other proof.” the teacher goes on, this time writing ‘gifted knowledge - spirits’. This perks you up at least, despite her appearance and the tone of her voice the teacher seems pretty switched on to the actual uses of the things she teaches. All of which implies that her methods do actually work.

“The third category is knowledge we gain from ourselves. Sometimes this can be a way by way of communing with ourselves through time, or by way of divining things that we subconsciously know. Though this last branch is difficult most people have experienced it in a way. We’ve all had the experience of flipping a coin to decide what to do and when it lands finding that we knew all along because we feel relief or instead wish for the other result. Our intuitive minds pick up more than we know and this is a way of recovering that knowledge.” she goes on. That right there is the one you’re REALLY interested in. Whatever happened to you and everyone else who lost their memories can’t be absolute, surely every spell has a weakness, some way around it. All you want to know is who and what you are, you’re entitled to that knowledge Goddamnit!

“The last category is very much like the third. This is drawing information from other people. In some cases their physical selves in the case of palm reading, and sometimes less so in the case of viewing someone’s aura. This last kind is very hard to do without first gaining skills in reading yourself.” she finishes.

The final two categories on the board go up as ‘knowledge from self’ and ‘knowledge from others’. The teacher sets her chalk down and turns to face the assembled class with a smile.

“Naturally there’s overlaps between these kinds of things, some methods work well with multiple families of knowledge and sometimes two dovetail nicely. You could ask help from a spirit to interpret the fortune of another person, giving you context to the information you have.” she explains.

“How are we going to be evaluated on this course? Is it on how good we are at getting information?” another student asks and you silently thank them for asking what you didn’t have the guts to.

Your teacher shakes her head to a slight jingling of her jewelry.

“No, that would be unfair. Each week I will explain about a new method of divining and issue you with the tools to do so. Then that week I’ll set you the task of trying that method and you’ll write up your experiences as well as an essay question I’ll set each week. The thing with this field is that even the most gifted among us can’t use every method, different things work for different people. So it’s in everyone’s interests for this to be a chance to trial methods. I do offer courses in a lot of these in depth if you pass this course and I have other colleagues who have their own specialty if you find something that clicks for you.” she says.

That seems reasonable. You get a thing, you try it, report back and repeat. It’s probably not going to get you over the learning hurdle of being bad at something but it’s probably going to rule out a lot of shit that won’t work at all. Besides, you have a roommate who will want to study this with you.

“First of all, we’ll start with the basics. The Ouija Board!” your teacher beams and pulls a box out.

Maybe this class has already heightened your skills of extrasensory perception because you definitely just felt that wave of despair from Rose.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for your wonderful reviews, it's been really fun to read! Also for those of you who have never seen a ferret hammock you're missing out, take a look! [Witness the cuteness](https://duckduckgo.com/?q=ferret+hammock&atb=v206-6_r&ia=images&iax=images)


	3. Spellwork

“The timings for each day begin just after the stroke of midnight, so it’s really important that by the end of each day we’ve checked in all books that have been returned. In the last half hour before midnight it’s key to check all of the drop boxes. We’ll try to limit how late we schedule you since you’re not nocturnal but I’ll end up taking you through at least one overnight shift so you know how it’s done.” Kanaya explains, patting her hand on the top of a book return box.

“Right, so a student returns a book in there, then what?” you ask.

Kanaya opens up the book return box and takes out a stack of books, placing them in your arms.

“We take them back to the office and check them in, we look for damage and check the return date. Come with me.” she explains and leads you back towards the glass office.

The two of you settle in seats together with your stack of returned books.

“These are all standard books, so all we have to do is check that they’re in good condition. We look through to be sure no one has written in them or highlighted anything and then we check the date. If it’s before or on its return date and it’s fine we check it back in on the system and set it in the return pile.” she says and gestures to a book trolley off to the side.

“Okay, and let’s say I open this book and someone’s written in it or they’ve torn a page out. Something horrible like that, what happens then?” you ask.

“Well, if someone’s defaced a book they will be fined. We ensure that they pay this fine by calling up the magical signature of their library card, as per their terms of membership they accept fines and punishments. There’s a hex that we run which moves all added text, highlighting and such to the skin of the offender. Starting with the face. The text can only be removed by us once they’ve paid a fine and been subjected to any other penalties that Ms. Paint decides on. Actual vandalism like tearing a page out is above our paygrade and cases like that go right to Ms. Paint herself but that’s never happened in all my years here, I dread to think what she might do.” Kanaya shudders in horror for a moment.

“Holy shit, what do we do if a book is just late?” you ask, half dreading the answer.

“At midnight any books overdue are flagged on the computer system and we send an email out detailing what they owe us and how the fine will increase as time goes on.” she explains.

Oh, that’s not so bad at all.

“Of course, we found that people didn’t check those emails so now it also curses them with a black mark on their hand that grows as time goes on.” she says airily.

Ah. Okay then.

“I don’t remember reading anything about that when I got my student card.” you whisper in horror.

“It’s somewhere in the fine print on the back and in a leaflet somewhere in the welcome pack I think, no one ever reads the fine print. You’ll likely have to explain this to a lot of other first year students who didn’t read it either.” Kanaya tells you.

You’re going to be very sure to never get an overdue book. Kanaya smiles cheerfully at you and goes on to show you how to scan books back in and the two of you sit there and check books in then arrange them in the right order on the return trolley. She teaches you how to know where in the library books should be stored and how to use the library search function on the computers so you can help people find things. The latter part of your first shift goes relatively normally until you have half an hour before you’re due to finish it.

“Alright, I need to show you the dangerous books section. You have to pass some tests before we’ll let you near these but I think you should see them just so you understand how important it is that you don’t go near them. Come with me.” Kanaya says and leads you out of the office. She flips a little sign on the door as she goes, it says that you’ll be back shortly.

To your surprise Kanaya takes you first to the staff room that you were shown when you first arrived for this shift. She crouches down and opens up the refrigerator, she takes out a tupperware box that has something wet looking in the bottom of it. Without any explanation she has you follow her back out and out to the elevators. A swipe of her badge opens the option for you to be able to go down.

“We have some staff members who work on book restoration on older texts and those are stored down here but you won’t be dealing with them. We’ve also got texts that have been pulled pending review because the information they contain is wrong to a dangerous degree, either because the texts are outdated or due to misprints. We also have the dangerous books.” she explains.

The doors ding open and you’re lead into a clean and open space. A tired looking man sits at a bench in the far corner, hunched over a book with a cotton tip in his hand as he runs it over the page. To the far side of the room there are bookshelves filled with books.

“Do a lot of books get pulled for that sort of thing?” you ask in surprise.

“Well, after The Event a lot of spells became unstable and casting them would be unwise so they’ve been taken out for safety. We keep them because they can still be read and the knowledge is still worthwhile but it needs to be in a safe area and possibly with supervision. Some of these books were also damaged in accidents, the faculty can be pretty guilty of that.” Kanaya tuts at that last part. You feel a little sorry for anyone who has to come to Kanaya or Ms. Paint and tell them that they damaged a book.

Kanaya leads you to a large series of cages at the far end of the room, she swipes her badge and steps inside, closing the door behind her and leaving you on the outside.

“This is the largest cage here, books that have dangerous subject matter. So either spells that are illegal, such as raising the dead or spells to cause plagues, that kind of thing. Some are perfectly sensible books but if misapplied their knowledge is dangerous. Anything that messes with physics on a large scale is in here, along with anything that messes with the boundaries between planes of reality. Very useful and advanced texts but we don’t let unqualified people near them for obvious reasons, including you unless you pass the right tests.” she says, waving at a large cage of books.

“I feel a little safer knowing that those are locked up.” you agree and Kanaya smiles at your admission. You shudder to think what could happen if someone who didn’t know what they were doing went fucking around with reality. Luckily for everyone your newly employed ass is here to save the world. Surely everyone feels safer knowing THAT huh?

“These second ones are cursed books. Witches or creatures in the past protecting their books by cursing them so no one else could steal their knowledge. Most of them we have counterspells for but obviously you need to book an appointment for that and they’re in here just so that no one takes them without the right protections in place.” Kanaya explains and then moves on to the third cage with you following her on the outside of the bars.

“These ones… these are the problem children.” Kanaya says, her fingernails drumming on the tupperware.

Your eyes widen as you see something on the shelves MOVE.

“Some of these books are alive or at least animated to seem like it, some are cursed in a way that we can’t undo. You do not, under any circumstance, touch any of them. Some of them may try to manipulate you into picking them up, casting a spell of fascination on your mind to compel you. You are not to touch them. I’m serious.” Kanaya insists.

She opens the cage door and quickly lets herself in and locks it behind her. Several books on one shelf launch themselves off of it to get to her, coming short only by chains going through their covers. Kanaya pops the lid off of the tupperware cool as you please and starts throwing chunks of meat at the books who snap them up with a delighted gnashing of pages. You stare as a page marker runs along the cover edge of one book like a person licking their lips.

When Kanaya is done feeding the books that seem to need feeding she takes a clipboard from the bag at her hip and starts to tick things off on it.

“What’re you doing now?” you ask.

“Making sure the books are all here and none of them have escaped or convinced anyone to take them out. In fairness though that hasn’t happened in the whole time I’ve been here. People have tried to get them out before, graduates down here without the proper amount of mental resistance falling victim to it. We’ve found them trying to get through the cages but they’re built to withstand that.” she says and ticks more off.

The metal between you gleams and curiously you run your fingers over one of the rods of the outer cage. It’s smooth under your touch but there’s a texture to it that you can feel, although not with your fingers. It’s like biting into tin foil or clinking your teeth with a fork, a sensation where you don’t usually feel something. A thrum of power and you instinctively know that this is protective, that it keeps things out. Your gaze changes to the other bars and you wonder if those bars instead focus on keeping things in.

Kanaya works her way through the books and finds them all present and accounted for, thankfully. When she’s done she lets herself out, locks up and takes you back to the main floor. Your shift was entirely training so you’re done for now but you actually have a question for her.

“Kanaya… my xenobiology class is terrible so we’re doing our own research. If it’s not too shitty to ask would you be able to tell me where would be a good place to look for accurate information on vampires? I don’t want to learn the wrong shit and perpetuate lies or misinformation but I know it’s also not your job to educate me on it either.” you say. You’re reluctant to ask but she’s your best shot, if she tells you she doesn’t want to have any part in it that’s fine but you’d be remiss not to ask. Right?

“Oh.” Kanaya says and seems to think for a few moments.

“Well, not all information applies to all vampires but I can certainly point you in the direction of a few primers. We have a few books that I think are good, one is a historical look at vampires and another is a more modern guide. I can also point you to a website that serves as a port of call for new vampires these days.” she says.

“Really? Oh wow, that’d be so helpful!” you tell her eagerly.

Kanaya seems touched by your enthusiasm and so takes you back to the office and looks up the books for you as well as sends you off with the website written on a slip of paper. You check the books out yourself and return to your dorm. When you open the front door you’re greeted with the sight of Rose slamming the blender on the counter top.

“Don’t ask!” she snaps before you can open your mouth. You hold your hands up in surrender and carefully edge into your room, you’re not about to get involved in whatever that was.

You have alchemy class all afternoon but you’re going to hide in here until Rose is finished doing whatever she was just doing to the blender. You settle at your laptop and curiously plug in the address that Kanaya gave you.

The design of the website is a little dated but it works just fine, there’s a whole bunch of links off to the side but the main body of the page grabs your attention first.

_If you suspect that you or someone you care about may have become a vampire we hope this page can answer your questions and clear up any misconceptions._

_Firstly, vampirism cannot be reversed. A person can become a vampire in one of two ways, the first and most common is to be bitten by another vampire with the intent to convert the bitee or else repeated bites over time regardless of intent. The second way is through being cursed, though this is very unlikely. Such magic has been lost and was in the very distant past a curse bestowed on mortals by deities or very powerful servants of such. There have been a few cases in modern times but these have come from people robbing ancient tombs and activating these ancient curses. If you are a vampire it is most likely that this was because of a bite._

_Despite the wording we do not regard vampirism as a curse, merely a different state of being. We are also not dead or undead and the modern vampire community objects of these terms, although older vampires may have differing opinions!_

_Usually if you have been made into a vampire the vampire who made you is responsible for helping you through the transition phase, for various reasons this does not always happen so if you suspect that you may be turning into a vampire we have a checklist of symptoms below._

_\- Sensitivity to daylight_

_Daylight is fatal to vampires, this is usually the first symptom that people find when they become a vampire. Sun exposure will not kill you immediately unless you are very weakened but extended exposure will eventually kill you, some vampires can last hours, some only minutes. Holy symbols and holy water can also cause a lot of harm ((EDIT: since The Event holy symbols don’t seem to work any more, but holy water made beforehand still does)) so avoid these as well._

_\- Growth of fangs_

_Teeth sharpening, or falling out and regrowing is a common sign of vampirism but can occur for other reasons as well. Lycanthropy, curses, or reactions to certain spells and/or ingredients. If this is your only symptom it would be wise to consider other causes._

_\- Pale or luminous appearance_

_The skin of vampires often appears paler or ashier than it was before they turned, this is partly responsible for the impression that vampires are dead. In addition some vampires have a glow to them, more common in vampires whose lineage can be traced back to the Middle East or Asia. (note: this does not refer the human ethnicity of you or the vampire who turned you, rather to where the chain of conversion can be traced back to as this is a hereditary state)_

_\- Difficulty entering spaces_

_Vampires require permission to enter an enclosed indoor space that is privately owned and lived in. A home requires permission, a town hall does not. You don’t require permission to enter a home that you live in and you cannot be evicted out of your own home, but you can be evicted from a home you have been invited in if the resident of that home performs a specific ritual._

_\- Loss of reflection and no longer appearing on film_

_These can be quite frustrating as in the modern world a lot of things rely on photographs. Iphone face recognition won’t work and cameras will not pick you up at all. Our ID pages have more information about what to do when this happens to you._

_\- Difficulty or inability to eat food_

_Vampires sustain themselves on blood. Some vampires are able to eat raw meat in small quantities, most are able to drink liquids that aren’t blood but what liquids are acceptable vary from vampire to vampire. Some can drink smoothies or soups but others can’t handle anything outside of water or blood. Individual tolerances vary and a good indication of yours will be the tolerance of the vampire that bit you. For new vampires adjusting to no longer being able to eat food some suggest phasing it out through a ritual of ‘chew and spit’ so the ritual and taste of food is preserved without making you unwell. We suggest this should be a very temporary measure if used at all._

_An aversion to garlic, not being able to cross running water, a compulsion to count things, etc. are all myths. If you didn’t have problems with these before you turned you’ll be fine after! :D_

You don’t think you’ve seen Kanaya eat but you have seen her drink tea. She also mentioned not showing up on film but you’ve absolutely seen her exposed to sunlight. What’s with that? You search through the website for a while but you can’t see any more information on sunlight beyond how fatal it is.

You turn instead to the introductory book that Kanaya mentioned and skip to the index to search for sunlight.

_Sunlight, imperviousness… p82_

You turn to the right page and start to read.

_Vampires of ancient legend had reputedly different powers from their more modern brethren. Whether this is due to variation in older lineages and a certain kind of ‘genetic drift’ within vampires or simply unreliable records of old stories is debatable._

_A lesser known vampire is a woman known only as ‘Dolorosa’ who in roughly 30-33 CE walked uninvited into the home of a Roman official in the middle of the day. Once inside it is said that she fatally drained or simply killed everyone within the house, save the children who escaped and told the story. The ability to walk around in sunlight and enter a home uninvited have made many question whether this woman was a vampire at all, rather that she may have been something else. Alternatively the story may have been entirely fabricated, we have no way of knowing._

_Dolorosa then supposedly left the building and was never seen again. Her name crops up a few more times in my research but there is little definitive proof that it is the same woman. Naturally though this woman is notable as the only known instance of a vampire walking in the sunlight unharmed._

Huh. That’s weird, you wonder what else that woman could have been if not a vampire? A species that eats humans perhaps? Maybe this one just preferred blood. But if this is the case then how can Kanaya stand the light and why does no one question it?

To your shame you wonder about other things you’ve heard in vampire mythology, of them putting people under mental influence. Could Kanaya be handwaving the question aside so no one thinks of it? That’s a terrible thing to think of her, even if you can easily see why if she was for some reason different she’d want privacy about that. Humans can be… not great. Given how much older than you she probably is she is no doubt familiar with that so you wouldn’t blame her for being cautious about it at all.

How do you tell her any of that without making it obvious that you’re thinking that kind of thing? If you’re going to be supportive she needs to know what for. Ugh, this is a shit show.

Your wrist buzzes and you take your phone out of its charm to see the alarm for your class going off. You figure the vampire thing is a problem for Future Karkat, that poor bastard is left with all of your problems, he also invariably fails to solve them when he becomes Present Karkat. Man, fuck that guy, he’s almost as bad as Past Karkat who is responsible for so much shit. Not to mention Past Past Karkat who has fucked off out of collective memory like some deadbeat dad without so much as a birthday card each year.

Wait, you’re going to be late to class at this rate. Fuck!

You walk to class as you try to push thoughts about vampirism out of your mind, when you arrive you find that some of your friends are already here. You can tell right away that this class is smaller than the other classes that you’ve had. Rose’s alchemy classes are in a different timeslot to yours, hence why you walked alone. It also looks like Jade is at a different time because of your group there’s only Dave, Sollux and June there.

Dave casually salutes you because he’s apparently too cool for waves in the same way that he’s too cool for handshakes. You head over to the large table that they’re sat at. The tables themselves remind you of high school chemistry with the high benches and stools, as well as the technical equipment set up on them. You snag the seat next to Dave, grateful that it’s still free because it’s the last on the table. You want to make friends but good lord talking to strangers? That’s just too far.

Maybe this is why you have no friends.

“Sup dude?” Dave greets you as you sit awkwardly on the high stool.

“Not much, I was just researching vampire stuff before coming here. You?” you ask him.

“I… too was proactively getting on with my assignment to research…” Dave hesitates.

“Werewolves.” you remind him.

“I knew that.” he says, blatantly lying.

“I don’t think I deserve too much credit for working ahead or anything, it was that or trying to convince Rose to use the ouija board with me again.” you sigh.

“For your future-seeing class or whatevs? How did that go?” Dave asks.

You’d got back from your class that night with the boxes safely in your respective bags of holding. Rose had decided that if you were going to try this thing you may as well do it right away, rip the bandage off immediately kind of thing. Absolutely nothing had happened and Rose had been very smug about how something so useless would never work. You think your odds of getting her to try again are in the negative.

“Oh, that good, huh?” Dave says and sucks in a sharp breath through his teeth.

“It didn’t work. She didn’t think it would but I’m pretty sure she was upset about it all the same.” you admit.

“Sounds about right. I’m already stunned that she took the class in the first place. Admitting that she can’t do something she used to be able to do is like admitting she was wrong about something, not something Rose does.” Dave tells you.

“I know how shitty it feels to lose your memory, I can’t imagine how awful it must feel to lose an ability like that. I mean, I have no shame, I’m going to the class on the faintest hope I can claw back my memory. Rose seems like someone with more self respect than me so I get why it’d sting. I just hope I’m not making it worse.” you sigh.

“I think you’ll be fine.” Dave says mysteriously.

“No, no, no, I don’t care what you say! Your opinions are wrong and bad and I’m not listening!” June snaps.

“What’re they-” you whisper to Dave as Sollux tries to defend his opinion over June loudly insisting that she’s not listening to him.

“They’re arguing about that TV show Jackass. Trust me, don’t get into it.” Dave says under his breath.

You are thankfully spared from getting into it or hearing about it at all because the teacher comes in and starts getting ready. He asks you all to sign your name up on a register at the front and Sollux gets up and says that he’ll do it.

“For all four of us, yeah?” Dave reminds him. Sollux waves him off with a hand and goes to the front of the class. In the moment of silence your eyes drift over the front of the classroom. Your teacher has a frazzled appearance that’s very mad scientist in its vibe and you can only imagine that this classroom has been in use for some years because there’s shrines at the front. On either side of the pull down blackboard there’s a shrine with a sculpture. Instantly you know that you’re looking at Hermes on one side with his winged staff and young face. On the other side is Thoth, the Egyptian deity. You don’t even know how you know that but you do, the knowledge was just buried somewhere in your mind.

Your teacher starts into a lecture that covers the beginning of alchemy through history then sidetracks into a tangent about the humours system in ancient medicine, finally finishing on him stopping for several minutes to write a note to himself on a notebook in his jacket. When he looks up from that he seems surprised that you’re all still there and you’re starting to suspect that HE isn’t all there.

“Anyway! The best way to learn alchemy is by doing it. Experimentation, that’s the way. I have a task here. Where did I…” the teacher flounders for a moment before finding a stack of paper right in the middle of his desk. Cleverly hidden, it seems.

He goes around the room pairing people up at the benches and handing them a sheet of paper instructions. You’re caught by surprise when he pairs you and Dave and then Sollux and June together. Sollux seems minorly put out at not getting to work with Dave but seems distracted enough when June starts asking him what the hell some of these things are.

“It’d be helpful if any of these instructions told you what any of this stuff is called.” Dave notes, seemingly having the same problem.

“We had a textbook, right? That’s got to explain something.” you suggest and stick your hand in your bag. You mentally call for the item and feel the spine of it smack into your palm, you draw the book out and ditch your bag on the floor.

“It better, shit’s expensive.” Dave snorts.

The book is, thankfully, reasonably helpful and after five minutes you’ve named all of the stuff you’ve been given and can start on the instructions proper.

“First weigh out 20 grams of carbon into the glass petri dish.” you read.

“Why the fuck are we even using the metric system, we didn’t win the war against the British to use the metric system now.” Dave rambles as he starts tapping the carbon powder into the petri dish anyway.

“Pretty sure that’s not how that went.” you point out.

“So, educate me Mr. Teacher.” Dave retorts.

“I’m not your teacher.” you tell him.

“Is that- you said 20 grams, right? Does that look right?” Dave asks in what you feel is an aside to your super dumb conversation. You tip your head sideways to eyeball the scale.

“Yeah that looks right.” you say and look down your list for the next step.

“Anyway, you’re totally teachery. Look at you going through the instructions trying to learn me a thing.” Dave says and you catch a flicker of a smile in your peripheral.

“See, it’s sentences like that and comments about ‘the war against Britain’ which make me doubt June’s word that you went to school. Or else I’m starting to doubt the quality of schools in the state of New York.” you say and waggle the end of your pen at his face in a disapproving manner.

“Look at you, gearing up to give me a lecture. I bet you do, actually, go on and on for ages trying to school people on things. I get that vibe from you, you know?” Dave says and there, again, that flicker of amusement.

“Your entirely accurate but baseless assumptions on my personality are going to hurt my feelings, Dave.” you say bluntly and this actually does make Dave laugh. He leans forward with the force of his sudden amusement, his shoulders shaking as he snickers.

“Damn, dude, you can’t go being funny like that out of nowhere. You’ll take someone out that way.” Dave says when he recovers.

“That’ll teach you to be unprepared then won’t it?” you retort.

“See, you’re doing it again.” Dave teases you and now it’s you who’s trying to not laugh out loud in class.

“Shut up shitface, and put the charcoal in the magic circle thing.” you order him.

“The carbon in the alchemic transmutation circle, you mean?” Dave asks, so naturally you elbow him.

Despite the back and forth bantering you and Dave get everything weighed up and set into the right part of the circle. You connect the circle to a lightbulb, you note that on the other side of your table less productive work is going on. June is touching the prongs on the end of the bulb to the forked tips of Sollux’s tongue, making it light up and sending the pair into obnoxious laughter.

“So… what’s the balloon for?” Dave asks finally, stretching the uninflated red balloon on the table.

“Uh.” you frown and re-read the instructions. Dave leans over, his shoulder brushing yours as he reads too.

“I’m an idiot.” you mutter.

“Hey, you said it, not me.” Dave says wryly and grabs the flask that you’d missed on the instructions. He makes a funnel with paper and pours the carbon into it and then secures the balloon to the top so it’s covering it.

“A’ight so, we’re converting carbon to helium, right? Straight atomic conversion, so that’s why we’ve got the balloon, so we don’t lose any. Plus we’re gonna have three times as much of the stuff and it’ll be bigger because it’s a gas at this temperature, so yeah.” Dave nods.

You look from him to the instructions and back again.

“What? How do you? The test at the end is to work out what you’ve changed it into based on this, how do you know the answer when we’ve not done it?” you ask him incredulously.

“If I was teaching this class I’d want to give students a material they can’t hurt anything with as a first go. Noble gasses don’t react to shit. Also we have carbon, it’s got an atomic weight of six and helium has two. Six is three times bigger than two, man. I think the lightbulb is only there to catch extra energy in case we fuck up.” Dave explains.

You look down at the table of elements that was also included with your instructions and see that he’s right, you don’t know if he looked or if he just knew that but you’re quickly adjusting your ideas about how sharp Dave is. Just because he talks like a dumbass doesn’t mean he is one.

“Now who’s schooling who?” you say finally.

“The student hath surpassed the teacher.” Dave says solemnly and bows a little on his chair.

“You’re so full of shit.” you tell him with a sigh and Dave shrugs like he can’t do anything about that.

“Do you think we could alchemically transform you into someone less annoying?” you tease him.

“Oh, I doubt that. If there was a magical way to do that Rose woulda found it by now. One summer I annoyed her so much she literally threw me down a waterfall.” Dave informs you.

“She did!” June laughs loudly, having caught that part of your conversation.

“Why are we talking about Rose’s ventures into fratricide?” Sollux asks curiously, again he’s mysteriously non hostile all of a sudden. You don’t get it!

Dave tells them not to worry about it and so the two of you get back on track with your work. You paint in the last few missing symbols in a way that reminds you of the blank spaces in the teleportation circle, you’re just putting in the details specific to this experiment. The symbol for carbon, the instruction to split it by thirds. As you close the last line the alchemic magic catches. With a flare of glittering light the balloon suddenly inflates and the carbon dust at the bottom of the flask vanishes.

“Holy shit.” you whisper in awe.

Before you can stop him Dave pinches the bottom of the balloon and pulls it off of the flask, he turns to you and sucks in a huge breath of it.

“Dave! What the fuck?! What if that’s chlorine gas or something?!” you hiss.

“_I told you it’d be fine Karkat._” Dave says in a squeaky high voice.

It’s helium, he was right.

“You bastard, you- you’re going to give me a heart attack or something.” you wheeze, leaning over on the desk.

“_Aww, there there Karkat I_ told you it’d be helium.” Dave comforts you as his voice starts to drop back down to normal.

“No, fuck you, I’m on team ‘throw Dave down a waterfall’ now.” you groan into the table.

The class winds down and your teacher gives you some instructions on what to read before the next class but it’s not super clear. Either way your group wanders back towards the dorms and you happen to run into Rose on her way out of the building as you’re on your way in.

“Ah, Sollux, could you do something for me? I’m going to be late but my TV is broken, could you fix it for me please?” Rose asks as she slips past your group.

“What’s wrong with it?” Sollux asks.

“It doesn’t work, got to go. Thanks!” Rose calls over her shoulder and rushes off. Sollux stares off after her, his mouth slightly open and one eye twitching a little.

“Good luck with that!” June laughs and claps him on the shoulder. Dave seems to find this equally entertaining as the two of them walk into the building together laughing. When you look at him again Sollux is silently watching you.

“What?” you ask him bluntly.

“You’re the one with the key to that room.” he says.

“Can’t you teleport?” you say as you go into the building anyway, he’s right behind you as you walk.

“Can’t you run? Why aren’t you running there now if that’s a thing you can do?” Sollux retorts.

Okay, fair, maybe it takes more energy.

“Alright, you made your point.” you mutter and head up the stairs with Sollux silently trailing you. He follows you all the way to your dorm room and steps in behind you when you unlock the door. The TV appears to be off so you leave Sollux to it as he wanders over there.

Your eyes fall on the ouija board box on your dining table and you figure that you should give it another go, trying to use it without Rose here sounds like the best idea and this room has more floor space than your room.

“Are you going to be making a lot of noise in here?” you ask Sollux as he flicks through tv channels.

“I can probably rule out if the speakers are the problem pretty quickly and then I can be quiet if I have to. Why?” he asks, looking over to you.

“I’ve got homework to do, doing it out here would be easier.” you say and gesture to the box.

Sollux cranes his neck to see around you and then bounds up onto the arm of the sofa on his knees to look over you and stare at the box. Abruptly he bursts out laughing and falls back onto the cushions.

“What?!” you demand.

“Are you shitting me? Your class about ‘seeing the beyond’ is giving you HASBRO toys to do it? HAHAHAHA! Oh, oh man, that’s priceless. Please do it in here, I wanna see that. I’ll be super quiet when you’re playing your game, I promise!” Sollux giggles.

“You’re the fucking worst.” you accuse him and stalk off to the table.

In the time it takes Sollux to stop giggling at you and get back to fixing Rose’s TV you’re able to set the ouija board up and prop your phone back up at an angle that it’ll record the ground where the board is. That way you can use the footage or parts of it for your report this week and you won’t have to stop what you’re doing to take notes.

You take a deep breath and try to concentrate. As far as you can tell there’s nothing special with the board itself, Sollux’s amusement is at least warranted there. What it is though is a visible method for spirits to communicate with you, a written down answer to questions right there in black and white. The thing that’s doing the psychic work of calling in a spirit is you, not the board.

“If there are any spirits-” you are slightly derailed by a snort from Sollux, “-who have anything to say I’m listening.”

You finish saying that last part a little more firmly and hope you don’t scare anything off. You really want someone to answer you, someone to hear you and reach back out to you. When your teacher handed out the boards she gave advice about how to use them and one of the things she told all of you, aside from being careful who you contacted, was that some questions spirits couldn’t answer. Like what happened in The Event. Like June said, you’re not the first person to try. But if all that happens is you get no answer then you’re no worse off than you are not for asking, are you?

The plea thrums inside of you, you just want someone to tell you something, you can’t stand being caged in your own ignorance. Beneath your fingers the planchette moves.

K-A-R-K-A-T

“Holy shit, that’s my name is- is someone there?” you gasp.

“What the-?” Sollux says from behind you and you hear him move.

YES

You stare at the planchette over the word on the top left of the board, this is really happening.

“Are…” ok, try to work out what’s going on here. Ask smart questions. “Are you dead?”

The planchette drifts over to the word NO.

“Are you some kind of spirit?” you try, nothing happens. Did you lose them? Curiously you nudge the planchette away and without you touching it again it drifts back to NO. Not a spirit then. Your fingers touch the plastic and it moves again, leaving you to watch the letters as it quickly moves.

W-H-E-R-E-A-R-E-Y-O-U

“I’m in my dorm at-” you start.

“Karkat, you should stop talking now.” Sollux says. He’s perched on the edge of the sofa’s armrest like a gargoyle with all of his eyes wide open and staring at the ouija board.

“Why? You said it was just a toy and I want answers that you can’t or won’t give me.” you tell him snidely.

“I’m serious, Karkat.” Sollux warns you.

“Tell me what I am, I don’t remember.” you say to the board.

The planchette drags left and then abruptly pings out of your hand. It hits the wall and then bounces to the floor.

“Oh God!” you yelp and ignore the hiss behind you.

“I told you, now drop it.” Sollux tells you.

You’re about to tell him to drop dead when you see movement out of the corner of your eye, the plastic planchette dragging itself back towards you. Sollux sees it too and clearly doesn’t like it one bit.

“Tell that thing to stop trying to talk to you!” he barks at you.

“No way!” you snap back.

The planchette reaches the board and slides towards the letters.

F-I-N-D-Y-O-U

That’s… a little creepy. You’re not even touching the thing at this point.

“Why… why do you want to find me?” you whisper.

F-I-X-T-H-I-S

“Over my dead body.” Sollux snarls in a truly inhuman way.

YES

You… you don’t like this anymore.

K-A-R-K-A-T-Y-O-U-A-R-E

The planchette smokes and then melts into a puddle, the edges of the board curl up and a strong hand drags you away by the back of the shirt just as the whole thing goes up in flames. Yellow flames at least four foot high with a centre that somehow glows black.

“What the fuck?!” you yelp in fear and jump onto the sofa.

“Fucking- augh. I TOLD YOU!” Sollux accuses you.

You need to put out that fire, you need to do that right the fuck now. You grab Rose’s knitted throw off of the sofa and eye the blaze.

“Don’t bother, this is hellfire. You can’t smother it with a blanket.” Sollux says as your carpet catches alight.

“CAN’T YOU PUT IT OUT?! YOU’RE A DEMON!” you yell, your voice bouncing off of the walls. Sollux winces slightly at your volume.

“I mean I can but in the time it’d take me to properly put it out half of Salem would be a charred wasteland.” Sollux snaps. A flame licks harmlessly over his skin but it’s definitely not harmless to you or anyone else in this building.

“What do we…” you stare hopelessly at the flames that are definitely spreading.

“There’s always another option. Just go boil some water, I’ll be right back.” Sollux says. He holds out his hand and a blue and red flickering circle appears on the floor around him and the fire. Then, like something out a fucking looney tunes cartoon, he plummets down through what is now a hole.

Terrified you lean closer and see that it’s a black circle. Infinitely black but completely flat, your eyes don’t like it and you feel sick to look at it. Water, Sollux asked for water! You fling the blanket over the sofa and sprint to the kitchen. Rose has an enchanted jug that boils water almost instantly so you fill it completely and set it going.

A sudden rush of air grabs your attention and you see that Sollux is back, only his skin is pale and his hair is filled with ice. He shudders visibly, his arms curled around himself. At once you understand the need for hot water. Next to you the jug chimes and you snatch it up and sprint to him. He holds his hands out and you go to hand it to him, but Sollux shakes his head, scattering ice crystals to the floor.

“P-p-our-rrr.” he stammers out through chattering teeth.

Pour boiling water onto his hands? Well, he is fireproof, right? Hesitantly you tip the jug and the boiling water runs over his outstretched hands. Sollux flexes his fingers under the water for a moment or two and then takes the jug from your hands. He tips his head back and pours boiling water right onto his face and down his chest, it makes you jerk towards him as if to save him but your impulse is stupid. He’s fine, visibly getting better with the heat in fact.

When he’s out of water you take the jug from him, fill it once more and set it going. You cut past him to the bathroom and lean in far enough to grab a towel and come back. Silently you wrap it around his shoulders and look at him. Parts of his clothing still look almost freezer burned, stiff and covered in frost.

“I’m guessing you can’t tell me where you went.” you say quietly.

“M-m-mmhmm.” Sollux affirms with a slightly shuddery sound.

“If I guessed right, could you tell me?” you ask.

Sollux stays silent, just watching you and trembling slightly.

“Because if I had to put hellfire somewhere I would say putting it back where it belongs would make sense. I’d also assume that there’s something wrong with hell based on the fact that Earth is suddenly filled with demons since The Event. If you’d just ditched the fire in space you could tell me that and I don’t think space is actually cold enough to get you looking like that after a few seconds, I think sci-fi blows that out of proportion. Has… hell frozen over?” you ask.

“I can fix your floor. Board’s gone though.” Sollux says into the towel.

Your eyes shift to your floor which- oh, wow. Yeah that’s destroyed. Still, that wasn’t an answer so you can only assume he really can’t say. You also don’t think that he set the board on fire given that it put him out this much. Rose’s water jug chimes again so you leave Sollux and this time grab him a mug from the mismatched pile. You feel weird just giving him boiling water to drink so you let your hands make coffee as your mind churns.

You were just thinking aloud back there. Maybe you’re completely off base but there’s always been speculation about why all the demons came to Earth on the very day of The Event. Naturally a lot of people blamed them for it but given that a lot of them have seemed as at a loss as the rest of you that doesn’t feel totally right. They didn’t come from Earth and if the connection or whatever with the gods affected all of you then who’s to say what it did to their plane of existence? To hell. The expression ‘when hell freezes over’ is one thing but for it to actually happen…

You have to be right though, don’t you? Why would all the demons stay up here unless there was nowhere suitable for them to go back to? You think Sollux is probably pretty tough but you doubt he could live long in wherever he just came from. Wherever he just came from is likely hell because that’s where hellfire belongs. You can’t imagine him just throwing your hellfire covered ouija board on some glacier somewhere and calling it a day. Again, he wasn’t gone for long and you’re pretty sure that kind of immediate deep freeze doesn’t happen that fast on Earth. You’ve seen The Titanic, that shit takes time.

So you’re right, aren’t you?

You drop the small spoon you’d been using to stir coffee into the sink and turn around with the mug. Sollux has abandoned the towel and is somehow now in different clothes. You watch as he drapes Rose’s blanket over his head and wraps it tight around himself. His horns are poking through the knit of the blanket and it’s all you can do not to laugh at him. His tails are still shuddering slightly and he looks around when you come closer.

“Boiling hot. I’d say be careful but…” you shrug and hand him the mug. He doesn’t drink it right away, just curls his hands around it.

“You’re being nice to me.” he says it like an accusation and your mind loops around to his thing with pity. Like Kanaya said, perhaps you trying to be nice reads as dismissive and condescending to him.

“From what you said you just saved me from setting fire to half of Salem and who knows how many people, I think I can stretch to giving you a towel and some hot bean water.” you snort and he huffs this little sound out that could be a laugh but is very deniable.

“Augh, what just happened?” you moan and drop onto the sofa, you tip your head back and cover your face with your hands.

“Don’t do that again.” Sollux advises. You feel the sofa shift but you don’t look over.

“Oh, and you’re always right are you?” you say flatly.

“Glad you’re catching on.” he says as smug as can be.

“Like you were right when you told me it wouldn’t do anything?” you ask sweetly and turn to look at him.

Sollux scowls at you and drinks his coffee instead of answering. You see the way his irritation drops off in favour of shock. He stares at the mug in silence having taken only one sip from it.

“Shit, I wasn’t really paying attention when I made it. I was thinking about all that ice and- I didn’t put, like, rat poison in it or something did I? I don’t even know if we have that, probably not but-” you say worriedly.

“No. It’s.” Sollux swallows and seems to shake himself off, “It’s fine. I’m just warming back up is all.”

“You’re obviously lying.” you say after a moment but he just stares back at you over his mug as he keeps drinking.

“Didn’t you read the xenobio notes on demons that we stole? The test answers. I’m a demon, we’re full of lies.” Sollux says simply.

“You’re full of shit more like.” you snap and he grins at you like he’s won something.

“I-” you cover your face with your hands and resist the temptation to scream, if you were alone you might indulge yourself in this soundproof room but you’re not.

“You’re infuriating, you know that? I don’t know what I did to piss you off before but everyone else seems to get on with you fine and I’ve been trying to get on with you better but you’re just so- I don’t know what I’m doing! It has to be me, right? You’re clearly a shit to other people and I know I’m no saint but they like you and you still like them but me?” you’re sounding hysterical now and it’s not helped by the smug expression on Sollux’s face.

He sets the mug down on the table and runs his split tongue over his lip, chasing some hint of coffee.

“You done yelling?” he asks meanly and there’s a flash of fang with it that just irks you.

“You haven’t heard me really yell. Or, fuck, maybe you have. You refuse to tell me anything! Like how we know each other or what that was like.” you accuse him.

“What do you want me to tell you, KK?” he laughs. You think he’s laughing at you.

“The truth.” you say flatly.

“Nah, it sounds like you want me to say something else.” he grins at you.

“Go on, since you so obviously have something to say.” you grit out.

Sollux leans in, his hand on the sofa between you two. He gets close to you but you’re not backing down here.

“Something like… you want me to say that we were the very best of friends before you forgot everything. That we spent ages together, skipping through fields of flowers or some shit like that. Or spent ages watching your stupid romance movies that you only like because they always have a happy ending and you’re the kind of dumbass that believes in that shit.” Sollux says and at that you do flinch back. Sollux only smiles wider at that.

“When, really, I hate you more than you hate me and yourself combined. We both know how much you hate you so that should give you an idea at least. There’s no point acting like I don’t know all the shit you hate about yourself or the extra things that I really think you should add to that list, is there? What’re you going to do, keep trying to help me, like you do with other people to try to make them like you?” Sollux says with a laugh.

His words slice right through you. He might as well have reached in with his hands and grabbed hold of every insecurity you have and shoved them right in your face, maybe ripped out your heart while he was at it too. He’s watching you with a touch of eagerness on his face, like he can’t wait to see what the things he said did to you. Well, you’re not going to give him the satisfaction.

You get up from the sofa and march past the burnt wreck of a circle on your floor and wrench open your bedroom door.

“Where’re you going?” Sollux snorts.

“Go. Away.” you hiss and step inside, slamming the door after you.

You snag the pillow from your bed and lean your body against the door, sliding down to the floor. Your door opens inwards so with your face smushed in your pillow and your bodyweight holding the door closed that should at least slow him down if he tries to get in. Then even if he cracks the door any sound you might make is muffled already.

Your breath hitches at being so painfully called out. You just want people to like you, you want to not be so alone. You hate not knowing what you are, you hated being so isolated in that building of other people who remembered nothing but disliked you. You want to belong, you want to… to be happy and, yeah, you want a happy ending. Just like those movies you like. But maybe that’s a pipe dream, why would anyone like you?

Sollux doesn’t try to come in and after some time you crawl into your bed, only coming up for air when Rose opens your door sometime later.

“Karkat?” she whispers into the darkness of your room.

“Go ‘way.” you say thickly through your pillow.

“Is everything alright? Are you sick?” she asks.

You shake your head.

“You didn’t come to dinner, I brought leftovers.” she adds. You say nothing and so after a few silent moments Rose closes your door again and leaves you be.

You spend the night nursing your ripped up feelings and sense of self but by the time the morning comes around you decide that you can’t avoid him forever. More than that you’re not going to derail you life because of that guy, fuck him, he doesn’t get to be that important. Now at least you know what he’s really like. Just how well did he know you to be able to hurt you that badly? Or else how is he so good at knowing just where to attack?

Whatever, it doesn’t matter. You open your bedroom door with a heavy heart and see Rose sitting on the sofa jabbing at the remote. She looks around when you enter.

“Oh, Karkat, did Sollux actually come by to fix this yesterday? It’s still not working.” Rose says and clicks uselessly at the TV with the remote.

“Yeah, he did.” you mumble.

The floor is fixed. There’s not so much as a mark on the carpet, no proof that your thing with the ouija board catching fire even happened. Your eyes drift to your phone, still propped up from recording. When you grab it the thing is predictably out of battery because you left it running, great.

“He didn’t fix it then.” Rose says.

You put your dead phone away, you’ll charge it later. You duck into the bathroom to brush your teeth and what have you. You note that your reflection looks somewhere between miserable and pissed off.

“Are you alright? You seem… upset?” Rose guesses when you emerge again.

“I’ve gotta go to class.” you mumble and leave your dorm room. It’s not a lie, you do have class. You’ll just be a little early, which given that it’s alchemy that you’re going to and you share that with Sollux you’re not looking forward to it.

You sit down on the floor in the hallway outside the classroom and wait, the door’s still locked but you’re the first person in when your scatterbrained teacher comes by and opens it up. Despite your best efforts you know the way you feel is painted plainly across your face, which means that when Sollux walks in here he’s going to get all the satisfaction of seeing how much he got to you. Of course, thinking that makes it so that you feel worse and therefore look worse. By the time you catch the faint strains of Dave’s voice you’re sure you look just awful.

“-point is that if you have to change its shape to the point where it can’t perform its function BEFORE you attack someone with it then you’ve, like, entirely fucked with the premise of the question. Therefore you’re completely wrong.” Dave argues.

“It still functions as a gong even if you sharpen the edges!” June insists as she rounds the doorframe with him. You hold your breath waiting for Sollux to appear but he doesn’t.

“No way, if you change the dimensions of a brass instrument like that there’s no way it makes the same note. Also I don’t think you could throw that at a speed to take someone’s head off.” Dave counters.

“It’s a gong, dude, it’s not like someone tunes them.” June groans and hops into her seat.

“No, look- Karkat, settle this for us. What’s the most deadly musical instrument to attack someone with, using only your bare hands? So we’ve ruled out dropping a pipe organ on someone or whatever, you have to actually do it yourself. June says sharpening a gong and using it like a throwing star-” Dave starts to explain as he takes his seat by you.

“Oh, or that circle thing Xena had on tv!” June pipes up.

“Yeah ok but I maintain my point, that screws with the instrument integrity. I say you can way more easily beat someone to death with a tuba without having to modify the tuba first.” Dave reasons.

“What.” you say flatly.

“Most deadly instrument without modifying the instrument, go.” Dave says.

Your mind reels for a moment.

“I… what about the- what are they called? Castanets? Cram them down someone’s throat and choke them. Why are we having this conversation?” you say in utter bewilderment.

“Oooh, that’s an idea.” June says approvingly.

“Idk man, just one of those conversations. Hey, do you remember the name of that guy in school? The one who passed out in marching band and took two people down with him?” Dave asks and the conversation shifts to June and Dave trying to recall a name.

Given that you’re no help to this conversation you end up looking at the door again. You half expect Sollux to walk through any second, but then again he could just show up behind you in a puff of smoke and upsettingly accurate takedowns. Despite the detour into confusion your mood remains low.

“You ok, man?” Dave asks, nudging you in the arm with his elbow.

“Don’t worry about it.” you mumble and idly scribble a zig zag around the edge of your notebook page.

“Is there something in the water today? First Sollux now you.” Dave wonders.

“What?” you ask, looking around.

“He was all weird yesterday and today he’s all mopey and odd. That’s why he’s ditching. Uh, I mean, legitimately sick.” Dave looks around but your teacher is up at the front focused on copying something onto the board and hasn’t heard Dave at all.

What does Sollux have to be sad about? He’s the one who hurt you!

“I don’t wanna talk about him.” you grumble.

Dave and June share a look. It is a look with significance and weight, you absolutely hate it.

“Did something happen? He was meant to be fixing Rose’s tv at yours, right?” Dave asks.

“He can be kind of an ass sometimes but he’s a good guy.” June tells you with a sympathetic smile.

“No, he’s an asshole and I hate him! He- actually, I probably have it recorded!” you say triumphantly and pull your phone out. Your dead phone.

“I’ve got a battery, looks like the same charger too. Gimme.” Dave offers and tugs a novelty portable battery out of his bag. He plugs it into your phone and sets it on the edge of the desk to charge.

Your teacher chooses that moment to turn around and start disjointedly rambling about alchemy. This class you’ll be responsible for drawing your own alchemic circles together and trying the previous experiment again. All being well you’ll convert carbon to helium all over again.

Secure in the knowledge that for whatever reason Sollux isn’t going to show up you settle into work with Dave. It turns out that Dave is good at chemistry and can draw a very neat circle you’re both pretty bad at accurately drawing alchemical symbols. You manage to blow your lightbulb once, entirely fail to do anything the second time and then accidentally fail to specify the subject of your transmutation and change all of the air in a column above your circle into hydrogen. Hydrogen that then connects to a spark from your battery charger and shoots a ball of flame up to the roof.

Your teacher wisely calls that the end of class.

“Thanks for the charger and/or pilot light to that disaster.” you sigh and disconnect your phone from the battery. Thankfully neither were damaged in the blaze and your phone has a little bit of juice now.

“Hey, uh, you like coffee. Right?” Dave asks as you hand him his charger back.

“I’m a student.” you tell him flatly.

“Okay, fair point, that’s a yes. Do you like free coffee?” Dave clarifies.

“Student.” you repeat.

“Well come on then.” Dave says with a shake of his head and walks off.

Why-

Wait.

Is Dave offering to buy you coffee?

You hurry after him as he navigates you both out of the building, you can’t help but notice that June didn’t come with either. As you step out into the sunlight Dave adjusts his sunglasses and turns his head slightly your way, it’s the closest you have to telling that he’s looking at you.

“So, why don’t you tell me what he did?” Dave suggests.

“Didn’t he tell you anything? Or I suppose it wasn’t that big of a deal for him.” you say bitterly.

“Sollux is…” Dave seems to search for the right word as the two of you walk.

“The thing with him is that I trust him, he’s always got my back and as far as I’m concerned he’s a good person. I don’t know everything about him or everything he does, sometimes I don’t know why he does things and sometimes he’s all mysterious and shit. But the guy’s never given me any reason to doubt him.” Dave explains. He’s leading you towards that coffee shop you went to on your first day here.

“But he didn’t tell me anything at all. He was just acting weird and, you know, sometimes you just get that vibe about when not to push someone, you know?” Dave shrugs.

“Thanks, that makes me feel like shit, Dave!” you say with faux brightness and cheer.

Dave looks at you with enough suprise that his white blonde eyebrows fully clear his stupid sunglasses.

“This guy that everyone seems to think is cool and chill hates me and all anyone says about it is that he’s super great and this isn’t like him. So obviously I’m the problem!” you say loudly, not loudly for you but for normal people. You shove the door to the coffee place open and startle a girl by the door.

“That is not a thing I said. Why don’t you chill and I’ll get you coffee, not sure you need to be more amped up but here we are so that’s what we’re doing. What do you want?” Dave asks, his voice flat and unphased by your drama. It makes you feel kind of stupid so you let him guide you to a table with those stupid tall stools like you weren’t just sitting like this in alchemy class.

“I don’t know. Something strong and pretentious.” you shrug.

There’s a flicker of a smile on Dave’s face but he nods all the same and walks to the counter. Left alone, the previous day starts bubbling up in your mind, like some kind of horrible gristle in some cheap stew just floating to the surface resplendent in its disgustingness. You managed to do something actually supernatural, to the surprise of a demon. Though the thing you contacted may have been trying to threaten you, which is deeply unsettling. Then there’s all that stuff with Sollux.

“Here, your most pretentious of coffees. A specialty home roasted blend of fancy foreign coffee beans, frapped together with organic caramel and a fairtrade dusting of ground macadamia nuts, served of course in a mason jar.” Dave says with obvious delight.

“That is an abomination, thanks. I feel like I need a philosophy book to drink this.” you tell him.

“See, I feel like a non-frap coffee would be more pretentious but they don’t serve those in mason jars so I was really torn, you know?” Dave sighs and sits down.

“Understandable.” you agree.

“So tell me what happened.” Dave prompts you and your heart sinks, that small amount of levity you had fizzling out.

“I don’t know that I should.” you mumble, resting your chin in your palm and turning your head to look out of the window.

“Why?” he asks.

“He’s your best friend, right? I don’t want to mess that up.” you tell him.

“Trust me, man. We’ll be fine. You said you recorded it, what’s with that?” Dave asks and sips at his coffee.

“I wasn’t trying to. I don’t even know if it worked. I was trying to record me using that ouija board for my class with Rose. I was doing it on my own so it was easier than taking notes. I just left the thing running, let me see if it saved when my phone died.” you explain and flick through your phone.

Yeah the video ran on a good way after everything but he can watch it. You start it going and hand it to Dave, he gets to watch your whole ouija experience and listen to you helping frozen Sollux afterwards. You drink your coffee which is actually distressingly nice despite how pretentious it is.

“Dude just poured boiling water on his face. Ok Sollux.” Dave snorts.

The video rolls on and even over the noise of the coffee shop muddying the sound you can tell when Dave is at the point of Sollux saying the things he did. His expression shifts into a grimace and you hear the slam of your door. You drink your coffee miserably, the frosted coffee making an obnoxious noise as you get to the bottom of the mason jar.

“Here, I rewound it. Look.” Dave says and hands your phone back to you.

You take it and hit play.

You see your feet just clip the camera frame and hear the slam of your bedroom door. There’s another sound after, like someone landing on the floor and Sollux’s mismatched socks come into frame.

“I… Karkat?” he calls softly. He hesitates in frame, his foot lifting off of the floor and settling back down as he considers but decides against getting closer to your door.

“Shit.” he hisses to himself, his tails snap irritably side to side in and out of frame. He takes a step back and his foot hits the edge of the destroyed circle of your floor and he jerks back from it.

Sollux crouches down and runs his fingers over the ruined patch on your floor. He mumbles something under his breath and with a flare of bicoloured magic your floor magically repairs itself. You can see his face as he glances towards your door once more, he looks genuinely put out.

There’s a puff of blue and red smoke and then he’s gone. After that your phone just films the floor.

“I don’t know how he knows you, but it’s probably pretty hard to balance a relationship where one of you remembers it and one of you doesn’t. I don’t know why he’d say that shit either but I’m pretty sure that your totally legit reaction to it wasn’t what he was going for. I don’t get it but I don’t think that’s what he wanted.” Dave tells you gently.

“Sure, maybe you’re right but it doesn’t make me want to talk to the guy. It doesn’t tell me what it is about me that makes him act like that just to me. If I’d done something he could at least tell me so I know why I deserve that!” you argue.

“Maybe he can’t tell you.” Dave points out.

You’re starting to get the feeling that Dave would defend Sollux against anything.

“Look, he’s your friend and I’m not about to make shit difficult by refusing to be around him. But the idea that he didn’t really mean it and might be sorry isn’t going to mean shit to me if he doesn’t do or say anything to me to show that. You seem nice, June seems cool, I like Rose and Jade. I’m not going to cause drama but that’s just…” you trail off. It’s unacceptable. You might hate yourself but you don’t hate yourself so much that you’re going to keep letting someone treat you like this without a damn good explanation or some proof that he’s actually sorry.

“What I’m getting from this is that somehow you don’t think I’m cool.” Dave says after a moment.

“You missed the point and yet somehow said a true thing.” you snort.

“I’m wounded.” Dave says flatly.

You shake your head and Dave sighs.

“I’m sorry this happened at least, it’s not alright. But I get what you mean and I don’t blame you or anything.” Dave nods. You relax slightly, this seemingly isn’t going to end your potential friendship with Dave.

“And, hey, we could do this again some other time when my best friend hasn’t been shitty to you. We could find out the dumbest things on the menu.” Dave laughs slightly. It’s an offer, an olive branch of sorts.

“That’d be cool. Hopefully next time I’ll be better company and not messed up about this whole situation.” you agree, waving vaguely at your phone.

“Yeah, man. Anyway, I’d been thinking about your comment before vis a vis the earlier most deadly instrument debate and I had some thoughts.” Dave begins. Despite everything you feel yourself grinning as Dave attempts to remake his case for the tuba being the most dangerous instrument. It’s fun, you spend a while with him bullshitting back and forth about this entirely nonsense debate.

When you get back to your room the TV is mysteriously working and Rose is watching you with open curiosity. You wonder if Sollux told her something or not. You’d assume not given how she seems to be trying to divine whatever happened from something as insignificant as what you choose to get from the fridge to eat.

“So since our place is silenced and therefore a good study location I’m sure that you don’t mind that I invited everyone over later for our group xenobiology study group. I have selkies this week if you remember.” Rose says.

You stare at the milk in the fridge and contemplate having to be around Sollux again. You don’t entirely have faith in the accuracy of Dave’s feelings on Sollux. Or, well, you believe that Dave does indeed like and trust him that much and have faith that his friend isn’t really an asshole. You just don’t think that Dave’s idea of Sollux is entirely accurate.

That said you’re not going to avoid him. Maybe what you saw on your phone was right and he really didn’t mean to hurt you that badly. Either way you’re not going to be a baby about this.

“Sure.” you say into the fridge and pull the little door to the freezer part open so you can grab some ice and throw it in a glass.

“You’re okay with that?” Rose prods.

“I’m up for learning about selkies.” you say instead of answering the question that she really means.

Rose is watching you like a hawk but you pretend to not find that odd and instead retreat to your room to study your alchemy textbook. So you don’t, you know, cause a giant fireball again. You carefully draw out a practice circle on large notepaper and make sure not to close it but fill out all of the details and you’re pretty sure that you’ve cracked the problem.

With your door ajar you hear your front door open, no one knocked, whoever it was just let themselves in.

“He’s not coming. When I asked Sol if he was coming he said no and then said ‘look over there’ and teleported away. So that’s great.” Dave’s voice drifts over to you so you grab your paper and get up. It seems like Sollux is definitely avoiding you, well good, that makes your life easier.

“Hey.” you say as you stick your head out of your room.

Dave looks over at you, his body language plainly frustrated but his expression cool.

“Hey man.” Dave nods.

“I think I worked out where we fucked up with the alchemy.” you tell him and hold up the sheet of paper.

“You’re telling me the fireball wasn’t the ideal outcome? That’s news to me.” Dave says.

“You started a fire in your alchemy class, really?” Rose says with a disapproving tut.

“Oh shut it.” Dave retorts and walks past her to get to you.

“See, I think this was where we went wrong.” you tell him as you point to the right part of the inscription.

“Isn’t that what we did before? That’s what I meant to put at least.” Dave muses.

“I’m pretty sure we didn’t put that.” you tell him.

“Aw, look at you shouldering collective blame instead of blaming me who just admitted to probably writing the wrong thing.” Dave says teasingly.

“Shut up, I’d just rather work this out now instead of in a week or two when we’re doing plastics and other things derived from oil that’ll cause a way bigger problem if they catch fire.” you tell him.

“Anyone would think you don’t like fire.” Dave fake gasps. All the same your mind flickers back to that incident with the hellfire. You think Dave’s does too because he drops that line of bullshit immediately.

The door to your dorm opens up again and June and Jade walk in.

“What about a harp? Couldn’t you slice someone to pieces with that?” Jade asks and you groan, how is this stupid debate still going on?

“No, no, each string would mitigate the pressure. It wouldn’t do anything.” Dave responds immediately.

“Don’t ask. Just- let’s just talk about selkies.” you say hurriedly to Rose who is looking both confused and curious.

You and Rose being people who haven’t covered your table in plants or electronic equipment are able to seat everyone down so you all have somewhere to sit and write as Rose begins to tell you all about Selkies. There are some things on the original course that were correct, but there is also plenty of other information that Rose has found.

Selkies are shapeshifters, specifically from some form of seal to human. Unlike most shapeshifters however they shift by shedding their seal skin and can only shift back if they still possess that skin. Originally hailing from Northern Europe with the advent of wider sea travel they have since spread and there are colonies of selkies living costally in many countries throughout the Americas and Europe. Of course descendants mixed with humans can live wherever they please but Rose notes that census data puts them usually pretty coastal as well.

There is an unfortunate history with humans stealing the skins of selkies and essentially imprisoning them in their human form, often taking the form of a forced marriage. The very notion of that makes you cringe.

“Now of course that’s regarded as kidnapping and if found guilty the US government will extradite perpetrators over to the selkie colony for their own justice to be awarded.” Rose explains.

“I’m going to guess that’s being drowned or mauled to death by selkies?” Dave guesses.

“Pretty much.” Rose nods.

“Needless to say jokes about taking their coats or keeping them on land are in really poor taste, I guess?” you ask.

“Pretty much. To his credit our teacher did list a few legal cases where people have been taken to court for that. Given how adept Selkies are at C as a magical language they’re in pretty high demand in some fields that ask for that so employment law came up a lot.” Rose explains.

“Anything people used to think that isn’t true?” June asks curiously.

“Mainly just about how frequently they can shapeshift. Some groups had rules about how often they were allowed to come to shore and shift to human but that was more because of how dangerous they thought it was to do it, others had religious reasons for not changing frequently. Humans just assumed things based on incomplete data.” Rose says with a shrug.

“I imagine they’re pretty tough if they’re shapeshifters though. If you can already magically remake your whole body it’s got to make you a little tougher to kill, surely?” Jade asks.

“I couldn’t find anything about that but I’d assume so. But I guess anything that would easily kill a seal and a human would kill them, but they may be more resilient with smaller injuries. I’m not sure.” Rose answers.

Jade makes the very helpful suggestion of going through the previous legal cases about selkies and quizzing each other on them so that you all remember the details. This is because Jade is a smart and helpful person. A while after that June suggests taking a break and watching a movie, which is how you end up on the floor with Dave as the girls take the sofa as you watch some trash Nicholas Cage movies. This is because June is some sort of chaos fuelled trash person.

All the same the floor isn’t that uncomfortable and you do at least have cushions to sit on. Plus you only have to share snacks with Dave instead of with two other people like the girls on the sofa do, so it’s not that bad.

Dave’s shoulder slides against yours.

“I should have warned you by the way,” Dave whispers to you in the dark, “June has the biggest fixation on Nic Cage ever. You will end up watching this weird man’s stupid movies. It’s too late to run.”

“How could you not warn me sooner?” you hiss at him.

“Misery loves company?” Dave shrugs and throws popcorn in his mouth.

Correction, tries to throw popcorn in his mouth. What he actually does is throw it at his face. You barely stifle your laugh at him.

“Shut up, it’s too dark that’s why. Don’t be weird.” Dave tells you.

What exactly are you being weird about? Oh, wait. Dave slides his sunglasses off of his face and hangs them from the neck of his shirt. The room is dark but not so dark that you can’t make out the way Dave’s irises are bright red. You wonder if this is some kind of magical albinism, maybe his magic or his mothers did something to his colouring when she was pregnant with him. Rose already has unusual eyes but Dave is unusual all over. Are the sunglasses so people don’t stare at him or are they to protect his eyes?

It’s… none of your business. He told you not to be weird.

“Alright, prove you can do it with the shades off.” you whisper at him challengingly.

Dave attempts to throw popcorn in his mouth again and this time manages it.

“YESSSS!” Dave cheers loudly, throwing his hands in the air.

“Daaaaave! I can’t hear the movieeeeeee.” June whines, shoving Dave in the shoulder with her foot.

“You’re welcome. Ooof!” Dave is promptly shoved over by June, leaving you to eat popcorn and watch the fight develop as you do nothing to stop it. Dave calls you a traitor, Jade ends up laughing so hard she nearly cries and Rose gets a whole bunch of incriminating pictures of her brother.

It’s easily the best night you’ve ever had.

You’re not the deepest sleeper in the world but bright multicoloured strobing lights flaring through your window will wake you up for sure. For a disoriented moment you don’t know what’s going on or where you are, then when you remember your location you think it’s someone knocking on the door that’s screwing with the lights, but no. The lights are coming from your shut window and based on the red and blue colours you can bet you know who’s to blame.

Throwing off the covers you march to the window and the lights stop, your eyes adjust after a moment and you see Sollux there. He points a finger upwards and mouths ‘roof’ at you. You put on a show of considering this for a moment and then flip him off. Sollux’s head tips forward and his horns hit the glass, not that you can hear it.

Stepping away you check your phone where it’s charging at your bedside and see that it’s nearly three am. What the fuck is he doing waking you up at this time? You glance back at the window and see that he’s still floating there watching you.

He mouths ‘please’ at you and points upwards again.

You’re getting the distinct feeling that he’s got no intention of leaving until you at least go up there. Fine, you can have the satisfaction of telling him off for waking you up verbally instead of just giving him the stinkeye through soundproof glass.

You grab a hoodie off of the back of a chair and shove your bare feet into your heavy boots. Sollux flashes a smile and shoots upwards. What an asshole, having the power of flight and shit. Fuck that guy. You stomp out of your room and up a craptonne of stairs until you get out onto the roof.

You look around a little blind in the dark, the stairwell was so bright and it’s so dark out here. A small red right flares and then bicoloured eyes open in the darkness. You stomp over there and his figure resolves in the dark, his skinny frame perched on the railing around the edge of the flat roof. He watches you approach him and when you’re almost to him he exhales a stream of smoke off to the side.

“Are you smoking?” you ask him skeptically.

Sollux raises the cigarette to his lips again and the end glows red as he inhales.

“Obviously I’m waiting for a bus. Yes, I’m smoking, what kind of question is that?” Sollux snorts in a plume of smoke.

“Oh, what, you’re a demon so you have to smoke a cigarette for the whole evil aesthetic thing? You dragged me out here for this pretentiousness? I’m going back to bed.” you grumble.

“It’s not a cigarette.” Sollux says as you turn away.

Nope, not being drawn in that easily. What does he expect you to do, clutch your pearls at his quote unquote delinquency? As you walk away he leaps off of the railing and lands to block your path.

“It’s not- it’s literally just smoke. Sawdust and charcoal, really. The air up here’s so different, sometimes you just miss the smoke, okay? But if it bothers you SO MUCH…” Sollux opens his mouth and puts the end of his not-an-actual-cigarette out on his tongue.

You jerk back in alarm but it doesn’t leave so much as a mark on his tongue, of course, he’s fireproof.

“Listen, I don’t really like apologising.” Sollux says and rubs the back of his neck uncomfortably.

You wait and he stays silent.

“Is that really all you’re going to say? Seriously?” you gawp in disbelief. The nerve of this guy!

“But I didn’t actually mean to make you react like that. So I don’t like apologies but how about a peace offering instead?” Sollux says hastily.

“I don’t want anything from you. Look, I don’t want to mess things up with our mutual friends, I’m not out for your blood or to turn you against them-” you start.

“I didn’t think you were. You wouldn’t-” Sollux stops talking and looks away.

“But you clearly don’t like me and you can’t seem to get through a conversation with me without being an asshole. You obviously know me enough to know just where to stick the knife in and I’m not interested in that. We can have mutual friends and study together, that’s fine. I don’t want anything from you.” you say patiently and turn your back on him. You’re going back to bed and you’re going to sleep, you’ve got class in the morning damnit and nothing can stop you.

“I’m sorry.” Sollux says desperately.

You freeze. God damnit.

“And I’ll prove it. Listen, I hate letting people have control over me, I don’t like people pulling my strings. That’s why you beating me at my own game and getting those stupid unlimited time questions pissed me off so bad. But I’ll give you another one for free, same deal. Same conditions, same open ended date.” he offers you quickly.

You consider that and turn around.

“What makes you think I want that? I saved my last two questions because I don’t know enough to ask you anything useful. Having another doesn’t benefit me much especially as I’ve no idea what I can ask you that’ll tell me anything interesting.” you point out.

“Come on, I can think of a tonne of shit you could ask that would tell you things I know you want to know! Even with the little you must remember since The Event you’d know enough to ask loads of stuff in theory.” Sollux insists.

“Like what?” you say skeptically.

“What, you want me to do all the work for you?” Sollux huffs, folding his arms.

“Goodnight, Sollux.” you say with a sigh and manage to take a whole two steps to the staircase doorway.

“You could ask me why the board caught fire!” Sollux shouts after you.

You freeze and look around at him. He doesn’t seem smug, instead his expression is more hopeful. If you didn’t know better you’d think he was actually desperate to get you to accept this peace offering of his. You wonder why, did Dave put him up to this? Now that’s a good question.

“Did Dave ask you to fix things with me or something?” you ask him suspiciously.

“No. Dave doesn’t tell me what to do. He asked what the deal was but that’s it.” Sollux says almost defensively. Right, he doesn’t like people pulling his strings so the accusation that Dave is doing that somehow rubs him the wrong way. Noted.

You consider Sollux for a moment or two more and then hold out your hand.

“We shook before on the question thing, I saw it put what I guess now is ~ATH script on my arm. It must still be there even if I can’t see it which means if you’re adding a question on as a peace offering you have to modify it, right? So we shake.” you tell him.

A smile flashes across Sollux’s face and he takes your hand in his. The same text as before flares on your arm and you see one character flick into a different one.

“Three questions left.” Sollux confirms and lets you go.

“Go on, then. Since this whole peace offering thing is about me using it up, tell me why the board caught fire. As much as I hate to admit it I am curious about that.” you say. You try to keep your cool, will he notice? Will he see through you?

“I knew you would be curious.” Sollux grins and kicks off of the floor so he can float lazily in the air.

“First of all, you seem to be under the impression that I’m not telling you certain things because I don’t want to or because it’s against the rules. And partly I don’t want to say some stuff because it’s against rules I’ve already agreed to but more importantly is that I literally can’t.” he explains.

“How?” you ask.

“Demons know better than to try because we know how this shit works. But I’ll explain. When I get close to saying something I shouldn’t I usually get a feeling about it, a warning that I’m skirting too close to something. If I try to say it anyway the words literally won’t come out. If I’m writing my hand stops making letters, any form of communication that I’m trying to use breaks down. But you could be clever and try to work it out past the things that I can’t say, see the outline of what it is and make smart guesses, you know? But when it senses that we’re trying to get past that the magic around it sinks its teeth in and you start getting consequences, painful ones.” Sollux tells you.

“So the person I was talking to was a demon?” you say slowly.

“I don’t know. You have to have some serious magical power to even try to push through it in the first place but the same consequences affect anyone regardless of species. No one can tell you what you are if you don’t already know because it’s information that was wiped, though I honestly-” Sollux falters and makes a face.

“Yeah, see, that happens. Let me try that again. I think it’s stupid that you don’t get to remember.” Sollux says instead.

You don’t know what Sollux was about to say, you’re stuck on something he did say.

He can’t say for sure that whoever was contacting you was a demon, but it seemed implied that this is demonic magic at work. Demons are the only species to your knowledge that remember everything perfectly and there’s loads of suspicion on demons because of that and because they can’t explain anything about The Event. But if Sollux isn’t sure that you were talking to a demon or not then that isn’t necessarily true.

He really can’t tell you anything unless you manage to work it out yourself, if you already know it then he doesn’t have to keep it from you.

He expected you to have your memory when he saw you and you’re not a demon, not as far as you know anyway. He got pissy when he found out that you remembered nothing and supposedly he’s been acting weird ever since. He knew you well enough to be really hurtful but seemed surprised at how badly you took it. Sollux is genuinely off balance about the person you are without your memories, isn’t he? But he’s sorry enough to give you this peace offering.

“Alright.” you nod slowly.

“So we’re even, then? Peace offering accepted.” Sollux sighs.

“Yeah, I appreciate having three questions left. That was a nice gesture.” you beam at him.

“Two questions, you used one.” he corrects you.

“I didn’t say the things I have to say to make it a deal question, did I? You just told me all that for free, which, you know thanks for that.” you say brightly and hold up your arm.

“No, that’s-” Sollux stares at you and the writing around your arm glows into visibility again.

“I fucking hate you.” Sollux whispers.

You smile sharply at him and walk off.

“Night, Sollux. Don’t wake me up in the middle of the night again, thanks.” you say over your shoulder. He’s staring after you and practically glowing with anger, you can’t even try to keep the ear to ear grin off of your face. You just beat him at his own game for the second time in a row! HAH!


	4. Hotel California

You’re pretty tired in the morning and you and Rose are sat side by side on the sofa, the news is running on the now fixed TV. You’re both silently trying to wake up. 

“Japanese authorities have been trying to stabilize the region from further landslides but magi-archeologists are petitioning for excavation to be allowed as the site is believed to be an ancient site for containing great magic. Local residents are pushing back against the petition.” the news rambles on. 

“Magical archeology seems dangerous as shit.” you mumble into your coffee cup. 

“Dave is really interested in it.” Rose yawns. 

“Really?” you ask. 

“Mmm.” Rose nods and continues drinking her coffee. 

The news moves on to political topics which is almost enough to send you back to sleep again. Instead you try and think about your classes, you’ve got alchemy later, maybe you could ask Dave to study with you. He did take you out for coffee, you could repay the favour by taking him out for lunch before class. 

There’s a puff of displaced air and the noise nearly makes you spill your coffee, you already know who it is before the synthetic apple smell hits your nose. 

“Morning.” Rose sighs sleepily and leans over the back of the sofa to look at Sollux. 

“Oh, that smells good. You got enough left for me?” Sollux asks hopefully. 

“In the pot, help yourself.” Rose says and gestures towards the kitchen. 

Sollux turns and goes to caffeinate himself. You’re not a fan of the fact that he can just teleport into your dorm but you instinctively feel that if you tell him that he’ll do it just to piss you off. Better to stay quiet for once. As he turns to grab a mug you jolt in alarm. Across his cheek are four bright slashes of gold that are slowly dripping down his face. 

“What happened to your face?” you ask him in shock. 

“Rude.” Sollux snorts. 

“No, Sollux, your cheek is bleeding.” Rose adds in. 

Sollux seems genuinely surprised and touches his cheek, his fingers coming away bright gold. 

“Oh.” he says softly. 

You scramble off of the sofa and go over to him, it almost looks like he was clawed by something. 

“Bad day, huh?” Rose asks. 

“Yeah.” Sollux says back. 

“Does it hurt?” you ask as worry flares in you. You don’t like the idea of something being strong enough to do damage to a demon like him but on the other hand he hadn’t noticed until you pointed it out. 

“I’ll live, I didn’t realise it left a mark.” Sollux tilts his head to the side and with a flare of fire his wounds knit shut and the gold blood on his fingertips burns and boils away. 

“What happened?” you ask. 

“None of your business.” he responds sharply. Oh yeah, he doesn’t like you. 

With a full mug of coffee Sollux walks past you and floats in the air near Rose. You watch as he does a motion that you’d think of as reaching to take something out of a jacket pocket, only he seems to take it out of himself. As if his chest was as much of a pocket dimension as your bag is. He hands her a letter. 

“This was there for you, you should redirect that to here.” he says. 

“Oh, I forgot about them. I’ll change my address online today.” Rose nods and tosses the envelope on to the table. 

Sollux pulls out an open sheet of paper and hands that to her second. 

“You or Dave have to sign off on this if that’s what you want, I think it’s the best next step but this kind of thing actually requires your approval so, you know.” he shrugs. Rose reads the letter and you can’t help but brim with curiosity, yet you know it’s not your business. 

“This is what we talked about before. I’ll sign it, have you- thanks.” Rose stops asking as Sollux summons a pen out of thin air. Rose scribbles her signature on the letter and gives both back to Sollux. 

“Thanks, I’ll be back this afternoon unless I troll you two. Later.” Sollux says and falls backwards through the air and vanishes in a puff of dual coloured smoke. 

What was that all about? You probably shouldn’t ask but you are curious.

“He took your mug with him.” you point out. 

“Goddamnit, he did. Oh well, I know where he lives. I’m going to shower, I’ve got class soon. Some of us got the early morning alchemy class.” Rose says pointedly, as if you had any say in choosing your slot. 

When Rose leaves to shower your curiosity overpowers you, you peek at the sealed envelope on the table and see that the address is in New York, where they’re from. Sollux teleported all the way from there? What’s he even doing at their house anyway and what was that other letter about? 

You’re filled with questions and frustratingly short on answers. 

You dress and cross over with Rose to get in your bathroom, by the time you’re done brushing your teeth and washing your face she’s gone to class. Well, if she’s gone and you know that Sollux is literally hundreds of miles away maybe you could go see Dave, see if he wants to hang out before class. 

You’re supposed to be making friends, remember? 

Now, you have enough experience of people not liking you that it’s hard to dismiss concerns that someone won’t like you as mere paranoia. Historically, people don’t want you around. You also know that thinking about that becomes somewhat of a self fulfilling prophecy so you try to minimise the time you have to think about it by sprinting up to Dave’s room at maximum speed. 

You bang on the door with your fist and try to catch your breath in the time it takes Dave to open it. 

“HI!” you yell, your voice bouncing down the corridor to sounds of muffled alarm and annoyance from other students. 

Dave grabs your shirt and yanks you inside, slamming the door after you. You’re stood there in Dave’s room with your hands clamped over your mouth and mortification prickling hot up the back of your neck. 

“Well that sure woke me up.” Dave says. He’s still wearing pyjamas, they’re Disney Princess patterned. 

“I’m so sorry.” you tell him in a strangled tone. For yelling that is, not his weirdass taste in sleepwear. 

“It’s cool, what’s up? If you were here to yell at Sollux for what he said to you and demand an apology I hate to say he’s not here.” Dave tells you. 

“What? No, he already apologised. Sort of. It’s fine.” you tell him and Dave visibly perks up, you guess you not getting on with his best friend must have weighed on him a little. 

“Aw, hell yeah.” Dave nods happily. 

“I wanted to see you.” you tell him. 

“Oh.” Dave says.

That came off weird, didn’t it?

“Well you got me coffee before so I thought maybe I should return the favour or maybe we could study for alchemy together so we don’t set shit on fire and actually get to learn the cool stuff instead of fucking up. Or maybe we could study and I could take you for food or something, do both, I mean.” you babble. Your voice is getting louder so you shut your mouth and try to control yourself. 

“How often does that volume thing happen?” Dave asks, ignoring your question entirely. 

“Too much.” you say hoarsely. 

Dave still seems curious so you look at the floor instead of him and keep talking. 

“More when I’m stressed or stressed out apologising for doing it, irritatingly enough. I think it’s more than a volume thing, it seems to make people afraid of me.” you say in a whisper. 

“I’m not afraid of you.” Dave says simply. 

Something in your chest clenches and a wave of gratitude crashes over you. He tells you to ‘c’mon’ and pulls you over to his couch. The two of you spend a productive fifteen minutes talking about alchemy before you end up playing snipperclips on his switch. The insistence that both of you know what you’re doing leads to not a lot of puzzle solving but a lot of snickering and elbowing each other on the sofa. 

“No, no, left you dumb fuck.” you hiss as you back your character away from his until he does what he’s supposed to. 

“My left or your left?” Dave asks. He shifts on the sofa, tucking his legs up onto it so his knees rest against yours. He’s warm and your hand stills on the small controller he’s given you. 

“It’s the same left.” you tell him but what you’re thinking is whether this is friendship or not. It certainly feels great, it feels like the first taste of something you’ve missed for a long time. 

Dave laughs, this breathy little barely there thing and your own breath catches. He rotates his character just fine and you know he was only fucking with you because he thought it was funny. The level puzzle is solved and you both move on. 

About an hour before your class Sollux pops back in and you jump so hard you drop the controller. 

“Hah.” Sollux laughs, pronounced and a touch mean. 

“Hey man.” Dave says easily and Sollux smiles for him, warm and open. An uncomfortable thing twangs in your chest. 

“Wake me up before class.” Sollux says and Dave nods just the once. 

Sollux bounds upwards into the hanging hammock thing and looking up you see it shift as he moves about in it. It reminds you of videos of cats that you’ve seen snuggling up in small beds. Is it inappropriate to think of it like that? He’s a person, not an animal. You understand some of his behaviour but it’s not behaviour you’d do, it’s alien to you. 

Sollux doesn’t seem to care that you’re here or that the sound from the game is still going on. You’re still staring up at his bed when Dave nudges you. 

“He can sleep through anything when he wants, c’mon.” he tells you and gives you back your controller. 

“Alright, but you’d better play it right this time. It’s supposed to be a cooperative game, you know.” you remind him. 

“That sounds like loser talk to me.” Dave snickers, you elbow him anyway. 

You lose focus a few times when Sollux shifts in his sleep, especially when it results in two tails dangling down from his bed that occasionally twitch or fidget. You assume they’re moving because he’s dreaming. As it comes close to class time Dave eventually stands on the sofa and reaches into Sollux’s bed to wake him. 

“Hey, c’mon, class.” Dave says softly as you linger by the door. Dave’s so nice to him, you think he might just be nice in general under the thin veil of not caring that he puts up. He acts like he’s cool but you think he might actually be a sensitive guy. 

“Hmm?” Sollux mumbles sleepily from within his bed. 

Dave jiggles the giant hanging bed enough to stir the demon inside and sure enough Sollux’s head peeks out from the darkness. His hair is standing up on one side and he blinks all of his eyes slightly out of sync with each other, when he yawns his teeth are the stuff of nightmares but Dave is looking at him like Steve Irwin used to look at dangerous wild animals. Like ‘aw sure he could kill me with a thought but he’s so lovely!’. It’s stupid and ridiculous and you’re pretty sure things like that ought to get Dave killed and yet it makes you feel something.

For… Dave. Your roommate’s twin. Oh no, this could get complicated. 

Sollux jumps down from his bed and ruffles his hair into shape. Dave flashes you a smile and your insides heat, oh fuck, this is bad. What’s worse is Sollux gets this look like he KNOWS somehow and for all you know he does! He looks sly and smug. He’s a demon, he probably has some kind of feelings-vision that you don’t know about! Your life is over, this is how you die. 

“Come on, man, we’ve gotta go not set the class on fire today.” Dave says with a chuckle and opens the door. 

Maybe you can self immolate in class and not have to face this situation. That sounds like a solution. 

After class, during which you didn’t set yourself or anything else on fire, you’re out for coffee with Dave again because he’s nice. The insecure part of your brain suggests that he’s only socialising with you because you don’t have any friends that you don’t know through him and his sister, that he feels sorry for you. Which you suppose is almost your entire brain. The slightly more skeptical part suggests that you don’t think Dave is the type to be nice like this out of pity, yet you can’t come up for a reason behind that thought. It’s more of a gut feeling. 

“I guess it depends on whether you think that something being vegan is pretentious or not. I’m not really solid on that, sure a venti almond milk latte no foam sounds more pretentious than the same with regular milk but more specific isn’t always more pretentious, you know?” Dave opines pointlessly. 

“I’m amazed at how seriously you take your quest for ironically pretentious coffee.” you tell him honestly. 

“Go big or go home, I guess.” Dave shrugs. 

“I live here now. I suppose I still have my key to my old place but I’m never going back. I am home. Well, not this coffee shop but this town. City. Whatever.” you say and gesture vaguely around you. 

Dave sips at his coffee and nods thoughtfully, your reflection bobbing in his sunglasses. 

“Go big and go home.” he suggests. 

“A variable I hadn’t considered. Mind of the century here.” you grin. 

“Glad you admit it.” Dave says. 

He’s pretty, you hate that you notice that. It’s not like he’s rugged magazine action hero attractive, but he seems pretty in the way that humans used to describe early encounters with other species. There’s something otherworldly and charming in how he looks, or maybe it’s just how you have to pay attention to the rest of his face to know what he’s thinking since you can’t see his eyes. His phone buzzes and he picks it up, he’d already taken it out to take photographs of your coffees ‘ironically’ earlier. 

“Oh, yeah. I meant to ask if you’re doing anything this evening. I know you haven’t got class because Rose doesn’t but you’re not working are you?” Dave asks and taps at his phone. 

“No, why?” you tell him. 

“So Sollux had the demon part of our xenobio thing and his plan involves us all going out tonight somewhere with him. We’re supposed to dress cool, which is like the demon version of smart casual. Look nice but not like you’re trying kind of thing.” Dave explains. 

“That sounds like something that’s frustratingly nonspecific but I guess I could. Where are we going?” you ask him curiously. 

“I don’t actually know, it’s a surprise!” Dave grins and puts his phone away, you guess he’s told Sollux you’re going. 

Not that you know where you’re going and following him off somewhere without knowing where you’re going seems like a great way to get yourself murdered in the woods. Then because you’re an idiot you say that out loud to his best friend. 

“He’s not going to murder you in the woods.” Dave groans. 

“So you say.” you tell him. Dave kicks you in the ankle. 

“What kind of outing with him would even halfway tell us anything about demons in the context of xenobiology?” you ask. Dave shrugs and your mind floods with two worrisome possibilities. On the one end there’s the possibility of ‘here’s this demon being flayed alive see its organs and stuff’ and on the other there is the ‘look at this demon anatomy in this strip joint’. You’re keen to avoid both but it seems like you’re going along regardless of what Sollux has chosen to do.

“Does it always go like this when you introduce your demon friend to people?” you ask him curiously. 

“He got on fine with Jade.” Dave says with a shrug. Again, you wonder if it’s just you that’s the problem here. 

“What about June? How did introducing them go because they seem close now.” you wonder. 

“Oh man, June gets on with everyone. People just like being around her, she’s great.” Dave gushes, you nod along because June does seem pretty nice as far as you can tell. 

“She and Sollux get on real well, they hang together and go off and cause trouble. The whole xenobio shenanigans is very on brand for them. But…” Dave frowns and trails off for a moment, “I don’t actually remember introducing them.” 

This isn’t uncommon for people who have lost a few memories to The Event, they’ll think they’ve not lost anything until they try to recall a specific thing that must have happened in the past. In this case, the first introduction of June and Sollux, but suddenly the memory isn’t there. 

“That’s a shame, it would have been cool to know how that went down.” you tell him easily, you of all people understand memory loss. 

“Yeah, especially because June’s Dad is super religious. Some super niche thing, he was always hush hush about it. June had this theory that he was in some weird business cult, or- no, he was in a cult and his appearance as a respectable suburban businessman was a cover. That was it. Either way he didn’t have a problem with a demon chilling at his house when we went over there.” Dave shrugs. 

“That’s good, it must suck that people can see what he is so easily and be shit about it. People would talk shit about non humans in front of me like I was human too because a lot of people assume that’s what I am. I don’t know, maybe I’d prefer looking more like whatever I am.” you sigh morosely and spin your coffee around on the little plate the mug came on. 

“I would guess that you do look exactly like what you are seeing as that’s what you are and this is how you look.” Dave reasons in a word salad that is somehow reassuring and semi-coherent in meaning. 

“Thanks.” you laugh. 

“I give the smoothest compliments, you know. That’s why I have so many fans and admirers. You look like the thing you are. Oh yeah.” Dave makes what you can only classify as a douchebag expression that quickly fractures into poorly stifled amusement at himself. 

Is it worse that he’s sort of right? Because that dumbass statement hasn’t changed that you think he’s pretty alright actually. And also that you still think he’s pretty.

“That must be terrible for you to deal with, such pressure.” you say instead. 

"Oh, it's the worst. Just trying to get places and people are throwing themselves at my feet, worshiping me instead of the gods. Like damn son stop kissing my shoes I have to get to class and set fire to the ceiling." Dave intones seriously. 

"Let's resolve to not do that again." you frown. 

"Says the guy who set fire to a ouija board." Dave retorts instantly. 

"ONE TIME!" you yell. Across the coffee shop the glass cups that they have for fancy teas ring against each other and people look around at you in alarm. Well, you can't see them if you're facedown on the table in shame, can you? 

"I bet that's really useful sometimes." Dave says instead of making a big deal of it. 

You think it might be if you were separated from someone and then spotted them far away, only you've never had people that want to talk to you to get separated from. That's frankly far too pathetic to say to Dave so you smartly resolve not to. Dave's phone pings so you take the distraction opportunity it presents. 

"Jade is asking me what she should wear because she wants to super overdo it. Wait, nevermind she says she's going to super overdo it regardless. That'll be cool." Dave says as he reads. 

"We're all going to look like trash next to her, aren't we?" you sigh. 

"Speak for yourself, I always look great. Remember, the fans?" Dave insists. You roll your eyes at him but feel yourself smiling anyway. 

You still spend a while dithering in front of your wardrobe that evening, eventually resorting to getting Rose to help you. You end up in a nice black shirt and smartish but not too smart grey jeans and your least shitty looking pair of shoes that even you won't charitably call nice. Rose on the other hand is wearing a nice black skirt and a purple and black shirt that is remarkably eldritch in pattern. Because it's pretty cold out you both sensibly take jackets with you and meet up with the others. 

Jade has overdone it as she said and is wearing a dress that seems to have actual shifting stars on it and glittery red shoes, June also looks nice even if the leggings that she's wearing under her floaty blue dress make her look a little more casual than Jade. Dave doesn't appear to be much more differently dressed than usual and Sollux is wearing this eyesearing blue and red dress shirt that hurts your eyes to look at. If that's the standard of attire you think you'll be fine. 

Sollux leads you all out of the building and down the road, as he walks he starts to talk. 

"Demonology lecture time." Sollux announces and hops up on a low wall and walks along that as you go along the pavement by him. 

"Demon as a classification is about as helpful as, I don't know, mammal. There's so many different kinds of us and we're all so different. But we do have a shared culture I guess and we're all part of the same ecosystem of stuff in our plane of existence so it's whatever." he explains. 

"How do you separate each other then if the term demon is too broad?" you ask curiously. 

For a moment you think he's not going to answer just because it's you asking but in the end he does. 

"We kind of... alright, let me explain. When I see another demon I know things about them just by looking, it's like a stat sheet in video games. I know what their current job field is, I know their ranking and I know what gender they are. You just know this stuff." he says. 

"What's a ranking?" Jade asks. 

"There's a hierarchy, the better your rank the more important you are. Obviously if you have a job you have a boss but if someone else is significantly higher than you then they can still tell you what to do and to a certain extent you gotta do it. You get your rank from a few things. First there's the job you have, some jobs are better regarded than others just like with humans. You need doctors and you need people to take the trash out but people for sure respect one more than the other, it's the same with us. The second thing is who made you and what their rank is, that's your lineage and that's important. Demons with more power can make more powerful demons than weaker demons can, so it reflects on you." Sollux goes on. 

"Like coming from an important family for humans." Rose nods. 

"Close enough, yeah. The third thing is your actual magical power but there's an element of physical power in there too, basically how tough you'd be in a fight. The last thing is a kind of social standing. If people respect or like you it'll be better, if you have a reputation for fucking other demons over and being a shitty person to deal with it'll be lower. I know someone's score as a whole but it's usually not hard to figure out roughly why they have it." Sollux tells you all. 

"What's your score, then?" Jade asks him. 

"Really, really good." Sollux brags. 

You're pretty sure that you don't believe that but you're also not so dumb as to fall for the obvious bait of calling him on that. 

"So, not that I don't like learning things but why did we have to get dressed up and walk around Salem to learn all of this?" Rose asks as Sollux gestures for you all to take a left down the nearest corner. 

"I figured you'd want to all see other demons. I mean, I know you two know a lot of this stuff but they don't." Sollux reasons, indicating Dave and Rose and then the rest of you hapless fools. 

"You're taking us to meet other demons?" June asks, raising an eyebrow at Sollux. 

"Yeah, it's a party. There'll be all kinds of demons there, it'll be educational." Sollux nods.

"I didn't know there was a large enough demon presence here to have a party, or are people teleporting here? Also, where are we going?" Rose asks. 

You tip your head back a little as you walk along with the group. It's a nice night, clear sky, full moon. It's nice. 

"It's held at Club Mirage which gets translocated all across the world, it makes it way more exclusive and I'm not saying harder for law enforcement to deal with or crack down on, but I'm not NOT saying that either. Since it's my party they moved it here." Sollux explains. 

You watch as Dave gushes about how cool that is and derails your group's lesson about demons to ask Sollux about how the mechanics of a demon club works, who decides who gets in, who runs it, what the music is like and so on. Sollux looks like he couldn't be happier to answer Dave's questions and Dave is clearly buzzing with excitement to go. June has her arm around Rose's shoulders and the two of them are just as plainly watching Dave and Sollux interact with much amusement. It's a nice little dynamic that's clearly been forged over years. It's an odd feeling to have, because you're here and included, but it feels like this is something you wished you'd always had but never did. 

A glance at Jade tells you that she's feeling something similar and you suppose with being alone on an island she probably can relate. 

"They get on so well, huh?" you say quietly to her. 

"Yeah! They're all really fun to be around and living with June is great!" Jade beams suddenly brighter now that she knows you're talking to her specifically. 

"Rose is a good roommate, I'm happy we got put together. What about you and June?" you ask her. 

"It's really fun, way better than living with my old fogey grandpa before he died. Although June does leave her stinky socks around the place." Jade confides with you. 

"No I don't!" June denies loudly from ahead of you, looks like she was listening in. 

"You DO!" Jade laughs. 

"That's a good question, hey idiots, I have important information!" Sollux says loudly, interrupting you. 

"Rose just asked about what the rules are at this place and that's actually a pretty vital thing." Sollux begins again and you all quieten down to listen to him. 

"Demons run on different rules than human society does. Obviously no one wants to be killed and we don't take kindly to people we care about getting killed. The biggest thing stopping a demon from killing another demon is the revenge cycles it starts off, but it's not against the rules. We don't have law enforcement or anything. What we do have is specific times when there are rules." he goes on. 

"If you host a party you're not allowed to attack or kill your guests, or to get someone to do it for you. If you're a guest at a party you're not allowed to attack or kill anyone else there. It's a really serious rule because parties are really important for us, you negotiate things there, you have relationships there that you couldn't risk elsewhere, you mediate problems there. Whether you invite someone or don't is a big way of communicating favour and you can't muddy that with murder." Sollux explains seriously. 

"Like claiming sanctuary in a church or something?" you guess. 

"Kind of, but cooler. Breaking that rule is a huge deal, you don't do it. Which is why it's okay for me to bring all of you here, you're my guests so no one can touch you." Sollux says. 

That makes you feel at least a little better but you're still not really sure what to expect. 

Not too long after that you catch sight of a large black glass building, lit up by red lights. It's easily several stories high and even from where you are you can hear the thump of music from within. There's a line of people wrapping around the front of the building, a mix of demons lined up waiting and humans mixed in too. Your eyebrows raise when you catch sight of a few of the humans, aside from all being gorgeous you're pretty sure they're all famous. You can pick out a couple of youtube stars, a number of musicians that even you recognise despite not being a music person and filmstars too. 

Sollux doesn't take you to the line, no, he leads your group past the line as if he can't see the disapproving looks from the humans who presumably think you're cutting ahead. For all you know he's enjoying people thinking that he won't get in. 

The man on the door is about seven foot tall and nearly as wide with deep red skin and thick horns, his teeth are long and overhang his lip in a way that reminds you of sabretoothed tigers. The man exudes quiet menace and yet when he sees Sollux leading your group in he snaps to attention and opens the door immediately. The guy didn't even have to ask Sollux who he was. 

"Thanks, they're with me." Sollux says politely and takes you all inside. 

The door clicks shut behind you and for a moment your group lingers on the staircase by the door as you take it all in. 

Club Mirage is, as you had worked out earlier, held over several floors. The main floor of the club is down the stairs from where you are, a dancefloor with a mass of dancing demons all moving to music from a live band. There's a bar along one wall and the main floor has raised areas for people to dance in and the whole thing looks wild. You understand right away Sollux's point that demons are all different. There's people in there who, like Sollux, look pretty close to human if not for the tails, horns and colouring but some who look impossibly different. Demons with extra limbs and heads, demons of vastly different sizes, some with fur, scales, the works. 

The top level of the club is a ring that goes around the upper level of the floor below, affording those up there a view of what's below but also granting them private seating. You can't help but note that there is another guard on the stairs up that way, it seems that not everyone is allowed. Again this must be a status thing, interesting. 

“How exactly can we know how important a demon is or what they do?” June asks as she leans over the railing of the stairs to look at the crowd below. 

“From my understanding the demon professions that have more interaction with humans appear more humanoid, that of course won’t tell you exactly what they do but I imagine it’d narrow it down.” Rose says, saying more or less what you read in that book on your first day here. 

Sollux squints at her with a slightly put out expression on his face. 

“What?” you ask. 

“I mean that’s… it’s not like you’re wrong Rose but you’re also not right, or not right for the right reasons. That’s like someone asking what’s the fastest way to remove a tattoo on your arm is and you suggest amputation. Like, yeah, that’ll do it but it’s not- no. Look, come on, we’ll go upstairs.” Sollux says and shakes his head. 

He leads your group up past the secondary bouncer on the stairs and along to a booth table outfitted in soft black leather with gold riveted accents. As you sit down you’re momentarily paranoid that you don’t know what this leather is FROM and horrible images of potential torture flood your mind but you’re not going to ask Sollux, he’d probably lie just to fuck with you so you’d have no way of knowing the real answer. Well, unless you burn a question and you’re not doing it for that. Best not to think about it. 

“So, alright. Your reasoning holds for incubi and succubi, it helps to be able to pass for human when you’re trying to tempt them. Although not always, humans are pretty notorious for fucking anything, there’s a reason most people who are half one species and half something else are almost always half human. Humans are wild.” Sollux comments. 

“I’m not sure if I feel offended or proud.” Rose muses. 

“Go for proud, get it humans.” Dave nods. 

“Right, but the guy on the door whose job it is to guard things he’s going to be big and beefy and scary looking because it’s what he’s for. But there’s plenty of us who don’t deal with humans as our primary purpose and we still look like this. We look the way we do because it’s how we’re made, basically.” Sollux explains. 

Jade opens her mouth to start asking a question but gets no further than ‘How-’ before a little creature bursts into life in the middle of the round table of your booth. It’s about as tall as the distance between your middle fingertip and the end of your palm but its head is about a third of its height. The creature has little horns, a tail and is glowing orange. It chitters in a manner that you can only class as excited and Sollux smiles at it. 

“Hey, man. How’re you doing?” Sollux asks and holds out a finger, the little creature shakes his finger with a tiny clawed hand. 

“This is-” Sollux then says a name that you’re pretty sure can’t be rendered in letters, “he’s an imp. I didn’t know you were working here now.” 

The imp squeaks and chatters away, gesturing a little as he talks. 

“Oh, yeah, I suppose that makes sense. Good to hear it worked out for you though. He wants to know what you’d all like to drink.” Sollux directs that last part at the rest of you. 

“Hi there bro, I’m Dave.” Dave introduces himself in an excited whisper, probably not wanting to startle the little guy. 

The imp on the table waves his hands and bows deeply a few times and chatters away in the language that only Sollux seems to understand, he seems a little anxious to you. 

“Come on, Dave, think of a drink you want. The guy’s got a job to do, we don’t want to delay him and get him in trouble. He can make you anything you want, anything at all.” Sollux says. 

“Oh! Can you do some kind of super fancy apple juice?” Dave gasps in delight, the little imp nods vigorously. 

“Do you have anything dark and spooky? Is that too vague?” Rose asks curiously. The imp seems to consider this for a moment then snaps his fingers and nods. 

“Something super tropical and tasty!” Jade adds, again the imp nods. 

“What about… ice cream soda? With ice cream in it.” June says. 

This is all so specific and you have no idea what you want, you’re not even bought any more thinking time because Sollux just says he’ll have his usual thing and then the imp is focused on you. You freeze under the pressure of having to make a simple decision. 

“I… I don’t know what I want.” you tell the poor thing. 

He tips his head to the side and squints at you and then babbles at Sollux, waving a hand in your direction. Sollux seems thoughtful but nods. 

“I’ll ask. Hey, he can touch you and see what kind of thing you might like.” Sollux explains, tapping a finger in the middle of his forehead. 

“Oh, that sounds interesting. Do that.” Rose encourages you. 

You’re not thrilled about the idea but you’ve held everyone up long enough, so you lean in to the table and down enough so the imp can reach you. He chitters and squeaks and reaches a tiny hand out, pressing it to the middle of your forehead. There’s more indecipherable babble after a moment’s pause and the imp takes his hand back. With a flash of orange smoke he’s gone. 

“Any idea what you’re getting?” Dave asks you curiously. 

“Not a clue.” you tell him. 

“I have a question!” Jade cuts in and you’re glad for the interruption. 

“Hi, Sollux. Great party.” a pretty demon girl says as she walks by your table, Sollux smiles at her but returns his attention to Jade immediately. Interesting. 

“You talk about demons having jobs but you say it like it’s a given thing. Like, you didn’t go out and look in the paper for a job, you say it’s like it’s what you are.” Jade says. You’re not even sure if people still advertise jobs in the paper or not. 

“Well, yeah. We’re made for a purpose, that’s our job. It doesn’t translate super well, but it’s basically the same thing. You’re either made for a field of work or a very specific thing. Demons aren’t like humans or fae or anything, we’re not made by accident, when we’re made we’re made for something.” Sollux tells her. 

“So what are you made for?” Jade asks. 

“Jade, are you implying that you don’t see Sollux doing a lot of anything?” you say meanly and smirk at Sollux who narrows his eyes at you. It’s notable that he’s had all four open the whole time he’s been in here, maybe this is a situation where there’s more useful things to see. 

“I’m not a good example. If you wanted to you could think of different job types being like a species of demon, like guards or the imps or whatever. My type is rare there’s only ever been one other like me and he’s gone, so I’m the last one.” Sollux says with a shrug. 

“Oh… oh, Sollux, I’m sorry.” Jade says, clearly mortified at having inadvertently brought up something that’s probably uncomfortable. 

“What? No, fuck that guy he sucked. I’m delighted he’s gone.” Sollux laughs, okay so perhaps not a sensitive subject. 

Either way the moment is broken by the imp returning and handing out elaborate drinks to everyone. Rose’s is just as spooky and dark as requested, actually billowing over with smoke of some kind which makes her look positively malevolent when she drinks it. The little imp pops in and out dispensing drinks until he gets to you. 

“Oh, hey-” and again Sollux says a name that you can’t quite parse, “you’re working here too? How’s your wife?” 

The imp, apparently a different one than before chirps and chirrs at Sollux in response. The imp is holding your drink which comes in a curved glass in a stand, like some of those fancy European beers do. It looks thick and amber coloured and the imp seems to give you some kind of talk about it as it sets the drink down before you but you unfortunately don’t speak that language so you’ve no idea what was just said and Sollux doesn’t fill you in. 

“What is it?” Dave asks you curiously. 

“I literally have no clue. It’s not fizzing or anything.” you tell him. Jade’s drink is literally fizzing as it has a sparkler in it, much to her delight. 

It takes a moment to disentangle the glass from the stand and as you do the liquid inside sloshes a little. You were right in assuming that it’s pretty thick, not quite syrup levels of thick but close. You sniff at it and your senses tingle. It smells sweet, not cloying but actually pretty pleasant. Some note in its scent feels familiar, like a spice that you can’t pick out or name. It’s not vanilla or honey, it’s… it’s something. Curiosity builds inside you so strongly that you have no choice but to take a sip. It’s probably unwise to drink mystery drinks given to you by demons but Sollux did say that you’re all protected here and you think at the very least he’s unlikely to let you die because the rest of your friends would probably be upset with him for it. So, you drink. 

Your unnamed drink washes over your tongue as you take a first experimental sip. Your senses light up and for a moment you’re sure that you know this feeling, but as you try to place it you fail to describe it. It’s like the words and the memories just slip out of your grip before you can properly work out what you have. 

“What is it?” Rose asks. 

“I have no idea.” you admit. 

“Hey, uh, lemme try.” June says, she’s already reaching across the table to get to you. Leaning over it in fact. Needless to say you hand your mystery glass over to her and she sips it with her eyes closed. 

“Oh.” June says. 

“Do you know what it is? I can’t place it.” you say. It feels like it’s just on the tip of your tongue, like you might bolt awake in the middle of the night suddenly remembering the name of whatever it is. It’s so close you can taste it. Well, not literally taste it because right now June is having another sip. 

“Hm, s’weird dude.” June notes and hands the glass back across to you. 

The glass catches the light as she passes it to you, it has a weird blue sheen to it. Not the drink within but the glass, you hadn’t noticed it before. You go to put it back in the holder, considering that maybe you’re meant to drink it from that rather than taking it out like this. 

You’re not sure how it happens but you fuck it up somehow. You swear you put the glass right back in the stand how you got it but the moment you let go of it the thing slips right out spills over the table and smashes loudly on the floor. 

You hiss between your teeth, certain that if you hadn’t bitten down on the sound it would have been far too loud. 

“Oh shit.” you groan and hop out but, no, the glass is a total loss.

“Wow, Karkat, we can’t take you anywhere.” Dave teases you. 

“Not twice anyway.” Rose agrees with a laugh.

“Yeah, right? Shit, I’m sorry, I should clean this up.” you apologise. You’re directing your apology to Sollux of all people because this is his party and he invited you out with him and here you are smashing drinks. 

“Not your fault. It’s all up your sleeve, you know.” Sollux points out. You look and sure enough there are splatters of your drink all the way up your shirt sleeve. 

“I’ll go find a bathroom.” you sigh and get up. 

“Downstairs.” Sollux informs you.

You nod, you’re about to look for napkins of some kind on the table to try to clean up the glass but when you look down to assess the devastation you see two little imps already cleaning it up for you. 

“Oh, I’m sorry.” you tell them and they chatter at you, you don’t think they sound angry. 

Cautiously you step around them, trying to be careful not to step on their tiny tails or anything with your comparatively big feet. You tell everyone you’ll be right back and walk to the stairs that you came up, as you reach the bouncer on the stairs you pause. 

“I’ll be right back, is that ok?” you ask him but all he does is grunt at you. You have your suspicions that this is a bouncer thing rather than a demon thing. 

Seeing as he’s not stopping you, you slip past him and keep going down the other stairs. There must have been some sound altering magic on the upper floor because the lower you go the more you feel the heady pulse of the music around you. Slowing down you watch the crowd as everyone cuts loose. You wonder what it’s normally like for demons to be around each other, you imagine it must be pretty cutthroat so a party must be a nice change to be among your own kind in a safe environment. Of course the obvious question is why don’t they have these rules all of the time, but it’s probably not your place to point that out. It’d probably be pretty speciest, actually. 

You reach the bottom of the staircase and you find that parts of your clothing start to fluoresce. The laces on your shoes, the buttons on your shirt and the drink splashed up your arm all glow. There’s even something glowing through your shirt! You roll your sleeve up and see red and blue twined around your arm with delicate demonic script between the colours. You start walking, sticking to the wall on the logic that bathrooms will branch off of the main room so it’s your best bet. As you go you pull your phone out and google the demonic ~ATH symbol for three, you know, the number of questions you have left. You remember roughly where the symbol changed and sure enough as you pass the bar you find the symbol and quietly laugh to yourself, you really did get an extra question and not use it up. 

Tucking your phone away you spot the sign for the bathrooms and end up mildly surprised that there’s only the one room. You suppose given how different everyone’s biology must be that separating based on something like gender seems a little silly. It’d make more sense to separate people by size. At least that’s what you think as you head to a sink, only to see a giant ten foot beast of a demon come out of a locked stall that grows and shrinks in size to accommodate them leaving. Well, fair enough then. 

The quest to get all of your drink out of your shirt is probably fruitless but you can at least rinse it a little. The door opens and two women come in, demons but about as humanoid as Sollux. One looks like a slick professional woman and the other a lot more like a party girl type. 

“-see the blacklist for the party? It’s crazy.” the party girl demon exclaims as she walks in. 

“It’s not like it’s surprising, though. Those people all have pretty obvious alliances and it’s not as if anyone’s ever had any doubt where Sollux’s loyalties lie.” the professional lady sighs and leans in to the mirror to reapply her lipstick. 

“Well, no duh, but the kid can’t go around pissing people off like that. I know they won’t know unless someone tells them but he blacklisted Jane, Meenah and Snowman. That’s gonna come back to bite him.” the girl tuts. You are one hundred percent eavesdropping now, this part of your sleeve has had water on it for ages, better pretend a little harder to be doing that and not listening. 

“Eesh, and Meenah loves a party. She’ll definitely tell if she gets denied.” the professional demon lady agrees with a wince. 

“Yeah, why risk it? I know he’s young and doesn’t know better but he’s not STUPID. He’s been hiding out all this time and then BOOM huge party? Why?” the party girl asks. 

“You’d think he had a death wish with- oh… oh shit.” the professional woman stares at you and you realise you’ve been caught. 

“Sorry, I just spilt my drink.” you say hastily, squeezing water out of your sleeve. 

The two women stare for a moment and then bolt past you before you can even look. 

You feel that sensation, like in the library or when you were in the hall. Someone right behind you. 

You turn expecting Sollux and for a split second you think it is him, dark hair, grey skin, four horns. It’s not Sollux. You jerk back away from the guy who was right behind you, unnervingly similar teeth bared. Messy hair covers half of his face, blocking his eyes from view but it does nothing to disguise the malice on his face. 

“I-” you start and he grabs your wrist. He jerks your wet arm towards him and a deep and menacing growl builds in his chest. He shoves your wet sleeve up and twists your arm so he can better see the bicoloured text glowing there softly under the strange lighting of the club. 

A girl peers over his shoulder, looking at your arm as well. Her skin is in human peachy tones but the pointy little horns on her head and her red glowing eyes ping you as demonic through and through. 

“What did you do?” Not-Sollux growls at you. 

“Let go of me!” you demand, trying to yank your arm back but having no luck at all. 

“I gotchu babe.” the girl says and slinks past him. She’s wearing a skintight metallic teal dress that shows off her cleavage and every curve on her body, a body which honestly you’d say was photoshopped if not for existing right next to you. She leans forward, reaching to cup your face with her hands which does… flattering things to her chest. 

“Hey there cutie.” she all but purrs at you. You yank your eyes upwards and stare at her impossibly glossy lips. Wow, her hands on your face are so warm. 

“I- uh-” you mumble, hypnotised with the way her lipgloss glistens as she smiles for you and shows off perfectly white teeth. 

“How’d you get that deal on your arm, huh? You can tell me.” the girl says. She winks at you, her glowing red eyes edged with thick dark lashes and glittering aqua eyeshadow. She’s so… so pretty… 

Unbidden your mind flicks to Dave and then to Sollux and your thoughts start to churn a little faster. 

“That’s… let me go.” you croak, tugging on your arm. The girl pouts at you and slinks a little closer. This is off, she’s trying to do something to you. You look her over and, yes, she’s so gorgeous you feel like you might die just being near her but you’re also slightly aware that that isn’t your thought. Or it isn’t wholly yours. She looks really human and distressingly attractive, that sort of quirky, e-girl, internet babe kind of vibe. 

She’s attractive to you and she looks mostly human, her small horns, delicate tail and glowing eyes seem almost more like an exotic demon costume than actual features. She could BE human which is why she’s so easily appealing. You think about carnivorous plants or those fish with the lures. Her appearance is bait which means if you find her appealing you’re the prey here. She’s a succubus. 

The knowledge of that wraps around your mind and steels your resolve. 

“Let go of me, if you don’t you might end up hurting me and I’ve been told that’s against the rules.” you tell the guy who looks like Sollux, you’re trying to keep your voice firm. You don’t want them thinking that you’re scared. Truthfully you aren’t, freaked out of course but not really scared. Sollux might be an asshole but you’re pretty sure he’s not trying to get you killed. If he says his guests are safe then you believe him. At the very least you believe him enough to keep your cool for now. 

“How did you GET this?” the guy repeats with a snarl and jerks your arm up before your face, putting the glowing text on your arm at eye level. 

“It showed up when I made a deal with Sollux! Let go of me!” you snap, you pull on your arm but this guy is way stronger than you.

“The kid wouldn’t make a deal like that willingly, what did you do to make him?” the guy demands. 

“I didn’t make him do anything!” you shout back. 

“What’d you do to my baby?” the girl growls and you whip your head around to stare at her. 

“Are- are you his mother?!” you blurt out. She doesn’t look older than Sollux really, or if so not by more than a year or two but she’s a DEMON so who knows?! The red eyed girl jerks back in surprise and stares at you obviously shocked. 

“What?! Do I look like-” she splutters. 

There’s a familiar sound behind you, you’ve never been so relieved to hear it or to smell artificial apples in your life. 

“The fuck are you doing? Let him go. I was wondering where your dumb ass had got to.” Sollux reaches over your shoulder and slaps the other demon’s hand off of you. 

“BABY!” the succubus cries out and scoops Sollus up in her arms, pressing a glossy smooch to his cheek. 

“AUGH! LATULA! Put me down!” Sollux yelps and tries to squirm free. 

“What happened to youuuu? I haven’t seen you in so long! And this deaaaaaal!” the demon presumably named Latula says in between kissing Sollux’s horrified face. With a final hiss like an angry cat Sollux poofs out of her arms and lands behind you again rubbing his face. 

“Sollux, what the hell?! He’s-” the other demon’s face freezes up and his jaw shuts with an audible click. 

“Whoa, what?” Latula gasps. 

“It’s none of your business, we’re going.” Sollux tells them both but the other demon pushes past you and this time grabs Sollux. 

“Oh, nah, nah, nah, you’re telling me what the fuck’s going on. What’s with him? That deal? What the FUCK?!” he says loudly. 

He snaps a finger and the two of them get encased in a giant soap bubble with a blue and red sheen. They’re arguing inside it but you can’t hear a word and their mouths are blurred out like they’re being censored on TV. 

“What? Sollux?” you call and touch the hard surface of the bubble. Sollux doesn’t react to hearing his name so you can only assume that he can hear you as well as you can hear him, which is to say: not at all.

“What’s wrong with you?” Latula asks slowly, she doesn’t seem to be insulting you. At least she doesn’t seem like her intent is insulting you, regardless of how insulting her question actually is. She seems like she’s just trying to work you out. 

“Nothing, what’s he doing? He can’t hurt him, right?” you ask as worry mounts in you. You slam your balled up fist on the bubble and though it gets the attention of the two demons inside it doesn’t do anything. In fact the other demon is now just pointing at you and seems to be yelling at Sollux. 

“You don’t have your memory, do you?” Latula says carefully. 

“No, nothing before The Event. How do you know that?” you ask, taking your eyes off of the bubble for a moment. 

“I can tell, how do you know Sollux?” she asks. 

“Why should I tell you that? I could ask you the same, how do you know him? You called him your baby earlier!” you snap at her. 

Latula pulls a face but you’re not budging. Now that she’s not actively doing whatever magic she was she just looks like a person. Attractive, sure, but your IQ hasn’t dropped through the ground just because you’re talking to her now. 

“He’s not my baby like humans have them, I mean that’s totally gross. But he’s all itty bitty. Me and Mituna, Mituna’s my matesprit, have known him since he was a little thing freshly made. I just see him and wanna pinch his cheeks he’s so cute. Tuna wouldn’t hurt him, he just wants to know what’s up with that jacked up deal you have. So how ‘bout you tell?” she explains and wiggles her eyebrows at the end. You glance at the clear argument going on in the bubble, it doesn’t look like it’s going to end soon. 

“There’s not really anything to say.” you tell her, although you’ll probably skip the part about tricking an extra question out of him. You look away from Latula and back to the bubble. 

“He freaked me out and my roommate is his friend’s twin. Well, he’s friends with her but Dave was the one who got him to agree to having him answer some questions as an apology of sorts, he was refusing to explain why he was being a dick so, you know. I just have a few questions left, that’s all.” you explain. 

Within the bubble Sollux seems to yell something then immediately cover his mouth and look away. Mituna’s shoulders fall and his body language looks surprised, Sollux on the other hand doesn’t look happy at all. The bubble pops and you tumble forwards into Sollux who spins you around and starts to march you out of the bathroom. 

“Sollux, wait, I didn’t mean-” Mituna calls after him. 

“Leave me alone!” Sollux snaps at him and pulls you out of the room. 

“What was that about?” you ask him as he takes you back into the main floor of the club. 

“It doesn’t matter.” he grumbles and keeps pushing you. 

“Stop shoving me, fuck face. Also I’m fine, thanks for asking.” you snap at him. 

“Obviously you are and it’s the only way to get your slow ass to move already, come on.” Sollux groans.

Despite his assertion you don’t need pushing or pulling about the place and by the time you get to the stairs the hand he has on your arm isn’t really doing anything. 

“Are you okay? Those two seemed mad about our question thing and Latula called you her baby.” you say.

Sollux’s face goes through about three different varieties of mortification and horror before he’s able to summon words. 

“She didn’t, did she?!” Sollux chokes out. 

“Oh, she did. She made it clear that she wasn’t your actual mother-” you begin.

“Demons don’t reproduce like that.” Sollux interrupts. 

“Either way did I get you in trouble back there?” you ask him, finishing up what you’d started trying to say earlier. 

Sollux pauses at the midway point between the two staircases, right where you came in. He glares at you sharply but you’re not going to flinch away from it. 

“If you apologise…” he starts threateningly. 

“Apologise for what? Being better than you, a literal demon, at working out how to make a deal? I’m not sorry for that, that’s hilarious. I would feel bad if it had actual negative consequences for either of us outside of me making you look like a dumbass, though.” you say. Sollux shakes his head and sighs, he at least looks less irritated though. It’s that thing he has with pity, isn’t it? He can’t stand it from you for some reason. 

“It’s not that, I outrank both of them so I can’t get in trouble with them. They’re both older than me is all, we’re friends. They both taught me cool shit back in the day and it’s sort of like a… a little like Dave and Rose, I guess.” Sollux explains. 

“They’re like older siblings to you?” you say. 

“Ehh, sure. If you want to be really human centric about it. Demon relationships are complicated. They’re matesprites and it’s not as if I’m pale with either of them but I trust them not to stab me in the back and they give a shit about what happens to me.” Sollux tells you. 

“Those sure were a lot of words that didn’t really mean anything to me, but I think I get it. It was basically an overprotective family problem, they were upset because I got such a good deal out of you, huh?” you tease him. 

“I should throw you off this balcony.” Sollux threatens you. It’s the most casual murder threat that you’ve ever recieved. 

“Pretty sure that would break the whole not hurting your guests thing.” you grin at him, you know you’re right because he genuinely looks frustrated. 

What are you even doing? You’re trying not to make things complicated and get on with your mutual friends but it’s like the moment the two of you exchange more than a few sentences together you get dragged into being petty idiots. At least he’s not gone for your throat this time, although the sharp smile he’s pointing your way suggests that he might. 

“That only applies in here and you have to leave this party sooner or later.” Sollux says quietly as he leans in. 

“We’re back to you stalking me again, then?” you say and push past him. 

“I don’t STALK you!” Sollux shouts indignantly and rushes up the stairs after you. 

“Oh, wait, this way.” Sollux says as you get to the top of the stairs. He grabs your elbow and pulls you off to the side. At your table Rose gives you a curious look but you guess you’re not going over there because Sollux is dragging you off some other way. 

“You made it!” Sollux says brightly. 

Turning to look at the table Sollux just dragged you to leaves you looking at a demon who even to your eyes seems powerful. She’s at least six and a half foot tall without the horns, her eyes are flaming red and she’s dressed in a vibrant teal and red business suit. To her side are several other smartly dressed demons including one of the women who ran from the bathroom when Mituna and Latula showed up. 

“Of course, I’d never turn down an invitation to a good party, Sollux.” the woman says with a smile. 

“This is Karkat, we go to Salem University together. Karkat, this is Redglare.” Sollux introduces you. 

“Oh, uh, it’s very nice to meet you.” you say awkwardly but she smiles all the same. 

“I’ll admit I had a kind of ulterior motive for asking you here,” Sollux starts and Redglare smiles with a lot of fang, “we both have class together and we have to take Xenobiology, it’s mandatory. Look at what we’re being taught and tested on though.” 

Sollux tosses a folder of paper that he got from somewhere onto the table. Curiously Redglare flicks them open and looks. The smartly dressed people to her sides lean in and try to read as well. Several long seconds of slightly muted music later Redglare speaks. 

“Mandatory classes.” she says slowly, the people at her side pull notebooks and pens out. 

“Mandatory, for everyone. You can’t take the more advanced classes in anything if you don’t pass this one and it’s not just demons either.” Sollux agrees. 

“Tyzias, get me the value of their degrees in student fees before The Event, the number of students who have to pass that class each year, who’s teaching it, how long they’ve been teaching.” Redglare lists off and one demon hurriedly starts writing. 

“There’s precedents for this if we spin it as exclusion.” another pipes up. 

“No, no, you want libel and slander charges in there too, multiplied into class action.” a different demon argues. 

“I’m not saying all the best lawyers are demons, but we’re good with rules and technicalities. Redglare is the best and she trains the best lawyers there is, human and demon alike. She’s been doing this for ages. This is going to be fun for her.” Sollux says under his breath. 

“But how can she appear in court like that? Unless she’s only been doing it since The Event.” you whisper back. 

“We only let you think we can’t completely shapeshift. It’s a fake weakness. Well, ok, in fairness we can’t all do it but she can be as human looking as she wants for a good stretch of time.” Sollux grins. 

You open your mouth to protest. Everyone knows that demons always look like demons! But… but that’s what they’d want you to think, isn’t it? 

“That’s- you- that’s evil.” you hiss and Sollux beams. 

“Thanks! I’ll leave that with you, Redglare. Have fun.” Sollux says to her as he pulls you away. 

“Oh, I will.” Redglare cackles and goes back to talking to her assistants. 

“So you’re going to get our teacher fired? That’s your plan?” you ask Sollux. 

“That man’s job is the least of his worries, Redglare’s going to have a field day with this. Move your ass.” he tells you and shoves you towards the table with your friends once more. 

“Don’t shove me.” you tell him sharply. 

“Oh?” Sollux says and shoves you into the seat again. You land on the bench cushion of the booth perfectly fine and Jade even steadies you. You’re a little worried as you put your hands down that you’re going to accidentally pull her super long hair by pinning it to the seat but it works out fine. 

“Jerk.” you accuse Sollux but he just slides into the booth on your other side calm as you like. 

“I see you found my roommate, I would hate to have been forced to find another.” Rose smiles. 

“Thanks, Rose.” you tell her without enthusiasm. 

“That’s Rose for ‘I actually really like him’. Don’t worry.” Dave chips in. 

“How dare you give my secrets away? I will have my revenge for this.” Rose tells him in an entirely calm voice. 

“Hey! Rose had a question about demon sex!” June says loudly, somewhat startling another demon walking by the booth. 

“Really, you’ve always been pretty set in refusing to ask about that despite Dave trying to bait you into it for years. Something about refusing to stoop to our level or something.” Sollux grins at her. 

“Purely academic curiosity, I assure you.” Rose shrugs. 

“Go on, then.” Sollux says with that shitty grin of his. He’s so smug and it’s not even at you but it’s still irritating. 

“Can you have sex with any other demon?” Rose asks him. 

“Wait, are you asking if he can mechanically bone anyone or are you asking if he can talk any other demon into sleeping with him because that seems like a big ask.” Dave interrupts. 

“The first. I daresay that even if Sollux could do the second he probably would not want to, I certainly can think of many humans I wouldn’t want to have sex with.” Rose says. 

“You’re asking because of how so many of us here look so different? Because we’re not really all the same species in any way that makes sense.” Sollux guesses and Rose nods. 

“You know we shapeshift.” he points out. 

“Yes, but I recall you telling me once that your shapeshifting abilities are limited to other versions of yourself. So an older or younger version of yourself, a taller or shorter version, that wouldn’t solve all of the potential problems that could crop up. At least I’m assuming that demon genitalia is more varied than the human varieties, certainly the internet has led me to believe so.” Rose says. 

June said Sollux was your age and that he was younger before, but if he can change his age then what if he was younger just so he’d match his friend’s age? You’re back to not knowing how old he is again. Although Latula made it clear he was younger than her and Mituna. 

“I get it, humans are boring and you all look the same. You also can’t tell vital shit about people just by looking at them so you assume shit based on unrelated things, demons are just better than that.” Sollux sighs. 

“Modest too.” you interrupt, Sollux flips you off and keeps talking. 

“Demons fucking other demons isn’t a big deal. I mean it is socially because you have to trust the person but what you make yourself look like at the time is up to the people involved. And, sure, everyone’s got a… like a default setting they’re wandering around with all the time but that’s just, I don’t know, what you like best. It’s not that deep. Besides you know it’s not how we reproduce anyway so it doesn’t matter.” Sollux finishes explaining. 

“Well how do you make new demons? You talked about having liniages before but you didn’t explain what that meant.” Jade points out. 

“If you’re making a new demon on your own, which is the normal way to do it, you can only make one as strong or less strong than you are. Really rarely people will work together for that but it’s usually for something hyper specific like dodging some kind of prophecy or some shit like that. As far as I know you take something of yourself and will it into being a new person. You have to give something up, usually it’s willpower or a memory, a minor ability.” Sollux explains. 

“This sounds like half remembered sex-ed to me.” you accuse him and the expression on his face tells you that’s precisely it. 

“Well excuse me for having never done it myself. I don’t need or want to and making new demons happens really rarely. We don’t die of old age so we’re not at it like you mammals are. I mean- even the imps you’ve seen around who are super common and really easy to make aren’t made that often.” Sollux says defensively. 

“Well as much as I enjoy hearing everyone speculate about your junk and whether or not you’re someone’s baby daddy, we’re at a party and I really want to go see what’s going on with the music setup down there.” Dave declares and drums his hands on the table. 

“Go for it, you’re allowed wherever you want. You can get on stage and look at all their stuff if you like.” Sollux tells him brightly. 

“Oh hell yes, Rose, move I gotta go!” Dave cheers. He shoves his sister along the booth, booting out June as well. 

“Well SINCE I’M UP-” June starts, her hands on her hips.

“You’re welcome.” Dave cuts in. 

“-I may as well go dance. You guys should come with!” June continues over Dave. 

“Yeah!” Jade cheers. 

“I might actually get a new drink since I ended up wearing my last one.” you say as Jade eagerly bounces out to join Jade and Rose who is seemingly being roped into this dancing thing. 

“You’re just saying that so you don’t have to dance.” Sollux says quietly, so only you hear it. 

“I don’t see you offering to get up and dance.” you accuse him just as softly. 

“Ah, party host duties. Gotta go socialise with the important people I invited so I don’t cause offense, very inscrutable demon social protocol.” Sollux shrugs, it’s a very ‘what can you do?’ kind of shrug. 

“Do you know how I know that you’re lying?” you ask him, leaning in. Sollux makes a curious sound and awaits your next words. 

“Your mouth is moving and words are coming out.” you tell him. 

Sollux smiles like a beartrap and turns the expression on the girls because Dave has long since fucked off thanks to the siren song of unfettered music tech access. 

“Karkat says he wants to dance!” Sollux announces, bright and cheerful and promptly shoves you out of the booth. 

Fae are very interesting creatures, magical, strong, tough and more than capable in Jade’s case of manhandling you down the stairs to the dance floor. Rose doesn’t seem overly keen on dancing but does seem keen on watching you suffer and June is far too into the whole thing to be of any help at all. You’re going dancing, whether you like it or not. 

You don’t think of yourself as an especially graceful person, nor an attractive one. Aside from in your home when you’re cleaning and listening to music you don’t actually dance ever. You went to school, of course, they had dances but you never went because no one liked you. Even now being on the dancefloor gives you that same feeling that everyone must be staring at you and laughing behind your back. 

But you’re not the only one, it seems. 

“I’ve never danced with other people before!” Jade laughs as you all rush onto the dance floor. 

“You’ll be fine!” Rose insists and grabs her hands. Rose spins her around so the two of them have a little space and Rose starts to dance, Jade copies her and with Rose encouraging her the two are soon having fun. 

“I don’t know about this.” you say uneasily. June has her hand on your wrist, keeping you with her as she encourages Jade. 

“You should relax, you’re so highly strung, Karkat!” June shouts over the music and judges you into dancing with her. 

“I’m not highly strung!” you protest.

“You so are. Why do you care how you look dancing or if you’re good at it? We’re your friends, we don’t care!” June points out as she leans in a little to be heard over the music. As she moves she puts her hands on your sides like she’s trying to guide you into moving with her, into dancing with her, the sneak. 

“And all these other people?” you retort. 

“Oh, a bunch of demons you don’t know? Some famous people? They don’t know you, you don’t know them, who cares? Have fun!” June laughs. 

You never really thought of it that way. This crowd makes you feel uncomfortably observed but June is right, these people don’t know you and you won’t see them again. Sollux might make fun of you for how you dance but he makes fun of you for lots of things and thus far you’ve been winning in that contest of animosity. You’d be a little wary of dancing in front of Dave because as inadvisable as it might be you do want him to like you… more than you should. That whole thing is a recipe for disaster but it makes you feel a little better that he isn’t around. 

So, yeah, you’re not a good dancer. You’re pretty sure of that. But there’s only so long your system can sustain worry for when the people around you are happy and nothing has suddenly gone wrong like you feel it will. You start to loosen up a little, which makes the dancing easier which makes it more fun which makes you relax more. It’s the opposite of the usual thing that happens to you where things snowball out of control and get worse, right now they’re getting better. 

The music thumps, it’s loud and bassy enough that you feel it in your chest and you have a feeling you’ll all be shouting to each other on the way home because your hearing will be a little dulled. You get to dance with all three of your friends, at one point you fall against Rose laughing as Jade excitedly throws June up in the air a few feet. It’s dumb and fun. 

When you’re pretty sure your nice shirt is stuck to your back with sweat the four of you go to the bar to get something to drink and cool down. 

“Oh, oh, oh! I know the perfect thing! Let me!” June exclaims and rushes ahead, she leans over and gets one of the imps to do the strange touching to see what you want thing on her. You’re pretty curious to see what you’re going to get. 

“Get anything for me?” you turn and see Dave slipping past two demons who sidestep to get out of his way. 

“June’s just ordering.” you explain, still a little out of breath. 

“HEY JUNE!” Dave yells. June looks over and waves, she’s still talking to the imp so you guess she got another drink on the order. 

“This place is so cool, I got to see all the music equipment they have and I got to go up in the catwalk and play with the lighting.” Dave gushes. 

You eye the stage, it’s got a mean looking bouncer on it and you’re pretty dubious that anyone could get up there but it seems that being Sollux’s personal guests has some perks. Sollux probably didn’t intend on Dave playing with the lights but that’s his problem. You’d kind of like to know the outlines of the party etiquette for demons, Sollux just ghosted briefly over the topic before. 

“They’re sending them up to the table, c’mon!” June tells you all. 

Your group heads back upstairs and as you walk you pick your shirt away from your body a little, you’re so hot. Dancing is hard work! Sollux is still at your table but he’s joined by Latula and Mituna from before, as you come close you just catch part of their conversation. 

“Well that’s exactly why I had been trying to stay out of the spotlight, I was trying to work out where it was all going.” Sollux says. 

“So even you don’t know?” Latula asks. 

“No, and Slick and the crew were- oh. Hey.” Sollux notices you all approaching and cuts his conversation off. 

“Hi again!” Latula chirps. 

“Hi.” you reply flatly. 

“Sorry about before. Right, Tuna?” Latula says and looks at Mituna a little sharply. 

“Oh yeah, lots of things that shouldn’t have happened went and happened.” Mituna says. 

“Get fucked.” Sollux snaps at him. 

“I’ll take it up with Latula.” Mituna retorts and sticks his tongue out. Correction, tongues. He has two, not a split one like Sollux. 

With a woosh of orange light a whole tray of cloudy greenish drinks appear on the table. 

“Aw, yeah! I got them to try to recreate my dad’s mint lemonade. I used to have it all the time in the summer with him.” June explains and grabs a glass up. She takes a sip and sighs happily, it must be right then. 

“Oh hell yeah, that stuff was awesome.” Dave nods and grabs a glass up for himself. 

The rest of you take drinks from the tray and sure enough the mint lemonade is refreshing as can be, it has that real homemade taste to it as well. This is way better than some commercially available drink. 

“Alright, well I want to dance and maybe get some cool photos here for instagram.” Latula says as she hops out of the booth. 

“Heartbreaker.” Mituna sighs but his expression is utterly smitten. You wonder how that works. Sollux indicated that they were in some kind of relationship but the words he used meant nothing to you, it must be a demon thing. Still, you wonder how that works with her being a succubus and all. He gets out of the booth and slides after her, so your group piles back in again. 

“Later, baby.” Latula winks at Sollux.

“I’m an adult! Get lost!” He shouts, throwing his hands up in the air. Mituna and Latula giggle together and walk off.

With whatever that was over with you get in the booth again. This time you’re on the end next to Dave and feeling especially self conscious about how hot and sweaty you must be. 

“You looked like you were having fun.” Dave remarks around his straw. 

“You saw that?” you say in muted horror. 

“I was up in the lighting, remember?” Dave reminds you. Oh, God. 

“Were you messing with the lights?” Sollux asks, although his expression tells you that he suspects he knows the answer already. 

“No comment.” Dave says. 

“What kind of demons were those who were talking to you?” Rose asks, interrupting the Dave and Sollux bullshit hour to ask a reasonable question. 

You’re all geared up to listen to the answer about what Mituna is when a strange feeling steals over you. It’s as if a film of something just laid over the world, brushing up against your soul. A subtle layer of something that shouldn’t be there and shouldn’t be around. You sit up a little straighter and look around. 

At a table next to you an argument is starting to break out and though it’s not turned violent yet there’s a lot of angry words being thrown about. From your position you can see a slice of the dancefloor and two human girls are also boiling into an argument, it looks like hair pulling and slapping are less than a minute away. 

“Something’s wrong.” you mumble. 

“What?” Sollux asks. 

“I don’t know, something just doesn’t feel…” you trail off. You don’t have the vocabulary for this. What can you tell him? That the world suddenly feels like an oil slick on the ocean? A thin layer of something terrible poisoning what unsuspecting things lay beneath? 

Sollux stands up suddenly and looks around, he closes his larger set of eyes and scans the room with just the smaller ones. The larger set snap open again as a look of horror crosses his face. 

“Oh, fuck. We need to go, I need to get you out of here.” Sollux mutters and looks around desperately. 

“I thought you said we were safe in here?” Jade asks. 

“Ordinarily, yeah. She can’t get in here, I blacklisted her but she’s obviously outside. Maybe I could-” Sollux says as he gets out of the booth. His words are cut off by a shout and a bang from down below as the front door to the club explodes inwards. 

The figure that comes through the door is easily ten foot tall, over eleven if you count the spiraling horns. He turns and faces the upper level that you’re on, his glowing red eyes locking onto your table. 

“Of course that could happen.” Sollux groans and takes a few steps forward. 

The demon on the stairs tries to stop him but the huge man reaches out and with a swing of a long arm, smashes his head in with a club of some kind. Other demons around you are reacting in horror and getting to their feet as well. 

“Kurloz, you’re not thinking right. You need to stop.” Sollux tells him in a firm voice, as if this demon doesn’t look like he could snap Sollux in half with a thought. 

The huge hulking demon moves his hands in quick but confusing motions. Sign language, you realise, and that’s because his mouth is horrifically stitched shut. Hello new starring role in your nightmares. 

“Not happening. Get out of here before I make you, you’ve already gone too far by busting in here. If you weren’t Mituna’s moirail you’d be dead already so beat it.” Sollux snarls. His body is right between your table and this other demon but you can still see him well enough to be drowned in dread when he jabs his finger right in your direction. 

“This is bad.” Dave breathes right behind you, his hand on the small of your back. 

There’s a sound, like a growl but not from any animal you’ve ever heard. It’s like someone took the sound of an angle grinder and slowed it way down to be low, harsh and metallic. Right before your eyes Sollux’s body shifts. He was taller than you already but now he’s easily matching this intruding demon’s height. His clothes shift to something skintight, black and yellow. His arms are bare and you can see how his skin is now jet black but an absolute mess of old scars. You’re reminded of pictures you’ve seen of old sharks that are just criss crossed with marks of battles past. 

Sollux’s mouth opens, his teeth longer and more visible now and the threatening noise gets louder still. Red and blue lightning runs over his body, arcing between his fingers and shooting up his spine. The other demon is signing something again. 

“Not anymore, Kurloz. This is how it works now so accept it or I’ll unmake you. It’s not as if YOUR maker would care.” Sollux snarls, his voice deep and menacing. 

Kurloz goes to swing at Sollux with one of his clubs but you see the feint for what it is. Dark magic curls around his other hand and as Sollux goes to defend himself Kurloz intends to attack you. A bolt of deep purple flares and shoots towards you. Without thinking you push Dave back behind you. It’s not like your small fleshy body is going to stop that but it’s a stupid reflex. 

Sollux doesn’t catch the bolt but it redirects, smashing through the ceiling of Club Mirage. 

“KURLOZ! WHAT’RE YOU DOING?!” another voice shouts, it’s Mituna on the stairs. 

Kurloz swings his terrifying club back through the air and misses Mituna by a hair thanks to Latula pulling him back. 

With a feral noise Sollux launches himself at Kurloz and knocks him back, riding his body down the stairs past the remains of the unfortunate bouncer. You hurry out of the booth with your friends right behind you. June shoves her way to the front as you all rush to the stairs. The new skylight of the roof must be letting the weather in because the wind picks up a big chunk of June’s hair and slaps you right in the face with it. You cough and disentangle yourself, finally free to look past her. 

Down on the landing you watch as Kurloz kicks Sollux into a wall and the skintight thing he’s wearing frays and kicks up purple smoke right where he connected. Behind Sollux the wall warps and neon magic rushes through the metal in fractal patterns. Sollux’s eyes burn like road flares and all at once a burst of light erupts from them. There’s a screech, an unholy inhuman sound and then the light stops. Where Kurloz stood there’s nothing but ash and a rolled up strip of paper on the ground. 

“Oh shit.” you whisper. 

You’re still not fully up on demon physiology or anything but you’re pretty sure that the dude is fucking dead. Sollux looks up at you but he doesn’t seem focused on you in particular, his gaze seems to be near you. Lower down the stairs, at Mituna and Latula. 

Mituna looks completely shaken, his mouth open and his hands are trembling. 

“He was going to… Mituna I had to.” Sollux whispers. It’s so strange to hear his voice sounding so gentle when his body is so big and frightening right now. 

“Was it worth it?!” Mituna snarls at him. 

“I didn’t know he was going to do this! I had to stop him, I warned him!” Sollux protests. 

“Just-” Mituna swallows and Latula squeezes his shoulder, “just go. The club’s hard to get into even for her but he’s dead so just go.” 

Sollux’s eyes widen and he gestures to your group. 

“Come on, we gotta get out of here now!” he insists. 

June fists her hand in the front of your shirt and rushes down the stairs, she has Rose’s wrist in her other hand. As you reach him Sollux grabs Dave up in his arms and then lifts Jade up too. 

“What is that?” you ask as June pulls you past the ashes and the paper. 

“Don’t look at it!” Sollux barks at you. 

He gets ahead and starts to lead June through the lower level of the club and into a back room. He kicks the door shut after you and with a sweep of one hand all of the furniture in the room slams into the walls, making a clear space on the floor. He drops Jade and Dave down on the floor and marches into the middle of the room, still in his larger form. 

“What was that guy’s problem? Who was he? What was on that paper?” Rose demands. 

“I need to concentrate Rose, later. I gotta get this right, everyone get here.” Sollux orders you all, pointing to the middle of the room. 

“I want answers first.” you insist and Rose nods. 

“Here’s an answer! If we don’t get you out of here ASAP we’re all in deep shit!” Sollux snaps. 

“Can’t you just teleport us out of here?” Dave suggests. 

“Not- not like I can do normally, no. I’m TRYING a different route now.” Sollux answers. 

“Wait, why can’t you do it?” you ask worriedly. Is it something to do with this place?

Sollux covers his face with his hands and gives a frustrated little scream. Finally he just grabs you and Rose and drops you in the middle. 

“Be annoying right there if you have to, just don’t move.” he says. 

Sollux straightens up to his full towering height and holds both hands out. A blue and red circle etches itself out around you and writing in strange script like the stuff on your arm starts to fill it. You’re all reading over it like any of you know the language at all. Well, Dave and Rose might if their mother is such an expert. 

“I think… I think that’s right. Fuck longhand written casting. I just need…” Sollux snaps his fingers and a wiggly symbol lights up in blue off to your right. Sollux kneels down and presses his hands to the ground. 

“Karkat, you’re okay with me getting everyone out of here, right? If I don’t shit is going to go real bad, so you agree with this, right?” Sollux asks, glancing up at you from where he’s knelt on the ground. 

“Why’re you asking me?!” you say in a slightly strangled voice. 

“Yes or no?!” Sollux snaps. 

“YES!” you yell at him, he recoils slightly from the sound and the rest of your friends all clap their hands over their ears. Oh great.

Sollux slaps his hands on the ground and the circle bursts into life. 

This isn’t like the port on the way to the university. This is like being catapulted through the stratosphere, air rushes through every atom of your being and when you appear elsewhere you stumble as if the wind just changed direction on you suddenly. 

You’re standing in a bedroom. 

Messy cables stretch across the floor and rain beats softly on a sloped window. A bird is nestled up against the glass in an attempt to shelter from the worst of the rain. A string of photographs runs from one end of the room to the other and a shelf of jars gleam in the dim light. 

“Ohh fuck it worked, we’re good. We’re good.” Sollux sighs in relief and shrinks back down to his normal size, one hand held to his heart. 

“We’re back home.” Rose says in surprise. 

“Your home?” Jade asks. 

“Yeah, my room. Welcome to my room, I guess.” Dave laughs a little awkwardly and gestures around. 

“Unauthorised teleportation of multiple people like that shouldn’t be possible, you weren’t using a charm or a recall spell, that was a teleportation circle. You also shouldn’t be able to appear somewhere without there being a matching circle on the other side.” Rose tells Sollux, despite that just being a thing that happened. 

“Rose?” a woman’s voice calls from outside the room. 

Rose freezes and outside lightning cracks, flooding the room with light for just a moment. 

“Stay here, don’t make a sound.” Rose hisses and hurries out the door. 

“Mother.” you hear Rose say through the door. 

“How did you-” the woman starts to say. 

“Sollux took me back. You should go to bed, it’s late. I’m going to as well.” Rose tells her. 

“I just heard you, I was working on an experiment in the lab.” the woman says in response. 

“Of course.” Rose says. 

“Distilling down the principles of magic, I’m very close to a breakthrough.” she goes on. 

“Go to bed, mother.” Rose sighs. 

“That’s Dave’s room.” the woman points out. 

“His bed is made, mine isn’t. He doesn’t mind.” Rose tells her. 

Rose’s mother’s voice dips too quiet for you to hear it but you do hear the sound of heels on the polished floor outside. Several long seconds pass before Rose ducks back into the room, Dave, Sollux and June all sigh in relief. 

“We need to stay here, this is the safest place on Earth right now. Tomorrow-” Sollux starts. 

“I have work in the morning.” you blurt out and Sollux stares at you for a moment. 

“...tomorrow morning I can get us back to Salem. It’s smart to lay low here where nothing can find us, let a lot of this blow over. Break up our trail. And then Karkat can go to work I suppose.” Sollux says. 

“I think you need to answer a few questions, mister!” Jade tells him. Yeah, you tell him, Jade!

Dave and Rose both shush her. 

“Mom can’t know we’re here.” Dave hisses at her. 

“Why not?” Jade asks as Rose pushes past her to get to Dave’s desk. She snatches a sharpie up and heads to the door, you watch as she starts drawing a familiar sight. 

“Hey, you can’t do that. That’s the silencing charm on our doors in the dorm.” you protest. You haven’t passed the required classes to be allowed to just write out random spells. 

“Can’t I? I’ll be sure to see how that goes.” Rose says dryly. Rose finishes drawing the sign and smacks it, giving a flash of lavender light. Curiously she steps outside and shuts the door, you knock on it but there’s no reaction. When Rose opens it again Sollux nods. 

“Alright, that’s that done.” Rose sighs as she closes the door behind her again. 

“That’s cool, Rose. Just graffiti my walls and door without asking, no big.” Dave grumbles. 

“Thank you, I shall.” Rose replies sweetly. 

“Well now that’s taken care of I think Sollux should answer some questions.” Jade insists, she’s not letting this go. 

“Feel free to think that. I may or may not answer.” Sollux shrugs and hops up to casually float in the air. Dave walks past him and opens up the window. The little black bird there caws and in moments a whole flock of them are crowding the windowsill. Dave reaches down and pulls a paper bag from his desk drawer and starts feeding them. 

“Who was that guy you killed?” Jade asks. 

“Kurloz. A very old demon, he had a close rank to me, slightly higher. We weren’t friends but he wouldn’t normally have gone off the rails at me like that. We have Mituna in common so I wouldn’t normally have… well, it doesn’t matter now I guess.” Sollux says with a sigh. 

“And why did he go ballistic? He didn’t seem pleased about us being there, was that it?” Rose asks.

“He probably wasn’t thrilled about that. Demons his age usually have opinions about people who aren’t demons but I don’t know how he felt on that. It wasn’t that, though.” Sollux answers her. 

“Then what?” Rose presses on. 

“Something else.” Sollux mumbles, looking off to the side. 

“But we’re safe here?” Dave asks from atop his desk, one arm still out of the window. 

“Yeah. Your mom’s a badass witch and this house has all kinds of shit on it that keeps people from finding us.” Sollux nods. Dave seems satisfied with this and returns to his birds, he just trusts that what Sollux says is completely true. 

“What was that thing, Sollux?” Rose demands again. 

“Is that thing the thing that I felt? I definitely felt something.” you ask quickly. 

“Well how should I know if the thing I’m thinking of is the thing you also happened to feel? I’m not you, I don’t know what you did or didn’t feel.” Sollux says evasively. 

You sigh, he’s clearly not going to tell you much here. 

“Assuming it is; would you have known that I’d be able to feel that thing?” you ask him. 

Sollux seems surprised by that question, all four of his eyes widen slightly. Actually, he’s had them all open this whole time which is a little unusual for him. 

“I actually don’t know that. I’ve no idea if you could feel her or not.” Sollux tells you and that sounds honest to your ears. He just doesn’t know and you can’t fault him for that. 

“But who are we hiding from? Who made him attack, then? You’ve not answered anything important.” Jade points out. Sollux just shrugs, he’s not going to answer that. 

“What was that thing on the ground when you unmade that guy? You said not to look at it but it looked like paper to me.” you say, trying a different line of enquiry. 

“If it’s paper it’d be an idea or a thought written out. You don’t want to read it or else you risk getting that in your head. The ash would be the residue of whatever else was put into him, I don’t know what his maker usually uses. It was before my time and his maker hasn’t made anyone new since I’ve been alive.” Sollux answers. 

“You’re saying it’d infect us if we read it?” Rose asks in surprise. 

“Or maybe get in our heads and control us, we’ve got books in the library like that.” you nod. 

“Yeah, well, I’m betting nothing in your library is of that level of power. You don’t want to read it. Normally I’d have stashed that thing somewhere safe but I didn’t have time, hopefully someone else there has enough sense to do it.” Sollux says unhappily. 

“You said he was important to that Mituna guy, he’d pick up what remained of him, right? Or is that not a demon thing? I know some species aren’t attached to people’s remains and it wasn’t like a lot remained.” you trail off on that thought. 

“Mituna will probably grab it.” Sollux agrees.

“But what-” Jade starts. 

“I should go check the perimeter. Dave, don’t let anyone leave, okay?” Sollux says and then, whoosh, he’s gone. 

“What a jerk!” Jade snaps and stamps her foot. 

“Hey, hey, cool it. I don’t know if that thing Rose did muffles us jumping around in here and we shouldn’t disturb my mom, okay?” Dave says to her quickly. 

“Well why can’t she know we’re here? Surely she’d want to know about a bunch of people in her house?” Jade reasons. You can see her point but then you don’t remember any parents so you don’t really have experience here. 

“Ehh, she’s not big on surprises. We’re only going to be here tonight so it’d be better to just have a secret sleepover tonight and bail back to school tomorrow without her knowing.” June says. 

“Agreed. There’s a lot of things I don’t want to explain. Besides, Dave has a bathroom connecting to his room so we’ll be fine here overnight. When Sollux gets back I can have him magically fetch my mattress and we can settle in for the night.” Rose nods. 

You lean against the edge of Dave’s desk and try to think everything through. People seemed surprised at the party happening at all, you don’t think Sollux has hosted one there before or at least not for a long time. Dave and Rose seemed to find it a new experience as well so you don’t think they’ve ever been even if they do know more about demons than you do. 

Sollux hosts a party when he doesn’t normally, invites all of you as well as a lawyer demon to fix the class problem and blacklists some people who didn’t appreciate it. Was all that to fix the xenobiology class problem? On the one hand you want to say that he could have just sought Redglare out to have that conversation any other time but perhaps a party would be the only safe environment that he could do it in. 

Was Redglare a danger to Sollux, though? Would that be the reason? Sollux boasted that his ranking was pretty good and he also told you that Kurloz was around his level, so if you want to do some subtle investigating you could ask Sollux if Kurloz outranked Redglare.

You all look up to a thunk on the roof and then a few more followed by a squeak of rubber on tile. Sollux slides down into view by the window, evidently having skidded down the roof. 

“We’re ok, the house is safe. It’s torrential rain out there though.” Sollux notes and floats into the room. There’s a hiss of steam as water evaporates off of him and he ruffles his hair to dry it out. 

Time to be smart. 

“Sollux, that Redglare lady we met…” you begin carefully. Sollux looks at you but waits for you to get to a point.

“She seemed pretty powerful, I mean she had all those people following her orders. How come she didn’t fight Kurloz after he broke the rules and attacked that bouncer. I mean if anyone would be gung-ho about rules you’d think it’d be the lawyer, right?” you say. 

“Oh, I’m sure she was furious about it but he’d have curb stomped her. Redglare’s badass but not in his league.” Sollux explains and picks at his still drying shirt distractedly. 

Redglare wasn’t in his league and yet Sollux nearly one shotted the guy to death. He actually is a big deal, isn’t he? It’s not like it’s going to make you more intimidated of him, you knew he was a demon before and you assumed that any demon was probably enough to kill you so just how much he could do that doesn’t really make a difference. It won’t stop you from telling him when he’s full of shit. Anyway, you don’t think he actually has murderous intent towards you. 

“So his rank was higher because he was just more physically powerful? The guy had his mouth sewn shut so I’m guessing it wasn’t his social status and social skills that got him that high up.” you go on. 

“Eh, power, age, maker. He wasn’t much for talking but he wasn’t usually that batshit either, so.” Sollux shrugs. 

“Who did make him? Clearly someone important. Wait, if you’re so supposedly important do you have the same maker. Was that a family dispute?” Rose asks and you silently thank her for asking something so on the money. Also so that you don’t have to do it because you bet if you keep asking him questions he’ll either shut down or demand that you pay for answers. 

Sollux jerks back in the air in clear disgust at Rose’s question. 

“No! We’re not- ugh, no! Fuck his maker!” Sollux hisses. 

“So who was his maker? Who was yours?” Jade chips in. Sollux grits his teeth and glares, he’s not answering. Yeah, you called it, he’s shut down. 

“Does it even matter? Even if he told you it likely wouldn’t mean shit to any of us.” Dave points out, defensive of Sollux as always. 

You think you’re done with the questions so you walk over to the now shut window that Sollux came in through and get up on your tiptoes to peek over it. You can see dark treetops in the distance but not much else with all of the dark and the rain about. June did mention before how Dave and Rose lived in the middle of nowhere. 

“Hey, Sollux, could you grab Rose’s mattress for us because otherwise I know these girls are gonna kick me outta my own bed. I’d walk over there myself but we’re avoiding mom.” Dave asks behind you back. You hear the puff of displaced air and then about five seconds later another one and then a thump as something hits the ground. Looking around you see a mattress with bedding and pillows on it. 

It’s clear that Sollux isn’t going to be any more help than he already has been so your group goes through the process of raiding Dave’s wardrobe for things to sleep in. You’re standing in his bathroom trying to work out the controls for an unfamiliar shower with a folded tshirt of Dave’s on the side. 

Even as you slap the shower dial away from ‘way too fucking cold what the hell did you leave this thing on Jade’ your mind is still chewing over the events of the night. You get that Latula and Mituna like Sollux and that they’re protective of him, that’s fine, sweet even. But it doesn’t explain why they were protective at all when it came to you. Demons make deals with humans and nonhumans alike, what was so weird about your deal that had them so mad? 

You hold your arm out under the spray and try to concentrate on the magic marked into your skin. It glows ever so slightly, not that it helps because you can’t read the language. Still, it should just be what you agreed aloud written in text to bind you both to the same deal, you can’t think of what you’d be missing to make them so mad at you. 

The shower you have is brief, there’s other people who want to get club sweat off of them so it’s on with a white shirt of Dave’s with a broken record on it and out into Dave’s room again. On the one hand you’re glad that Sollux used magic to make all of the shirts way bigger. The girls are wearing them like nightdresses and you’re glad that you’re not walking around in your underwear and a shirt that’s way too tight for you. Unfortunately you are now effectively walking around in a screen printed broken record nightdress which isn’t… exactly… better. 

Rose, Jade and June have claimed Dave’s bed and Dave is sat on the mattress on the floor waiting for you to be done. 

“Oh, stylish.” Dave teases you. 

“Haute couture for dumbasses, I’m sure.” you grumble and fall dramatically onto the bed.

“Walk, walk, fashion baby.” Dave adds and wanders off to his bathroom. You’re not sure if he meant you or him and you don’t care right about now. 

“You know when I lived on the island and I thought about getting off of it and meeting people I didn’t think I’d be spending nights at a nightclub and watching demons fight and one dying.” Jade says softly. She’s laid out on her back with her knees tucked up so that Rose who is leaning against the wall can stretch her legs across the bed. At Jade’s words June leans up on her elbow to look at her properly. 

“It was pretty unexpected I bet.” June ventures. 

“I’m sorry if it was traumatising at all.” Rose adds. 

“No! It was so exciting!” Jade exclaims. Right, fae, not an especially squeamish species. 

“Though I’d like it better if certain people weren’t being all secretive and evasive about things! SOLLUX.” Jade adds loudly. 

“Sollux is right here and can hear you.” Sollux replies flatly. He’s floating in the air near the window, staring out with all of his eyes open. 

“Sollux should stop talking about himself in the third person.” Rose advises. 

“Sollux will talk about himself in whatever way he wants, thank you very much. Go to sleep.” Sollux retorts. 

You settle down, mostly listening to the girls quietly talk amongst themselves and it’s only when Dave comes out of the bathroom in pyjamas as tacky as the ones you’d seen before that you realise he’s getting in bed with you. Dave drops himself onto the mattress with a sigh. Sollux is floating nearby but he drifts closer as Dave lifts his hand, his fingertips just brushing the spade shaped tips of Sollux’s tails. 

“You ok? Tonight was crazy.” Dave says quietly. 

“Don’t worry about me.” Sollux answers him and his tails slide down Dave’s wrist and squeeze tight for a moment. 

You shouldn’t be watching this, it’s not for you. You roll onto your side and close your eyes, waiting for sleep to come. As the adrenaline wears off the girls drift into sleep, all snuggled up on what was Dave’s bed before their takeover. 

Sollux stays in the air and Dave curls up under the sheets next to you and starts to doze quite quickly. 

Sleep does not come to you so easily. After a while of staying still with your eyes shut you sigh and open yours, turning the other way to face Dave and flipping your pillow to the cool side and pressing your cheek into it. The room is illuminated by the glow of Sollux’s eyes and the few electrical devices that are plugged in, their connected power lights gently casting that kind of glow that lets you just see around. You know though that if you went into the bathroom and turned that light on that by the time you left the room would seem pitch black to you, save for Sollux’s glowing eyes. 

In the dim light you look at Dave, just because you happen to be facing him now of course. He’s so pale in the half light of the room. He’s pale all of the time. It’s actually weird how pale he is but what’s stranger is how you forget that when you’re not actively noticing it. His features are delicate and there are echoes of Rose in his face and it makes you want to see what the rest of his family looks like just so you can see how he fits together. You’re envious of this home he has, the family he has, the friends he has. He’s grounded and tethered in a way that you’re not and you’re not sure if you’re actually envious of what he has or if you really just want to be part of it. Maybe both. 

God, he’s pretty. 

Alright! This is getting weird and unhelpful now. You flip onto your back and stare up at the ceiling. Sollux is floating there reclined on his back like he’s in a deck chair of sorts, it’s a little odd to see. He seems to sense your gaze on him and glances down at you. 

“What?” he whispers. 

“Is that uncomfortable holding yourself like that or do you make a sort of invisible floating chair to do that?” you whisper back. 

Sollux stares at you in silence. 

“Go to sleep, Karkat.” Sollux says. 

“Oh thanks, I hadn’t thought of that.” you say sarcastically. 

Sollux says nothing so you shift about in bed a little more. Literally everyone else besides you seems to be sleeping as soundly as possible and you’re wide-a-fucking-wake. Except Sollux. 

“Why aren’t you sleeping?” you ask him in a hushed voice. 

“I’m keeping watch, obviously.” Sollux sighs, getting dragged back into conversation with you again.

“You said we were totally safe here.” you point out. 

“It doesn’t hurt to keep watch, I don’t have to sleep.” Sollux shrugs. 

“Bullshit, I’ve seen you sleeping before.” you argue, trying to keep your voice down. You know, more than usual that is.

“Just because I CAN do something doesn’t mean I HAVE to. You don’t have to watch romcoms and cry but you do.” Sollux retorts. 

“It feels like I have to.” you say, refusing to let his comment get to you. 

“Does that mean you really just don’t have to sleep, ever?” you ask. 

Sollux heaves a huge sigh and drifts down so he lands on Dave’s side. Dave mumbles in his sleep and curls his fingers around one of Sollux’s tails. 

“Don’t look at me like that, I can change my mass at will. If I’m down here there’s less chance of you raising your voice and waking people up. No, I don’t need to sleep but I do it when I get the chance because it’s nice. I don’t sleep at night so I’m not missing out right now.” Sollux answers. 

“I have a lot of trouble sleeping, I’ve been fine since I started school but apparently tonight I’m not going to sleep.” you tell Sollux. 

Sollux shrugs like he doesn’t seem to have anything to say to that. You try to think of something to say to that and your mind just grasps for anything.

“So, Mituna.” you start. 

Sollux looks at you, where were you going with that? 

“If you start about us looking alike I will call you speciest and throw you out of the window.” Sollux warns. 

You weren’t going to, but they do and you’re going to take his advice and not say that. Think of a new thing to say. 

“No, you said he was something with that guy. Kurloz.” you manage instead. 

“You’re really tired.” Sollux observes quietly. 

“Always. Tell me about that instead, maybe your soothing sarcastic tones will put me to sleep.” you say and stick your tongue out at him for good measure. In the background June snores loudly and rolls over.

Sollux looks over at the wall but you get the feeling that he’s looking through it somehow, a few moments pass before he speaks, long enough that you’d doubted if he’d answer at all. 

“They were moirails.” Sollux answers so quietly you almost don’t catch it. 

“What’s a moirail?” you ask him. Sollux sighs and shakes his head but how could you possibly know this stuff? He knows how little you remember, if you ever knew it he can’t expect you to remember it now. 

“It’s a demon thing. We have different kinds of romance that our species does, moirallegiance is one of them. Your moirail always has your back, they care about how you’re doing, they protect you and you do the same for them. They know your weak spots and help you cover them, urge you to improve yourself. It doesn’t matter how different you are, they’re the person that gets you. It’s everything.” Sollux tells you. 

“Oh, wow.” you whisper. That sounds…

“If you’re about to make some comment about how demons are so hostile that we have to have a whole relationship for not doing that-” Sollux starts. 

“No. No, I’m… it sounds great. I wish someone liked me that much.” you cut him off. 

Sollux pulls back a little, his defensiveness dropping now that it’s not warranted. Your eyes drift to how he’s so lightly sat on Dave, how Dave has one of his tails in hand as he sleeps and how you bet this isn’t an unusual thing. Dave always seems to have Sollux’s back but still calls him on his shit while making it obvious that he’s on Sollux’s team. 

“You and Dave, right?” you guess. 

Sollux watches you for a moment and then nods, just slightly. He still seems somewhat tense. Maybe he doesn’t know how you’ll take this, it is a foreign concept to you after all. Yeah, it is different but it’s also not. It sounds like love to you and tonight Sollux put himself between Dave and actual danger, killed someone who was just as important to a friend of his because it was that guy or Dave. It’s not a good thing to do but you can see why he did it. You’re also not going to protest you benefiting from his actions either. Anyway, you’ve always been a romantic. Holy shit, how many kinds of romances are there with demons? You have so many questions. 

“Wait, does this mean that demons have really interesting romance movies with all the types of romance they have?” you gasp. 

Sollux laughs, loudly enough that he wakes up Dave and Jade. Rose and June apparently can sleep through anything. 

“Wha?” Jade mumbles, squinting at you in the dark. 

“Sorry.” you whisper even as Sollux is still giggling. 

“Sh’up.” Dave murmurs and hooks an arm around Sollux, dragging him down into the bed between you and him. You should probably stop disturbing the others so you lay down properly as well. 

Your mind wanders as you try to get yourself to fall asleep. You’ve answered a question about what’s going on with Dave and Sollux but you wonder how that started. How does a human end up entangled with a demon like that? Still, they both seem happy with how things are. That’s nice, you wish you had someone who cared about you that strongly. 

Despite your previous statements about insomnia you do manage to drop off to sleep at some point, a blank and dreamless sleep.


	5. Don't Fear The Reaper

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to my very wonderful betas for helping me with the code on this one, <3

Dave wakes you up in the morning and your group goes through the motions of all of you using his bathroom and changing back into your sweat stiff clothes from last night. When you come back into Dave’s room the extra mattress is gone and Sollux is clearing a big space on the floor.

“Get over here.” Sollux tells you.

“Are you allergic to the word please?” you sigh but go anyway.

“I’ve asked him that before.” Rose nods.

“Will you both PLEASE shut your big mouths already so I can focus?” Sollux says snippily. See, that’s the word but not the meaning there, your point remains valid. Either way you slot yourself into your little group by Rose’s side and Sollux repeats the process of moving you like he did in the club.

You go from Dave’s room in his house to Dave’s dorm room at Salem. You want to stick around and stay with your friends but you do have work and you’d really like to go there in clean clothes. With your clothes changed and your teeth brushed you leave your dorm and head to the library for work.

When you let yourself into the office you find a note from Kanaya on the desk, it simply reads:

Hello Karkat I Am Currently In The Basement Dealing With A Restricted Book Loan Please Go On As Normal  
  
Alright then. You busy yourself with checking books in, issuing a few fines and then shortly after dealing with a few panicked first year students who are freaked out at the sudden mark on their skin. You have the terms and conditions of library membership memorised by now so you’re fine to deal with them on your own. Funnily enough they always pay up.

You set books back to be returned on the little trolleys for each floor and start off on your rounds to check the book return drops. You shush a few students getting a little too obnoxious as you collect your books and return once more to the office to check them in. When you pick up a Latin primer book you frown, sensing something odd.

Flipping the front cover of the book open you can see that someone has damaged the spell that tells if the book is overdue and then blotted out all of the issue dates. You look the thing up manually and see that it’s not even overdue, someone just seemingly objects to the library fine system. This pretty clearly falls under the topic of book vandalism to you, so you print out the receipt of the book return, flip the away notice on the door and go off to find Ms. Paint.

Your first place to look for her turns out to be just where she is but when you step into the area where you had your interview you find that she’s not alone. Ms. Paint is leaning against a wall looking slightly younger and brighter than before, she’s wearing a shy smile as she looks at… you don’t know what.

You’re going to say that you’re looking at a man. He’s about your height, humanoid and wearing a slick black suit with a black shirt, tie and fedora. He doesn’t have hair and his skin isn’t so much skin as it seems to be shiny, black and stiff like beetle wings. His one visible eye not covered by an eyepatch is white and it widens as you open the door.

“Oh, I’m sorry Ms. Paint, I didn’t know you were with someone.” you say in surprise.

“It’s okay.” she assures you.

“Karkat? What’re you doin’ here?” the man, and yes you do think he is one now with how gruff his voice is. It sounds like he’s been gargling cigarettes and gravel.

He just said your name.

“How do you know my name?” you ask him. Behind you the door bangs shut. Ms. Paint is looking at the man in confusion and he seems just as confused that you asked him that.

“What kinda question is that?” he says with a sneer that shows off very pointed white teeth.

“A perfectly reasonable one! Do you know me? I don’t remember you if you do, I don’t remember anything before The Event.” you say in a rush and step closer to him.

“You don’t-” whatever the man was going to say is cut off as he inhales sharply.

“Slick, be nice to him. He’s a student, he works for me. No violence.” Ms. Paint warns him.

“Oh, no, no, this is above my paygrade. Come here, you. I can smell it on you.” Slick snarls and stalks closer to you. He leans in and sniffs at you, you tense up but don’t back down.

“Please, anything you can tell me would be amazing.” you say persistently.

“What’re you fucking around with demons for? I can smell one on you and I think I know which one, I know that scent. I know…” Slick trails off and shakes his head.

“It’s nothin’ personal, but I’m more scared of her than I am anyone else and she’s looking, you see.” Slick sighs. He holds out a hand and a black doorway forms in the air with his hand on a doorknob.

“Stop right there, you tell me what’s going on right now.” Ms. Paint orders him.

“I can’t, it’s work business.” Slick says regretfully.

“What work? You haven’t worked in years, you said you don’t do anything anymore.” Ms. Paint says sharply, her hands on her hips.

“That doesn’t mean I don’t have a boss and she’s not someone you fuck around with. I really hope you ain’t caught up in this, Karkat.” Slick says and steps through the door before Ms. Paint can stop him.

You stare at the spot in space where the door and the man had been and then look at your boss who is practically vibrating with anger. She sucks in a deep breath and seems to calm herself a little, enough at least to be polite.

“Who was that?” you ask nervously. Nervous for what? Your job or your life?

“Spades Slick. Jack Noir. He has plenty of names and titles, one being my dearest and most frustrating husband.” Ms. Paint grumbles and folds her arms tightly.

“What was he and how does he know my name?” you ask.

“I don’t know how he knew your name, my guess would be that he knew you before you lost your memories though I dread to think how. He’s a psychopomp, emphasis on the psycho at times. Since The Event he’s been out of work. But perhaps you are someone more important than you realise.” Ms. Paint says and gives you a sympathetic expression that makes you think it might be better for your wellbeing if you weren’t important at all.

“I… don’t like the sound of that.” you admit, squeezing the library book that you brought with you tight to your chest.

“Well, yes. What do you have there, dear? I assume you came looking for me for a reason.” Ms. Paint says.

Numbly you hold out the book to her and explain the problem. Ms. Paint’s face goes hard and she tells you that you did the right thing to bring this to her attention and sends you back to your office. It all sort of passes you by as you try to remember what a psychopomp even is and just how afraid you should be that he smelt demons on you. After the club last night you wouldn’t be surprised if there was some trace of them on you, especially as one died right there. On top of that you slept next to Sollux all night and then didn’t shower. If this Slick guy is sensitive to demons then of course you’d ping his radar.

You hurry back to the glass office and when you get there you find Kanaya sorting books on the trolley.

“Oh, hello Karkat, did you get my note?” Kanaya asks, looking up at you from where she’s crouched with a book in hand.

“Yeah, I did. Can you hold the fort for a second, I need to look something up.” you say in a rush.

Kanaya nods so you hurry to the shared office computer and decide that Google is probably the best starting point, you can look through the library catalogue when you know what you’re searching for. You type in ‘Psychopomp’ and search.

Psychopomps (from the Greek word ψυχοπομπός, psychopompós, literally meaning the "guide of souls")[1] are creatures, spirits, angels, or deities in many religions whose responsibility is to escort newly deceased souls from Earth to the afterlife. Their role is not to judge the deceased, but simply to guide them. Appearing frequently on funerary art, psychopomps have been depicted at different times and in different cultures as anthropomorphic entities, horses, deer, dogs, whip-poor-wills, ravens, crows, vultures, owls, sparrows and cuckoos. When seen as birds, they are often seen in huge masses, waiting outside the home of the dying.

Okay, think. This guy is some sort of entity who guides the dead to the afterlife, he knew you. You’re pretty sure you’re not dead or supposed to be because his reaction wasn’t like ‘Oh shit what are you doing back here?! You’re dead!’ so could you be one too? Psychopomp seems more like a role than a species although the two do blur a lot with some creatures, demons for example.

“What’re you looking at?” Kanaya asks you as she gets up and pulls one of the book trolleys out of line.

“I ran into this guy with Ms. Paint.” you start.

“Ohhh, Mr. Noir, her gentleman caller as she calls him sometimes. Although he’s not much of a gentleman if you ask me.” Kanaya tuts disapprovingly.

“She said he’s a psychopomp.” you tell her and Kanaya nods, clearly not new information to her.

“He knew my name, he seemed surprised to see me and went super weird on me saying that he could smell demons and then just rushed off into the ether!” you say, throwing your hands in the air out of sheer frustration for how unrelentingly weird your life has become.

“Don’t you spend time around a demon though? That Sollux boy you complain about.” Kanaya points out.

“Yeah, him and a whole club of demons last night. His xenobio teaching session was just introducing us to a bunch of demons at a party and, to be fair, actually answering a lot of questions about them.” you tell her.

You leave out the murder. The thing is that part of you feels like Sollux didn’t really want to do it, he didn’t seem happy, he warned the guy off. Either way you don’t want to mention it.

“Given that demons have a role in at least one afterlife it seems strange that a psychopomp of any stripe would have a problem with demons specifically. They just deliver people, make sure they don’t go where they’re not supposed to. As far as I know they don’t take sides.” Kanaya says with a frown.

“He said he had to tell his boss, that he was afraid of upsetting her if he didn’t.” you add.

“Unless that’s a more important psychopomp I can’t see who his boss would be, it’s not as if any deities are around and talking to people anymore. Though I suppose if anyone they would talk to psychopomps or else we’d be up to our eyes in ghosts lingering around, just on a sheer business level I imagine they’d need to keep going.” Kanaya says. You hadn’t thought about that. How much spiritual infrastructure must there be around the world? It’s not something you’ve ever wondered about much because everyone knows that there are deities but you also all know that the things they tell you about how things work are unreliable. For a start they all contradict each other and it’s not clear if they’re all running their own systems or if some are just lying. It’s so much of a mess to work out that people just believe what they believe and leave the serious magical investigation to those who are religiously ordained or actually researching this stuff like witches in institutions like yours.

“She said he hadn’t worked since The Event though.” you tell her.

“Well that’s concerning.” Kanaya states mildly as if it’s not a huge deal that the dead are just lingering SOMEWHERE without psychopomps to take them to where they should be. Wherever that is.

“I think I need to research this more.” you say with a sigh and lean back in your chair.

“I’m here all night because I have project work so as long as you check things in as you’re researching I don’t mind.” Kanaya shrugs. She’s the best.

Your research turns up very little of value. No one has ever seen a Spades Slick or a Jack Noir and you can’t work out what type of psychopomp he is or work out what kind of beef any psychopomp might have with demons. He’s not here for you to ask him but there is still someone you could ask.

carcinoGeneticist [CG] began trolling  turntechGodhead [TG]  
  
CG: I AM GOING TO BE UPFRONT AND ADMIT THAT I HAVE AN ULTERIOR MOTIVE HERE. MY MOTIVES ARE AS SUSPECT AS A MAN COVERED IN BLOOD STANDING BY A DEAD BODY BEING CONFRONTED BY POLICE DETECTIVES.   
TG: you are literally the most intense person i know man  
TG: but please do tell me about your super sketchy motives  
TG: you have my attention  
TG: why cant i insert gifs into this stupid chat program  
CG: I ALREADY KNOW THE ONE YOU MEAN, BUT THAT'S NOT THE POINT.  
CG: DO YOU KNOW WHAT A PSYCHOPOMP IS?  
TG: yeah it was in one of moms books at one point i think  
TG: picked it up somewhere anyway  
TG: hermes was one chaperoning dead dudes into the after life with his flying kicks and all  
CG: ...SURE.   
CG: THERE ARE OTHERS, OF COURSE.  
TG: yea  
CG: I MET ONE TODAY AT THE LIBRARY, HE'S SEEMINGLY MARRIED TO MY BOSS AND HE KNEW ME. KNEW MY NAME.  
CG: HE ALSO SAID I SMELT LIKE DEMONS AND HAD TO GO TALK TO HIS BOSS ABOUT THAT.  
TG: oh shit  
TG: youre thinking because of sollux or the club  
CG: YEAH, AND I DON'T KNOW IF I SHOULD BE REALLY CONCERNED HERE OR NOT SO I FIGURED SOLLUX WOULD BE THE RIGHT PERSON TO ASK BUT I DON'T HAVE HIS TROLLIAN AND HE'S A TEMPERAMENTAL LITTLE FUCK SOMETIMES.  
TG: hes not actually been here since you left   
TG: i figure hes off doing damage control on last night  
TG: but i could message him and ask him to meet all of us when you get off work and see if he can give you some answers  
CG: THAT WOULD BE GREAT. WHERE DO YOU WANT TO MEET?  
TG: uhhh how about that mexican place its at the bottom of that really steep hill  
CG: STREET NAMES MIGHT HELP.  
TG: ill google maps you it dude chill  
TG: see you there at five  
CG: OKAY, SEE YOU THERE THEN, IF YOU SEND ME DIRECTIONS.  
TG: aight  
  
turntechGodhead [TG] ceased trolling  carcinoGeneticist [CG]

Dave does indeed send you directions and a street view picture of the place too. With that sorted you resolve to be as helpful and productive as possible at work until you have to leave, just to make up for slacking before. You rush around and reshelve all you can, you help students, you check books in and out with vigor. By the end of your shift you almost don’t feel like walking all the way to the mexican place that Dave picked out. You want answers more than you want a nap though so you follow the directions and go there.

“KARKAT!” June yells out of nowhere and jumps on your back as you’re innocently on the way there. When Jade jumps on as well the three of you stumble over and if that didn’t attract the attention of everyone walking by then your unreasonably loud shriek of alarm sure did.

“Auuugh, I forget how loud you are.” Jade complains, rubbing her ears.

“Maybe don’t jump me when I’m minding my own business then!” you snap at her as June pulls you to your feet again.

“Does that mean I can jump on you when I think you’re not minding your own business then?” Jade asks slyly.

“No!” you snap. June snorts with laughter and throws an arm around you and Jade each and so the three of you walk on to the mexican place that is, as Dave described, at the bottom of a giant hill.

There’s outdoor seating and Dave and Rose are already sat on chairs at a table with an effectively useless sun umbrella over it given the time of year. There’s at least patio heating about so it’s not that cool, just like Dave who is drumming irritatingly on all of the condiments and the tabletop with his cutlery.

“No Sollux?” Jade asks as she pulls a chair out.

“I’ll message him again.” Dave says and pulls his phone out. He doesn’t have to tap away for long before a tired and harassed looking Sollux shows up and drops into a seat with a deep sigh.

“Long day?” Dave asks him sympathetically.

_Moirails_ your mind reminds you. You watch the gentle way that Dave pats Sollux’s shoulder and the way Sollux’s smaller eyes open to look up at him despite the rest of his face being buried in his arms. It’s sweet and it kind of hurts.

“I hate the consequences of my actions.” Sollux says unhappily.

“Don’t we all?” Rose nods.

“Was that Mituna guy really upset with you?” Jade asks him curiously.

“Mostly he’s just really upset. He doesn’t hate me but I should stay away from him for a while unless I desperately need him for something which doesn’t really happen.” Sollux answers.

“I uh,” you hesitate and Sollux looks up at you, “would you say that nothing I could say would make your day worse?”

Sollux groans and thunks his head on the table.

“No, I’m not that stupid but go on.” he grumbles.

“Do you know Jack Noir? Or Spades Slick? A Psychopomp.” you ask.

Sollux goes from slumped over the table to bolt upright in a heartbeat, staring at you wide eyed in shock.

“How do you know that name?” he asks quickly.

“He’s married to my boss, I ran into him today and he knew my name.” you tell him.

“Well that- ok, on the topic of names I need to know, you didn’t mention MINE did you? Because if you didn’t you absolutely cannot tell him you know me.” Sollux insists urgently.

“I didn’t do that but after he said my name he got right up in my face and sniffed me, asked me why I was hanging around demons. I got the impression that he knew who he could smell, so…” you grimace. You also don’t like the idea that someone can smell Sollux on you, that’s a little creepy.

Sollux doesn’t seem reassured at all, in fact he looks horrified. He sucks in a deep breath and turns to Dave.

“So, hey, remember I told you ages ago that I was conditionally immortal?” Sollux starts.

“Even if you die you come right back, yeah? I don’t like this but go on.” Dave nods.

“Yeah, and how I told you that I’d come back on my own but if you ever needed me to come back really quickly you summoning me would do it? Remember? If I die any time soon don’t do that, I’ll come back but just… just don’t summon me back or it’ll just happen again.” Sollux tells Dave.

“Wait, are you trying to say you think you’re going to die soon?” Dave demands and Sollux nods.

“Please tell me it’s not because of me.” you whisper in horror.

“Only sort of. I’ve been avoiding my girlfriend for a while because she’s probably really angry at me and I blacklisted her colleagues from the party last night and the guy you just saw is her employee. So, she almost certainly now knows roughly where I am and it probably won’t take her long to find me. Even if you hadn’t run into him I was pushing my luck with the party, it was stupid. Mituna was right.” Sollux says miserably and rests his head on the table.

“Are you telling me that you have a girlfriend that you’ve never told us about and we’ve never seen and she’s going to kill you?” Rose asks Sollux in shock.

“I’ve been avoiding her for years.” Sollux says and waves his hand like it’s no big deal.

“Years?!” Dave chokes out.

“She’s immortal, I near enough am, a few years isn’t much to her at all.” Sollux says and sits back in his chair.

“But she’s trying to kill you? That doesn’t sound like a good relationship.” Jade says in what should be the world’s least controversial statement, though seemingly not if Sollux’s expression is anything to go by.

“It’s complicated. Plus, there’s not much ‘try’ in it, she’s going to. It’s what she does.” Sollux says with a one shouldered shrug.

“No! You can’t date someone who’s going to kill you! Who is she? I’ll protect you.” Dave insists and Sollux’s expression goes bittersweet.

“Dave, it’ll be fine, trust me.” Sollux insists.

“No, it won’t. Tell me who she is.” Dave says, doubling down on what he already asked.

“She’s death.” Sollux says with very clear reluctance.

It goes quiet around your table. You’re all looking at Sollux and he doesn’t seem fantastically keen to be having this conversation.

“When you say death, what do you mean?” Rose asks.

“The embodiment and incarnation of the physical force of nature that is death. Death, capital D death. Not a psychopomp or anyone who guides people through their death but death the actual embodiment of dying. She’s been in existence ever since there was another living thing around to die. That death. Her name’s Aradia, that’s what I call her. So when I say she’s going to kill me I mean it, she’s going to get my soul out so I have nowhere to hide and she’s probably going to be really pissed at me.” Sollux answers.

“Isn’t there anything we can do?” you ask. This is all your fault, you could have showered before work or denied being around demons or- or SOMETHING! But now Sollux is going to die, for however short an amount of time, and it’s your fault!

“No, and I shouldn’t even be around the rest of you.” Sollux says and stands up from the table. Distantly up the road you hear a yell but you’re too focused on Sollux and how your whole group is trying to convince him to accept some other outcome of this that isn’t dying.

Sollux steps behind you and off of the kerb, you turn to try to talk him out of this and gasp in shock when the drain cover that he stood on suddenly gives way and plunges his leg into it up to the knee.

“Augh!” Sollux hisses and tries to pull his leg out.

“My truck! My truck!” a voice up the road reaches you.

You turn and see a huge truck barreling down the road towards you without a driver in it, right towards Sollux.

“Ah, shit.” he sighs.

You leap to your feet and try to jump towards him, to pull him free and save him or something. You can’t, though. There’s a hand tightly holding onto the back of your sweater so you’re forced to stand and watch as this truck slams into Sollux and crashes into a wall, leaving a trail of fire behind in its wake.

Sollux is just… gone. There’s fire splattered about burning brightly in a pattern that you think matches up to where you’d expect Sollux or at least parts of him to be. But there’s no leftover stuff like there was with Kurloz, no note or item or anything. Sollux did say that he’d come back, right? So maybe this is fine.

It clearly isn’t fine, though. Dave looks like he’s going to throw up and Rose is holding onto him tightly to stop him just running over there.

“He’s gonna be okay, it’s gonna be okay, he said so.” June repeats quietly behind you, that’s her hand in your sweater.

You feel lightheaded, almost unsteady like you haven’t got your sea legs on a boat or something. You wouldn't know, you’ve never been on a boat you don’t think. You feel as if you might faint, your vision seems staticky and wrong.

You watch as a fly drops clean out of the air onto the pavement before you, a glowing trail in the air staying in place. Across the road grass wilts around a tree and it starts to rain dead, brown, withered leaves. A pidgeon falls off of a roof nearby and lands on its side on the floor. It’s dead, they’re- everything is dying.

_-all those people! You know what was supposed to-_

You’re not hearing it, you’re perceiving it somehow through some other sense.

_I’m sorry Aradia! I didn’t know what was going to happen but-_

_As if he wouldn’t tell YOU! You ruined everything!_

A flare of power, a curled horn and black hair, furious eyes. How are you seeing (not seeing) this?

_That’s not what, AA, no, wait._

_No, we’re OVER! Don’t you dare, go!_

Whatever that was suddenly stops and the oppressive feeling of death, the end of all things, fades. The fire dies down and molten golden light on the floor reforms together. With a flash of light Sollux is sat there on the road in the same odd outfit he had on when he was in his giant form in the club. He scrambles to his feet.

“AA, wait, please!” Sollux shouts into nothing but you know she’s gone.

Sollux looks around, all his eyes wide open and distraught. He stumbles as Dave slams into him, wrapping him up in a hug. His hands cling to Sollux’s strange clothing and he presses his face into Sollux’s neck. Behind you people are coming out of the mexican place that you haven’t even ordered at yet to see what the hell just happened, people are gawking at the crashed truck and the guy hugging it out with a demon in the middle of the road.

“Are you okay? Don’t do that again! What happened?!” Dave demands, pulling back from Sollux to stare at him.

“She… she broke up with me.” Sollux says quietly.

“Good! She killed you!” Dave shouts.

You catch the flash of pain that goes over Sollux’s face before he teleports away.

“Sollux!” Dave calls, but of course he’s not there.

“I don’t think ‘good’ is what you’re meant to say when someone’s girlfriend breaks up with them. Even if she did just temporarily kill him.” June says softly from behind you.

“Oh my God, I don’t know what happened. It was parked! The break was on, I just- is everyone okay?” a man asks breathlessly as he comes to a stop by you, he looks like a truck driver.

“Everyone’s alive and unhurt but your truck seems less so.” Rose answers for you all.

Dave seems to be holding his tongue now that you have an audience but he’s typing on his phone at lightning speed. The truck driver mutters a quiet prayer as he moves past you to his wrecked truck, it seems that no one aside from Sollux and a few birds were physically harmed. You might almost call that miraculous, but you do feel bad for the birds and Sollux didn’t exactly look okay.

Without a word Dave walks off back towards the dorm buildings, leaving the rest of you behind. Needless to say the mexican place isn’t open for new business and the mood has been somewhat spoiled with Sollux’s death. You end up going home via the cafeteria and just picking up food from there. You don’t know what you’re supposed to do.

“Has this ever happened before?” you ask Rose quietly when you both get into your dorm room.

“Not as far as I know. I did know about his strange almost immortality, though I didn’t know if it was true.” Rose says and drops her reusable drink cup in the sink to be washed, she finished her drink on the way back from the cafeteria.

“I guess he could have died without Dave knowing, if he wasn’t there.” you suggest.

“I doubt it. If he was avoiding death itself- herself, I suppose. Then dying however briefly would have attracted her attention. Moreover my mother’s house is highly warded to keep plenty of things away and Sollux took us there last night, fleeing the remains of a dead demon. It’s not unreasonable to think he was running from her to avoid detection, if he was willing to do that I doubt he’s been recklessly dying whenever Dave happens to not be watching him.” Rose deduces.

“He was dating the concept of death, that’s… that’s something.” you say after a moment.

What kind of relationship was that? He’s got a strange demon one with Dave. Well, that’s not fair, you’d actually really like to have someone like you that way but it’s still not a typically human relationship. He mentioned there were others but in a very Sollux way he didn’t elaborate on what they were.

“I feel like this is my fault. I’m the one who tipped that guy off about him.” you admit quietly.

“I don’t think that’s the case. Or at least I don’t think it’s your fault. Sollux could have easily not taken you to a demon bar and not spent all night right by you. Besides, from what you said he was married to your boss so you’d have run into him eventually anyway, it was simply poor timing. I do wonder what Sollux did to so thoroughly upset the concept of death.” Rose says.

Rose used to be a seer, she used to get visions, to see beyond the things that everyone else sees. Should you tell her that you thought you heard part of Sollux and Aradia’s conversation? That you could feel her presence as much as you could feel whatever was there affecting things at the bar? You’re not sure it’s a smart thing to do, what if you hurt her feelings? As far as you know you’ve never had any seeing abilities beyond the normal kind with your eyes and here Rose is having lost her abilities and you just casually develop this shit? You can’t do that.

“...What?” Rose asks suspiciously.

“What?” you say back.

“You were going on some kind of face journey there.” Rose informs you, waving her finger at your face.

“I don’t- my face didn’t do anything.” you deny.

“I have ways of making you talk.” your roommate says threateningly.

“...Bullshit.” you say. What’s she going to do? Stab you?

“Well, we could talk about whatever you were thinking about just then that you’re hiding or we could discuss the way you’ve been looking at my brother lately. Perhaps get him involved in this conversation?” Rose says breezily.

“I sensed the thing at the nightclub before it happened and I caught bits of Sollux’s conversation with the death girl person even though they were somewhere else, let’s never mention the other thing.” you say in a rush.

Rose’s eyebrows raise in what you could call at most ‘moderate surprise’, you really feel that your confession of a sixth sense and confirming potential feelings for her brother ought to elicit more reaction from her.

“What exactly did they say?” she asks you curiously.

“It was them breaking up mostly, she broke up with him, blaming him for something. I couldn’t hear all of it and I feel weird telling even that much. It’s clearly pretty important to him and at the time I felt like I was going to pass out or throw up from the sensation and just watching Sollux get pasted by a truck, so I wasn’t exactly taking detailed notes.” you say defensively.

“I wonder what on Earth he could have done.” Rose wonders aloud.

“Well, if you’re going to do that I’m going to my room.” you tell her and make a hasty escape.

With your bedroom door shut behind you there’s no way for Rose’s judgement to audibly seep in through the door, you can still feel the psychic vibes of it though. Fuck, you can’t believe she’s caught on to the things you’ve been feeling for Dave. You hope that no one else has noticed but you’re rarely that lucky. Ugh, you just want to curl up in a shame ball and die.

...And now you feel guilty about thinking of dying so flippantly as it just happened to one of your friends and you all had to watch it. Poor Dave, poor Sollux. You’d find some way to contact Sollux directly if you didn’t think he’d mistake your sympathy for something terrible and explode on you. Making him feel worse isn’t something you want to do.

You settle in to read more on your book about vampires, more out of personal interest than actual research or for snooping on Kanaya’s vampirism. You have to turn on your lamp early as it’s become dark incredibly quickly. It’s only when lightning flashes and makes you jump do you look outside.

Torrential rain streaks your window and the trees outside are being blown so hard that you almost fear that they’re going to be torn up out of the ground. Where on earth did this storm come from? It was perfectly clear earlier today! You sit back on your bed as lightning flashes again. Out of paranoia you unplug your laptop cable from the mains in case there’s some kind of power surge. You don’t know if that’s really a thing but you sure as shit don’t want to have to buy a new laptop. You sit down and keep reading your book, checking on the storm outside every so often.

When you wake up in the morning the storm has passed and the background news that Rose leaves on as you and her drink your coffees and wake up is discussing the freak weather change.

“This morning many police stations are investigating vandalism in what is believed to have been a coordinated attack or some kind of flashmob. All across the country there are reports of angel of death statues being smashed to pieces, with all other headstones remaining intact. Police suspect teenagers organising online to be responsible and urge anyone with more information to step forward.” the reporter says.

You and Rose look over at each other. You both know someone who can teleport at will and has a lot of feelings about incarnations of death to work out. Maybe smashing up statues is his version of cutting your ex out of photographs. Neither of you comment and you decide tactfully not to raise the matter with Sollux.

When Monday comes around it’s pretty obvious to everyone that Sollux is still deeply upset at literal death breaking up with him. You’re not Sherlock Holmesing this shit either, he’s slumped over the table in your magical languages lab looking utterly miserable and doing nothing productive. Dave seems concerned but somewhat resigned to how upset Sollux is, you guess this is probably what his whole weekend has been like.

“Do you want me to put a circle on your paper?” you offer Sollux as you’re getting up to to do the same to yours.

“Whatever.” Sollux mumbles into the table.

You jerk the paper out from under his head and take both off to the circle machine. The thing with so many students practicing longform written spells is that you need circles and the closer to perfect they are the better the spell will do, so there’s just a machine that does an ALMOST complete circle so you can close it when you need to after everything is written. You set the dimensions and make one for you and one for him.

“Here you go.” you tell him when you get back and drop the paper on the table in front of him. The way your labs work is that you’re able to write out your spells and troubleshoot them before actually casting them, thus far you’ve not had the guts to actually try to cast anything but you’re determined to do it today.

Sollux seems to be determined to be a vacuous pile of fuckall.

“C’mon man, at least try and do some work.” Dave urges him.

Sollux makes a despairing sound but does sit up and drags the paper towards him. He flips his book open and glares at it, drumming his pen on the table.

The plan is to be able to write this around your own wrist in ink, which is going to take a little contorting. Supposedly the better you get at this you eventually won’t need a pen and you can just magic the spell onto yourself, but for now manual is what you’re stuck with.

  
#include 

spell.subject = self;  
spell.tether =

You frown, you need to tether your spell to some force but what should you pick for fire resistance? C plays well with water based tethers but it’s not as if you have particular faith in the ocean or any great beliefs about it. It makes sense for water based species to do that because they appreciate the power of the ocean. You don’t think you’ve ever even SEEN the thing.

Water based… water based. The tides are obvious but again it’s not a concept you really gravitate to. You chew on the end of your pen and find your eyes drifting to Sollux and Dave. Dave is partway through copying a symbol from a book onto his page and Sollux is sullenly writing. You feel bad for him and though you don’t condone vandalism as a healthy way of dealing with your feelings you hope that destroying a bunch of statues of death helped him feel better. Actually, he must have got drenched when he knocked out the ones in your general area.

Wait, the storm. That was loads of rain and wind, its raw power was impressive and definitely water related. Could you use that? You look around and see the graduate student who’s the TA for the lab sitting at the desk at the front of the room and walk over there. She looks up as you approach.

“About tethering the spell to something. Can you call on a specific experience?” you ask her.

“Hmm, yes and no. In the writing of the spell you’d attach it to, say, the ocean or something but when you enact the spell you have to have the intent of what you want to do in mind, but it helps to focus before then on a specific memory of what you’ve tethered. When it was gods you’d say a prayer before, typically. But now it’s just relating to the right force in a way that means something to you, so a memory works for that.” the TA nods.

“Alright, thanks.” you nod and return to your table. After checking your book for the exact wording for this sort of thing you tether your spell to the power of storms and rain.

Alright, checking it over. The focus of the spell is yourself, it’s powered by the storms etc. Now you need what you want it to do, you’ve already allowed it to reference the elements so how about this?

  
#include 

spell.subject = self;  
spell.tether = ”RAGING STORM AND RAIN”;

void setup() {  
spell.setup();  
}

void cast() {  
if (self.on_fire()) {  
self.remove(fire);  
}  
delay(1);  
}  


That looks about right, it won’t go on endlessly, it’s got a power source and it recognises fire and it only applies to yourself so you’re not going to snuff out all fire in the world.

“I think I’ve worked it out.” you say and Dave looks up. He tugs your paper closer and reads, mumbling along as he does so.

“I don’t think that’s right, we’re supposed to be making ourselves invulnerable to fire. That’ll just turn fire off, right? Sollux?” Dave nudges Sollux.

The demon sighs and looks over, silently reading for a moment.

“You’re an idiot.” Sollux says after a second or two.

“It stops fire from getting on me, doesn’t it?” you reason.

“Alright,” Sollux says and leans over Dave. He catches your wrist in his hand and his other one catches alight. “How about you tell me when you’ve spotted the problem. I won’t catch your hand alight, I swear.”

Sollux moves his burning hand closer to yours. It’s the same bright yellow and black flame that you saw before, it’s hellfire because of course it is. You can feel the heat of the flame and no matter how much you try to pull back he’s not letting you.

“Fuck, that’s hot! Cut it out!” you hiss at him.

“There’s no fire on you, your spell wouldn’t do anything for this.” Sollux points out.

“ALRIGHT! I FORGOT PHYSICS!” you yell and a few people around the room yelp in alarm at the noise. With a flick of his fingers Sollux’s flame goes away and he lets you go.

“Thermodynamics is a bitch, huh?” Dave says sympathetically.

“And so is Sollux.” you mutter.

“Play nice, I’m gonna go ask a question.” Dave says and gets up with his work. He walks off leaving you and Sollux alone.

“Are you going to help or are you just going to be a sad sack?” you ask Sollux pointedly.

“I did help you. What do you want me to do, hold your hand?” Sollux sneers at you.

“Not if it’s on fire.” you retort and that at least gets you a flicker of a smile for a moment.

You look down at your useless spell and think for a moment, a quick check tells you that Dave is still busy.

“Can… so you know how with these spells you can import information into it, like the elemental library here?” you ask, pointing to the beginning of your spell. Sollux nods, he’s now back to just looking sorry for himself.

“I want to do that, just upfront state some shit that’s true. Okay?” you say quickly. Sollux seems mildly intrigued so you go on.

“How well we get on seems to vary and that’s confusing as shit but whatever. That doesn’t mean to say that I’m happy that you died yesterday and I’m sorry that happened because it probably hurt and I don’t wish that on you. I’m also sorry your girlfriend broke up with you but since I have no way of understanding what that relationship was like it feels a little useless for me to offer my condolences there. I also feel bad for whatever part I played in terms of tipping her off to where you were, it probably wasn’t totally my fault but I still feel bad.” you tell him quietly.

“You have sorry down to an art.” Sollux observes.

“Shut up. Can we just take those things as true from now on because I have an actual question for you.” you say.

Sollux just shrugs apathetically.

“In the least hostile and offensive way possible, why are you here? You already have magic and even if you’re not entirely familiar with all the languages you’re obviously magically powerful. You seem to be a pretty important demon based on what you told me and you don’t seem massively excited by any of these classes at all. I don’t know what you’re getting out of this or why you’re here and it’s a lot of trouble to go through, so… why?” you ask.

“That’s a good question.” Sollux says.

He offers no further information, he’s not going to tell you, is he? You debate using a question but Sollux could easily answer ‘because I wanted to’ without telling you the real reasons behind it. Even asking what the specific reasons behind wanting to be a student here could be answered honestly but unhelpfully. Nah, you’re not being baited into that.

“Fine. Thanks for the help/threat to burn my hand, I’ll get back to working on this now. You know, that thing you should be doing.” you say pointedly.

“I already know the answer to this. I don’t have anything else to do.” Sollux shrugs.

“Then why don’t you go test it?” you say in exasperation.

“Don’t wanna.” he sighs.

“You are literally the most irritating person I’ve ever spoken to and I’m pretty sure that even if I got my memories back that’d still be true.” you accuse him.

Sollux stares at you and then slumps facedown on the desk with a noise of frustration.

“What now?” Dave asks with a sigh as he sits down again.

“Don’t ask me.” you say and look down at your work again. You’re going to need to make a new circle.

“I need new paper.” you mutter.

“Can you grab me some? I accidentally made a torture spell.” Dave says and screws his paper up.

“Wait, how?” you ask in shock.

“I negated burning but forgot to take out pain because I figured it was included in the concept, so what that’d do is if someone’s trying to burn you to death you’d just suffer endlessly until the fire went out without even getting to die. So that’s horrifying, Sollux can you burn this for me? It’s giving me the creeps.” Dave says as he hands the balled up paper off to Sollux.

Sollux clenches the paper in one fist and his hand catches fire, when he opens it again there’s just ash and no paper. He does all of his without taking his face off of the table.

You chew over the problem for a while, flipping through your book to see if you can find anything in C’s library that you can use to get the spell to work with you.

“I can’t believe harm isn’t in here.” you grumble as you keep looking.

“Define harm though.” Dave points out.

“An experience that damages my body.” you answer.

“Damage is a judgement though, right? The body’s doing all kinds of wack shit all the time, you’re dropping skin cells every second like they’re going out of style but you don’t consider that harm. You don’t consider your insides being filled with acid doing you harm and doesn’t oxygen damage your cells or something? Or is that just tv adverts talking shit about free radicals to sell stuff to women? I don’t know.” Dave rambles. There’s a correct point in there though, the magic doesn’t know what you do or don’t consider harmful. It’s a grey area even for specialists like doctors who do arguably harmful things like cutting people open for surgery.

“That’s probably someone’s thesis or something isn’t it?” you concede.

“Mom always said to leave your feelings out of magic when you’re asking something of it, be neutral.” Dave adds.

“Essentially word things in a way that can’t be maliciously interpreted, no wonder Sollux is done already.” you say and glare at the demon. The effect of that is wasted though because Sollux is facedown on the table.

“Wait, you’re done? Can I see?” Dave asks hopefully.

Sollux lifts his face from the table and turns his head ever so slightly to see Dave.

“You said you wanted to learn, me handing you the answers isn’t you learning. I’m going back to bed so you won’t feel tempted to ask me for the answer.” Sollux says and grabs his paper from the table and teleports away.

Dave makes a frustrated sound but instead of chasing after Sollux or messaging him he just goes back to his work. You and Dave end up workshopping your magical script together and eventually come up with a statement that in plain English would read something like ‘By the power of the storm and rain, until I tell the fire it can do so it may not alter any part of my body or mind.” Of course it’s a lot more fiddly to write that out in actual script but you think you both get there even though your individual phrasings are ever so slightly different. Dave is tethering his magic to the concept of time itself which seems ballsy to you and not what C favours as a language but that’s on him.

You’ll both get to test your spells in your actual lecture tomorrow but until then you have an alchemy lab all afternoon so you’ll be in suspense for a while. To your surprise Dave manages to drag Sollux to alchemy class but he’s just sitting sadly next to June who to her credit is trying to cheer him up.

“We could all have a movie night together to take your mind off of things. You could do the pints of ice cream and sad movies thing.” June suggests as she weighs her ingredients.

“Pass.” Sollux says quietly, his face propped up on his chin.

You’re too occupied with smashing things together in a mortar and pestle to offer advice to Sollux, especially as you don’t think he’d appreciate it from you and also you have jack shit in the way of experience to offer.

“One gramme of iron filings mixed with two parts… wait, what?” Dave frowns. You lean over to try to see what’s confusing Dave.

“We could play games, get some big party game going on one of your very many games consoles.” June suggests.

“I don’t want to.” Sollux sighs.

“You know, sitting around being sad isn’t going to make you feel better or bring her back.” June snaps at Sollux.

“Telling me that doesn’t make me not sad. Anyway, when’s the last time YOU dated anyone?” Sollux retorts icily.

Oh, you’re not touching that.

“I think that means double the amount of iron. So one gramme of iron two of chalk. I think. Or half.” you say instead to Dave.

“Those are very different but okay, what’s the worst that could happen?” Dave shrugs and measures out the right amount of chalk.

“Why would you say that?” you groan and lift your mortar out of the pestle so Dave can dump the new stuff in.

“Wait, is this the pestle or the mortar?” you ask, pointing at the part in your hand.

“Watch me not know or care. Get crushing, Karkat.” Dave tells you.

You avoid looking at Dave because, yeah, you crushing is not a problem. Instead you just grind all these powders together as Dave sets up the bunsen burner underneath your flask that Dave earlier filled with filtered water.

“Sol, can you light me, please?” Dave asks and you lift your gaze enough to see Sollux reach across the table and touch a fingertip to the edge of the burner, catching the gas alight with a touch. Sollux seems to soften a little at getting to help Dave, especially when Dave thanks him.

You pour the combined powder out onto a sheet of paper and fold it enough to make a rudimentary funnel. Dave puts the flame under the flask and zaps it with a laser thermometer.

“How fast did you think that would boil?” you snort.

“I’m just curious.” Dave shrugs.

“All I’m saying is this, maybe she comes around and maybe she doesn’t but how you feel about it won’t change that.” June reasons.

“It’s not like I can talk to her.” Sollux says solemnly.

“Yeah dude, no, you’re not dying again just to get a chance to talk to her. You’re not doing that.” Dave tells him and the stiffness in his tone makes you think that this isn’t the first time this line of conversation has come up.

“Can we not talk about this? I know what you think about it.” Sollux says, narrowing his eyes at Dave.

“Oh, yeah, my hugely controversial opinion that you’re better off without a girl who literally hit you with a truck and murdered you.” Dave retorts.

“You don’t get it.” Sollux snaps.

“No! I don’t!” Dave agrees a little loudly.

Dave and Sollux glare at each other, neither backing down. You’ve not seen them fight before but Sollux’s literal life is certainly a subject you can see being contentious. You keep seeing that truck smashing into him every so often, it just flashes up in your head and makes you shudder in horror. With Dave being his moirail you can only imagine just how much more personal it is for the two of them.

June is wide eyed as she looks between her two friends. You see her flounder for a diversion and then flick the gas on her burner.

“Hey, Sollux, light me?” June asks.

Sollux flicks a flame in the direction of the burner and because of all the gas coming out it flares up in a bright fireball. Hey, someone’s causing more fire than people want in class and for once it’s not you and Dave. The fire has the effect of breaking the staredown between Sollux and Dave.

“I think we’re nearly there.” you tell him and Dave checks the temperature again, you’re nearly at boiling.

“Let me get the timer.” Dave mutters and grabs his phone and opens the clock app and sets it to count down the number of minutes you should keep this solution over an open flame. By the time he’s done that your water is boiling, you carefully slide the powder in and Dave starts the timer.

“I just want to stir it.” you complain. The instructions say very clearly not to do that but you still want to. You and Dave watch as the boiling water agitates the mixture inside it to make the whole thing incredibly murky, like cloudy lemonade if cloudy lemonade had iron filings in it. Cursed lemonade.

“I kind of want to drink it.” Dave says, practically voicing your thoughts.

“Yeah but given that it’s meant to purify things I’m not sure I want that in my body.” you say with a grimace.

“For sure. ‘Oh no your blood is filled with toxins! Now it’s fresh clean water!’ and then you die immediately.” Dave snorts.

“Clean and dead. Let’s not drink this.” you nod.

“It seems crazy as well that we’re just going to pour this on generic dirt afterwards. Like everything else was precice substances but ‘dirt’, really?” Dave says.

The timer goes off and you turn the burner off as Dave fiddles with the buttons to stop the noise.

“Well they use this stuff to clean up a lot of dangerous spills so I guess the point is that it’s versatile. There’s a variation of it that they use for oil spills on water.” you say.

“I know it’s not as if magic is trying to be difficult, like it’s not a sentient force trying to trick us into doing the wrong thing and it’s more that it doesn’t understand our concepts of stuff but a lot of this just feels like learning elaborate ways to trick magic into doing what we want it to do.” Dave says.

“Yeah and when you’re trying to make something that has a purpose like a cleaner and you’ve got to account for everything people could use it on and all the ways it could be misused you can see why it’s easier to just be like ‘fuck it, we’ll just use bleach, enjoy your nonmagical Mr. Clean!’ but then some companies just slap magic shit on anything!” you agree.

“Perhaps when you truly master something you never use it. Or some shit like that.” you can feel the point Dave was trying to make slip away from him and find yourself laughing at it. It wasn’t even that funny, it’s just endearing. Yeah, no wonder Rose called you out on the Dave thing.

It’s probably really dumb to get a crush on your roommate’s brother, you should just ignore these feelings that keep welling up inside of you whenever you listen to Dave ramble or feel how easy the conversation is between the two of you. With how much you both talk it feels like you could go back and forth forever even if you’re both talking total shit the whole time. Besides, you should be realistic, you don’t even know if he’d be interested in you at all. You doubt that he has a problem with people being gay or anything else seeing as how he was entirely fine talking about how Rose likes girls. Although, as a side note you get the feeling that she didn’t appreciate him blurting that out. All the same the odds of him liking men aren’t in your favour and then on top of that there’s the question about even if he did would he even like you?

Wow, great, you’ve managed to talk yourself into feeling even more shit than usual.

“Ok, here we have our generic dirt. And… ow, that’s still a little too hot to pick up.” Dave winces as he pulls his hand back from the glass flask, entirely oblivious as to your internal turmoil.

“Dave, there’s-” Sollux starts.

“Shh, shh, no, let him work it out.” June shushes him.

“What? Ow.” Dave hisses as he touches the still hot glass again, like it would have cooled down at all in the last three seconds.

You look around the bench and see a tool that’s pretty clearly meant for picking up hot flasks, it’s abandoned on Dave’s side of the table past his elbow.

“Use the things, you idiot vortex.” you groan and point at them.

“Oh, the things, huh? What’s an idiot vortex anyway, Mr I-Don’t-Know-The-Name-Of-These-Things?” Dave retorts as he picks them up anyway.

“It’s like a black hole of stupid from which no intelligent thought can escape. Clearly sitting by you has sucked out my intelligence too.” you inform him. Because, you know, that’s how you get people to like you, Karkat.

Dave sticks his tongue out at you and carefully pours your alchemic solution over the dirt that you have in a jar. You lean back as it fizzes and bubbles violently, worried about it splashing on you. When the fizzing calms down however you’re left with a crystal clear liquid and several smooth black rocks at the bottom of the jar.

“So if we did it right that’s pure water, right?” you say after a moment.

“Yeah, let’s test it.” Dave nods and dips a PH testing strip in the liquid and sure enough after a moment or two it hasn’t moved. That should be water!

A noise of alarm from across the table gets your attention and you see June panicking about her flask of water which is highlighter yellow.

“What did you do?” Sollux asks her skeptically.

“Everything, since your lazy butt has done nothing!” June snaps at him.

“Well I think we’re done so I’m going to leave before that gets out of hand. Are you coming?” you ask Dave as you sweep your things into your bag. It’s become sort of a habit for the two of you to go out for coffee after class and you like it more than you ought to admit.

“I would but…” Dave hesitates, looking over at Sollux.

“Right. That’s fine, see you tomorrow for our C test, yeah?” you say and at that Dave nods in agreement. It makes sense that he wants to look after his moirail instead of hang out with you, you don’t have a problem with that.

You take your phone out and look at it, not because you have anything that you’re expecting but more as a habitual awkwardness breaker. You’re not overthinking this Dave coming or not coming out for coffee with you thing, you’re a perfectly normal casual guy who can extend an offer like that and not overthink every part of it the moment it’s rejected. That’s definitely you.

Oh, hey you have an email. You read a few lines into it and gasp in shock.

“Dave!” you say urgently.

“Karkat.” Dave replies coolly.

“Shut up, you unfunny dick. This is important!” you snap at him as you scroll through the email.

“Man, you’re so rude. Why do I talk to you?” Dave complains.

“I wonder that.” Sollux agrees from across the table.

“Fuck you both.” you tell them, ignoring June’s childish outburst of giggles at that statement.

“We can talk about your terrible judge of character later, Dave, read this!” you insist and lean against the table next to him and show him your phone and the email displayed there.

“Oh WOW.” Dave says as he reads.

“Until further notice Xenobiology 101 is cancelled and is no longer a required course for entry students to Salem University. We will contact you when we have more courses to offer you now that this is no longer an entry requirement, other teachers will be making their entry courses available a semester earlier and we anticipate these will be scheduled over the next week. When this is available you can select a new course to take in this block so your graduation is in no way delayed.” you read out.

“They’re offering us a replacement that doesn’t affect our course credits so the university can’t be accused of damaging us by making us study for longer, this is a legal concession.” Dave notes.

“We will run a new Xenobiology course in the future, however in the meantime we will upload approved study materials on the subject on the student portal as soon as we are able to.” you go on.

“As soon as the demon lawyers approve it.” Dave translates.

“In addition, Professor xenophobic fuckface will no longer be teaching at the university.” you say, editing the man’s name because why should you bother to say it right?

“Redglare is good.” Sollux smiles, it’s a slightly weak smile but it’s genuine.

“To get the university to roll over like that in that short an amount of time is crazy, I’m in awe. That was a really good call to get her involved. I mean, she ended this man’s whole career but that’s entirely on him so I’m not sympathetic.” you say.

“I’ll have to ask her exactly how that went down, I bet it was entertaining to watch.” Sollux grins.

“Yeah.” you nod and think for a moment or two and then look back up and Sollux, “You did a really good thing, you know that? Demons live up here now whether people like it or not and it’s not right for people to act like that isn’t ok. Even if every other part of his course had been perfectly fine it wasn’t alright for him to do that. You made things better here, you know? That’s really good. So many students are going to go on without those lies in their head.”

“Uuuugh, don’t ruin this for me. I hate when you get all kumbaya about shit like this.” Sollux complains and goes facedown on the desk again.

You’ve never had a conversation about anything like this before, not that you remember anyway. He must be talking about before you lost your memory. There was a time when he did something nice and you appreciated it vocally.

“I don’t remember whatever thing you’re referring to,” you say slowly and Sollux tenses, “but no doubt you’ll do something like this again at some point and then when I approve of it you can call me on it.”

You don’t remember this nebulous past that you share with him and the two of you don’t always get on or even always seem to like each other but you do respect the guy. You have no plans to go anywhere either, so he’ll just have to settle for you making new memories of you irritating him by saying nice things. Or making him laugh by insulting him, or both.

“See you tomorrow.” you say to Dave.

“Yeah! Catch you at breakfast and we’ll all head to class.” Dave says cheerfully.

“Later June.” you nod to her as you go. June nods but doesn’t wave as you leave, she’s too busy trying to delicately move a glass flask with those tong things. You don’t say goodbye to Sollux and he doesn’t move from his place facedown on the table. At the very least you think the conversation about Redglare’s lawsuit distracted him from his ex girlfriend for a bit.

You go back to your dorm and spend a good part of the evening stressing over your spell for your test tomorrow. Rose lets you see hers and you’re reassured that there’s only very minor differences between your spells. Rose tethered her spell to the oppressive darkness of the deepest ocean and the hidden things that live within it. Which given her previous deity, that makes sense. After that you spend your evening reading a novel on one end of the sofa as Rose knits on the other end, in the background the TV plays the news quietly.

“-progress on the investigation of the swathe of statue destruction. In other news the Japanese government is issuing its first ever permit for an archaeological-” the TV rumbles.

“Without meaning this in any way offensively I feel vaguely like I’ve got into a faux marriage and retired to quietly do crafts on the sofa as my husband reads books silently.” Rose announces without any lead in.

“This is a very detailed and specific feeling.” you note calmly and consider her words.

“Am I your beard in this imaginary retired marriage? Do you have a secret imaginary girlfriend in this scenario?” you ask, lowering your book.

“I wouldn’t keep her a secret from you, my dear husband.” Rose assures you.

“I appreciate your openness in our fake marriage.” you nod and pick your book back up.

Rose continues knitting for a while as the TV goes on about the upcoming dig into what promises to be an ancient magical site.

“How did you know you were gay?” you ask Rose after a minute.

“In reality or in our theoretical retired married couple reality?” Rose asks and starts a new row on her scarf.

“...Are there different answers to those two?” you ask her. Rose seems to contemplate this.

“I suppose not.” she says.

You rest your book on your chest and she pauses in her knitting.

“I suppose it was just that I was always a bit confused when the women in the movies I saw fell for the male heroes who very often weren’t very likeable, I always wanted the girl to date her best friend in romance movies.” Rose explains.

“To be fair they’re often a better match.” you agree.

“Right? Thank you!” Rose says in exasperation.

“So does your mom know?” you ask curiously. You don’t have parents so the idea of having to tell or not tell them something is a little alien to you.

“Yes, but I don’t suppose I was especially subtle about it as a child. As I said I think I always knew, which doesn’t make a very fascinating coming out story. What about you, Karkat?” Rose asks.

“I don’t know, I’ve spent too much time angsting about what species I am to worry about who I’m into. I think I just like people.” you shrug.

“Ah, well perhaps in our hypothetical retired fake marriage you have a boyfriend and I’m your beard as well.” Rose muses.

“I’m glad it’s so mutually beneficial.” you agree and pick your book back up. Rose returns to knitting.

In the morning you and your theoretical fake wife Rose go down to have breakfast before your test and find Jade already there poring over her spell with a spoonful of fruit yoghurt frozen halfway to her mouth, seemingly forgotten.

“Morning Jade.” you greet her as you set your own plate down.

“Hi Karkat! Are you nervous about the test?” Jade asks you brightly.

“Am I nervous that I got it wrong and I’m going to get literally burned? Yes. Massively nervous.” you say. Not only do you have to fear failure but also actual injury.

“To be fair there’s going to be certain safeguards in place, just for the sake of not maiming students permanently.” Rose says with a slightly dismissive shrug.

“I don’t like the word ‘permanently’ in that sentence, it suggests that temporarily is still on the table.” you tell her. Rose just smiles behind her coffee cup. Yeah, you are less and less reassured by the moment.

The rest of your friends arrive just in time to grab food to eat on the way to class. For once it’s not held within the lecture theatre but rather outside within a large engraved stone circle. When everyone is there the teacher fills the grooves of the circle with water and waves her hand, muttering under her breath. A glimmering blue field of light shifts around the circle borders and it reminds you of the cage in the restricted section of the library, this is to keep things in. In the centre of the large circle your teacher stands with a large standing brazier of fire burning at about waist height.

“You will all have ten minutes to inscribe your spells accurately on your arms, whichever one you prefer is fine. After ten minutes I will call you up individually, inspect your spell and if it is within acceptable limits you may proceed. I’ll give you more instructions when you’ve all got your spells written down. Mr. Captor, if you would come up here please, you’ll be writing yours on my arm.” your teacher calls out to your class.

Sollux wanders over to your teacher and with a wave of his hand his spell writes itself out on her arm.

“Oh, that was quicker than I thought. Fair enough, let me see what you have here. Hm, interesting way of dealing with the problem.” your teacher muses.

You sit down on the stone with a sharpie in hand and carefully copy your spell out neatly onto your forearm, wrapping the circle of it around your arm entirely. Your nerves are jangling, not helped by the way that your fellow students all feel a little bit nervous too. This is your first real test that matters and none of you want to fail.

Your skin breaks out into an anxious cold sweat and to make matters worse your arm is starting to itch, you don’t think the ink of the sharpie agrees with your skin all that well. The ten minutes passes distressingly quickly and you scratch at your arm as you watch your teacher start to talk again.

“Here’s how this will work, for those of you who aren’t demons you will come up here when I call your name out. In this case I will use Mr. Captor’s spell as a demonstration. I will inspect the spell and see that it won’t cause any terrible backfiring, I’ve read this one and it’s fine. Sollux will now activate the spell by thinking of his tether and mentally feeling for the magic, I’m afraid there’s no better way to explain how to do that but once you know what the feeling is like you shouldn’t have a problem. In this case as it is your spell not mine would you mind activating it, please?” your teacher looks at Sollux now.

Sollux reaches out and holds his hand towards her arm, the colours of the spell flare up in red and blue.

“Now that the spell is active I will stick my hand into the fire. If I was to suffer any negative consequences this pool of water here will erase written magic and heal any burns.” she explains, gesturing to a vat of liquid next to the brazier. So Rose was right, you can temporarily burn yourself because they’re proving an immediate way of negating the damage. It really is a trial by fire.

Before your eyes the teacher sticks her hand in the fire and it seems to disappear into the flame itself, you can’t see her hand in there at all. She pulls it back and her arm isn’t on fire, it IS fire. Sollux snaps his fingers and her hand returns to normal.

“Very creative, fire doesn’t burn fire so you trick the fire into perceiving me as more fire, thus I don’t burn. Very good. Pass. Please take a seat.” your teacher nods and Sollux walks back to your group and sits next to Dave.

Other students are called up to the front to face their own tests one by one. A few people fail for extinguishing the fire instead of fireproofing themselves, a couple don’t even get to test their spells but most people pass just fine. It’s interesting seeing how different people have their magic present. When Dave goes up his arm leaves a trail of afterimages behind it and Rose’s skin looks slick and darkened as she holds it fearlessly in the fire. June and Jade pass easily but your nerves are completely shaken when one student puts his arm in only to scream and yank it back, shoving it right in the healing water. Tears stream down his face and his body trembles, yet when he draws his arm out he’s perfectly fine. Your teacher talks with him quietly for a moment and then he sits down again, having failed the test.

You scratch at the ink on your arm, your nails dragging over your skin without relief. You jolt when your name is called and you hurry up to the front.

Up close you can smell the coal fuelling the fire and feel the heat of it on your cheeks, your stomach is in knots and it’s all you can do not to shake too badly when your teacher asks to see your arm.

“Why is-” she starts, looking at the red scratches on your skin.

“I think I’m allergic to the red ink.” you mumble awkwardly.

“It’s almost hard to tell what’s you scratching at it and what’s the ink. Hmm, ok, you can proceed.” she tells you.

You think of the storm the other night, the way the rain beat on the windows and how strong the gales of wind were. You cling tight to that thought and run your spell through your mind. You’ve never cast anything before, you don’t know how to make it do anything. You don’t know if anything has happened and you swear you can feel the eyes of every other student on you. This is the moment where it’s revealed that you don’t have any REAL magic and it was all a mistake and you have to go home. However the magic on your arm works, it’s not doing what it’s supposed to, it’s not catching or turning on like you’ve felt with the teleportation spells you’ve been transported by. There was a moment with those, an engine turning on and the magic beginning to flow, but that’s not happening.

Your eyes focus on the fire and your hand before it, there’s no way you can-

...What are you afraid of? Without thinking you move your arm forward into the flames and like a polite pedestrian on the street the fire parts for you. You move your hand around, almost in a trance and the fire slides away and springs up again around your hand. It can’t hurt you, when has it ever?

“That’s not- Karkat give me your arm.” your teacher says, shaking you out of your daze. Almost robotically you do as she says and hand your arm to her.

She stares down at your forearm.

“You… you scratched your skin and broke the circle, that’s why the spell didn’t activate. It’s not supposed to do that, how are you doing that? Mr. Captor, come here please.” your teacher says, looking behind you.

You turn and see Sollux walking over with a frown of concentration on his face.

“Do you want me to stick my arm in the fire?” Sollux asks before she can ask him anything.

“Please.” your teacher nods.

Sollux does just that. The fire doesn’t move for him, it flows harmlessly over his skin like air. It’s not the same as what was just happening with you.

“I don’t understand what… do you know what he is?” your teacher asks Sollux who sighs.

“I can’t tell you anything about that, or answer any questions now that you are obviously fishing for answers around that.” Sollux says with a shake of his head. You think if she’d asked her questions with a little more care she could have got more information out of him and to your eye Sollux looks just as frustrated about not being able to say more.

“I’m not fireproof like you.” you mumble as you think it through. You put your arm towards the fire again and it bends out of your way.

“Go to the base of the fire, see what it does then.” your teacher suggests.

You lean in closer and put your whole arm in the fire, your hand touching the coals. They feel warm, or rather you’re aware that they’re hot but about as much as you’re aware of their colour, it’s just a thing you know. A kind of hazy feeling settles over you again and you feel your fingers brush something that feels bright. A fizzing spark of something, it feels bright and familiar. You close your fingers around it and the whole fire abruptly snuffs out.

Raising your hand to your face you stare at the spark in your hand. You can feel it, like a chain stretching back through time, back and back to when the first fire came to Earth. A stolen spark of something.

Static fills your head and the world starts to tilt. A hand slaps at your wrist and you drop the spark, the fire bursts back into life in the brazier. Your fall to the ground is slowed thanks to a fist in your shirt.


	6. Song of the Witches

Consciousness creeps over your mind once more, like the tide coming in. You’re disconnected from yourself and dazed so at first all you can do is let your senses filter the world back to you. You’re warm, although not especially comfortable and something thin is draped over most of your body.

“Yes, I know what he is. No, I can’t tell you.” a voice filters through.

“He really can’t, it’s not his fault.” another adds.

“Could we perhaps compel him to tell? If it wasn’t painful then perhaps-”

“Would you like me to call my LAWYER? I’m pretty sure the school is familiar with her work, unless you’d like to deal with the honourable Redglare in court some more?” that first voice growls. It’s Sollux.

“No one is compelling him to do shit. Look, he’s gonna be okay, right Sollux?” someone… Dave says.

You peel your eyes open with great effort, even if it takes a few moments for them to focus on anything.

“He’s fine.” Sollux says and hops onto your bed, sitting on your ankles. Somehow he weighs almost nothing and you’re reminded of the time Sollux sat on Dave’s sleeping body.

Several people you don’t know elbow their way into your line of sight and start checking you over, asking you questions about all sorts of things that you can hardly get your thoughts together. Yes you can hear them, yes you can see that, no you don’t hurt anywhere, please can you go back to sleep again?

You’re allowed to drift off to sleep once more and when you wake up it’s Rose who is sat knitting by your bedside.

“Rose.” you croak.

“Karkat, good to see you awake again.” Rose smiles and lowers her knitting.

Looking around you can see that you’re in some kind of medical room, although you’re in the only bed in the room. Rose is the only other person here but the arrangement of several other empty chairs makes you think it wasn’t always so. Your head feels fuzzy but you feel a little clearer than before.

“Why’re you here?” you ask as you struggle to sit up.

“I couldn’t possibly leave my fictional husband’s bedside, could I?” Rose gasps in faux shock at the idea of leaving.

“Maybe you were going to smother me with my pillow and get the fictional life insurance.” you joke.

“Oh, I hadn’t thought of that.” she admits with a smile.

You sit there for a moment and run your memories back through your mind. The test, the fire… something…

“Did I faint in the middle of my test?” you ask after a moment.

“Technically, yes. You were somehow naturally repellant to fire, to everyone’s surprise and then you managed to somehow pick up what I can only assume was the concept of fire in your hand. Doing so seemed to overwhelm you and you passed out, Sollux caught you before you brained yourself on the stone, which was nice of him.” Rose tells you.

Oh good, that’ll be great for your social standing with your classmates. You’re going to be that weird guy who did strange shit with fire and fainted like a weenie in your test. GREAT. To make matters worse when Rose alerts the staff to you being awake they insist on keeping you in for observation overnight and they tell Ms. Paint that you’re not medically cleared for work. You know, in case you needed to be embarrassed in front of more people.

At the very least you’re allowed out for your class on seeing the future the next night. Here’s your prediction for the future, social mockery and isolation from your peers.

“Tasseography!” your teacher announces after you’ve climbed a fucktonne of stairs to get to her classroom.

“The study of reading tea leaves.” Rose says as you walk past the teacher to a small table with two chairs at it.

“Oh, very good. Have you done it before?” the teacher asks curiously as you pass.

“I tried, I mostly just enjoyed the tea.” Rose admits and takes her seat with you.

“Tasseography, as was just correctly pointed out, is the art of reading tea leaves. This is a method useful both for getting external advice, as outside forces can move the leaves for us, or as a blank canvas for our minds to project an interpretation onto, which is where our own senses of perception come in. It’s typically used for the latter and isn’t the best method for communicating with outside spirits and the like.” your teacher explains.

She goes through the history of reading tea leaves and best practice for reading them. Once she’s done that she instructs the whole class to go over to a large stack of shelves and pick out a teapot, cup and saucer that ‘spiritually appeals to you’.

There’s all kinds of tea sets here and the sheer amount of choice is overwhelming. Rose beelines right for a sea themed one with an octopus tentacle handle on the cup and a jet black teapot. Other people choose sets with stars on, or glitter embedded in the paint. Your eyes finally stick on a pure white teapot and teacup, it’s probably devastatingly plain but you pick them up anyway and return to your table.

Your teacher is going from table to table with a tray and a large pot. She offers each student a packet of tea, has them add it to their empty pot and then pours the water in after it. You hadn’t even thought about what you’d drink.

“I think I’ve drunk more tea since coming to this university than I have in my entire life before now. Everyone at the library is nuts for the stuff too.” you tell her.

“Clearly people of refined taste.” Rose says.

“Hello, hello, please do pick. Don’t overthink it, just trust your first instinct.” your teacher advises you as she offers the tray.

You take the tops off of yours and Rose’s teapots and watch as Rose seems to pluck out a tea at random and empties the little packet into her teapot. When your eyes roam over selection you’re at a loss, there’s types you haven’t even heard of. Your eyes catch on one of the labels and without thinking you open your mouth.

“I didn’t even know there were red teas.” you say, your hand hovering near it.

“The red rooibos tea, very nice. Go for it since it caught your attention. It’s supposed to be very good for those with sleep problems.” your teacher advises you.

Taking the tea packet you open it up and pour it out into your plain white teapot. Your teacher fills up your teapots with water and moves on.

“From my understanding the underlying skill of this is in scrying, essentially. Supposedly you relax your mind and sort of free interpret random noise in the world to see. You could do it with anything I guess, soup, mud, anything.” Rose muses.

“I’ll keep that in mind next time I’m doing the dishes. Stare into the water and see my future.” you grin.

“I predict you’ll see clean dishes in your future.” Rose jokes.

“And you said you were skeptical about some of these things.” you laugh, you’re trying to keep your voice down because it’s pretty clear that lots of the people in this room take this whole thing very seriously.

“Alright class, a few minutes have passed, please pour yourselves a cup of tea. As you drink your tea I will explain how the process is going to go.” your teacher tells you all.

Picking up your teapot you pour yourself a cup of startling red tea that’s full of the tiny needle like leaves of the rooibos at the bottom.

“We begin by drinking our tea, this should be done with an open mind and the anticipation of asking a question or being available to receive advice. When you are down to your last teaspoon full or so of tea hold your teacup in your left hand and swirl the liquid three times counter clockwise. If you have a specific question silently ask it at this point. Then tip the cup upside down gently onto your saucer, not my tablecloth please, and give it a little bit for the tea to drain away.” the teacher explains.

You wonder how many people smash her saucers by upending the cups too hard or pour tea all over her tablecloths. Then again this may be why she has tablecloths instead of clean tabletops.

“More often than not there will be multiple shapes and to read this we work from the cup handle which represents you. You then read clockwise out from there. Take your time, interpret the shapes as you will and trust your instincts. Like with all skills this one takes time to refine, so be patient.” your teacher advises you.

The room around you falls into quiet discussion between students, leaving you to look into your full cup and wonder about all of this. What do you want to know? What you are is an obvious question but what answer can tea leaves give you? If your mind is blocked from seeing the answer it’s likely that any response to that question won’t be one you can read. Besides, as Dave said before you already look exactly like the thing you are that you still don’t know what that is, how will an abstract version of you in tea leaves help?

You could ask about what happened with your ouija board, who contacted you. You could ask what Sollux’s deal is with you but that seems far too complex for tea.

“What’re you going to ask?” you ask Rose.

“I’m going to ask it to show me a way to see my future.” Rose says confidently.

You sip at your tea. It’s nice, kind of strong though. You don’t think you’d have picked it if you knew it’d taste like this. It’s all the more motivation to get through it quickly. You can’t think of a good question to ask so maybe you should just be open to it showing you whatever it is that you need to see.

There’s about a teaspoon full of tea left so with a deep breath you muster your concentration and swirl your cup and quickly turn it upside down as Rose does the same.

“We could turn them the right way up at the same time.” Rose suggests a little nervously.

“That seems sensible. Scientific, even.” you agree. You’re worried you won’t see anything but you’re also worried that you will.

You lock eyes with Rose and on a silent count of three you flip your mugs over.

“Oh.” Rose says softly. Her saucer is full of tea leaves.

“What do you see?” you ask her.

“Nothing at all, there’s not even a bit of leaf left in here. Well, I suppose I see my own face in this very nice mug but no leaves. You?” Rose says sadly.

Looking into your own mug you’re met with a strange sight. The bottom is totally clear shiny white except for a perfectly round cluster of rooibos right in the middle of the mug. Given that rooibos is made of little straight needles it’s amazing that they can form a perfect circle.

“It’s a perfect circle, look.” you say, offering the mug to Rose who leans over to look.

“It almost looks like an eye with how round it is. As in the mug is the white of the eye and the red is the pupil.” Rose suggests. You wonder if she’s thinking of her brother, you can see that interpretation but it doesn’t click in your head. Not that you know if the right answer will or if there is such a thing.

“Hmm.” you say as you stare down at the perfect little circle.

“What’re you thinking?” Rose asks.

“I don’t know. I’m just trying to think of round things and maybe I’m hungry but all I can think of is pizza.” you admit.

“Have pizza then, make your prediction come true.” Rose suggests with a shrug that implies that she doesn’t much care. She absolutely DOES care about this seeing the future thing but you won’t call her on it.

“I will have pizza but I don’t think that’s it.” you say as you keep staring in the cup.

It’s not a thing that you’re looking at, it’s not a ball, it’s a representation of something. You stare at the red circle sat there wetly on the damp, white cup. It’s a… sun? No, not the sun anymore. Wait, why did you think that? You shake your head and stare hopelessly at the mug. Whatever idea was at the edge of your mind is gone now. All the same you take a photograph of the mug and sit back in your seat.

Around you other students are finishing up their own readings or asking your teacher for her advice or interpretation. As you were drinking it seems she’d put up common meanings of certain signs but the definition of a circle as order doesn’t strike you as right.

Your teacher has you select new cups and pots and repeat the process, you can only imagine how much dish washing this class produces each year. This time Rose picks a sunny orange teacup and you go for one that’s a shimmery gold on the outside and a soft mustardy colour inside. This time your random tea pick gets you a black tea with liquorice in it, you don’t really like liquorice but then your only experience of the stuff is those gross little chewy black sweets. When you pour this out into your cup it smells sweet and deep in a way that’s actually appealing.

“Perhaps I tipped the cup too hard last time, I’ll be more gentle this time around.” Rose tells you.

“That seems sensible. I’m sure you’ll have more to work with this time. Or, hey, maybe the perfectly clear cup last time was a message. That the power to see the future was in you all along, reflected back in your cup.” you tease her.

“Are you trying to see if I can read the future in my vomit, Karkat? Because that’s where you’re going with that kind of saccharine shit.” Rose warns you and you admit your defeat there.

“I actually kind of like this one, and this mug too.” you tell Rose when the two of you start drinking.

“I’m not stealing the mug for you.” Rose tells you over hers.

“I wasn’t asking you to. Also I could steal it myself if I wanted to, thank you very much.” you tell her tartly. You know, right as your teacher walks by.

“Which, as I said I wouldn’t.” you add hastily but your teacher squints at you slightly as she walks past. Great.

“Alright, that’s about a teaspoon of liquid left, right? Loads of tea leaves in there.” Rose says and offers you her cup to have a look.

“That looks right to me. Also wow you drink faster than I do.” you say, you’re only about halfway through yours.

Rose gently tips her teacup out onto its saucer and waits about a minute, a very tense minute. When she lifts her teacup up away from the saucer upside down you can see that there’s no tea leaves on it, it must all be in the cup. Yet when Rose turns that the right way up it’s somehow completely empty.

“What the fuck?” you whisper and lean over.

“It was full of tea leaves! I turned it, there’s none on here, there’s none in the cup- what?!” Rose exclaims.

“That doesn’t make sense.” you say, setting your cup own down and looking over the tablecloth in case they all fell out there somehow. There’s nothing there, Rose’s tea vanished into thin air.

“I see how it is.” Rose whispers.

“Not only do I lose contact with Cthulhu but I’m being actively blocked from seeing at all.” Rose says. Her hands are tight on the edge of the table and your heart aches for her. Even if that isn’t true she feels like it is.

“Hey, why don’t we just go? We could get pizza, go back to the dorm, watch a movie and forget all this.” you offer.

“No. No, I’m going to master this shit out of spite. Anything that thinks it can stop me has got another thing coming. Do your tea already.” Rose says with a voice like steel and a look in her eyes that makes you feel bad for any supernatural force getting between her and her visions.

You swallow your last anxious mouthful of tea, leaving just a little left. You tip your cup over onto the saucer and try to wait, just letting whatever is that’s going to come to you, come to you. Turning it the other way up you look in it and the words escape your mouth as the thought pops into your brain fully formed.

“It’s a spade.” you say, staring down at it. It’s right there in your cup, perfectly formed.

“For digging?” Rose asks.

“Uh.” you hesitate, that wasn’t what it felt like but it also doesn’t… not feel like that? Your head is starting to hurt.

“I think it’s a spade like on cards. My boss’ husband, the one who tipped Sollux’s ex off to his location was called Spades Slick. That’s got to be what this means, right?” you say, certain of it as you speak.

“It’s your reading but if it came to mind that quickly it seems like a sensible reading of that.” Rose agrees.

Are you going to see that guy again? Given the kinds of problems he caused last time you’re not sure if you want to see him at all. Or maybe it’s just tea and doesn’t mean anything.

You and Rose leave your class and start going down the nine million stairs back down to the ground floor. You think whoever built this tower was drunk as hell at the time because it doesn’t even go down in a straight line, it’s all wobbly.

“How are you feeling now anyway? Better after your fainting spell?” Rose asks as she goes down the stairs.

“Don’t remind me of that, that’s mortifying. I need to email our professor to see if I need to redo the test or something. I haven’t even had the time to think about what species this might make me.” you groan.

“Well you’re not immune to fire like Sollux is, but you seem somewhat elementally inclined.” Rose says.

“It’s like it didn’t want to hurt me, or I knew it wouldn’t. It was really odd.” you agree.

“Have you noticed unusual elemental occurrences around you? Strange behaviour of water, fire, air or earth?” she asks.

“I’m not the fucking avatar, Rose. My life didn’t change forever when the fire nation attacked.” you snap. You immediately feel like kind of a jerk for doing so, Rose is trying to help you with your problem and probably distract herself from her own one. She doesn’t deserve you being pissy about the whole thing.

“I’m determined now to work out what you are.” Rose tells you.

That’s both great and slightly terrifying.

When you get back to your dorm and check your emails the noise of dismay you make is so loud and clear that Rose sticks her head around your slightly open door to check on you. The first email is a fairly simple one from the medical staff who are essentially checking that you're fine and reminding you that if you feel at all light headed then you should come right back. That's fine, irritating to be reminded but still fine. The second however is from your professor saying that you will need to repeat your test but due to your extenuating medical circumstances you can just come to class fifteen minutes early tomorrow and repeat the process then.

"She's not expecting you to stick your hand in the fire again, is she?" Rose asks, after you've relayed this to her.

"No, it looks like it's going to be the same as it was for Sollux. I have to write it out on her and then she tests it for me." you tell her.

"I don't think there was anything wrong with your spell though. It looked very similar to mine, I think the problem was you." Rose assures you.

"Isn't it always?" you sigh.

"I meant that the conflict with the magic was to do with your species, not a flaw with you as a person. Now, if you're quite done being negative-" Rose starts.

"I never am." you interrupt.

"-then I am going to go to bed. I'm going to have a shower first if that's alright with you, I'll be a while because I'm going to wash my hair." Rose continues as if you hadn't interrupted.

"Go for it." you say. With a nod Rose leaves and you are alone once more.

You lean back in your chair and stare at the ceiling. Exactly what are you? You can't think of any species that matches you, just from basic memory anything relating to fire doesn't tend to pass for human and then there's the matter of your voice. You tap your fingers on your desk and think for a moment. On a spur of the moment decision, you leave your room and head upstairs, when you get to Dave and Sollux's door you knock although you make sure not to be too loud. It's not all that late but Sollux mentioned before that he doesn't sleep at night so even if Dave is asleep Sollux should be awake.

Sure enough he's the one who answers the door and looks you up and down.

"Managed to get through the day without fainting again like a victorian lady with the vapours?" Sollux asks you bluntly.

"Har har. I had a question for you." you say without even a trace of amusement in your voice.

"A deal question or just a regular annoying Karkat question?" Sollux asks and leans against the doorframe. Clearly he's not inviting you in because he's a rude fucker, isn't he?

"A regular question. You mentioned before how demons were made but you also mentioned how humans tend to crossbreed with anything that's so much as polite to them." you say.

"I know where you're going with this, so do me a favour and don't ask. It'll make what I have to say easier because I'm not working around giving you an answer." Sollux tells you quickly.

"Me asking the question implies that what you say in response is an answer. Okay. Tell me an entirely spontaneous fun fact then." you suggest.

"Humans have, like... slutty DNA." Sollux starts.

"Wow." you snort.

"Shut up. It easily mutates so that when it encounters a different species it's more easily compatible, still not as easy as human to human but it works. It does still need something like DNA to bind with, different species have different sorts of things. Most magical humanoid species on Earth are workable even if their magic has to fill in the gaps of that information." Sollux explains.

"That's kind of cool in a way. Humans don't have much innate magic but then you get this." you say thoughtfully. Humans lack of natural widespread magic led to far more technological advancements than other species. Most humans can't do any magic and even among those who can it's not as obvious or easy as it is for other species, that's why there's schools for it. The stuff you're learning most infants of other species can probably do naturally.

"Demons are from another plane of existence, generally speaking species from another plane of existence can't breed with humans. Gods can- or could. I mean, Zeus, right?" Sollux shrugs.

"The guy got around." you agree.

What he means is 'you're not half demon, Karkat'.

"The same goes for any other species on Earth?" you guess. Sollux nods.

"Fuck. I just wish I remembered what I was." you say miserably and lean against the hallway wall.

"It'd be easier." Sollux agrees.

A silence falls between the two of you as you contemplate how likely it is that you're ever going to figure out what you are.

"Then again, if you could either retain who you are as a person or the knowledge of what you are, which would you choose?" Sollux asks, his voice soft and quiet. His eyes are downcast so he's not looking right at you.

"Why do I have to lose anything in the first place?" you ask instead of properly answering.

Sollux laughs but it sounds a little bitter.

"Yeah, well, I wish I knew." he says.

You're about to thank him for answering your question when a thought comes to you.

"Oh, unrelated question: the guy who smelt you on me, Spades Slick, did you actually know him? Also I never want to say 'the guy who smelt you on me' again in my natural life." you say with a grimace.

"And yet you said it twice and made me hear it. But yeah, I know him. He works for Aradia but his particular route took him to hell with the rest of his crew. We weren't exactly friends but Slick isn't exactly a friendly guy. We weren't not friends either if that helps. I'm not pissed he sold me out to Aradia, she's way more dangerous to him than I am. He's not an idiot." Sollux tells you.

"Huh, okay." you nod.

"What about him?" Sollux asks.

"I don't know. I was doing the whole reading tea leaves thing and I got a spade in mine, he just popped into my head. I guess I just... I don't know, wanted to see if you'd say anything that'd give me a lightbulb moment.” you explain.

“You got a… spade.” Sollux says, his voice is almost tight for some reason.

“Well that was for my second reading,” you say and Sollux’s expression twists a little more, “for my first I got something else. Are you alright there?”

Sollux shakes his head but it doesn’t look so much like a ‘no’ as it does him just shaking himself off.

“Yeah, it’s fine. What was the first thing you got in your stupid tea time class?” Sollux asks you, shifting the topic on. You don’t get it but you’ll allow it.

“If you’re expecting me to get defensive over the whole thing you’re going to be waiting a while. I’ve only had the one try at it and I don’t understand either thing I got. I thought of Spades Slick with that spade one but then again I got this too and I can't think what that would mean at all." you say and open your phone, turning it around to show Sollux the picture of your first reading.

"A perfectly round thing of tea in a white cup. Huh, that's really red." Sollux notes, opening all four eyes to look at it.

"It was a red rooibos tea, fuck if I know what it means. Whatever, I'm just wasting your time. Thanks for talking to me." you say and put your phone away. You wave to Sollux and go to walk off.

"Whatever, see you tomorrow." Sollux says and shuts his door.

Your mind churns over Sollux's information, that rules out being half demon which is a shame because it would have explained a lot. But that's fine, you've ruled something out, that's always helpful. Just a bajillion other things you could be. You wonder over the math of how many possible permutations of species you could be, it's possible you could run the numbers but it'd probably make you cry so you think you won't.

When morning arrives you have yet another email, but this one is good enough to go over at breakfast with your friends.

"This is a whole bunch of replacement courses we could take." Jade says in delight as she watches June scroll through the list.

"Dave, you should do magical combat." Sollux tells him.

"I don't know, I don't really want to fight anything." Dave says apathetically.

"Dave, please." Sollux says earnestly.

"I think it could be fun! It's probably all for self defense anyway and it says it's a required course to any of the later modules that have field work in, that means magical archeology too." June chips in.

"Oh, I'd want to do that then. I'd like to do lots of exploring and if it's required it'd be better to do it sooner rather than later." Jade nods.

"I'm always up for a little chaos. What about you, Karkat? We could all take it together." Rose suggests.

"Yeah! That'd be fun!" June cheers.

"Sure, why not?" you shrug.

Everyone looks at Dave who is the last to agree, it's pretty plain what Sollux wants so no one needs to even ask.

"Okay, geez. We'll do magic fight club." Dave groans.

"Dave, what have I told you about the first rule of magic fight club?" June asks him seriously.

Your friends are a bunch of nerd losers, it's official. When you head to your class early to take your test it just so happens that all of said nerd loser friends follow you. It's hard to block out their presence as you ink out your spell on your teacher's arm, but you need to be sure that you get this right.

"Now you need to activate the spell." your teacher tells you.

You don't know how to do that, exactly. You've seen Sollux and Rose both do it with a teleportation spell and a silence spell respectively but they did that by slapping the thing and you don't want to slap your professor. You also don’t want to fail your test though.

She won’t burn, you won’t let her.

Quickly you bring your hand down on her arm in a slap.

“Ow.” your professor says, and your spell does nothing.

You open your mouth to apologise, you didn’t mean to hurt her! You were trying to do the opposite, you wanted to p̴̟̌ŗ̵͈̉͊o̵̪̪͘t̵͔͐̿e̸̥͋c̴̤̐t̶̨̎ her. The feeling snags on something. It’s like those engines that start from a ripcord, your mind floods with the beating sound of rain, water on your skin and the howling storm at your back. You won’t let your professor get burnt, you and the rain and wind will keep her safe. The black ink on her arm flares up in light and settles into a soft dove grey glow.

Your professor slides her hand into the fire and feels no pain and takes no damage. She withdraws her hand and you instinctively let go of the spell.

“Well done, that was a nice spell. You passed.” she tells you.

With a wave of one hand she extinguishes the flame she had in a bowl on her desk and grabs a wet cloth from a packet on her desk as she starts to clean the ink from her arm.

“Good job not passing out this time.” Sollux snickers from the doorway. You turn around and see that your friends were all watching you this whole time.

"Do you have to be supportive in the most irritating way possible?" you ask him.

"Of course we do, Karkat. We're your friends!" June says brightly, making Sollux snicker at her side. Yeah, you can see why those two are friends.

You want to be irked at her comment but the stupid part of your brain that's seemingly part golden retriever is just going 'FRIENDS!!!' excitedly in the back of your mind. That makes it pretty hard to be convincingly irritated.

"Come on." you sigh, faking a long suffering attitude as you head up to your seat and your friends come into the room with you and settle into their own places.

Your friends chatter about meaningless things, Rose suggests picking up some loose tea on your way back to your dorm so that the two of you can test and see if Rose's inability to get anything to read keeps going on. The rest of your friends hadn't heard about this so it's mostly you and her recounting what happened and Rose reaffirming that she's going to see the future if she has to ascend into the heavens and fight anything she finds up there.

You entirely believe that she would.

Rose's plans for a holy WWE match are put on pause when your teacher starts making the kind of sounds and body language that suggests the lecture is about to start but she doesn't want to be the kind of teacher that has to demand that people shut up. The rest of the usual students are here now and so she's loudly organising stacks of paper on her desk and writing things on the board, standing by it expectantly. All that sort of thing.

It works and your class slowly falls silent.

"This next module will be in BASIC. This is a human standardised language developed by humans instead of adopted from another species. It was designed to be easy and simplistic to use but the best way to understand it is to understand its history, as such today's class will be based on that." she explains.

You've already started taking notes and you're listening eagerly.

"Magic has always proliferated in nonhuman species, even the least magically inclined nonhuman has more magical ability than the average human. The majority of humans can use pre-prepared simplified spells made for mass consumption but there are still plenty of humans who cannot. This isn't to say that humans cannot do their own magic naturally." she goes on.

"Plenty of early forms of magic within humans were medical in nature. Herbalism and early medicine go hand in hand, to an extent they still do. But life was dangerous back then, no antibiotics, no hospitals, no safe surgery. Early witches were closely entwined with healing and given that they were involved with blood, birth and death there's a lot of raw magical energy around that's easy to draw on. Witches trained each other in very informal ways and often knowledge was not widely passed along." she continues, writing on the board about medical magic as she talks.

"Of course there were other uses for magic, sacrifices to gods were done via priests or witches who were more inclined to be able to speak with the gods and in many cultures they were rewarded for this. This was anything from blessing a current ruler, cursing an enemy, bargaining for better weather. All that sort of thing. However humans have often feared that which they did not understand, witches in all cultures ran the risk of people turning on them for any number of reasons. A witch who could curse your enemies could curse you and that was a terrible threat to live under, easier to just kill the witch." your teacher sighs a little sadly.

You still haven't gone to see that statue but even you know about the witch burnings in Salem. You admire the tenacity of the witches who started this school to set it up right here as a giant 'fuck you' to the people who killed those witches long ago. It's the sort of successful pettiness that you can really get behind. You smile when you think of what those people would make of their precious Salem now. The storefronts around here all have that overly witchy aesthetic to appeal to students and tourists alike, the town has a way bigger than average population of nonhumans and a literal demon lives in your building. Yeah, you like that about this place.

"Witchcraft remained on the fringes of society as the industrial revolution hit, people practiced in secret and texts were encoded and passed around and copied secretly by hand. Copying out books of spells by hand was a rite of passage for witches of old, thankfully not one we have to do now." your teacher says with a sly smile at the class. This probably all has a lot of tie in with Kanaya's thesis around hidden text in weavings, you should bring it up with her when you see her next.

"Everything changed after the First World War. Without widespread magic humankind had leant into technological development and it was here where other species really saw what we were capable of, of course it only got worse from there. Keen to not have a repeat of the horrors of the First World War many countries, both allied and axis alike started searching for different methods of war. Chemical warfare, nuclear bombs, but magic was floated as a solution. Britain documented this process the best and they were the ones who had the first breakthrough in the modern era of magic. Word was spread through the church to find witches and even members of their own clergy who were especially inclined to anything supernatural, they were called in, interviewed and essentially drafted." your teacher explains.

"Plenty of the people called up weren't magical at all, just regarded as unusual in their community, but they caught plenty of real witches. Mostly women at the time and quite a number already worked for the military in their hospitals, easing the pain and injury on the returned soldiers beyond what the medicine of their time could do. Needless to say, that was something that caught the attention of those in power." your teacher goes on.

Yeah, you can imagine. Any way to ease suffering of people who had been dragged into a war they had no real choice to go to could only be a good thing. You studied history in school, you know that you're already older than lots of the men who died in those wars, to say nothing of those who came back broken. If you could heal people with magic and you saw people hurt that badly you'd do anything you could to help as well. Yet this was in a time when magic clearly wasn't accepted so these witches were putting themselves at personal risk to help other people because it was the right thing to do. Something in you glows at the thought.

"The problem is there was no language for magic then, the words were more poetry with intent. Spellcasting through charms, objects, feelings and sacrifice. The truly adept could do things with great finesse and precision but the majority risked the accidental misfires that magic done without proper language entails. Without language to rule out imprecise double meanings, to define parameters formally, and delineate effects spells could go wildly wrong. Not something you want in a war situation, but still research was done." she continues, the board now has notes about the first world war and she begins to write a heading of the second world war.

"When the Second World War began the British ended up inventing one of the earliest prototypes of the computer, thanks to Alan Turing and his team at Bletchley Park. However their work at the time essentially revolved around creating a language to speak to an inanimate object and get an answer from it, the artificial code for their machine had to be made from scratch. A woman working at Bletchley Park at the time mentioned to Alan about the problems they'd been having with magic and how although witches had made contributions to medicine a lot of their more useful and powerful spells were too unreliable to be approved for use in the war. He correctly deduced that language was the problem." she explains and then, in large letters, writes BASIC on the board.

"BASIC started development by Turing and has been added to and improved upon by many since then. The standardisation and formalisation of magical language in a human centric way enabled many who were capable of magic but not naturally inclined to the historical methods to wield it. It allowed the subject to be more readily taught and advances in healing magic leapt forward and covered the tail end of the Second World War, thankfully aggressive magic did not end up being used in that war. As you can imagine there has historically been friction between traditional magical philosophies in humans and in those of us who prefer the specificity of written magical languages, but that is for another class. Now, to explain how BASIC works." your teacher smiles.

As the class goes on she explains the very straightforward way that BASIC selects a target of its magic, how to define a tether for it and how it has no preference for tethers unlike a lot of languages, the mathematical way that it operates and so on. She explains the grammar, the structure, leaving your notebook several pages deep by the time class is done.

"I think I like seeing how the languages work, I think it's good practice for how to think about magic and see what mistakes you might make but it doesn't seem totally needed to write it all out like that every time. Can't we just feel it out once we know what we're doing?" Jade says as you all walk out of class.

"I think it's going to be a case of how we use it. A spell we end up using all the time probably won't require formal writing but I can see the value in precisely planning out anything more unusual or unfamiliar, especially anything with a high chance of turning someone inside out if you get it wrong." Rose suggests.

"Why is that immediately where your mind went to?" Dave groans.

"I can see Rose's point though, it's like training wheels for unfamiliar or dangerous things." June agrees.

"How does it work for demons?" you ask Sollux.

"It's both for us." Sollux answers.

"Of course it is." June snorts.

"Shut up. I mean magic is instinctive for us, once we know how to do something we can just do it. But it's also all written. For demons everything is very hung up on wording so..." Sollux struggles to explain.

"It's like all magic has subtitles on for you?" Dave tries, clearly wanting to help put Sollux's thought into words, a thing he's ironically struggling with despite the aforementioned reliance on words.

"Yeah, that's a pretty good way of explaining it. So I get how all this written stuff works easily, it's just a language I don't speak yet. The concept of doing magic without any words in it is just... crazy." Sollux says with a shake of his head.

You've seen him do magical shit without saying a word but then again just because you can't hear it doesn't mean there aren't words.

You're pretty sure you need to go do a wikipedia deep dive on all of this stuff but Rose drags you off to select loose tea and buy a teapot that doesn't have a strainer built in unlike the one she already owns. When you get back to your dorm she has the two of you do another reading and yet her cup becomes impossibly clean and you get an exact repeat of your earlier perfectly round circle in your mug.

Rose isn't pleased with that outcome, that's for sure.

You've got a long day tomorrow, all morning you have a BASIC lab and right after you have work all the way until seven in the evening. You're going to have to grab lunch from the cafeteria and eat it on the way to the library if you don't want to be hangry for your whole shift. It's bad enough when you're just angry at irritating students not putting their books back in the right place, hangry Karkat is way worse than just angry Karkat.

But it can always get worse.

"Group project!" your TA announces to the class, to much groaning from everyone around.

"For your BASIC module you will be working in a group, as this language was developed by a group effort your teacher has decided that you'll all work in groups as well. It builds character or something." the TA shrugs.

You look around your table of friends and wonder just how big these groups can be and what exactly you'll have to do.

"Groups of three, come and sign up at the front. You cannot change your group when you've made it." the TA explains.

"War of the sexes?" Rose suggests, leaning past you to smile at her brother with sinister menace on her face.

"I would high five you for the suggestion but I have been reliably informed by middle schoolers everywhere that girls have cooties." Dave informs her.

"Oh, it's ON!" Jade cackles and hops up to her feet.

So you get to work with Dave and Sollux. In fact Dave is already walking off to write your names down without even asking you or Sollux if that's what you two want. You side eye Sollux, you've been getting on better with him lately, he's been almost friendly at times so you think you can make this work if you try. Besides, it might be pathetic but you're not going to say no to spending time with Dave, are you?

"So the test we have to do is the same fire resistance spell in BASIC, which I guess is going to be different than in C. Then we have some other things that I have no idea how we're going to do but we apparently have to do that before we pass the fire test so I guess we'll be learning about more stuff in the lectures." Dave explains and shows you and Sollux the sheet of paper he got.

"I have advanced borrowing privileges at the library because I'm staff, so if there's anything we need beyond the basic textbook I can help with that." you suggest.

"Swoon. Do you tell everyone about your lending privileges, Karkat? Or are we special?" Sollux snorts.

"You're especially annoying." you retort.

"Oh boy, I really feel like this was a good decision on my part." Dave interrupts. Right, no fighting with the guy's moirail.

The three of you shuffle your chairs closer together and start going through your textbooks on BASIC, there's a suggested list of exercises there to help you identify how to modify all of the parts so with that work ahead of you the three of you manage to get your heads down and make progress.

After class you only just manage to snag a slice of quite frankly disappointing pizza which you eat while doing that fast walk that's not quite a jog all the way to the library. You can't in good conscience handle the books with pizza hands so you ditch your coat in the office and rush off to wash your hands. You know that you're not the only part time library assistant there because whoever else has the shifts that you don't take doesn't do as good a job of you of putting shit back where it belongs and you spend several frustrated hours doing something that you thought would be easy when Kanaya told you to do it. Namely tracking down books that have been put away in the wrong place. Students will do it by accident when they're just reading stuff in the library and not taking it out but then it tends to be a case of putting it a few books out of place and that's easily set right whenever you're returning books yourself and see something out of place.

But NOOOOO someone is putting books back in entirely the wrong place. You'll find one book in roughly the right area and then several others with it that don't belong anywhere near there, like someone was taking it off of one of your book carts and just shoving a handful back anywhere because they can't be bothered. When you find who this is you're going to ritually sacrifice them. Ms Paint would probably be okay with that.

Needless to say as your shift goes on you're not in the most fantastic mood and it's not helped by students being exceptionally irritating, leaving their shit in the walkways so it's hard for you to move your book cart about. And fuck them because you can kick their stuff out of the way but what if you were dealing with a species with poor mobility or a human in a wheelchair or on crutches? No one wants to get caught in your fashionable scarf or coat that you carelessly dumped on the floor!

You’re full of impoent rage at the world and specifically other students, so the instant you hear something when you pass the door to the stairway you’re ready to chew someone out. You throw open the door and instead of seeing dumbasses fooling around on the stairs or trying to grind down the rails or something there’s just a crying girl on the landing halfway up the stairs.

“Hey, are you okay?” you ask, all of the anger draining out of you.

She sniffs and wipes at her face, turning to look at you. You can see little itty bitty antlers at her hairline and her face is slightly tan at the edges and the shape and texture of her nose has you thinking of deer. Her dark eyes are big and watery as she looks at you.

“Did you hurt yourself? Do you need me to call someone for you? I work here.” you say hurriedly as you make your way up the stairs to her.

“I just tripped.” she says in a tiny voice. Her lip wobbles and you feel like more tears might be on the way.

“Are you alright?” you ask. Kanaya didn’t tell you what the procedure was for students being hurt but some basic fucking empathy seems like the obvious answer.

“No, I just… this is my first year here and my parents told me not to come. My roommate hates me and I don’t understand the classes and now I dropped all my books when I tripped and-” the girl’s breath catches, she’s going to cry again.

“Hey, no, no. It’s my first year too, I feel like I don’t know anything and I went through the whole last five years without friends, I know how that feels. It sucks and I’m sorry.” you say to her. The last thing you want to do is act like the way she’s feeling is just overblown. It sucks to be alone and out of your depth, you entirely know that and if someone had told you to just cheer up you’d have cast them off of a cliff or something.

“Is that meant to make me feel better?” the girl asks incredulously, so you do the only thing you can think of.

“Do you want to come to the office and have tea and talk about it?” you suggest a little helplessly.

Surprisingly she does. You make both of you a drink and sit down with her. She tells you where she came from, why her family didn’t want her around humans, what her roommate is like. You’re pretty sure that you don’t help at all, you just listen and snap her out of saying stupid shit like she doesn’t belong here. If she doesn’t want to be here that’s one thing but no one else should tell her where she does or doesn’t belong, fuck that.

Mostly you just listen, as not unlike your first day here with Kanaya she seems to feel better by the time she’s finished her tea. She seems happier at the end, still emotionally worn out but not on the edge of crying. You check her books out for her with an unthinking scan of her card and send her on her way. It’s only as you see her leave the building that you realise you didn’t even get her name.

“You’re still doing that then.” a voice says behind you.

You scream and leap to your feet but it’s not Sollux there, it’s Spades Slick. Just like the spade you saw in your cup, you predicted this.

“Still doing what?” you ask him tightly.

“You know, being all…” Slick waves vaguely at you in a way you think you should probably be offended by as he seems to be implying your entire personality.

“What do you want? I know you’re my boss’ husband but I don’t especially want to talk to you given that you got Sollux killed.” you tell him sharply.

“The kid can’t die permanently, I can. Who do you think had more to lose there?” Slick retorts a little sharply.

“She hit him with a truck!” you snap at him.

“Trust me, there are worse ways to go. But it’s not as if I don’t like the guy. I need to talk to him but his permanent death immunity sort of knocks him off of my radar, makes him a bitch to find. I need you to take me to him, I have something important to tell him.” Slick says, adjusting his black cufflinks on his black shirt as he talks.

“No way. You got him killed, I’m not taking you anywhere near him!” you insist. What is this guy, crazy? Why would you ever take him near someone he got killed? What if he’s just fishing for Aradia so she can do it again? No way!

Spades Slick smacks his hands to his face and growls in frustration.

“I’ve never lied to you and I’m telling you I just need to tell him something, it’s vitally important to his whole cause and if my boss catches me trying to do this she’ll absolutely kill me. So stop wasting time!” he argues.

You stand your ground and shake your head, you’re not doing it. He stares back at you with his one eye. He’s the one who gives first.

“Fine, would you pass on a message? One I’ve got to engineer to get around all these stupid rules with your memory.” he asks.

A message? Could that be dangerous?

“Tell me and I’ll tell him if he agrees to hearing anything from you at all, that is. That’s my final offer.” you say.

Spades Slick looks put out but sighs and nods. He falls silent and his face twists into an expression like someone trying to psychically play tetris from several rooms away.

“Tell him that part of his… his uncle’s body is being dug up. He should… damnit this stupid workaround! He should probably do something about that! There, tell him that, hopefully he’ll know what the fuck I’m talking about. And if he doesn’t don’t try to get him to contact me, Aradia can’t know I told him anything.” Slick forces out. He shakes his head then turns around and steps through a doorway that wasn’t there a second ago and vanishes.

What was that? And more than that did you really just predict that? You actually have some magical abilities for real. This isn’t a spell written out that any idiot could be able to use, you drank tea and predicted the future. Holy shit!

The rest of your shift passes in a haze of disbelief but when you return to your dorm you don’t even go to your room. You go right up to Sollux and Dave’s room. You knock on the door and see Dave there with a Chinese takeout box in hand, your stomach growls to remind you that you’ve not eaten yet.

“Karkat, hey. What’s up, man?” Dave asks you pleasantly enough.

“Is Sollux there?” you ask, probably rudely.

Dave nudges the door open a little wider with his foot and you see Sollux perched on the arm of the sofa with a fortune cookie in hand.

“An overly loud douchebag in your future? What could that possibly- oh, Karkat, I didn’t see you there!” Sollux gasps in fake surprise as he looks up from the fortune in the cookie.

“I have a message for you, asshole.” you grumble.

“Oh?” Sollux asks.

“I’ll just shut the door I guess?” Dave mutters to himself.

“Sorry, it’s just my boss’ husband showed up again. He wanted to talk to Sollux but after the whole truck thing I wasn’t going to let that happen.” you apologise to Dave.

“Oh, in that case good call, fuck that guy.” Dave agrees vehemently.

“Wait, was it a message from Aradia? What was it?” Sollux asks in a rush, leaping forward from the sofa to land by you with a level of eagerness that just makes you feel kind of… sad for him.

“No, he specifically said that she wasn’t to know he’d said anything about this. I get the feeling he’s going behind her back to get me to tell you this.” you explain and Sollux’s shoulders drop in disappointment.

“Newsflash, you’re better off without a girl who kills you with a truck, dude.” Dave says pointedly.

“Can we not get into that again?” Sollux groans.

Ah, you sense this argument has happened a lot.

“Do you want me to tell you what he said? Because I would get it if you don’t.” you interrupt.

Sollux seems to think for a moment. He’s obviously let down that it’s not his ex messaging that she wants him back through highly convoluted means. His tails are hanging pretty lifelessly at the moment and his pointy ears are drooping a little lower.

“Yeah, sure.” he says.

“He told me to tell you that part of your uncle’s body is being dug up and you should do something about that.” you tell him.

“...What?” Sollux says, obviously completely confused.

“Demons don’t have parents, much less uncles.” Dave says.

“I know that. I figured it was a code or an idiom or some shit like that.” you tell him, you too remember Sollux’s demonology lecture that involved a murder and an illegal teleportation spell or two. It was an eventful night.

“Psh, I’ve no idea what he’s talking about. Uncle’s not a term we use at all. Even if you considered your maker your parent, which we don’t, then I guess you’d end up considering other people your maker made to be siblings but again we don’t and I don’t have any. And my maker…” Sollux goes silent.

All his eyes are wide and if it was possible for him to go pale you think he would be.

“That’d be my maker’s maker’s other creation who was… male. He said PART of his body? That was the exact wording?” Sollux asks in a voice barely above a whisper.

“That was what he said.” you confirm.

“Oh. Oh fuck.” Sollux whispers.

“Sollux what’s wrong?” Dave asks. Sollux is pacing now and though he doesn’t get a verbal response out of Sollux it’s more that he gets a noise that says Sollux is very stressed right now but not explaining. The demon grabs your shoulders tightly.

“Tell me he told you where he is.” Sollux says urgently.

“No, he didn’t, that’s literally all he said. What’s going on?” you ask.

“What’s he thinking?! I can’t search a whole planet for him!” Sollux says, his voice rising in pitch. He pushes away from you and goes back to pacing, quietly muttering ‘think’ at himself over and over.

You and Dave exchange a worried look but it seems that neither of you have any idea what this whole thing is about or how to proceed from here.

“I wish I had something else helpful to tell you. I managed to predict Spades Slick showing up with the spade in my tea leaves but the other cup wasn’t helpful at all. It even repeated the next time I tried which was weird. I could try again but I don’t know if it works like that and I’m not sure how helpful I’d be since I have no idea what any of this means to you because you’re not telling us shit.” you say that last part a little pointedly.

“Perhaps consider telling us shit.” Dave chimes in.

Sollux freezes and then turns to look at you.

“That other thing you saw, the other cup. You took a picture, right?” Sollux asks slowly.

“Yeah.” you nod and start looking through your phone for the photo. Just as you get to it Sollux leaps over and snatches it from your hand.

“Damnit Sollux, I know you didn’t have parents but who raised your rude ass?! Don’t snatch things from people! Do that again and I’ll put my foot up your ass so far you’ll have shoe tread on your tongue!” you hiss at him.

“Gotta love the world where snatching is a social no-no but threatening to put your foot all the way up someone’s ass is a-okay.” Dave snorts in amusement.

Sollux is staring unmoved at your phone screen and after a long moment he hands it back.

“Dave,” he starts in a serious voice, “I know you summon me sometimes and you know that I can’t refuse to show up when you do that.”

“That’s why I don’t really like doing it.” Dave nods.

“Right, I need you to swear you won’t do it again until I tell you it’s okay. I need to go somewhere and I don’t know when I’ll be back but it’s super important that you don’t drag me back here. No matter what. Can you promise me that?” Sollux asks, clearly completely serious.

“If something’s wrong can’t you-” Dave tries to protest. Sollux just catches hold of his face and touches their foreheads together.

“Please?” Sollux pleads once more.

“I mean- if- okay, I won’t. But if you’re in trouble can you tell me if I can help?” Dave says but Sollux is already walking off across the room at speed. He grabs a few things up here and there as he goes. A little lost you stare at the picture of your white mug with the red blob of tea leaves in it, exactly what did he get out of that which suddenly answered his question?

“Don’t worry about me. I’ve gotta go, I’ll come back though. I just need to do this.” Sollux says and with a last look at Dave he vanishes in a puff of smoke.

“Does he do this a lot?” you ask after a second.

“What? Go off randomly for stretches of time without me knowing where he is? Yeah. Rose jokes that he’s like the second cat of our household, not that our cat Jaspers is around anymore anyway but whatever. I just figured he was doing demon stuff of socialising with other people, anything that wasn’t hanging out in the middle of the woods with us. He’s a free demon he can do what he wants and he’s not usually gone all that long. He’s never been like… that before.” Dave answers with a frown.

“He seemed scared.” you say and Dave nods unhappily. It’s not like he can call him back now, he promised.

“I take it you don’t know what any of that message meant either?” Dave asks hopefully but, no, you don’t. You tell him as much and so you’re just left standing next to your new friend (you will not call him your crush, this is not the time) as he stands there with Chinese food in hand and a put out expression on his face.

“I feel a little like I ruined your night.” you tell him awkwardly.

“Don’t shoot the messenger, right?” Dave shrugs and walks back to his sofa.

You’d really like a higher standard of opinion of you from Dave than just him not wanting to shoot you.

“I’m sorry all the same. God, I just blundered over here and opened my big mouth.” you groan.

“Did you have a choice, though? If you saw you getting that information from that guy then that was going to happen no matter what. Trust me, Rose did the whole seeing the future thing, sometimes shit just happens.” Dave tells you, gesturing to you with his chopsticks as he does.

“I’ll be sure to put that in my next essay for that class. In conclusion, professor, ‘shit happens’.” you scoff.

“Oh man, please do. That’d be so funny.” Dave grins at you.

“For you.” you say pointedly.

“Well, duh, who else matters?” Dave says, perfectly deadpan. You roll your eyes at him to show just how amused you are with that.

“Now that I’ve gone and dropped that huge yet mysterious bombshell on Sollux I’m going to go get dinner and maybe stare at that other tea leaf reading to see if I can work out what exactly he saw that me and Rose didn’t. I hope Sollux isn’t gone too long.” you say with a sigh, you still feel pretty guilty if you’re honest.

“Nah, he’ll be back. He promised he would.” Dave says.

“Yeah, well, he’s in our group project so he’d better come back.” you grumble.

“Aw, he won’t be gone THAT long.” Dave tells you.

Yeah. Famous last words.

You leave Dave to his dinner and go to get your own. By the time you get to your room Dave has told Rose just enough that she jumps on you with half a million questions the moment you step through the door. That spirals into her looking over your reading again and the two of you brainstorming where he could possibly be. When you start wondering if the round thing could be the sun and could Sollux have gone to the sun you figure that it’s time to call time on the whole question.

The next morning you’re up before Rose so you get the coffee brewing for the two of you and click the TV on in the background. You stand with your head resting on the cabinet as the coffee percolates, waiting for your mind to wake up and hoping the coffee fumes might help.

“-tropical cyclone forming a hundred miles off of the coast of Hawaii. The storm, which is being upgraded to a hurricane, is heading Westwards and current predictions have it making landfall across Japan and some areas of the Chinese coast. Meteorologists have described the storm’s sudden surge to be concerning. Hawaii has been experiencing a deluge of rainfall but no other severe effects.” the newscaster says.

Peering over your shoulder you see a storm swirling on the screen for a moment before the newsreaders move on to more local weather. Your local weatherman grins with a showbiz smile as he tells you what a nice sunny day it’s going to be in your area today. You yawn and ignore him, at least you’re not going to be hit with a hurricane. You hope everyone will be alright wherever it lands.

“Coffee?” Rose yawns as she opens her door.

“Coffee.” you agree and start to pour it. You like Rose, you have simple morning conversations.

The two of you sit on the sofa and try to wake up. In the background the tv has moved on to some class action lawsuit over undisclosed magical ingredients in a product causing rare adverse reactions. When you’re halfway through your coffee the light above you starts flashing brighter over and over, someone’s at the door. Rose groans and heaves herself to her feet, unlocking and then opening the door.

“Rose, hey, we uh… have a problem.” Dave announces, striding in.

“Do we?” Rose sighs and shuts the door after him.

You see Dave notice you and pause, though you don’t know why he’d be surprised to see you. This is where you live after all.

“So Sollux had to go somewhere for reasons I don’t know about.” Dave begins.

“Karkat already filled me in on that.” Rose says and Dave looks a little relieved that he won’t have to explain so much.

“So I wondered if he was going somewhere and wouldn’t be back here does that mean he wouldn’t also be… you know?” Dave says.

“Oh, I didn’t think of that.” Rose gasps.

“I know, we’re so used to him just- I tried calling her and- uh…” Dave hesitates, glancing at you again.

They’re trying to talk about something without saying it in front of you.

“I think I left my book in my room, I’ll just go look for it.” you announce suddenly and leave.

You shut yourself in your room and wonder just what the two of them are talking about but since it’s so clearly private you won’t intrude. A few minutes later a worried looking Rose comes to get you so you can all leave for breakfast together.

Rose is alternating between more coffee and a smoothie when you sit down at your table with your more substantial breakfast. Dave is sat at her side with a sheet of paper spread out between them. It’s divided into five and you can see him blocking things out.

“We can cover you for that but the only one who can cover me for this class is Karkat.” Rose says, pointing at one point on the page.

“So you wanna swap and miss your alchemy? What about Jade?” Dave reasons.

“You’re missing classes?” you ask, setting your tray down.

“With Sollux not here-” Dave starts.

“Don’t worry about it. Dave, we should go talk to student services about this.” Rose says and gets up, taking her coffee in her reusable cup and downing the last of her smoothie in two sizeable gulps. Dave grabs his things and follows after her.

All of that leaves you sat alone at the table wondering what the hell just happened.

About five minutes of sitting by yourself like a loser pass, mainly with you pretending to read a book while you’re anxious about being so obviously without friends. After that, though, June and Jade come into the cafeteria. They pause and talk for a second, Jade playfully rolls her eyes and shoves June in your direction and walks off to the food alone.

“Good roommate, best friend.” June yawns and sits down.

“You look tired.” you note as June practically dislocates her jaw to yawn.

“Thanks, Karkat. Always a pleasure talking to you.” June snorts derisively.

“I didn’t mean-” you hastily apologise but June waves you off, it seems she wasn’t offended really.

“Do you know what’s going on with Rose and Dave?” you ask her.

“Broad question.” she notes.

“They were talking about missing classes.” you explain.

June frowns but you see the moment the penny drops in her mind, she sits up a little straighter and gives you a serious look.

“Listen, Karkat, I’d drop that if I were you. That really isn’t a subject you want to stick your nose in, not if you want to keep it attached to your face with Rose around. Seriously.” June says and between the firm look she’s giving you and her tone you know that she’s not playing around here.

“Why is everyone around here so goddamn cagey with their information? The only one who’s not trying to bullshit me around here is Jade!” you say in frustration.

“I’m not what now?” Jade asks, stopping at your table with a full tray and setting it down. June helps herself to a few things off of it.

“You’re not bullshitting me and hiding stuff from me.” you tell her.

“I could be,” Jade says as she sits down, “I have hidden depths, Karkat. I’m a mysterious person.”

“You all suck.” you mutter.

“Look, dude, I’m not saying you can’t be curious. I’m just saying that a kid at our school kept getting on Rose’s case about this particular thing that we’re not talking about and Rose blinded the dude. You don’t want to mess with her. But she likes you so she probably won’t blind you, probably. Just leave it alone.” June warns you.

This sucks, you hate this. You hate the idea that something is wrong and you can’t do anything to fix it. You just want to help your friends if they need it and you can’t do that if you don’t understand what’s going on. Is there something wrong with you? Are you specifically untrustworthy?

“I’m gonna go.” you mumble and get up.

You wander aimlessly, a little heartbroken and rejected. You have a BASIC lab this morning with Dave and Sollux for your little group project, only Sollux is gone who knows where and Dave left with Rose to do who knows what. It’s not yet time for the lab so you wander and sit on the steps by a statue and idly scroll through twitter to kill some time.

Uh. That’s… the weirdest thing you’ve read today. You click on the hashtag and thank fuck for English speaking people talking about what’s going on.

You stare at a few pictures below of a massive… whatever the group noun of clowns is. A chuckle of clowns? A honk of clowns? Or maybe they’re like crows and it’s a murder of clowns. A lot of them certainly look sinister as they fill the streets. Also, not to judge or anything and maybe it’s hard to tell underneath all the costumes and paint that they’re wearing but you wouldn’t say that the majority of them look Japanese so did they fly over there from-

Wait.

The group noun for clowns should be a honkregation. Shit, that’s the funniest thing you’ve ever thought and you’re entirely on your own and you’ve no one to tell it to. Wait, that’s what twitter is for. You quickly tweet out your brilliant insight and then go back to the pictures.

This clown stuff is legitimately strange and people are mentioning this dig, what’s that about? You flick back through the news, a vague idea that you know this flickering in the back of your mind. You open up the actual CNN page instead of their twitter account, it’s not your news station of choice but they’re tweeting about this thing so it’s likely they’ve also reported on this dig.

You scan over the article. Yeah, you remember hearing about this on the news, there’s some archeological dig going on in Japan on some ancient magical site. You talked to Rose about it and she mentioned that Dave was interested in that line of work. That’s the same place that all these clowns are gathered at, and the same place this storm is at.

Huh. A dig.

A dig…

A spade, you dig with a spade! And the other reading you got-

Rapidly you flick through the pictures on your phone until you get to the photographs of your tea leaf reading. A white cup with a red circle of tea. A red circle on white, like the Japanese flag. You predicted this. You predicted… what? A clown flashmob in Japan? That’s the least useful magical power going. But you’d thought the spade referred to Spades Slick, not the dig. You suppose it could be both but why would something be two things?

Gee, if only your seer roommate was around to ask about the vagueness of predicting the future. Alas, she is not. She’s off doing something else secretive.

The time on your phone screen tells you that you really ought to head to your lab, irritably you put your phone away and head off. So there’s some clownery in Japan around a dig, that’s weird. Spades Slick’s message mentioned about Sollux’s uncle’s body being dug up, or part of it. So, perhaps that’s the magic thing that’s buried? If so you can see why he’d want to go there, but then why is there a whole bunch of clowns there? You have more information and yet you’re more lost than ever.

When you get to your lab you’re not surprised to see that Rose isn’t there but you are surprised to see that Dave is.

“How did you leave before us and arrive after us?” Jade asks you before you even sit down.

“Because.” you tell her unhelpfully and sit down, tossing your bag on the floor.

“I was worried you weren’t gonna show up, man. It’s tough enough that Sollux isn’t gonna be here but I couldn’t do this alone. We’re a man down, don’t leave me, that’s not how brothers in arms treat each other, Karkat. No good man left behind.” Dave tells you without a hint of expression.

“Do you just have acid for breakfast or what?” you ask him after a second.

“That’d be some very special K cereal. Wait, no, isn’t special K already a name for a drug? Ketamine, yeah.” Dave nods.

“That’s a tranquiliser though, isn’t it?” June chips in from across the table.

“That’s the opposite of my problem.” Dave agrees.

“Rose has left us unsupervised, let’s all do drugs!” June cackles.

“I’ve lost control of this conversation and possibly also my life.” you sigh. Dave pats you consolingly on the shoulder.

“It’s ok, Karkat.” Dave says softly. Your attention pathetically zeroes in on him as he leans a little closer and his voice drops into something softer, something secret.

“I can bring order to your life, a sense of structure and purpose.” Dave says smoothly.

You would agree to anything he said right now.

“For I have… a worksheet.” Dave tells you and holds it up with the hand not resting warmly on your shoulder. Oh, fuck your life.

“Be still my beating heart.” you say flatly.

“I know, right? So to give you the down low, the secret information, we’re supposed to get a feel for BASIC by first translating these spells from this list and then booking one of the practice rooms this week in the sheet up on the front and then actually trying them out. The last part of it is one where we have to write our own but it’s not the fire spell. It has a list of things to experiment adding in and out.” Dave explains.

“That seems… ill advised.” you say slowly.

“Well, nah, they’re baby spells and apparently BASIC is a language that’s best learnt when played with a bit. Plus, the practice rooms are, like, magically insulated out the ass so it’s not like we can unmake reality. It’s all basic stuff, no pun intended.” Dave rambles on.

“Well, should we translate this first and then book a slot or do you want to do that the other way around?” you ask him.

“There’s times I can’t do and you have work at the library so we should maybe get in on that quick before it gets unmanageable.” Dave suggests.

The two of you get up and walk to the front, there’s a small line for the sign up sheet so you and Dave linger together waiting for your turn. A question bubbles up through your mind and you figure you may as well ask it.

“Hey, can Sollux affect the weather?” you ask Dave.

Dave looks over at you, seeming a touch surprised by your question but he seems to consider it a little before answering.

“Kind of? He can do this sort of psychic umbrella thing to keep the rain off. He doesn’t like being cold so he’s not a fan of getting wet in the rain for no reason, he really doesn’t like snow and ice. He can affect it by keeping it off of him but I don’t think he can stop it raining, if he could he’d probably do that so since I’ve never seen him do it I would say he can’t. Why?” Dave answers you.

“Just a thought.” you say, shaking your head. No way Sollux was behind that storm before then, or the one heading to Japan right now. Maybe he called in a favour with another demon or something, or it could be entirely unrelated, who knows?

The line moves on and now you and Dave are at the front. It takes a little doing but you two work out a time when you can both get together and there’s a free practice room and immediately book in the slot. You don’t ask where Rose is, instead you just focus on working through learning BASIC. It helps now that you have the feel of magical language structure from C, it’s not the same by any means but it’s easier to spot how the grammar of it goes. You have lunch and then alchemy. You grab dinner and then watch the news on Rose’s TV.

That storm is moving right over Japan and completely battering Nara where the dig was supposed to be happening. A reporter on scene is standing in a building with a glass wall behind her, talking about the speculation that the dig somehow caused the storm. Your focus is rather taken off of that when a clown holding an umbrella skids by the window in the background.

You close your eyes and tip your head back on the sofa. You’d ask God what the fuck is even happening if you had the slightest amount of faith that you’d get an answer. Actually, you don’t know what past you believed in before The Event. It’d be a little embarrassing to send out a prayer to a deity and for it to be the wrong one, that’s one one way ticket to smite town probably. Well, if the gods were still acting in any way, which they aren’t.

The door opens and shuts but you don’t open your eyes.

“If you’re here to rob us I’ll warn you that there’s nothing left that can surprise me today, so I have nothing to lose.” you inform the room.

“You forgot to mention how you can’t be set on fire, that’d be at least somewhat intimidating.” Rose tells you and drops onto the sofa next to you. You hear a familiar thunk on the coffee table in front of you.

“I hear books.” you say and open your eyes. Sure enough Rose has a stack of books from the library there, you can see the little tags on the spines.

“Mm, I saw your boss, Ms. Paint. Got caught talking to her for a bit before I could come back here.” Rose explains.

“She’s nice in a slightly terrifying kind of way isn’t she?” you smile.

“She is, I like that in people.” Rose agrees.

You nudge at her stack of books with your socked foot and turn your head to read the titles. One of the books is on your suggested reading for alchemy class, though not one of the mandatory books. The rest are all about seeing the future in one way or another.

You want to ask her where she was, but you get the feeling that it’s like a lock that you don’t know how to pick. You don’t know all of the information and if you push her not only will you not get an answer but you suspect she’ll withdraw from you, it’s not worth it.

“Rose.” you start and you can’t help but note that she’s already a little tense, she suspects you will ask her something she doesn’t want to tell you.

“Yes?” Rose replies.

“I’m glad you’re my roommate. I didn’t have anyone before I moved here and now I do. It’s… nice not being so alone all the time.” you tell her instead.

Rose stares at you, her black painted lips slightly parted in surprise and her purple gaze focused on you. She seems to recover herself and smiles.

“I could have chosen to room with June, but just because you’re friends with someone doesn’t mean you can live with them. I am also glad I took the chance to room with a stranger, it would have been a shame to not meet you.” Rose agrees.

You could press the issue. Since we’re such great friends how about you tell me what you and Dave are doing? Where did you go? But no. Friendship isn’t transactional and if you treat it like it is then you’ll lose it. You just want to help, you’re not prying for the sake of your own nosiness. Rose probably won’t see it that way so it’d just be best to leave it for now.

You’re being smart and not throwing yourself into a conversational pit that might ruin your friendship.

Time to swerve out of the way of that pit and right into a different one!

“I’m sorry.” you blurt out.

“For what?” Rose asks curiously.

“About the tea leaves thing.” you elaborate. Rose frowns.

“I have no idea how that keeps happening but I won’t let it stop me. I was one of the best, Karkat. If some tea thinks it can stop me then it’ll see just how wrong it is.” Rose says with conviction.

“I bet. But I meant that I’m sorry because… because I think it worked for me.” you mumble.

“What?” she asks. Dave must not have told her exactly what happened, or Sollux didn’t-

“The spade, it was Spades Slick, he showed up at my work and told Sollux that part of his uncle’s body was being dug up. You know, like, with a spade? Sollux didn’t know where it was and was panicking and then I mentioned my other reading and he worked it out and vanished.” you explain and open up your camera roll and hold up the photo.

“Japan, I think he went to Japan. Where that dig was going on, the one in the news? Now the place is being hit with some weird storm and of all things there’s this wave of clowns arriving there. It was the flag, white background, red circle.” you tell her, holding the photograph up.

Rose looks at your phone in surprise but eventually nods.

“Often with a vision of some kind the meaning doesn’t become clear until later. Why are you sorry, though?” Rose asks.

“Because seeing the future means so much to you and I don’t want to see the future. I want to see the past, learning how to do this is just a means to an end to me. But it’s worked and it didn’t work for you and that feels shitty of me.” you admit.

“This isn’t a zero sum game, Karkat. I wish I was having more success but it isn’t like there are only a few places available for seeing the future and you got in ahead of me unfairly. I never used to use these methods, so it’s entirely likely that they won’t work for me. I’m simply trying because I have nothing else to lose and my pride is finally letting me stoop to what I admittedly considered and inferior level before. I’m not angry or hurt that you’re able to do this, I’m sure there’s plenty of magical things that I can do that you can’t yet.” Rose assures you.

“None that I hold so important as you do with seeing the future.” you point out.

“Fair. But I’m legitimately not upset at you. I do believe you about Sollux though, Japan seems to be a good fit for where he might be though I have no idea what he could really be doing there. Demons don’t have uncles, nor do they leave bodies behind. Clearly that was some kind of metaphor but for what?” Rose says.

“You’re really not pissed at me?” you ask her again.

“If you feel the need to grovel to assuage your conscience you could make me a sandwich.” Rose offers magnanimously. Yeah, she isn’t holding this against you.

You make her a sandwich anyway, you’re just happy that she doesn’t hate you.

There are books in your room that need studying so you head off to do that, you leave your door open and Rose leaves her open as well. Sometimes you hear a page turn from her room as she reads quietly across the way. You can hear the click of her pen as a chorus to the scratch of your pencil. A few hours later when you can’t study any more lest your eyeballs roll out of your skull in protest you sit on the sofa and queue up a romcom, Rose joins you about ten minutes in and scathingly comments the entire time but you know she likes it because she smiles when she thinks you aren’t looking.

It’s nice to not be alone. You just hope she’ll let you help her with whatever’s bothering her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks very much to the people who let me borrow their twitter names for this chapter, you're now canon! :O


	7. Black Magic

A week has passed and your life is full of mysteries that stubbornly refuse to be solved. Without any explanation at all Dave and Rose have been alternately disappearing, Dave vanishing from some classes and Rose from others. You almost never see them in the same place at the same time anymore. 

In fact when Rose is gone Dave often shows up at yours to study and work with you on your project. The two of you have to work way harder since that good for nothing Sollux ditched both of you for his mysterious task. Who’s going to complain about getting to spend more time with Dave though? Not you. 

“You have a bonkers work ethic, man.” Dave sighs one night. He’s not doing a lot of work and is instead sitting next to you at your table, spinning his pen around in his hand. He’s kind of balancing it on his thumb or something to do it, you don’t know how he’s managing it and you’re sure that if you tried you’d look like an idiot and screw it up. 

“I just want to make sure we pass our basic classes. We can’t study anything more advanced than this until we pass, remember?” you point out as you flick through your textbook. 

“Yeah, but you need to be more chill. You’ll pass, I know you will.” Dave assures you. 

“Your confidence in me is nice but until my last test I wasn’t sure that I had magic at all, I want to do everything I can to stay here. Anyway, it’s not like this stuff is boring. It’s MAGIC, Dave.” you tell him. 

Seriously, the things you do with this stuff changes things through actual magic, a huge force of nature at your command. That’s incredible, how could anyone not be enthused by that? Dave wrinkles his nose a little and seems to think about what you said. 

“I guess. It’s boring basic stuff though, the things I’m really interested in doing are ages away. Maybe I’m biased, I saw magic all the time at home and there’s a certain amount of instinctive magic that I can do anyway so this spell to tell us what something is isn’t exactly exciting.” Dave says with a shrug. 

“Yes, it must be so hard for you being so magically gifted and growing up in a home with magic in it.” you say, thoroughly unimpressed. 

“Alright, alright, I’m just saying I’m impressed with how dedicated you are to this level of study is all. I was giving you a compliment. Don’t jump down my throat for it man.” Dave groans and leans back in his chair. 

Perhaps you were being a little prickly there, besides it’s not like you should really be mentioning his home life what with how secretive he and Rose are about that. You bite your lip and stare unseeingly at your book as you try to salvage this. 

“What instinctual magic do you have? I know Rose used to be a seer, what about you?” you ask him. 

“Instinctive might be over selling it. Sollux and my mom taught me and I’m not all that good at it, I can’t do it when I’m stressed, I have to focus. I probably could do it without a thought if I knew how to write the spell out and hold onto it better, I think that what mom and Sollux do but I’m okay.” Dave rambles.

You look at him expectantly, you’re not going to wait for him to run out of conversation because you’ve had enough solo time with Dave at the coffee place and your study sessions to know that Dave doesn’t ever run out of words and you have to cut him off yourself. You can do it with a look, which is what you’re going for now. Sure enough Dave trails off, his ears going pink. He looks away from you and raises his hand off of the table. 

Your phone is on the table, you’d looked something up with it earlier, and it suddenly starts to glow ever so softly. It’s a subtle red aura around the device, just enough for you to see that it’s there. You gasp when your phone floats slowly off of the table with a delicate movement of Dave’s fingers, it floats in midair above the table. He’s using telekinesis!

“Holy shit.” you whisper. 

“It’s not all that, you should see what Sollux can do. I mostly just use it for turning off the light when I’m in bed or taking stuff out of the oven when I can’t find the oven gloves.” Dave admits and lowers your phone back down to the table. 

“What’s the heaviest thing you can pick up?” you say in awe and pick your phone up for comparison. 

“Fully off of the ground I can about pick up a two litre bottle of apple juice, or water or whatever. It being apple doesn’t make a difference except being far tastier. I can drag a chair with nothing on it but it’s hard, I can’t do people.” Dave tells you. 

“Why and how are you underselling TELEKINESIS Dave?!” you demand. 

“I mean, it’s- you know.” Dave says, in a complete waste of words that could have meant something, could have conveyed an idea but yet were denied such purpose. So cruel. 

“I don’t know! That’s disgustingly cool, how dare you?” you snap at him.

“You think I’m disgustingly cool?” Dave grins, looking all smug and self satisfied. 

“I didn’t say that.” you deny hotly. You don’t think he’s cool, but he is distressingly appealing to you, that counts. 

“Nah, I think that’s what you said. It’s my very cool word against yours.” Dave says teasingly. 

“I think you’re just distracting me so that we don’t have to keep doing our project.” you accuse him. 

“Oh no, you’ve caught onto my dastardly scheme. How could this have happened?” Dave yawns and stretches his arms above his head lazily. Your traitorous eyes go to that revealed strip of skin that comes into view with him moving like that and it takes willpower to NOT think of that and instead turn your mind to studying again. 

Despite Dave’s lackluster attitude to studying you do manage to make progress both in and out of class, though it’s not helped by Dave missing a whole bunch of classes for reasons he refuses to go into. June is steadfastly unhelpful on the matter and doesn’t tell you anything, she doesn’t even act like this is weird. Not even when Dave is absent from alchemy class and she has to pair up with you because both of your partners are missing. 

As for Sollux, well. You’ve not seen Spades Slick around anywhere since he gave you his message, but you have been watching the news diligently. The storm battering Japan’s coast has certainly delayed this dig but doesn’t seem to have stopped it properly, moreover the digsite on the outside of Nara is inexplicably surrounded by clowns to the confusion of basically everyone. You’ve not seen footage of Sollux or any mention of demons at all, so if he’s there then he’s being subtle about it. 

You don’t know why the twins are pulling their vanishing act, and you don’t know what’s going on in Japan, or what’s up with Sollux. At this point the list of things you do know is smaller than the list of things you don’t know. Here’s another thing you don’t know: how to get Dave’s attention. 

Wait, not like that. Well not… you wouldn’t push that idea away but it’s not what you meant, really!

You wave at Dave through the thick glass but he’s obliviously looking down at his notepad in his hand. You’ve already tried to open the door to this stupid practice room but it seems to be locked tight and you’ve no idea how to open it. Banging on the glass produces no results either, not surprising as it looks like it’s six inches thick. 

Despairingly you pull your phone out to call Dave but when you do it goes straight to voicemail, you guess the signal can’t penetrate the practice room. Well, what now? 

You stare at the phone in your hand until an idea pops into your head. You turn the brightness on the flashlight all the way up, press it to the glass and quickly tap it on and off as fast as you can. After a few second’s Dave’s head perks up and he looks around at you, the light bouncing off his shades. Instead of helping you open the door he bobs his head and sort of dances to some techno beat that only he can hear. 

Lowering the phone you narrow your eyes at him and you can see Dave say ‘aw’ and walk over to the door. 

“I can’t believe my light man would let me down like that.” Dave says as he opens the door and shoves it open with his shoulder. 

“You couldn’t hear me and I couldn’t open the door, I had to do something.” you tell him. 

“Yeah, it’s kind of tricky. You just have to, like, move it turnwise.” Dave tells you. 

“I know you say these things like those words have meaning but they really don’t.” you grumble. 

Dave looks quietly amused and steps aside for you to get in the practice room with him. He closes the door after you both and you take in the bright white practice space around you. 

“It’s all magically isolated. There’s an inverse bell curve going on with who gets the rooms mostly. You’ve got your new students like us who don’t know what we’re doing enough to not accidentally damage important things and then it dips down the more we know what we’re doing, then when you get to the postgrads it ticks up. We’re in here because we don’t know what we’re doing and they get in here because the university doesn’t trust them when they say that ‘no, no, they totally know how to pull this off’.” Dave explains. 

“A little knowledge is a dangerous thing, huh?” you muse. 

“Yeah, well, a lot can do terrible things too.” Dave says softly. 

You look around but he’s got his nose buried in his notebook. 

“I don’t suppose Sollux has contacted you to tell you if he’s ever planning on showing up again for this three-way project that we’re supposed to be doing?” you ask Dave rather pointedly. 

“Our project is a three-way? Who said school was boring?” Dave says teasingly. There’s a flash of a smile in there too, so it’s half his interpretation of your poor word choice that turns your ears red and half that smile. 

“You know what I meant!” you snap. 

“I haven’t heard anything, but it’s fine. We can do this together.” Dave tells you.

“I…” you hesitate. 

“Believe in us, Karkat.” Dave says smoothly, lowering his sunglasses enough to look at you over the top of them. You hate how your heart leaps into your throat at that, especially as Dave ruins it by laughing and going back to normal.

Focus, Karkat, focus. 

“I think he’s in Japan but you don’t know that for sure, do you? Have you heard anything?” you ask him as you try to get back on topic. 

“No.” Dave admits. 

“Doesn’t that worry you?!” you ask him and throw your hands up in the air like the overdramatic fuck you are. 

“I’m not thrilled, no. But you saw him get hit by a truck and get back up. I don’t want him hurt, of course I don’t, but it’s not as if anything can kill him out there. Sometimes he just goes off and does stuff. Usually he still shoots me a message or two but if he can’t then he can’t. There’s nothing I can do about it.” Dave tells you. 

He’s wrong. More accurately, he’s lying. He could absolutely do something about it, he has the power to summon Sollux. Sollux had specifically told him not to do so. Dave could still do it, though, drag Sollux away from whatever he’s doing (probably in Japan in a storm with clowns) but he refuses to. He won’t go against what Sollux asked of him. 

You wonder how the fuck that played out, a demon making contact with a much younger Dave and how it led to this situation where Dave won’t even entertain the thought of doing something that Sollux sincerely asked him not to. You can’t convince him into doing it and it’d be a waste to try. 

“That asshole’s going to owe both of us so big for doing all his work on this goddamn project.” you grumble. 

“I know, right?” Dave grins. Yeah, nothing you can do against that kind of blind faith. That kind of faith should be frustrating but something about it is touching to you, admirable in a way. 

“So, this BASIC stuff.” you say, running a hand through your hair. 

“Right, right, yeah. These BASIC ass spells, so look I think I’ve worked out what the first thing on the worksheet wanted us to do.” Dave says, sitting down and beckoning you over to join him as he runs his fingers over the scribbled writing in his notebook. 

He’s left handed, you hadn’t noticed before. When he gestures as he talks you can see the smear of ink on the side of his hand from rubbing it over not completely dry letters as he writes. It’s stupidly endearing for a trait shared by, what, ten percent of the population? 

You’re staring at him with your heart going pitter patter in your chest over what hand he writes with. You have it BAD, Karkat Vantas. 

“So do you think that’s right?” Dave asks, looking around at you. 

You weren’t listening to a damn thing he was saying. 

“Can you do that again, with less rambling metaphors?” you ask, because there were certainly some of those in there. 

“Fiiiiine. What I’m saying is that I’m pretty sure this should work as a basic test for identifying a thing. Well, shapes, it’ll do shapes.” Dave says and that’s a lot less talking than before. 

You shuffle a touch closer and look over his work. Not just his work, actually, you’re the one who wrote the output part of this spell in class the other day. Dave had taken the job of working out the shapes part but it’s a neater solution than you would have thought. You chew on your lip as you slowly read over the spell and when you look up at Dave you realise you’re close enough to see through the tinted lenses. He’s looking right at you. 

“I think it’ll work.” you tell him. 

“Are you getting that feeling where it feels like everything is going a little too well so there must be something we’ve screwed up?” Dave asks. 

“Yes, but I’m a pessimist.” you snort and pull a chalk pen from your bag. You picked these up at the campus store this morning, along with a different brand of pen that’s designed for skin and shouldn’t make you scratch at the ink until you break the circle. 

“I have a comically large compass.” Dave informs you and pulls the thing out from his bag of holding, it is indeed comically large. 

You and Dave draw out almost the full circle and the inner circle and you carefully set out copying out the spell into the space between the two. 

“What tether are you going for?” Dave asks, his finger resting on the blank bit of the spell in his book for it. 

“I’ll go with that storm and rain one from before if I’m casting this, or are you okay with that one too?” you ask him. 

“We got a lot of storms where I’m from, I can relate to storms.” Dave tells you. You nod and start writing that down. 

“This one time when we were kids I was around June’s house at a sleepover and there was this huge storm all day, thunder and lightning, the works. Then we saw on TV that there was going to be a meteor storm that night and within no time at all the whole thing passed and we sat on her balcony watching all these shooting stars, it was so cool. Storms are magical and powerful as fuck, man.” Dave recounts with a smile of nostalgia on his face. 

“What about Rose?” you ask curiously. June seems to be equally friends with both of the twins, not just one over the other. 

“Oh, she wasn’t- I don’t know. Sick or something. Come on, your pen’s drying up.” Dave warns you. 

He’s a transparent liar, but it’s fine. You keep copying down the spell and thankfully you finish the thing up more or less evenly around the circle. It’d probably still work even if the writing was cramped at the end or left a gap, as long as the circle is complete it should work, it doesn’t matter if the aesthetic is dinged slightly. At least you don’t think it matters, magic is symbolic in a way, maybe it does care. 

“Alright, alright. You read it out, sanity check it for me.” you tell Dave and point at the circle. 

“Sanity? Oh, I think you might be going to the wrong guy for that.” Dave teases. 

“Well I’ll do what I can with my limited resources.” you tease back. Well, really that’s just insulting him. Because that’s how you get people to like you. Stupid. 

Dave doesn’t seem offended, instead he just casually leans over the circle on his knees, one hand resting on one side of it and one hand running over the writing in his notebook. It’s a herculean task to not look at his ass, truly, you should be proud of yourself. It’s a nice ass, too, especially in those jeans and- wait, you’re looking at it. Damnit!

You wrench your eyes away just as Dave turns to look at you. 

“We’re all good in the hood.” Dave assures you. 

“Do you hear the words you say?” you ask him incredulously. 

“All the time, I’m the biggest fan of the words I say.” Dave replies immediately. 

“I was under the impression that Sollux was your biggest fan.” you say, rather stupidly. Dave doesn’t get annoyed at your animosity to his best friend and moirail though, he just shakes his head. 

“Ah, no, see he’s my SECOND biggest fan.” Dave explains. 

“Right, he has that thing for the number two. I guess it makes sense, with his eyes, colour and his tails. May as well lean into it.” you say. 

“It comes out in his writing too, his s’s are 2’s and he doubles his i’s. Something to do with demon quirks of language, he did explain it once but I can’t remember. You’ll see what I mean if you ever message him.” Dave says and rests on his heels as he looks at your shared spell. 

“Right. Anyway, if we’re all good here then we should test this.” you say. 

Dave nods and gestures for you to do the honours. Given how your last spell went you’re not so sure that’s a great idea but you’ll go for it, you suppose. Dave rummages in his bag and pulls out a rubik’s cube, tossing it in the circle. You close up the edges of the circle and take a deep breath. 

You imagine rain on your skin, the howling wind in the air, the way the storm outside your window ravaged the trees and streets outside of your dorm. You hold the power of the storm in your mind and touch your fingers to the edge of the circle. 

Something clicks within you, metaphorically speaking. But it’s like stretching and clicking a joint in your back, a pop and release of pressure. Magic flows through you in a way that feels entirely natural and the circle lights up in that off white colour your magic seems to take. The words light up in a rush and the air glitters within the circle. Light etches a word into the ground by your circle. 

‘CYLINDER’ 

You and Dave look at the thing in the circle that is very definitely a cube. 

“...Huh.” Dave says. 

You lick your thumb and rub at the edge of the circle so the chalk melts away, leaving Dave to take the rubik’s cube out. 

“Let’s try a different shape, see what it says.” Dave suggests. 

The two of you rummage through your bags and you manage to produce a stress ball that Kanaya gave you from the office. It has the name of some book publishing company on it, some freebee they got somewhere. She joked that you need it more than her. It’s a perfect sphere shape though, uncomplicated and easy to test with. 

The stress ball goes in the middle of the circle, you close it up again and with a few moments thought for the storm you cast it again. 

‘CYLINDER’ 

“Motherfucker.” you groan. 

“Let me try.” Dave suggests, it probably is you that’s the problem. 

Watching Dave side on you can see how he shuts his eyes for a moment and then touches the circle, lighting it up in a flare of neon red. 

‘CYLINDER’ 

“So it’s not me, it’s not the item, our spell must be fucked.” you conclude. 

“Where, though? Our tether is fine because the spell still activates. The library of shapes it’s comparing this to is built into BASIC itself, it’s standard operating stuff. I didn’t make this. It can’t be the library and it’s given us the same answer for two totally different things. It doesn’t make sense!” Dave argues. 

You don’t have an answer for that. You sit back and stare at the circle, hoping something will come to you. Dave does the same with a frustrated little sigh. This would probably be easier with three of you, especially Sollux who seems to find this stuff oh so easy. 

Idly you rummage in your bag and bring your lip balm to hand, this’d be a good shape to test with if not for the fact that it is a cylinder so you’d have no way of knowing if it was answering correctly or bugging on you again. Why is it giving you that result? You try to think as you pop the top off of the lip balm and automatically rub it over your lips. 

“Why a cylinder?” you wonder aloud and then rub your lips together. 

Dave makes a strange noise and you look over to see him staring at you, his eyes must be pretty wide because you can see his eyebrows fully above his shades for a change. 

“It mean it’s like,” you pause to run the lip balm over your lower lip one last time before capping it and holding it up, “this is a specific shape, why is it giving us this instead of anything else?” 

“Uhhhh.” Dave says dumbly. 

“What?” you ask him. 

“Why are you- that’s- that’s a super shiny chapstick thing. Like fuckin’ lipgloss or something, I don’t know.” Dave says nonsensically. 

“If you say so. Although I think chapstick is a brand, right? Like bandaids or jello. Pretty sure this is some generic thing I picked up somewhere. My point was that this is a cylinder and that’s what the spell is returning as a result.” you ramble and then try to get back on track. 

“Why are you wearing that though?” Dave asks, his face impassive all of a sudden. 

“Because it’s cold out.” you tell him, feeling bewildered. Why is this the route you’ve got sidetracked down?

“I mean it’s not that cold that you need to be all shiny glossy lipped or whatever.” Dave rambles. 

What?

“I’m sorry, I’ll fill in a form to get your permission in future. Can we stop talking about my chapstick useage and focus on the problem at hand, here?” you groan. 

“I thought that was a brand name.” Dave goes on. 

“I’m going to jam my generic, off-brand, not actually a chapstick down your throat in a minute if you don’t pay attention!” you snap at him. 

He must be a little embarrassed about getting so stupidly off topic, he’s going a little pink on his cheeks. 

“There has to be a reason it’s giving us a cylinder and not any other shape. What is this-” you hold up your lip balm in front of your face, looking past it to your circle. The idea hits you like a lightning bolt. 

“Gimme your pen.” you tell Dave in a rush. 

You lean forward over his notebook, flipping to a clean page and taking his pen when he holds it out to you. You draw a cylinder very carefully and then the outline of your circle at the bottom and then a big cube around it. 

“This room is magically insulated, right? So the limits of our spell are these walls and ceiling.” you tell him. 

“Sure.” Dave says after a moment. 

“Our spell is a circle at the bottom and extends upwards but hits the ceiling and stops, what shape is that?” you ask him and hold up the notebook. 

“A… cylinder. It’s counting the floor and ceiling as ends and the air in it as… yeah, it’s a cylinder.” Dave says as understanding dawns. 

“It’s doing exactly what we asked, just not what we wanted.” you say. 

“But how do we get it to do the thing we actually want?” Dave asks.

“Fuck if I know.” you sigh. 

“Okay, so we work around it. We could put in a height restriction but… no that wouldn’t solve the air problem.” Dave mumbles. 

“Define air.” you challenge him. 

“Something you can breathe. You can’t breathe a stress ball.” Dave points out. 

“You can. Once.” you point out. It’s like that whole thing where anything is edible, at least once. Whether you live to do it again is the question. Dave frowns and the two of you sit in silent contemplation of the problem for a few moments.

“States of matter might be a better idea then, ask the shape of the object in there that isn’t a gas. Maybe also put a size thing in so we’re excluding dust or whatever.” Dave suggests. 

“That sounds smart.” you agree with a nod. 

“Oh good because I have no idea how to do that, I guess that’s what we have to research next. Damnit, I thought we had this.” Dave sighs deeply. It’s frustrating that you can’t sit down together here for a while and hammer out these rules, but you don’t have the room for all that long and you’re supposed to arrive with the spells you need prepared. You have to do your homework and come back.

“We’ll just have to book the room again and study up between now and then.” you tell Dave and rummage in your bag for the cleaning rag you brought with you to take up the chalk from the ground. You lean over the circle on your hands and knees and wipe the chalk free of the floor, it’s one of the conditions or renting it out that you return it in the same state. 

“Put this in my bag, will you?” you say, throwing the stress ball over your shoulder to Dave. 

“Sure, uh. Hey. You like movies, right?” Dave asks. 

Looking over your shoulder you see Dave watching you impassively, your bag held in his hands. 

“Yes?” you answer him. Who doesn’t like movies of some description?

“You should watch one. With me, maybe. We could go back to my dorm.” Dave suggests. 

Oh, right. Sollux’s been away for ages and Dave’s been on his own. That’s probably weird for him, you know how lonely that sort of thing can get. You love living with Rose because you’re not alone, then Dave’s suddenly left all to himself. Even with his friends down the hall and his sister a few floors down it must be quiet. It’s certainly not a pain for you to spend time with him so you’ve no problem somewhat selfishly agreeing to this. 

“Yeah, that sounds great.” you tell him with a smile. 

“So, uh,” Dave stands up and swings his bag of holding over his shoulder, “what was it like back home? In Georgia, I mean.” 

“Georgia isn’t home.” you tell him a little sharply and squint at the floor, you can’t see any sign of the chalk so you’re probably good to go. 

“It is where you’re from, isn’t it?” Dave reasons. 

“No, it’s just where I woke up five years ago. That doesn’t make it home, just where I lived for a while.” you correct him and stand up. 

“For half a decade.” Dave says. You have nothing to say to that so you just toss your things in your bag and shrug the straps on. 

“You don’t really sound like you’re from there, actually. I’m not really sure where I’d place your accent.” Dave muses. 

“Yeah, I’ve tried identifying that too but I didn’t have any luck.” you tell him miserably. 

Dave gives you a sympathetic expression and opens the door to the practice room, there’s not much else the two of you can do until you work out how to correct your spell. You check out with the desk so they know the room is free now and head on out. 

“So, my place?” Dave asks. 

Hah, it’s funny the way he says it. It’s almost like that whole ‘my place or yours?’ type thing, that after a date type thing. Hah… yeah right. Not only is Dave unlikely to be into your gender he’s even less likely to be into someone like you. He’s just being friendly and probably a little lonely without Sollux around, that’s all. 

“Sounds good.” you agree, instead of voicing any of your incredibly dumb thoughts. For once.

Dave leads you out of the building, though you know the way so you don’t know why he’s doing it. 

“You don’t really sound like you’re from New York either, though I guess TV lies about New York basically just being Manhattan and everyone sounding the same, right?” you think out loud. 

“What were you expecting? ‘Eyyy I’m walkin’ here’ that kind of thing?” Dave snorts, lapsing into a bad TV acting New York accent as the two of you step outside and head to the sidewalk to go back to the dorms.

“Perfect, seamless, flawless. Dave, you should throw in this whole magic thing and go into impressions.” you tell him without so much as an atom of enthusiasm or sincerity. 

“If you tell me I’m a better actor than I am a witch I will push you into the road.” Dave threatens you. 

“Ah, but if you don’t mean that then you WERE acting, which would mean that- NOPE!” you yelp as Dave tries to shove you. You start running out of his grasp, so he chases you and the two of you end up sprinting down the street. 

You crash through the doors of your building with him right behind you, the two of you giggling like the idiots that you are.

“C’mon, movie.” Dave laughs into your shoulder. Your skin tingles and you’re a little helpless when he grabs your wrist and pulls you to the staircase. On the one hand you hate that he’s on the sixth floor and that he for some unknown ungodly reason doesn’t take the elevator, but on the other he’s dragging you behind him so you get to be behind him to watch him climb stairs. So, you know, pros and cons. You should probably say something so he doesn’t know about this. 

“Why are there so many goddamn stairs to your floor?” you complain. 

“Well I live on the sixth, if there weren’t so many stairs then the stairs that are still there would be bigger. I suppose you could just have straight walls up and you can only get up if you can parkour up them. Oh, actually you could totally have a stripper pole going down to the lowest floor from the top.” Dave babbles on. 

Well that’s a mental image. 

“Do you mean a fireman’s pole? The kind they have in fire stations? I don’t think that’s how strippers go between floors, you definitely have those confused. Also if your fireman takes off his clothes when he arrives somewhere that’s not a fireman that’s some kind of novelty stripper like women have at bachelorette parties.” you tell him. 

“Oh, shit, you’re right. Hey, do you remember those reruns of the old batman TV series? The Adam West ones?” Dave starts. 

“Yeah, now that’s a guy who was into some wild shit if what I’ve read is true.” you interrupt. 

“Yeah, man, dude was into some weird orgy shit. Not what I was getting at though. You know that scene transition noise they used to have? That duhlalahla sort of zoom in and out noise? If I worked at a fire station that had one of those poles I’d rig up something that’d make that noise whenever people touched the pole to go down.” Dave grins. 

“I bet someone has done that.” you say. 

Dave starts unlocking his door and you realise that you got all the way from maybe the second floor stairwell to here with the two of you constantly talking complete shit at each other. You look at him properly for a moment, his pretty face and the way his soft hair looks desperately touchable, he’s upsettingly attractive but when the two of you get talking you find he’s probably the easiest person to talk to that you’ve ever met. 

This crush is only going to get worse, isn’t it? Shit. He’s your friend and you don’t want to lose that but all the same you do really wish this cute guy was asking you to watch a movie with him as a date and not just a friend thing. You’re worried that you’re suddenly going to say something stupid so you divert the sudden silence by grasping in your bag for your lip balm and putting it on. It’s a good way to avoid talking. Can’t talk when you’re putting lip balm on. Although if you do this every time you’re worried you’re going to say the wrong thing to Dave and need to buy time then you’re going to go through the stuff really quickly. On the plus side you will never again have chapped lips from the cold. 

Dave unlocks the door and turns to look at you, he pauses for a moment as he watches you and then shoulders the door open with a slight cough. 

“C’mon in.” he invites you. 

Your eyes flick to the ferret hammock for idiots, currently absent of any four horned idiots as it happens. Dave drops his bag near the sofa and hops over the back to sit down, searching for the remote. You put your lip balm away and figure you should face your metaphorical conversational demons head on. You close his door and leave your bag near his, joining him on the sofa the long way around instead of jumping over the back. 

“What do you wanna watch?” Dave asks, clicking buttons on the remote to bring up Netflix. Hah, Netflix and- NOPE bad train of thought!

“Something good.” you tell him, ignoring your thoughts. 

“I must have The Room on here somewhere.” Dave says thoughtfully. 

“Dave, you know how I’m apparently immune to fire? Do you think you and your dorm are? Because we will find out if you try to put that trainwreck of a movie on.” you growl at him. 

“Aww, you’re no fun.” Dave snorts but obligingly flicks through to something else. 

“You know Rose is determined to figure out what you are. She knows that you want to know and she loves a mystery, can’t keep her nose out of a good puzzle.” Dave tells you. 

“I didn’t know she was going to any kind of effort to find out.” you say, genuinely touched. 

“Yeah man, Rose likes you. You should be honoured, she doesn’t like many people. I mean I love my sister and all but she can be a real standoffish bitch to people she doesn’t care about.” Dave tells you. 

“I-” your breath catches in your chest as emotion wells up in you, “I really like her.” 

Dave looks around at you sharply, staring at you. 

“It’s just good to hear she likes me too, you know.” you whisper, your throat tight. 

“Oh.” Dave says softly. 

“Dude,” he adds and puts his hand on your shoulder, “I swear I told you before but she’s super fucking gay.” 

“I don’t like her like that!” you snap and bat his hand away. 

“Really? Yes! I mean- good, that’d suck if you did. For you.” Dave says in a rush. 

You sniff and rub at your face, feeling silly. 

“I know it’s stupid, you’ve probably always had friends but I haven’t. I really like all of you and being friends with you all, especially with Rose because we live together it’s… it’s really important to me. I figured when I moved here that at best I’d live with someone who’d tolerate me and we could avoid pissing each other off in our shared space. But I live with Rose and it actually feels like a home, I’ve never had that.” you admit. 

It’s been so different though. You never wanted to go back to Georgia but you accepted that it might happen if you couldn’t stand it here, if people here disliked you as much as the people there did. The very idea of walking back into your old building fills you with shame. But somehow it all turned out so much better. Now you’re just blubbering about it to Dave, he probably thinks you’re being weird.

“Sorry.” you apologise faintly. He just wanted you here to watch a movie with him and you went and had all these FEELINGS at him.

“No, it’s… no.” Dave says. You have no idea what he means by that. Dave goes to run a hand through his hair but it’s still holding the remote so he has to stop and drop it or else smack himself in the head, he realises that just in time too. 

“She likes you too and like I said she’s picky with people.” Dave tells you. 

“June said she blinded a guy once.” you say without thinking. 

“In her defense the guy was a jerk. He’d been trying to pick on her and me for ages and it wasn’t like it was a spell she learnt, it was just instinctive magic. They didn’t even work out what she did, the guy’s eyes work just fine but he just couldn’t see things anymore. I think it wore off after a few years too, that’s what I heard through the other kids but his parents pulled him out of school. She didn’t MEAN to. Also don’t bring that up with her.” Dave adds that last part quickly. 

Ouch, yeah you’re not going to bring that up with Rose.

“The rest of us like you too, you know.” Dave says after a moment. 

Your eyes flicker upwards to the empty hammock above you. You’re not sure you’d describe Sollux’s feelings towards you as ‘liking’ at all. 

“He’s complicated. But I mean it, June has decided that you’re her stray little duckling or something and I haven’t heard Jade say a bad word about you either.” Dave adds. 

“Sorry, we were supposed to be watching a movie and I went on this stupid tangent.” you groan. It’s nice hearing that your friends like you too but it’s seriously embarrassing to get all torn up about it in front of the guy you like. Yeah, way to ensure your crush likes you, get distressingly emotional about the idea of people liking you in any way. That’s a tip that no relationship expert has ever given, ever. You won’t find that one in any magazine. 

“Tangents are the best thing to go on. And if you’re that sorry we could watch The Room to-” Dave starts. 

“I’m not that sorry.” you cut him off and Dave grins victorious. He wanted you to say that, the sneaky fucker. 

Dave puts on a movie, something you don’t catch the title of but melt into his sofa to watch anyway. 

“Is that Justin Timberlake?” you say after a moment. The premise of the movie is that everyone has this magical spell on their arms, when they hit twenty something they have a year left to live unless they add more time by working. It’s an unsubtle poverty is death metaphor but it’s enjoyable enough. 

“He’s not as bad at acting as you’d think, right?” Dave agrees, slouched next to you on the sofa. 

“And that’s Amanda what’s-her-name from-” you struggle to remember her name. 

“Jennifer’s Body.” Dave interrupts. 

“Mamma Mia. Jennifer’s Body, seriously? That MTV crap?” you ask him skeptically. 

“You said Mamma Mia, dude, you don’t have a leg to stand on here.” Dave counters. 

“Mamma Mia is a fantastic and moving production, thank you very much.” you inform him. Dave does not seem convinced. Your differing tastes in movies aside it is pretty decent, you both seem to be settled on that much. It’s not film of the year by any means but it’s fun. 

“He isn’t that bad of an actor.” you conclude as the credits roll. 

“I told you so.” Dave says and stretches his arms above his head. 

“I guess it’s not that much acting. Who wouldn’t commit crimes for Amanda Seyfried? Shit, that was her last name, I remembered it now.” you say. 

“You raise a fair point. What about Justin Timberlake though, would you commit crimes for him?” Dave asks, not looking at you. Instead he’s fiddling with the remotes again. 

“Nah. I never got the hype around him, he’s just a guy.” you shrug. No, your type is more the endearingly sweet loveable dork. Like, say, Dave. Or if you’re going for famous people, Chris Pratt. 

“Yeah, I mean you’ve got a point, hah. Guys. Oh hey let me get a thing from the other room I meant to show you, stay here.” Dave says quickly and stands up. 

“Sure.” you nod and helpfully put the remotes back on the coffee table so Dave doesn’t sit on them when he gets back and they don’t get lost in the depths of the sofa. That always happened to you at your last place. Dave vanishes into his bedroom and you idly fuck about on your phone for a minute before he comes back out again. 

“Check this out.” Dave says and holds something out to you. 

“It’s a rock.” you note, looking at it. 

You should say something else. 

“It’s very… pretty?” you venture. It’s kind of shiny and black, like jet. 

“Take it.” Dave offers. 

You hold out your hand and Dave drops the rock into it. A weird feeling flashes through you, like touching tinfoil to a filling or something. 

“It’s magically neutral, it balances out magical charge. My mom says it’s all voidy, isn’t it cool?” Dave says. 

“Yeah it’s… really odd. That’s cool.” you say and hand it back to him, you feel a little bit tingly now. 

“I know, right? I’ll go… put it back.” Dave mutters and leaves again. 

That was a little weird, you wonder what made him want to go and get that to show you. Who knows how Dave thinks, though?

“Hey, I was thinking, that if I look up how to describe states of matter so we can exclude air from our spell maybe you could focus on how to actually word that exclusion without messing with what we put in it. Split the workload, you know?” you call after him. 

“Yeah, that sounds- yeah. We can do that. I guess we should get started, right?” Dave agrees, leaning around his doorway to look at you. 

“Alright, well, you have my work schedule from before so just book whatever works for you for our next test and I’ll try to not drop the ball on my end of the research.” you say and stand up. 

Dave agrees and so you end up leaving. When you get back to your place Rose isn’t there so you end up working entirely alone. To keep yourself company you leave the news on the TV running in the background, only one story drags your attention from your work to the screen. 

“-has come under serious delays. The storm alone has caused enough of a delay and the inexplicable clown protests have slowed supplies going in and out of the dig site. However it is uncertain if the dig will continue after the unexpected death of the lead and deputy magical archeologists. Both men were seen last leaving a bar with this woman.” the newsreader says and your jaw drops when you see a human looking woman who is DEFINITELY Latula with her arms around two men. 

“The two men were discovered in the morning in a hotel room in what is believed by authorities to be autoerotic asphyxiation gone wrong. The police are still looking for the woman from the bar. This latest death has spread rumours that the dig site may be cursed and there is growing grassroots pressure online to call the whole dig off. Back to you, Peter.” the newsreader says and the story switches. 

Ohhhh, Sollux is absolutely tangled up in whatever the fuck is going on there, you’re sure of it. 

“I’m onto you.” you inform the TV, entirely pointlessly. With your point effectively made you turn the TV off and go to your room, that’s kind of like winning an argument with someone who isn’t even here. Or, technically, even arguing with you. 

It’s late at night when you hear Rose come in but she goes straight to her room before you can even come out to say hi. Another mystery that you have no way of solving or doing anything about, great. 

When morning comes you head over to the library, you have an early shift today with Kanaya. You yawn as you come into the office and sit down with her. 

“Good morning, Karkat.” Kanaya says pleasantly as she types away on the computer. 

“Do you sleep?” you ask her as you drop your bag in the corner. 

“I can, I usually don’t though. Rough night for you?” she asks curiously, looking at you sidelong. 

“No more than usual, just not awake yet.” you admit and sit down. Kanaya’s already done the hourly check in of books it seems. 

“Ms. Paint wanted to talk to you, I’ll tell her that you’re here. I need to feed the dangerous books anyway.” Kanaya says and gets up, tucking her chair neatly back under the desk. 

“Wait, did I do something wrong? Should I be concerned?” you ask Kanaya worriedly. Ms. Paint is a nice lady but you’re also of the opinion that she’s not someone you should cross at all. 

“Don’t worry, Karkat.” Kanaya says softly and ruffles your hair as she leaves. 

You have about five minutes of terror before your boss shows up. Ms. Paint as always is wearing soft pastel colours and a gentle, knowing smile on her face. When she opens the door to your office you tense up. 

“Karkat, please, have a seat.” Ms. Paint smiles at you, even though this is the room you work in and if anything you should be offering her a seat, not the other way around. Nevertheless you pull out Kanaya’s chair and awkwardly sit in it as she takes the one that you usually sit in. 

“Do you like working here?” Ms. Paint asks casually, folding one leg over the other and rearranging her skirts. 

“I do, it’s- I really like it. Are you firing me? Did I do something wrong?” you ask her in a small voice. 

Ms. Paint’s face crinkles into a smile, her longer ears shifting with the movement. 

“No, no, of course not. How are you finding your studies so far?” she asks instead, shifting the conversation onwards. 

“I’m enjoying them. Understanding how magic is written is hard but it’s… it’s like a satisfying puzzle kind of hard. Why?” you ask. 

“I asked your languages professor how you were getting on, I wanted to know if she would be amenable to me tutoring you privately in library matters. She mentioned that you had quite the interesting first exam.” Ms. Paint explains. 

“That’s one word for it. I’d say confusing or humiliating, but sure, interesting works as well.” you agree sullenly. A lot of your other classmates have started giving you weird looks ever since then, not something that you’re a fan of. 

“Well, I think that this means you have great magical potential. If you’d be interested there’s lots of advanced magic that we use here at the library that it’d benefit you to learn. No doubt it’d help your studies but it would also help you here. Given enough time we could grant you access to the restricted section as well, it would certainly be very useful work experience for after you graduate. That is, if you’re planning on moving onto something else after your studies instead of being a lifelong student like Kanaya.” Ms. Paint says with a teasing wink. 

She’s offering to train you up so you can boast more on your future resume. Your studies here might be free but when you graduate you’re going to be out of a home and out of money, working here helps you save up but getting niche experience and training in the library field would be incredibly helpful in securing you a future job. 

“Holy shit yes, I’d be interested. I mean- sorry, I didn’t mean to curse. I would love the opportunity Ms. Paint.” you correct yourself hastily. 

“Wonderful, I’ll set aside some extra shifts to start teaching you a few extra things and I’ll get a few books out for you. We can go at your own pace, of course.” Ms. Paint nods. 

Over Ms. Paint’s shoulder you see movement and when you look up you see Rose hesitating on the other side of the glass. Her eyes lock with yours and she backs up. Ms. Paint looks around to see what you’re looking at. 

“It’s my roommate.” you explain. 

Ms. Paint kicks off and wheels her chair backwards, opening the door when she reaches it. 

“Miss? You can come in, please do.” Ms. Paint calls to her. 

Rose shifts uneasily but with slumped shoulders she walks into your office. 

“I needed to return some books, but there’s a problem.” Rose admits unhappily as she closes the door behind her so it’s the three of you in the room. 

“Is something overdue? Have you lost one?” Ms. Paint asks. 

Rose shakes her head and hands two books to you but keeps the third in her hands. Curiously you check the two books she gave you back in with no problems, you’re familiar by now with how to flick through the books for signs of damage. 

“Oh.” Ms. Paint whispers. You look around and see that she has the third book now. Both parts of it. 

The book is neatly cut down through the spine lengthways separating it exactly halfway. Ms. Paint is staring at it in silent horror. 

“I had to go back home.” Rose says to the floor, not looking at either of you. 

“My mother needs someone there regularly and normally it’s- normally we have someone who goes back but right now it’s me and my brother who go back. She’s got these obsessions I suppose, cutting things in half is one of them but she’s never done it to books before. She loves books, she loved this library.” Rose says tightly. 

“Doctor Lalonde. You look just like her, you must be Rose, yes? I knew your mother years ago.” Ms. Paint says gently. Rose nods, still not looking up. 

Ms. Paint sighs softly and pulls her chair to the desk, setting the two halves of the book on the table. 

“I’ll pay whatever fine I have to, it won’t be a problem.” Rose whispers. You don’t think it’s the money that’s the issue, she’s clearly humiliated to have to come here with this problem. 

“She’s actually made very clean work of this, separated the book neatly down by the atoms, there’s no real damage at all. I can absolutely reverse this, just give me a moment.” Ms. Paint tells her. 

She raises her thumb and index finger together and swoops her hand above the book like she’s threading a needle through something. She goes back and forth and as she works the air starts to glow in a soft pastel green light. When she gets to the end she pulls her hand back and the two halves of the book come together again and snap shut. There’s not even a mark on the cover. Ms. Paint lifts the book up and calmly flicks through it. 

“There we go. No harm, no foul. I know Roxy wouldn’t have meant to damage a book on purpose, these things happen. I’ll go check this book in for you. Karkat, sweetheart, thank you for coming in so early for your shift, you can go now.” Ms. Paint smiles at you. 

You just got here, but you think she’s suggesting that you leave with Rose and you’re not going to argue with her. 

“Thank you Ms. Paint.” you say quickly and snatch up your bag. 

Rose still seems surprised that there’s no punishment for returning a book in that state so she goes with you on a kind of autopilot when you gently herd her from the library. The two of you walk in silence for a bit across the square by the library, but eventually she talks. 

“Aren’t you going to ask a thousand intrusive and nosy questions about why my famous mother would do such a thing?” Rose asks you sharply.

You stop and look at her. There’s a shadow cast over the both of you from a giant metal statue of the very woman you’re talking about. 

“I figured if you wanted to tell me something you would.” you say quietly. 

Rose sighs, her gaze falling to the floor. She walks a few steps and turns to sit on the stone steps that raise the plinth of her mother’s statue ever higher. 

“She was a genius, you know? Everyone knows about the fantastic Doctor Roxy Lalonde, she was nice and funny and utterly brilliant.” Rose sighs. You sit down with her. 

“I’ve never really known that woman.” Rose admits softly. 

“How come?” you ask after a moment. 

“There was some… some accident, I suppose. Some spell she did or some deal she made, we don’t know exactly because she was always very secretive with her work. It got worse after she had us, it progressed. She couldn’t work anymore, not here. She’s still a genius of course, though that honestly makes things more complicated. For a while she still worked at our home but then she wouldn’t leave it, wouldn’t let other people in, became confused and paranoid. That’s why we couldn’t let her see you all that night. It took years of June coming around before she would even tolerate her with us, if she caught June in the house without me or Dave there she’d freak out and attack her.” Rose admits. 

“What about Sollux?” you ask in surprise. 

“She thinks he’s great. He was the one going back every day to check on her. Check she’s eaten, check she’s not doing anything magically dangerous, check that she’s alright. We couldn’t have both come here if he didn’t do it. Right now me and Dave are stuck alternating days and both missing classes because Sollux can teleport right back into the house, we have to teleport to a port, pay for that and then get a cab all the way to our quite out of the way home and then come back again. We can’t do that forever.” Rose says miserably. 

“And she won’t tolerate anyone else checking in on her.” you conclude. 

“She still knows more than enough magic to be dangerous. Her magical ability and knowledge is one of the things that hasn’t deteriorated over time. It’s me, Dave, Sollux or no one.” Rose explains. 

So all this time Sollux has been checking in on Dave and Rose’s mother and looking after her, using his ability to teleport to care for someone he’s not even related to. You doubt they’re paying him for it or that he’d be interested in that, it’s really out of the goodness of his own heart. And here people would think that Sollux was evil because he’s a demon. 

“I’m more than happy to take notes on anything you want for you, or anything else you can think of to make things easier. Really.” you tell her. 

Rose sniffs and delicately wipes under her eyes, careful not to smudge her eyeliner or dark mascara. She’s not crying but her eyes are pretty watery with emotion. 

“Thanks, I’ve already been trading notes with Dave but it couldn’t hurt to look at yours. I venture they would have fewer dicks doodled in the margins.” Rose laughs weakly. 

“I can promise you that.” you snort in amusement, you’re not even a little surprised that Dave would do that. 

“I can’t stand people knowing about it. There’s enough speculation as is about the little people do know, did she do it to herself or was it something else? What happened to her great mind? It’s such a tragedy for her and her poor children, people just gawk and offer fake sympathy, I hate it.” Rose says bitterly. 

“I would have thought you’d end up with some kind of social care for that stuff, after The Event I was young enough that I had someone come in and check up on me regularly.” you say. You don’t mention how badly that system worked, how suddenly overloaded every social care department was and how as long as you weren’t starving they assumed that you weren’t human at all and didn’t need the same care. As it happened you were fine on your own but they didn’t have any right to assume that. 

“Somehow that never happened for us. The house is pretty much impossible to find unless you’ve already been there, mom voided the place out magically so I suppose anyone looking for us wouldn’t have been able to track us down.” Rose says. 

You hope Rose and Dave don’t have to keep going back to their house, especially as it seems like there’s no way to get anyone else in to cover them. What’s weirder is that if Sollux was willing to devote that much time to it before then he wouldn’t just drop it for no reason. Whatever he’s doing must be incredibly important to him. However much you do or don’t like Sollux it’s clear that he’s a pretty selfless person when it comes to people he cares about.

So the question remains, what’s so vitally important?

“I doubt my boss is going to breathe a word of this to anyone and I won’t either. Come on, let me buy you coffee.” you offer, giving Rose a squeeze around the shoulders with the arm you have around her. You stand up and offer her a hand, pulling her to her feet when she takes it. Her smile is grateful if a touch embarrassed, you don’t think you should bring this up more than you have to but just being empathetic here is probably going to be the best way to deal with this. 

“So, ah,” Rose says in a clear attempt to change the topic, “Dave said that the two of you were experimenting on your work for the BASIC worksheet. How’s that going?” 

“We’re running into a few problems but we at least know what we’ve got to fix, we’re splitting the work well. It’d be easier with three people but it’s going fine.” you nod. 

“We’re on the second part of the project.” Rose tells you and you childishly stick your tongue out at her. 

“He also mentioned that your study session devolved into movie watching.” Rose notes. 

“He tried to make me watch The Room, Rose. He’s a monster.” you say with a shudder. 

“I didn’t get the title of what you did watch, only that it was to do with time and it had Justin Timberlake in it.” she says. Good job passing that information on accurately, Dave. 

“It was In Time. It was fine, the movie was fun at least. Nice romance despite how Justin Timberlake isn’t someone I can really buy in a romantic role, though he is a better actor than he is a singer.” you tell her. 

“Uh huh. That must have been interesting for you though, watching a movie alone with my brother.” Rose says. 

She gives you a look as you stare at her. Rose leans in her expression conspiratorial. 

“Especially given your… feelings.” Rose whispers. 

“WHAT FEELINGS?” you yell. Your voice bounces off of the walls of nearby buildings and Rose’s evil expression only deepens, your feelings of being far too seen are only amplified by the startled pedestrians around you staring.

“We’re not talking about this!” you hiss at her and march on to the coffee place that you and Dave favour together, perhaps not the best place for avoiding thinking about feelings that you very much have for him. Rose lets the matter go and allows you to buy her coffee, but the sly smile on her face tells you that the subject of you and Dave will not be dropped forever. 

Several days go by and each morning you pay close attention to the news. The storm battering Japan hasn’t let up one bit and there’s a lot of talk now that it’s unnatural. The clowns surrounding the dig site have started properly interfering with the archeologists, switching their gear out for joke items. In retaliation the police have tried arresting the clowns but they seem tricksy, though it has led to a lot of very entertaining footage of Japanese police officers chasing clowns only to slip on banana peels. 

You don’t know if this is the darkest timeline but it’s certainly the weirdest.


	8. I'm a member of the midnight crew

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to keep posting even though things are getting scary right now. My country is in lockdown, so I hope you're all staying safe wherever you are. Love you all.

Rose and Dave keep switching their classes out, without the subterfuge now that you understand why. One class Rose never misses though is your late night weekly session on seeing the future. You’ve moved on from tea leaves and now you’re on-

“Tarot!” your teacher announces brightly. As you all walk into the room she hands you out sheets of stapled together paper with tonnes of writing on them as well as a little box of tarot cards each. 

“Tarot is one of those methods of seeing beyond ones ordinary perception that can be either guided by outside forces or your own introspection. Tarot is deeply versatile, each of the seventy eight cards has a meaning and secondary meaning when reversed. The context of these meanings changes on how you have drawn the cards in the spread that you’ve chosen, all of this gives you near infinite possibilities in terms of answers.” your teacher says enthusiastically. 

You look over the sheet that you’ve been given and see that it lists out each card and all these different meanings. 

“The spreads we use have specific meanings but the easiest by far is the three card spread, do not be fooled by its simplicity though because it’s a very versatile tool.” your teacher says and draws out three rectangles on the board and labels them 1, 2, and 3. 

“Please remove your cards from their boxes and shuffle them as I talk. Be sure to change the orientation of the cards as you go so that it’s possible to get them right side and reversed when you deal them, just make sure they’re all face down though. For our first reading to get you used to the concept we will ask for a reading of past, present and future for cards one, two and three in order. Keep your minds open as you interpret the answers, deal face down first and then turn them over as you go.” your teacher instructs. 

Oh fuck yeah, information about your past!

You keep shuffling the cards until you feel the need to stop and then lay them out face down one by one. After a deep breath you turn the first card over, the card representing your past. The deck you have is simple, blue cards with gold lines, no colours or shading at all. 

The first card is Judgement, it’s upside down. Turning your head to look at it you see a somewhat skeletal winged figure with a trumpet and the hands of the dead reaching up through the ground to the sky above. Cheery. You check your sheet of information until you find Judgement and its reversed meaning since your card is upside down. 

Judgement reversed - self doubt, lack of self-awareness, failure to learn lessons and self loathing. Gee, you thought this was your past, not your present. Although… a lack of self-awareness certainly describes your past. You know, the one you don’t remember at all. Hm, that’s pretty accurate then. 

Alright, your present. You flip the middle card and see a figure on the top of a cliff with a lantern, The Hermit. This one at least is the right way up so there’s no neck twisting required to look at it. 

The Hermit - self-reflection, introspection, contemplation, withdrawal, solitude, search for self. You are literally doing this class to find out who you are, to understand your past and what that means for you. It’s a somewhat on the nose reading of your situation but it seems accurate. Your eyes run over the clifftop again, something about that sits oddly with you. Hmm.

“This seems accurate so far.” you say. 

“I haven’t checked mine yet.” Rose mumbles. Her cards are dealt but still face down on the table. You understand her trepidation given how important seeing is for her, and how terribly the tea and ouija things have gone for her. 

“Do your last one, the future.” Rose urges you. You suppose she wants to see your result to put off having to look at her own. 

You flip your last card. Death.

“Oh.” you whisper. 

“No, no, death can be a good card. Even I know that much about this, look it up.” Rose urges you. 

Obligingly you look down at the sheet you have. 

Death - transformation, endings, change, transition, letting go, release. That all sounds nice but you’re certain it doesn’t mean that. You know somehow that this refers to literal death, maybe you’ll see Aradia again. You try to put it out of your mind, after taking a quick picture you turn your focus on Rose. 

“Go on, turn them.” you tell her. 

Rose breathes in deeply, steeling herself. She tucks a loc of hair behind her ear and reaches for the first card. Hers are brightly coloured on the back unlike your rather more minimalist set. Only when she flips hers it’s entirely blank white on the other side. 

“What?” you say in shock. 

Rose turns the next card, it’s blank. The last one is also entirely void of any design at all. 

“Have you got a weird set? Look at your cards.” you tell her. 

Rose turns her deck face up in her hands and fans out an art deco style set of cards, you can even catch her death card as she flips through them. Rose shakes her head, flips the cards back face down and shuffles the remaining ones again. You move the blank cards aside and Rose sets out three more cards face down in the space you cleared. 

One by one she turns them over.

The first, second and third are all blank. There wasn’t a single blank card in that deck, just like there were tea leaves in her mug until she tried to read it. 

Rose stands up from her chair so fast that it crashes over behind her. She grabs her bag from the ground and rushes to the door. 

“Rose!” you call out after her, leaping to your feet as well. 

“What’s going on?” your teacher asks worriedly. 

“She- it’s complicated. I’m sorry, I have to go.” you say in a rush, grabbing your own things. 

“Take your cards and sheet, for practice.” your teacher tells you. You nod and sweep it all into your bag and bolt for the door that Rose left open. 

“Rose! Rose, wait!” you call after her, sprinting down the stairs. You can hear her feet on the stairs a bit ahead of you. Fuck it, you start taking the stairs down two at a time in the hopes of catching her but you’re out into the main square before you even get close. 

“R- AUGH!” you scream loudly as you topple forwards, your ankles protesting. 

Your feet are stuck to the floor, the soles of them frozen in place. You’d think that Rose had done it to stop you following her if she wasn’t looking over at you in surprise. You stand up awkwardly and try to pull your feet up but nothing’s working. 

“Rose, Rose, I’m stuck!” you gasp, physically yanking on your leg and getting nowhere. 

“What did you… what is that? Are you doing that?” Rose asks and points to the floor. 

A circle is forming around you on the stone, bright purple light shining as it encircles you. It etches out letters that you don’t know, this is a spell of some kind. 

“It’s not me, that’s not my magic.” you whisper in horror. 

“Can you reach out of the circle? Grab my hand.” Rose urges you and holds her hands out. 

Shaking you reach for her, but it’s tough breaching the edges of the circle, it feels like trying to push your arm through treacle. Rose’s hands latch onto your forearm and she digs her feet into the ground and starts pulling to try to get you out. 

“What language is that? What’s it doing?” you ask in terror. 

“I don’t recognise it, just- UGH!” Rose grits her teeth and pulls on your arm harder. 

Below you the writing seems to stop, the circle complete. The words are shaking and glitching slightly, something that doesn’t fill you with a lot of confidence at all. All at once everything is just movement. Air rushes past you and you feel the gouge of Rose’s fingernails against your arm. You scream and flail with your heart in your throat as the world rushes past you. 

Everything glitches, the spell shorting out and suddenly you’re falling. You don’t fall far, thank God, but when you land everything hurts. You force yourself upright as a shock of sudden bitter cold floods you, you gasp in air so frigid and thin that it hurts. The sun is bright on the horizon, not absent in the nighttime that you just left. 

And what a horizon it is. 

You stagger to your feet and stare. You’re on the top of a mountain, the highest point as far as you can see. Knee deep in snow. The sky is impossibly and deeply blue around you, white snowy mountain peaks in the distance around you gleam with eye searing brightness. Looking around your more immediate area you can see scattered fabric in the snow, flags of countries abandoned here and in the very far distance you swear you can see the curvature of the Earth. 

“Oh God, oh fuck.” you hiss, hugging yourself tightly. 

That card, The Hermit, it had a man on a clifftop and that clifftop caught your eye for some reason. Yeah, well, looking around you think you might know why. You’re trying not to think of how the next card you drew was Death, a death that seemed far more literal than metaphorical to you. 

You’re on the top of a mountain that might very well be Everest and you’re absolutely not dressed for the weather at all, you don’t even have anything in your bag that would help you here. Hopefully you scramble for your phone but, as expected, there’s no signal here. 

Fuck. FUCK!

Alright, you’re freezing, you’re going to freeze to death. You are going to see Aradia again because you’re going to die. Can you get down from this mountain without falling to your death? Maybe you can get lower but you can’t climb all the way down before you die of hypothermia. At least if you stay at the top someone will find your body. 

Who the hell is trying to kill you by doing this?

“Fuck, FUCK!” you yell. Tears spill down your cheeks, freezing before they can even fall off your face. 

If you do nothing you’re sure that you’ll die, so you need to think of something, ANYTHING to try. What’s the worst that happens here? You die? Well you’re already going to die so you might as well try something! Goddamnit, if only you had Sollux here then he could teleport you home. But he isn’t here and you can’t call him because your phone has no signal and you doubt that Rose knows where you ended up anyway. Also you don’t have his number so you’d have to go through someone else if you could call out, which you can’t.

You push your sleeve up and squint at your arm, the deal you made glows softly as you look at it. You have three questions left, if you ask he has to answer them… right? But what if he isn’t here to hear them? He’s avoided you to stop you asking before but that doesn’t mean that you can’t ask and compel him to answer even if he isn’t here. That wasn’t specified, was it? If you do your level best to get him to hear and he doesn’t answer then he’s violating the deal, if nothing else that should get his attention, right? 

Or it doesn’t and you die up here regardless but at least you tried something. 

You press your aching fingers to your frigid arm, right over the demonic script. You try to think of activating the magic like you have with the spells you’ve done before. You open your mouth and for once in your life you let the full extent of your voice boom forth. 

“SOLLUX CAPTOR, THIS IS A DEAL QUESTION!” you yell at full force, your voice bounces off of mountain faces and clifftops like the wrath of a god. 

“TELL ME HOW TO GET OFF OF THIS FUCKING MOUNTAIN!” you scream and hear your own voice echo back. 

No one answers, of course because no one is there. You may well have scared the living shit out of some mountaineers somewhere else in this area but that’s their problem, not yours. 

You dig your fingers into your skin, visualising pulling on the very deal itself. 

“ANSWER ME!” you demand. 

Something courses through your blood, hissing where it makes contact with the demonic script and you feel something give. There’s a flash of blue and red and a startled scream as something lands in the snow next to you. Relief and exhaustion has you crumpling to your knees as Sollux bolts upright in the snow, clearly shocked at being brought here. 

“Why would you-?! Where am- Karkat?” Sollux blurts out. 

There’s blood all over his face. Not his, not gold like his blood is but red like yours. His eyes are wide and terrified as he looks around. 

“What have you done? I can’t be here, I have to go!” Sollux says, leaping to his feet. 

“Take me with you, I’ll die here!” you beg. 

“What?” Sollux says and looks around, had he not noticed where you were? Had he not clocked the very certain death by hypothermia that awaits you mere minutes from now? 

“I don’t have time for this! You’re… ugh, SLICK GET HERE YOU OWE ME!” Sollux shouts into the air, his voice doesn’t echo quite like yours. His shirt is ripped and torn, that too is stained in blood. You think you’re getting a little delirious from the cold. 

Sollux hauls you to your feet with his hands in your shirt, he looks over your shoulder and then without so much as a moment of hesitation he shoves you off of the mountain. You scream as you fall, just catching the flash of bicoloured light as Sollux leaves. A doorway blurs past you and you just make out Spades Slick’s startled face as you plummet past him. 

You fall down and down, crashing through windows and doors until physics informs you that down is not down anymore but back. Your world reorients itself and you fall in a different angle and hit rough steel, you think you just fell in a ninety degree turn. 

You groan and lay still for a moment or two as you get your bearings. First of all you’re not freezing to death anymore but everything aches. Secondly when you see Sollux next you’re going to slap his face off, he’ll be laughing out of the other side of his face when you’re done with him. Third of all you realise that you’re moving. 

Sitting up you find that you’re on a corrugated metal floor, or perhaps that’s not the word for it, it’s the textured stuff they have on warehouse floors so people don’t slip. There’s a black railing to your left and a wall to your right. Past the railing you can see the open air, you appear to be travelling through a grey city and judging by the train tracks rushing away from you, you happen to be on a train. You must have fallen and landed on the open bit at the back of a train, the kind that you’ve only seen in movies. 

“Fuck me.” you groan and haul yourself to your feet. 

Where ARE you? 

On a train, yes. Beyond the train the city looks odd, the buildings are entirely greyscale, dark moody colours and deep black shadows that look more at home in a comic book than they do before your very eyes. Real life isn’t cel shaded like that. The sky above you is endlessly dark with no stars, moon or sun to be seen. Stylised streetlights whip past you and old fashioned cars line up in traffic on the roads to the side. 

You’re somewhere very far from home. 

Turning around you see a door to the inner part of the train and with nowhere else to go you carefully open it and step inside. The train carriage is also weirdly greyscale, along with the people in it, everything is like a black and white movie and you’re the only thing here with any colour. The train itself is discordantly old timey without having a specific date that you can put your finger on. Yet despite all of this the people in the train carriage are dressed in a modern style, were it not for their blank white eyes and their greyscale colouring you wouldn’t look twice if you walked past them on the street. 

You don’t want to draw attention to yourself so you casually walk down the train as if you belong or indeed know what you’re doing. Looking up at the train map you see that it reads Midnight City Express and lists off stops that mean nothing to you at all. 

Looking around you see a man holding onto a railing with the bored expression of commuters everywhere. 

“Sorry, do you know what the next stop is?” you ask him quietly. 

The man turns his head to look at you, his unsettling blank white eyes taking you in. 

“New in town?” he asks you flatly.

“Yeah… yeah I have no idea-” you start but the man holds his hand up to stop you. 

“Not my problem. Next stop is Scotty Dog Square, just there, see?” the man says, raising his arm to point to the map above you.

You should look but you can’t. As he moves his suit jacket shifts and you can see the gaping bullet hole in his chest that had been previously hidden by the lapel of his shirt. 

“Okay, thank you sir, I’m going over there now.” you say in a high pitched voice and back off. 

Your third card was Death, that man is dead and as you look around at the other passengers you see a disproportionate number of old people, a few people who have visible injuries flash onto their bodies as you look at them. They’re all dead. You’re wherever dead people go. 

Hurrying down into the next carriage you see that there’s more dead people here too, these ones just don’t seem to be paying you much attention. Figuring that blending in is your best option you adopt a bored commuter stance by the doors, holding onto a handrail as you silently freak out. 

You’re not actually dead, are you? Sollux pushed you off of the mountain but you definitely went through a doorway on your way here, as well as several windows. You’re pretty sure you’re alive. Checking your pulse in public seems dumb but you work out that if you grip the handrail hard enough you can feel your pulse in your fingertips. You’re not dead. Alright, not dead but definitely in the afterlife. What now? Your first mission should be getting somewhere secluded so you can freak out and plan what to do in private, there’s nothing to say that you can’t die here and being the only living person walking around is probably a bad idea. What if someone tried to steal your life or something? Best to be surreptitious here. 

The train comes to a stop and you and a few other people get off. To your relief there aren’t any ticket barriers and you’re able to leave the station unchallenged and exit into the city itself. This city, Midnight City if the train name is any indication, is as weirdly black and white as everything else you’ve seen. Everything has a very noir vibe to it, yet despite that you can see businesses set up with people in them, pedestrians milling about, normal stuff. 

You find a park with grey grass and hurry over to a black tree with midnight coloured leaves. There’s no breeze here, the air is impossibly still and… well, dead. More importantly you’re alone, there’s a few people in the distance but not really anywhere near you. 

Okay, okay you need to think. What do you know? 

First and most importantly, you’re not dead but everyone else here seems to be. Secondly, Sollux pushed you off of the mountain into this space and called Spades Slick to open a door here. Spades Slick is a psychopomp and given that these people seem to be dead you can only assume that this is where people go when they die. 

This isn’t like any afterlife you’ve ever heard about, not for any religion. This is neither heaven nor hell, it’s not the halls of Valhalla, it isn’t paradise and you didn’t cross the river Styx to get here. So, where ARE you? Better question: how do you be not here? Or if you want to not mangle grammar in your panic: how do you get home? 

You pull your phone out and are unsurprised to find that there’s no signal here. Maybe you can try calling Sollux again like you did before? You don’t want to yell so this time when you press your fingers to your arm and call for him you do it at a normal speaking volume. 

An off key tone fills your head, reverberating around your skull and making your teeth ring. It takes a moment but you realise it’s like the noise a phone makes when you try to dial an impossible number. The magical equivalent of ‘please hang up and try again’. There’s no signal here and you guess that goes for demonic connections too. That further strengthens the idea that wherever you are isn’t hell. 

Okay, you can’t call for help, you can’t get Sollux here. What do you do now? 

You could try to find someone in charge, try to find Spades Slick even, ask to go back to the real world since you’re not dead and shouldn’t be here yet. There’s a chance that they’ll fix that problem by making you dead but you’ve literally no other way out of here. Of course, if you see any other opportunity to get out then you’ll take it but for now asking for help is probably your best bet. 

Alright, okay, yeah, you just need to go talk to people. Dead people. Be cool about this. You can be cool. 

You stroll out of the park like a normal person who is in no way super tense about this whole thing. You pass people on the street who are casually going about their afterlives like it’s no big deal. You pass a cafe and see that the staff inside aren’t human at all. They look like Spades Slick, their skin an insectoid black chitin type substance. They’re bringing drinks to patrons waiting at tables who are eating and drinking like they’re alive. Do they need to eat if they’re dead? 

“Oh, wow.” a woman gasps near you. 

You turn to look at her. She’s maybe in her thirties with a hospital bracelet around one wrist, you don’t know what killed her but she looks kind of sick to you. Not that it seems to bother her now. More notably than that though is the fact that she has colour on her like you. It’s not her skin or her hair but rather bright red glowing script that stretches around her neck and up over her eyes. 

“You’re like me.” she says, pointing at you. 

“What?” you blurt out. 

“Your face, it’s like mine, with all the writing on it.” she explains and gestures to her face. It takes a second but you clock her accent. 

“You’re from Georgia.” you say dumbly. 

“Yeah?” she says, seemingly unconcerned by this. 

“...Wait, what about my face?” you ask, her words finally sinking in. 

“It’s like mine, look.” she says and gestures to the window behind her. You lean closer and see your face faintly reflected in the glass, there’s glowing writing across your face. 

“What the fuck? That wasn’t there earlier, what is it?” you whisper in horror. 

“I don’t know, there’s a few people with that kind of stuff around. Most of them don’t remember who they used to be, but not all of them. Everyone has a little writing on them, the more you have the more you seem to not know who you were before five years ago. It’s not often I see someone as bad as you.” she goes on. 

You… you need to get to a mirror. 

“I have to go.” you say hurriedly and walk off. 

Now that you know what you’re looking for it doesn’t take long to find a clothing store. You grab a few grey items of clothing and duck into a changing room. You’ve no intention of buying anything, you just need the mirror. You are covered in writing. 

You don’t recognise the script at all and you sure as shit can’t read it but this is absolutely magic. It’s a long ribbon of glowing text that seems to wrap around you. Arbitrarily you start from your left temple and follow it. The path it traces goes across your eyes, actually over your physical eyeballs as it happens, the thought of that makes you feel a little sick if you’re honest. Then it travels to your other temple, down the side of your face, around your neck and then plunges down past the neckline of your sweater. 

It takes a moment to free yourself from your jacket and sweater but when you stand shirtless in front of the mirror you see more writing. The ribbon of red text that went from your neck goes down over your shoulder and crosses over your shoulderblades, around your chest, back over itself and then joins up with the other end of the loop at your temple once more. 

Over your heart, unconnected to anything else, is a symbol. If you turn your head it’s a glowing sixty nine in numerals. Not Roman ones, just 69. That too is in red but it feels like a different shade to the other text on you. 

“What the fuck.” you whisper. 

You take your phone out and take a picture, turn and take another on each side and one of your back. Actually… you’re not sure you trust your phone to retain that data so you remove your notebook and a pencil from your bag of holding and starting at your temple you directly copy down the symbols. Of course with the mirror involved they’ll all be backwards but you can reverse them later. You want to know what the fuck it says on you. It takes a while and a good deal of awkward twisting about, but you get it. 

You have no idea what any of this means and you suppose that it won’t matter if you don’t get out of here but apparently you’re a secret optimist if you’re planning on using this information later. Later implies that you’re going to get out of this. 

Still, this has to be the thing that’s screwing with your memory if what that woman says is true. Now that you know it’s there and have what it said written down you might be able to undo it. You could get your memory back! 

...If you make it out of here. 

You put your notebook away and think. What do you do now? You guess you predicted this but you can’t predict your way out of this one can you?

Can you? 

With your hand in your bag you call silently for the deck of tarot cards and the sheet that explains them all. The only one you were in class to learn was the three card spread, that worked for a past/present/future reading but you know how you got here and where you are. You want more detail on getting out. Surely if you ask specifically for how you get out of here you can get information that’ll help, right? 

You shuffle the cards and try to clear your mind. How do you get out of this plane of reality and back home? You deal the cards face down onto the floor, one, two, three. 

First card, Death. Well… you already know the meaning of that one and you suspect it literally refers to this place, you guess that’s just context. Second card, Two of Swords. Huh, that’s not one of the main cards is it? It’s one of the ones that’d be a regular number card in a deck of cards, right? You scan through the list. 

Two of Swords - stalemate, difficult choices, stuck in the middle, denial, hidden information. 

What’s that supposed to mean? Your eyes wander over the blue card with the gold accents. It has a seated figure with two swords, she’s blindfolded. Does this mean you’re going to be caught in a stalemate, perhaps with Death herself? You hope not, that’s not a fight you’d bet on yourself to win. 

You turn the final card. The Hanged Man. God, are these always so cheery? On the card a man is hung upside down by one ankle, the other leg crossed freely behind him, a halo of light surrounds his head and you can’t tell if he’s dead or simply has his eyes calmly shut. You consult your sheet of information. 

The Hanged Man - sacrifice, waiting, uncertainty, lack of direction, perspective, contemplation. 

Lack of direction, waiting and uncertainty certainly describe your situation now but that wasn’t the question you asked. You asked how you get out. That question of course presupposes that you will get out, but you’re going to ignore that possible linguistic fuck up for now. Look at the big picture, what does this mean?

Death, either a metaphorical change or the actual one. The Two of Swords, a stalemate or a choice, so you have to make a decision to get out perhaps. Lastly The Hanged Man, sacrifice. 

This doesn’t sound like a good future for you. 

After a moment’s hesitation you scoop your things back up and leave the changing room. When you get back to the street on the outside you reassess your situation. No one yet has realised that you’re not dead, the woman you talked to outside the cafe commented only on the spell that’s over your body, not on how alive you are. That gives you a better chance of people not realising what you are at first glance but it’d probably still be sensible to avoid people if you can. 

If Spades Slick is a psychopomp who takes people here then locating him is your best bet for getting out, but how do you find him? You need information. 

You’re not going to find information outside a clothing store so you start walking. The place is filled with businesses but by and large they seem to be run by the little black shelled people that you saw before, there’s a few places that look like humans are working but it’s places where you can assume it was someone’s passion in life. There’s a hairdresser in business over there and a while back you passed a tattoo parlour with a human running it. Everyone seems to be doing a lot of nothing, people are loitering, talking, killing time. There’s games of cards and other such things going on. A group of kids are kicking a ball around down one alleyway and when you realise that everyone but you here is dead it just makes your heart ache to see them. 

After a while of wandering the seemingly endless city you pass a box with newspapers in. Thankfully it doesn’t require money, which is good because you don’t know what currency this place uses. Or maybe they don’t have money at all. What is it they say? You can’t take it with you? 

You retrieve your newspaper and sit on the kerb to read it. 

The Midnight City Times is a very strange newspaper, weirdly it seems to be reporting on events that to your mind happened about a week ago and not super accurately. The reports all cite recent newcomers to the city recalling things that they were around to see or that they’d heard of before they died, it’s how this place gets news of the outside world. That kind of makes sense in a way. 

Beyond that the paper is filled with adverts and notices. People advertising groups for playing sport, games, acting classes, all sorts of things to pass the time. There’s people looking for each other within the paper, listing their name, where they’re from and an already dead person they’re trying to reunite with. It’s a morbid missed connections page. 

Slipped inside the newspaper is a small A5 printed sheet, someone’s addition to the paper. 

ACTUAL JOURNALISM!!!!!!

IT HAS BEEN 2115 DAYS SINCE ANYONE HAS BEEN ALLOWED TO MOVE ON FROM MIDNIGHT CITY, PM HAS NOT DIRECTED ANYONE ANYWHERE AND OUR NUMBERS ARE PILING UP. WHEN THIS REPORTER QUESTIONED POST MORTEM AS TO WHY THIS WAS SHE COMMENTED: “How the fuck did you get in here?! Get out!” AND ATTACKED THIS FINE REPORTER WITH A BROOM. CLEARLY THIS IS A COVER UP OF THE HIGHEST ORDER!!!! FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS MUST CONTINUE!!!!!!!!!!!!

You squint at the page. No one in their right mind uses that much punctuation. 

Still, Spades Slick said he didn’t work anymore, what if his job isn’t taking people to here but taking them from here to wherever they go afterwards? Making Midnight City some kind of limbo. A little mental math tells you that that number of days is a little over five years, you suppose it’s closer to six as the anniversary of The Event is coming up before too long. Over five years of people dying and seemingly having nowhere to go. The reason you’re not all up to your eyes in ghosts is they’re all here. 

Maybe this PM person could point you out of here, she seems to be at least enough in charge to warrant an interview from this supposed reporter. You’re not sure how reliable a reporter is if they have to print out their own stories and manually slip them into papers but you have nothing else to go on here so you can’t be too picky. You put the newspaper in your bag along with the insert and get up again, you’re going to need to ask directions. 

There’s two old dudes sat at a table playing cards on the outside tables of a bar across the way, they look pleasant enough so you steel yourself and head over there. 

“Excuse me.” you say as you come up to them. Both men look up at you, one instinctively holding his cards a little closer as if he suspects this is a ruse on behalf of the other man to cheat and see his cards. 

“What is it, son?” asks the man on your right who isn’t so neurotic about his cards.

“I’m a little lost, I just got here. Could you give me directions to, uh, PM? Post Mortem?” you ask uneasily, you’re not familiar with the terms you’re using here and this is just a stab in the dark but it’s all you have. 

The two men exchange a surprised look and then look back at you. 

“You’ve not been there and got a number yet? How did you manage that?” the more paranoid man asks. 

“Like I said I just got here and I got a little turned around. Obviously I need to get a number, hah, of course.” you lie through your teeth as you give what you hope is a trustworthy smile and not a facial rictus befitting a lunatic. 

“You’d need to get the train or a cab to main street and the departure office is pretty clearly signed there.” the first man explains. 

“Train station’s that-a-way.” the other one adds, pointing back the way you came. 

You’ve attracted a little attention from the other patrons outside the bar and you’re not too keen on that, so your plan is to thank the two men, say goodbye and leave. It’s such a good plan. 

Oh well. 

“Hey, wait a minute. If you’re dead then my name is Shirley, buster.” a man says, leaping to his feet. He looks like the black beetle dudes except snow white, he’s wearing a fedora and a white trenchcoat. 

“Hello, Shirley Buster, nice to meet you.” one of the men says with a shit eating grin and the other collapses into a fit of laughter. 

“What? No, shut up, he’s ALIVE!” the pale man snaps and points at you. 

“Isn’t he just new?” the second man says with a frown. 

“No, he’s definitely alive. How did you get here, you shouldn’t be here!” the man in the fedora insists. 

“Well, you see, I can explain myself. If you just-” you don’t even get to the end of your explanation, you sprint off as fast as you can mid sentence. Your destination is the train station, if you can get back on there then maybe you can find that way out. 

“Stop right there! Boys, we’ve got a runner! A live one!” the man shouts, chasing after you. 

You glance over your shoulder and see that he’s shouting into a walkie talkie as he runs, fucking great. 

“No, an actual live one. A LIVING PERSON! Call it in!” the man shouts, arguing with someone down the line. 

Shit, shit, shit, this isn’t good. This isn’t good at all! 

You haul ass down the greyscale streets of Midnight City with the fedora wearing man hot on your heels. Unfortunately cardio was never really your thing and you don’t get all that far before he tackles you to the floor. You skid painfully over the cobbled streets and yelp as he wrenches your hands behind your back. Cold steel closes over your wrists.

“Thought you could pull a fast one on old Problem Sleuth, eh?” the man laughs in your ear. 

“No, on account of how I’ve no idea who the fuck you are.” you hiss at him. 

“Well, I just told you. My name is Problem Sleuth and I’m the best detective there is in this city.” he brags and gets up, pulling you with him. 

“And I thought your name was Shirley.” you mutter. You side eye the angry man and consider the pros and cons of elbowing him in the face and trying to run for it again, you’re handcuffed now so that’ll slow you down and make you look wildly suspicious but you doubt you want to go wherever he wants to take you. 

“My name isn’t Shirley!” Problem Sleuth insists loudly. 

You look him up and down, you don’t think that it’s just the black and white nature of the city, this guy genuinely looks like he’s trying out for one of those old timey detective movies. 

“What kind of detective are you anyway? You look like you’re trying to be some kind of ace dick style idiot.” you sneer. 

“What? No, that’s a different guy.” Problem Sleuth says, clearly confused. 

“What?” you say, now just as confused as he is. 

“Ace Dick, he’s a different detective. I’m Problem Sleuth, he’s Ace Dick.” the guy explains. 

“This is the single dumbest conversation I’ve ever had in my life.” you groan. How has this happened to you? If you ever get out of this alive you’re going to strangle Sollux for this. 

“Yeah, a life you shouldn’t still be leading! Why’re you here when you’re not dead, hmm? You thought you could just sneak in here or something, huh? Is that what you thought?” Problem Sleuth accuses you and shakes you a little by your arm just to make his point. 

“No! I didn’t even mean to be here, or want to be here. I want to go back home!” you insist. 

“That’s what you want me to think.” the moron detective sneers. 

“Look, is there someone more senior I can talk to about getting out of here? Someone with a brain, perhaps?” you ask hopefully. 

“Damn right there is, PI’s calling this one in all the way to the top.” Problem Sleuth says smugly. 

“Private Investigator?” you ask. 

You shouldn’t have asked. 

“Pickle Inspector. I mean, he is a private investigator, but so am I. So is Ace Dick.” Problem Sleuth explains. 

“Fucking kill me now.” you groan. 

“I can arrange that.” 

Problem Sleuth whirls around and drags you with him so you’re face to face with Aradia. She’s much clearer when you’re in the same reality as her. Her skin is grey, her eyes are yellow and red and there’s yellowy horns coming from her head. Aside from you she’s the only thing here with any colour on her. 

“Boss! I caught-” Problem Sleuth starts but a look from Aradia silences him. 

“Why are you here, Karkat?” Aradia asks you, her voice dangerously quiet. 

She knows your name. But then she is Death so why wouldn’t she? Damnit, that death card you drew was very VERY literal. 

“I didn’t want to be here, I don’t even really understand where ‘here’ is. I just want to go back to Salem.” you tell her, narrowly avoiding saying that you want to go back where you came from. You’ve no desire to be dumped on the top of mount Everest again. 

“How did you get here? You shouldn’t be able to get here at all.” Aradia says stiffly. 

You open your mouth and hesitate. Sollux is her ex and you doubt that mentioning him is going to go well for you here, so you can just… avoid him, maybe. 

“I was leaving class and something summoned me, I think the spell failed because I ended up on Everest. Then I fell off and I fell through a doorway and I think a few windows and landed on a train here.” you tell her, omitting Sollux and Slick both. 

Aradia doesn’t seem impressed by your explanation and snaps her fingers. There’s a flare of darkness and Spades Slick stumbles out. His eyes land on you and his expression flicks into relief, at least until he sees Aradia. It’s the quickest facial turnaround from ‘oh yes’ to ‘oh no’ that you’ve ever seen. 

“Aaah, boss. What can I do for you?” Slick asks, his smile frozen in place. 

“How did he get here?” Aradia asks, pointing a finger in your direction. 

“Who? Problem Sleuth? Probably a bout of dissapointing sex between his parents, no doubt a family tradition passed onto him.” Spades Slick answers coolly. 

“I can HEAR you Slick!” Problem Sleuth snarls over your shoulder. 

“Hey, we’ll make a detective of you yet.” Spades Slick grins meanly. 

“Enough blackflirting! How did Karkat get here?!” Aradia interrupts. For a split second you see the white of her skull through her skin. 

“Why don’t we ask the detective? Since he knows so much an’ all.” Spades Slick says evasively. 

Wind howls through the streets of Midnight City, sweeping around the corner and rushing over you. The breeze, the first you’ve felt in this city, curls around you in a tight little funnel of air that ruffles your hair. 

“What? No, how can-” Aradia says in disbelief. 

The wind picks up and pushes Problem Sleuth away from you, making the man stumble to the floor. The very second he’s apart from you bright pink light flares up through the black cobblestones and encircles you. Gold glints between the stones, flooding up and suddenly in a rush of glimmering gold Sollux appears between you and the others. 

“What the hell are you doing here?! You’re not allowed here either and I don’t want to see you after the shit you pulled!” Aradia barks angrily at Sollux. 

“Sorry, AA. I’m not sticking around, though.” Sollux says. He glances back at you and seems to look you over. 

“This is some very powerful magic and it’s going to require a little sacrifice to power it enough to get you out. So don’t freak out, I’m immortal, remember?” Sollux says under his breath. 

“The fact that you need to remind me of that doesn’t- OH FUCK!” you yelp when Sollux suddenly produces two blades from nowhere. One a pure white and the other a bright scarlet. Two swords… the Two of Swords!

“Sollux, no!” you plead but before you can get any closer he’s jammed both blades through his chest. 

“You can’t stay here just because you’re dead for a few seconds.” Aradia says stiffly.

Sollux gurgles and crumples to your feet. Your hands are bound so there’s nothing you can really do but you crouch down with him anyway. 

“Sollux, Sollux, please- come on, wake up!” you beg him. 

Sollux seems to melt into molten gold again, the swords vanishing with him and as he turns liquid completely the pink light of the circle around you goes eye searingly bright. 

Your whole world tips sideways and you topple onto your side. You groan, it feels like someone smacked you upside the head with a two by four, maybe with a few nails in it. 

“Karkat!” 

“Wait, where’s Sollux?” 

“Right there.” 

You open your eyes to see a woman crouched at the edge of the circle watching you, her eyes are vibrantly pink and her face bears more than a passing resemblance to Rose and Dave. 

“This who you wanted back? He ain’t human, you know that, right?” the woman asks. 

“Yes, we know that, it’s Karkat. Can we please get in there?” Rose asks, crowding close to the woman.

“But Sollux-” Dave protests. 

“It’s fiiiiiiine.” the older woman insists and licks her thumb. She rubs it over a line on the floor and steps over it, closer to you. She reaches down to the floor just by you and scoops something up, a tiny red and blue patterned snake that’s not even as long as her hand, it curls around her fingers and flicks a little forked tongue out. 

“Baby baby’s a lil’ danger noodle now, huh? So cute.” she coos and pets his head. 

“He can turn back though, right?” Dave asks, stepping closer with a wary hop over the lines. 

“When he’s got power back, yeah. ‘S like… power saving mode. Lil’ snek. Now YOU.” the woman suddenly turns her attention on you and grabs you by the front of your shirt. 

“Wait, please!” you squeak. This is probably their mother, right? The one who isn’t entirely right and gets confused by things a lot? Yeah, you don’t want her to think you’re something dangerous. 

“Mom, no, let him go.” Rose says, trying to pull her arm but it has no effect. 

“Oh jeez, this isn’t gonna be good.” June says from somewhere behind you. 

Mrs Lalonde pulls you closer by your sweater, staring you down. 

“You can’t hide secrets from me.” she says darkly and her eyes flood with black from edge to edge. You can’t look away and you get this deeply uncomfortable sensation of being seen. It’s akin to the feeling you get when you’re walking alone at night and you’re SURE something is coming up behind you, yet when you look nothing is there. Something dark and hidden skirting around your very being. 

“I don’t have any secrets, none that I know about, I swear!” you tell her. 

“He’s cool, I swear.” Dave adds in your defense. 

His mother’s eyes return to normal and her expression softens and her grip on your shirt relaxes. 

“You’re a long way from home, aren’t you?” she whispers and cups your face with one hand. Her thumb runs under your eye, right on the line of the magic you saw on your skin. She smiles at you and stands up.

“Wait, are you kidding me?” June exclaims. 

Looking around you see a pissed looking June with a slightly alarmed looking Jade behind her. 

“Get out of my house!” Mrs Lalonde snaps at them. 

“I’m so sorry.” Rose whispers and ushers the two of them out. 

“Get out, get out!” Mrs Lalonde keeps shouting. Rose is pulling her friends out of the room, this place looks like a basement or something. 

Dave leans down, one hand occupied with Sollux in tiny snake form, he uses the other hand to help you to your feet. 

“Are you okay, man? We were really worried, you’ve been missing for days.” Dave says quietly. 

“Days?! I wasn’t gone for that long, half an hour at most.” you insist but Dave shakes his head. 

Dave’s mom seems to calm down a little now that the others are gone and turns her attention back to you. 

“Oh, let me get that for you.” she says and snaps her fingers. Your handcuffs fall off all by themselves and clatter to the ground.

“I have about a million questions for you, including what happened to turn my best friend into the tiniest snake I’ve ever seen but how about we start with why were you in handcuffs. That sounds like a sensible place to start asking questions.” Dave says. Around his fingers the Sollux snake flicks his tiny tongue out. 

“The beginning sounds like a better place to start, why don’t we find where Rose went and I can tell you everything and maybe you guys can answer some of my questions too.” you suggest instead. 

“Upstairs, then.” Dave’s mom says, waving her hand to a set of stairs. 

She leads the two of you up into a hugely spacious house that’s all clean and modern design. It has fancy art on the walls, a bronzed broom on a plinth and giant windows. The whole place has an elegant brutalist architecture vibe to it that screams money and style, even if it’s a pretty weird style of decor. Despite that the house itself is a bit of a mess, books, clothes and crockery are abandoned in odd places. Rose is standing in the main room scowling and texting on her phone when you come up. 

“C’mon.” Dave says and gestures with his snake hand off to the side. You all head into a main sitting room with a large and elegant freestanding fireplace that his mom elegantly flicks fire into with her hand. There’s no written out magic there, she’s clearly a very practiced and accomplished witch. You already knew that, of course, but seeing it is a wholly different thing. 

“You should keep Sollux warm, put him in the fire.” she says. 

“But I- he’s so tiny. I don’t want to throw him.” Dave says uneasily. 

You look from the fire to the small snake in Dave’s hand and know what you have to do. 

“Here, give him to me. I don’t burn, remember?” you say and hold out your hands. 

Dave looks at you for a moment but holds out his hand. You offer your fingers and after a few seconds of hesitation and a flicking tongue Sollux does slither from his hand to yours. His thin body loops around your fingers feeling ever so fragile. Carefully you lean towards the fireplace and reach your hand towards the flames. For a second or two you’re nervous but just like before the fire parts harmlessly for you and you’re able to hold your hand out so Sollux can slither onto the hot coals. He curls up there into a little coil and seems perfectly happy when you pull your hand back and the fire returns, even in this form it doesn’t hurt him. 

“We left class and you vanished when that spell completed, what happened from there?” Rose asks. 

“I think the spell that summoned me broke or failed partway through, I got dumped on the top of what I’m pretty sure was Mount Everest.” you tell them. 

“Highest point on Earth. Maybe you didn’t have permission to leave this plane, or you can’t, or someone fucked the spell up.” their mom suggests casually, she’s leaning forward looking at the fireplace. 

“I couldn’t call for help, I couldn’t get down, I thought I was going to die so I did the only thing I could think of. I asked Sollux a deal question.” you say. 

“But there’s no way he could have heard you from there, surely that wouldn’t work, right?” Dave reasons. 

His mother looks over at you again, her eyes sharp. 

“You made a deal with a demon? Show me.” she demands. 

Obligingly you hold out your arm and Mrs Lalonde comes over and looks at it, her eyes flick over the words as she moves your arm to see all of it, by the time she’s at the end she’s laughing. 

“Oh, he must be REAL pissy about that one. Either that or he likes you a lot.” she giggles. 

“Definitely the first one.” you mutter. 

“No time limit, no distance, no stipulation that he has to perceive the question to answer it? Oh, baby, baby you done fucked up.” she laughs, looking into the flames. Maybe you imagine the quiet hiss that you hear, maybe it’s just the coals but you don’t think it is. That’s another person that thinks you somehow got one over on Sollux with this deal. 

“So he doesn’t hear you and you pull a Karen, all ‘I want to see your manager this coupon says answers’ and, what, drag him through space to get to you?” she asks with a laugh. 

“Basically, yeah. He was covered in red blood and when I asked how I get off the mountain and tell him to help me because I’d die if he didn’t he called out for Spades Slick and then PUSHED ME OFF THE TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN.” you’re as close to yelling as you can get within normal human range. 

“That did technically answer your question, I suppose. This is how you get off the mountain, I push you. It’s an answer.” Rose points out. 

“So Slick opens a door to where? What happens? Mom said you were alive in the afterlife.” Dave tells you. 

“Better than the alternative, of course.” Rose says with a nod. 

“Well, I fell through the door because it was like… at a ninety degree angle to me and I fell down through it. I think I went through several windows as well and then I landed on this train that was full of dead people. It wasn’t an afterlife, not a proper one, I think it was more of a holding place. People were just waiting there but it was this huge and impossibly big black and white city, like something from an old noir movie.” you tell them. 

“I was trying to figure out how to get out and when I was asking directions to try to escape this detective caught me, I ran but he chased me and finally handcuffed me. Then Aradia showed up and summoned Spades Slick and it became a whole thing until Sollux appeared out of nowhere and stabbed himself, then I showed up here.” you finish. 

“Had to die to get out of the dead, and they can’t keep him.” Mrs Lalonde says mysteriously. 

“What happened from your point of view? I vanish, then what?” you ask her. 

“Well…” Rose begins.


	9. Community Gardens

==> Be Rose

Your breath freezes in your lungs as you stand alone on the street, entirely useless. You have naught but chipped nail polish and sizzling paving at your feet as proof that your roommate was even here a moment ago.

...As proof that your friend was even here a moment ago.

You don’t have time for panic, you have to think. Look at this logically, Karkat was here and now he isn’t. Someone took him somewhere, he obviously wasn’t running an illegal teleportation spell himself, he didn’t want to go. The magic looked purple to you but you didn’t get an especially close look at it, being that you were more concerned with stopping it from abducting him.

Sollux can teleport people, his magic shows up blue and red so perhaps you could have misidentified that as purple and this could all be some foolish prank. You doubt it though, that’s not really like him and even if Sollux did want to do that he was very explicit before about getting Karkat’s permission, an indication that he needs it. Karkat clearly wasn’t giving his permission so you doubt it’s Sollux.

You still don’t have a better lead than Sollux, even if he isn’t responsible he’s likely the best chance you have of finding out what happened. A short sprint and an impatient elevator ride later and you’re at your brother’s door. The school technically never taught it to you but a basic unlocking spell for simple doors is something you learnt as a child. You just try not to do it because of people’s privacy, but this is an emergency.

“Sollux! Dave!” you shout as you burst into the room.

You wish to be purely descriptive here, not derisive. You do not mean this as a pejorative at all, but the fact remains that when you burst into your brother’s dorm room he does, in fact, scream like a little girl.

“Fucking HELL, Rose! What’s your problem?!” Dave snaps at you.

“Is Sollux back? Please tell me he’s back.” you beg, kicking the door shut behind you.

“No? Why?” he says.

You slump against the door, if you don’t have Sollux then this is going to be a lot harder.

“Shit.” you whisper and massage your temples.

“Shit isn’t an answer to that question. Why do you need him so bad that you burst in here like the kool aid man, huh?” Dave asks. He was midway through washing dishes, he has soap bubbles up his arms that he’s wiping off with a kitchen towel.

“Karkat vanished. We were in class, we left-” he followed you because you stormed out like a foolish, petulant child and now he’s gone.

“-we got outside the tower and he got stuck to the floor, a circle sprung up. I tried to get him out of it but it teleported him off to somewhere else. I don’t know what else to do, I thought maybe Sollux would know what to do.” you say.

“Did you check his room? Maybe he’s using magic without knowing what he’s doing and he teleported himself.” Dave suggests, though his expression isn’t as calm and reassuring as he’s plainly trying to be.

“I didn’t.” you admit.

Dave gestures to the door and the two of you hurry out, down the stairs and after a little fiddling with your key you get back into your own dorm. You could have just magically unlocked the door but you don’t think of that until you’re already opening it with your key. Stupid. You’re being scatterbrained out of panic, that won’t help Karkat.

You call for Karkat, he’s not in the main room. His bedroom door is ajar and you push your way in there as Dave takes the bathroom. Karkat’s room is tidier than your own, it always is, but it’s also devoid of Karkat. Rushing across the way you open your own bedroom door, you don’t expect him to be in there but it’d be remiss of you not to look inside. It saddens but doesn’t surprise you to find that your room is empty as well.

“So he’s not here. We’ve got to do something about this, we’ve got to go to mom.” Dave says, his voice quiet.

Perhaps you ought to consider the police, but there will be investigations and it’ll take time. Who knows where Karkat is? You can’t just abandon him, he doesn’t have anyone else except you and your friends. Who knows if the police would even find him? No, Dave’s right, this is a magical problem and you need magic to solve it.

“I’ll gather some of his things, take his toothbrush and sentimental items. Anything that might help her to get a lock on him could only be of use at this point.” you say with a nod.

“I’ll go tell June what’s happening. Meet back here in five?” he suggests.

You nod in agreement and Dave leaves.

Karkat’s toothbrush and ineffectual hairbrush are in the bathroom. Magic done from hair, blood, nails and the like is some of the oldest magic but it’s incredibly powerful. If you have this it should be easier for your mother to lock onto Karkat’s physical body, since she doesn’t know him as a person it’ll be his effective subject address for the spell.

Going into his bedroom instead you have a look around. You try not to pry but these are rather unique circumstances and you’re reasonably sure he will forgive you transgressing his boundaries to bring him back from wherever someone abducted him to.

The thing is that Karkat’s room is mostly bare of personal effects. You need something emotionally important, something that his spirit will cling to in order to make locating him easier. He spends a lot of time on his laptop, he probably values it because of the cost at the very least so perhaps you can take that. His bookshelf seems like a more promising avenue for emotional items. You scan the titles looking for something well read and well loved.

One book stands out near the top of the pile, its comparatively thin spine is creased over and over but it’s still clear enough to read the title.

All you need is kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka

Interesting. You wiggle it out of the stack of books and note that the cover of it looks more like something off of a manga book than a novel of any kind, a brooding hero in a mech suit with guns on the cover. Not something you would have thought would appeal to Karkat. His other books are a mixture of classic or widely acclaimed literature, trashy romance and self help books relating to memory loss. This book is an anomaly.

Flicking through it you see that a good number of the pages are dog eared and the paper feels smooth and well worn like it’s been in and out of a bag countless times. You flick to a random page and read.

You try not to think of this as a form of scrying. Back before The Event broke your ability to see the future you would find flashes of insight gifted to you from the strangest prompts. Seeing order in chaos, meaning out of meaningless. You endeavour not to do this here, lest you risk doing to Karkat’s book what you did to the teacup and those tarot cards.

You open a page and read.

“there were only three kinds of battle to begin with: fucked up, seriously fucked up, and fucked up beyond all recognition. No use panicking about it.”

Hm, not exactly in keeping with his other reading material but certainly good advice for right now. You cannot panic. If you were to get literary in this situation you could quote the Dune monologue about fear, it truly is the mind killer and you can’t afford that now. Regardless of whether you expected to find this here or not you don’t think Karkat would have kept this book that’s so discordant to the rest of his collection if he didn’t value it in some way. That means it’s a sentimental item and it’s useful to you.

You will get Karkat back, no matter what you have to do.

“So June and Jade have insisted they’re coming with.” Dave announces from the door.

June is barely welcome in your house and Jade doesn’t know about your mother at all. Unfortunately June has that look on her face that tells you that she’s not taking no for an answer and quite frankly you do not have the time to waste arguing with her.

“Fine.” you sigh and put Karkat’s book in your satchel of holding.

“You booked the tickets?” Dave asks you as you walk to the door.

“I can. Jade, do you have your ID on you? June?” you ask.

June pulls a face as she rummages in her bag but comes up with the right ID, as does Jade. You take both and open up the port website. Goodness knows that you and Dave have bought enough tickets back to New York since Sollux disappeared, you can navigate their site with ease now and your information is already pre-filled.

“Shouldn’t we leave Karkat a note in case he comes back here when we’re gone?” Jade suggests.

“That’s a really good idea.” Dave says and the two of them start drafting a note to leave on the table as prominently positioned as they can.

“Your mom will know how to get him back.” June reassures you softly, her warm hand settling on your shoulder.

You nod and swallow around the lump in your throat. You keep going through the teleport booking system as Jade and Dave finish their note and you all start walking to the campus teleportation circles. When you arrive you’ve booked your tickets and got your confirmation in.

The university staff member doesn’t even bother asking you and Dave half of the ID related questions, you’re both practiced at this by now. He does check out Jade and June though and when he’s satisfied he takes the four of you into a room and sets up the teleportation. Mostly this small setup just shuttles new students and academics back and forth, it’s not a major port like the one you’re going to in New York.

The trip there is simple, you have no luggage beyond your satchel of holding and you and Dave can navigate the port on the other side just fine. You tune out in the taxi ride as Dave and June delicately explain your mother’s… situation. You don’t care to hear it, nor to see how Jade might look at you now.

Karkat had been so kind and understanding about the whole thing, he wasn’t pitying you for it or acting like it was something contagious. Perhaps having memory loss as severe as he does gives him some empathy for your mother’s mental deterioration. When your thoughts spiral into wondering what you’ll do if you never see him again you distract yourself, bite the bullet, and call your mother.

You lean against the cab door with your phone held to your ear, it rings for a little while before she picks up.

“Hello, who is this?” she asks.

“Mother, it’s Rose. I’m on my way home, I’ll be with you shortly.” you inform her.

“You were just here.” she says.

“I need some magical help, something’s happened to a friend of mine and we need your advice on it. Someone teleported him away.” you tell her, hoping the information will pique her interest. She loves puzzles.

“Oh? How interesting.” she says slowly, you’re sure she’s already thinking on the problem.

“I’ll tell you everything when we get there. Dave is with me and… and also June and a friend of ours from school. She lives with June, fae girl called Jade, we’re friends and she’s lovely.” you say. Your eyes are squeezed shut as if that could in any way shield you from what’s coming next.

“No. No, no, no, absolutely not. I won’t have people in my house! The barriers- you don’t know who they are, it’s not safe. You can’t bring them.” your mother insists.

“Mom-”

“They’re always watching, trying to get in. To get to you- you don’t even know if they’re human and that June isn’t what she says she is. Just because you’re friends with this other girl doesn’t mean- you don’t know who she’s WORKING FOR Rose!” she snaps.

“Mother.” you say firmly.

“June has never done anything wrong, she’s not lying about anything. The only thing she says that isn’t true is that her father is secretly some kind of clown. We’ve been friends for years, she’s been over to the house a lot. Dave and I will keep them supervised one hundred percent of the time, I promise. But they know Karkat, they want to help rescue him. They know who he is as a person and you know how important that is.” you tell her calmly. You don’t want to give into her paranoia but compromises are your best bet here.

Your mother makes an uncertain noise and hangs up the phone.

You’re not turning around now so you just grit your teeth and resolve yourself to doing this.

When you get to the edge of the property you take Jade’s hand in yours and Dave takes hold of June. You pull them over the line with a fizz of the defenses over your skin. It’s still a ten minute trek through the woods to get to your house but your mom has ways of watching.

“She’s just scared of outside people is all, sometimes she’s better. More lucid or whatever.” Dave explains, his voice going too quick in a way that belies his nervousness.

“My grandpa got a little weird before he eventually died. Sometimes this kind of thing just happens, it’s okay.” Jade says sweetly.

You take her up the rocky path towards your house. Its pure white walls and brutalist architecture might seem impressive to some, but you know of the wards baked into the very stone of the walls. You have seen the spells inscribed in rocks that border the property, the interconnected magical apparatus that keeps this house isolated from everything.

Your mother hasn’t left the grounds of her hidden estate in seventeen years, it took so much convincing for her to let you leave at all. Dave somehow talked her into it after The Event, though you don’t know how he managed, that memory like so many is lost to whatever happened. Perhaps she pitied you for the loss of your sight and wanted you distracted, maybe even she didn’t want you becoming like her.

It’s not as if she’s unhappy here. Your mother has a good amount of woodland that’s protected enough for her to feel safe in it, and the waterfall is lovely in the summer. She has a little gym, a pool, her vast library and her laboratory. She watches movies, reads books. When she’s doing well she seems perfectly happy, it’s only when you run into the shattered splinters in her soul that there’s a problem. It isn’t her fault, you know it isn’t, but it makes her difficult to deal with and you’re embarrassed to expose others to her behaviour.

You know it isn’t her fault and you shouldn’t be ashamed. You repeat this over and over to yourself. It’s an illness or an injury because of her work, her genius took her too close to the sun and it burnt her. She’s done more than most people could in ten lifetimes. You ought to be proud, and you are in fairness. You’re just ashamed to admit how much you wish she wasn’t like this. How you wish you could bring friends to your home without it being a federal fucking issue.

Your head snaps up as you see the white coated figure of your mother rushing down the path to you.

“No, no, they have to leave. They can’t be here.” your mom insists.

“Mom, please, my friend is missing. He’s my roommate, his name is Karkat and he doesn’t have anyone else. Someone magically abducted him.” you tell her desperately.

Dave lets go of June’s hand to step forward and try to reason with your mom. He’s always had a better way with words with her than you. June slinks behind you, your mother’s always accused her of hiding information and being involved in some secret plot that she refuses to elaborate on. It’s not June’s fault that your mother’s paranoid mind fixates on her. In your opinion her dislike of your first real friend is a plain case of her trying to project negative qualities onto June in order to justify keeping you with her. You doubt she’s purposely trying to isolate you, it all seems pretty subconscious to you, but her paranoia just feeds into it. It’s hardly fair on June, who’s never done anything wrong.

“Please, he’s our friend. He doesn’t remember anything before The Event and he only went to Salem University so-” Dave starts.

“So he could infiltrate your group and sell you out!” your mom snaps.

“What- no. He didn’t even apply to go there, he just got the invitation to attend. He didn’t plan shit. Rose befriended him, not the other way around. And- and Sollux trusts him! You trust his judgement, right? Besides the guy’s harmless. One time I saw him moving a worm off of the sidewalk so no one would step on it. He works in the library, he’s our friend.” Dave lists off pretty much everything he can think of to try to sway your mom to his side.

You note that he leaves out his gargantuan crush on your roommate, but you doubt it’d take your mom any time at all to pick up on that. Dave isn’t exactly good at keeping secrets.

“Look at him.” Dave urges her, holding up his phone to show her a picture of Karkat.

“It’s _important_ that we find him.” June says from behind you. You turn and look at her but she seems to just be trying to stare down your mother

“Surely someone powerful enough to just take him is someone we should be concerned about. What if the same happened to us?” you try that angle with your mother, perhaps her protectiveness with you might kick in and she’ll agree to help.

“He doesn’t even know what he is, he doesn’t remember anything or have any family. Sollux knows what he is but he can’t say and all we know is his voice does this loud thing sometimes and fire doesn’t burn him.” Dave goes on.

Something flickers over your mother’s face, a dawning realisation.

“And he was just… invited to join the university?” she asks slowly.

“Yes? We said that.” Dave nods.

“Right. Come with me.” your mother nods and turns around sharply. She starts walking to the house like she’s on a mission so the rest of you can do little else but follow.

“I brought some of his things with me, his toothbrush and some of his sentimental things.” you call after her.

You hurry up the path with the others behind you, when you get to the front door your mom opens it and takes an immediate turn down to the lab, taking the stairs with confident and familiar steps.

“Whoa, I love your house.” Jade whispers in awe. You side eye the ghastly twenty foot wizard statue that you despise so very much. It’s lurking in its own atrium right within eyeshot of the front door.

It’s abhorrent.

You rush down the stairs to the lab after your mother, already putting your hand in your satchel as you go.

“Spell for locating named nonhuman entities… I know it’s- ah!” your mother perks up and stops flicking through her book.

“Dave, sweetheart, would you get the globe from the library for me? Thanks.” she says without looking up from her book.

“Right, I’ll just… uh, do that. June could you help me?” Dave asks. June nods and the two of them head off.

“Uh, Mrs Lalonde wh-” Jade starts.

“I’m not married.” your mom says sharply and sideyes Jade.

“Ms. Lalonde. What do you do down here? This is a really high tech looking magic lab.” Jade notes. She’s quite plainly trying to make conversation and Jade is friendly to a fault. Unfortunately…

Your mother narrows her eyes at her from over the edge of her book, her gaze suspicious and accusatory.

“I’m not going to tell you what I’m working on, I don’t know who you’d tell. Just stay there and don’t touch anything.” she tells her.

“I’m so sorry.” you whisper to Jade.

“Rose I need his full name, the correct spelling. Also, you mentioned you had some things of his.” your mom says.

You step forward and write out Karkat’s full name and take out the things you took. Your mother at least seems to approve of your forethought. Dave and June lumber back into the room with the large globe carried between them, although Dave seems to be struggling with the weight of it more than June is.

“Just here, please.” your mother indicates a clear spot on the ground.

The two of them set the globe down and step back. With an easy wave of her hand bright pink light flares up in a circle over the floor. The edges fill themselves in with ~ATH coding, writing out Karkat’s name. Like a fractal, smaller circles spawn off from the main one and your mother gestures for you to place Karkat’s items there. Four more slightly larger circles appear around the edge of the main circle.

“Stand in here and focus on your missing friend. Any details you can hold in your mind are good, what he sounds like, the things he’s said, how he looks. The image in your mind needs to be clear.” she instructs you.

She sounds so normal now. The competent witch that ran circles around everyone else in her field, the mind of a century firing all all cylinders again. It’s wonderful to see, for now at least.

You stand in your circle and allow your gaze to soften, not really looking at anything in particular. Instead your sight is turned inwards to focus on your friend.

From details you build a picture of him. The way he always seems so tuned in to how you feel and considerate of what you’re thinking. For all his tendencies to be rough around the edges and speak tactlessly at times he’s a genuinely conscientious person. He seems so pleased whenever people choose to spend time with him, so deeply lonely and missing connection with other people. He’s funny, he teases your brother and clearly holds quite the candle for him. But when he interacts with Sollux you get to see that sharpness of wit and mind within him. He clearly enjoys goading Sollux and their interactions are incredibly fascinating and funny. You’ve never seen Sollux put so much effort into antagonising someone before and Karkat’s behaviour around Sollux is unique to him.

Karkat is talented, hardworking and alone. It pains you to think that if he doesn’t come back, if you don’t find him that the only people in the whole world who will miss him are in this room. Well, this room and wherever Sollux is.

You feel the spell pull and hear the globe spinning quickly. Just as suddenly as it started it stops.

“What the fuck?” your mom says and with a simple gesture the globe in the circle rotates.

She examines the whole thing and then walks along her circle, staring at the words she has written down.

“Where is he then?” Dave asks.

“Nowhere on Earth. The spell identified him as an existing person that you know and searched the Earth but came up with nothing. Wherever he is, it’s not here.” your mom tells him.

“What does that mean? Is he dead or on another plane of existence?” June asks.

“Possibly. Stay where you are, let me re-write this.” she says and the text around the circle starts changing, it goes through a few revisions before she seems satisfied.

“What’s this one going to do?” Dave questions her, turning his head to look at the words as if he can read it any better than you can.

“Last location. Alright, let’s do this again. Think about him.” your mother tells you and so you call Karkat to mind again.

The globe spins in your peripheral vision and then screeches to a halt with a flare of pink light.

“Gotcha. Where were you?” your mom says, waving the circle away and leaning over the globe. She makes a thoughtful noise and walks off to a nearby bookshelf and starts flicking through things. You hurry to the globe and have a look. There’s a bright shaft of light coming out of the globe, it’s on the other side of the world to where you are now. What’s he doing there?

“Wait is that… those are the himalayas, right?” Dave whispers. His fingertips trace the mountains painted onto the globe.

“Everest is the highest point on the planet, perhaps he was taken somewhere from there? Somewhere that required that kind of height or… I don’t know.” you really have no clue where to go from here.

“So we know he’s not dead, right? If he’s somewhere else?” Dave asks.

“No, we don’t. He could be somewhere else because his spirit has moved on. If someone dropped him on Everest and he died there we’d get this result too. I need to find the right spell to rule that out. Rose, I need that toothbrush and hairbrush.” your mom says, holding a hand out as she continues reading through her book with the other.

“What are you doing?” you ask as you grab Karkat’s things.

“I need to synthesise more of his cells, it’ll work best with his hair since those are dead. Then I need to do some math to work out exactly how many I’m looking for. I need to search for any concentration of dead cells bigger than what I synthesise within a small space, enough to rule out every hair he’s shed as a false positive but it should pick up his body if it’s been anything short of atomised. If it can’t do that then he’s not dead on Earth.” your mom explains as she walks over to her alchemy setup on the far corner of the room.

“Can’t you just search the other planes of existence like you did this one?” June calls after her.

“For a start, as you well know, there are thousands of other planes. With no idea where he’s gone and no map of each one it’d be nearly impossible to find him. If I knew where he was that’d be one thing but I don’t. For a second it’s better to rule out this plane entirely first.” your mother says sharply. Why exactly June should have known any of that you don’t know.

“Of course, if I knew what he was exactly it’d be easier to find him.” you mom says, still staring at June.

“Karkat doesn’t know what he is.” June repeats, you’ve already told her this.

Your mother just turns away with a tut and starts moving things about on her table, pouring liquids into vials and other such things.

“This will take time. You don’t need to be in here.” she says.

That’s code for ‘get the hell out of my lab’. You and Dave get your guests back upstairs and you close the door to the lab behind you.

“I’m sorry about her.” you apologise to June who just waves your words off. She knows what your mother is like by now.

Dave is leading the way to the main sitting room and he falls onto the sofa with a deep sigh.

“You know what I don’t get? Who would do this to Karkat? He doesn’t know anything from before The Event and even though he’s an ornery little shout machine I don’t think anyone would ever want to hurt him. Why would someone just kidnap him like this?” Jade says and sits down by Dave.

“He doesn’t even know all that much magic to defend himself, not beyond the power of yelling really loud.” June adds.

“Cool, cool, I don’t want to think about how he’s alone and basically defenseless anymore, thanks. I’m just gonna turn this on instead.” Dave says in a tight voice and turns the TV on. You settle in place next to June with a heavy heart. You know that your mom will do what she can to find Karkat but if he’s on some different plane and you don’t know what it is then your options for finding and helping him are limited. Don’t people say that the odds of getting a kidnapping victim back alive decrease drastically as time goes on?

The TV flicks on to the news.

“-and utter chaos here in Nara, Japan. Six hours ago we lost touch with the magi-archeologists on the dig site and an hour after that when technical difficulties had been ruled out rescue workers headed in to find out what had gone wrong. As soon as they entered the underground tunnels the team on the ground up here lost contact with them as well.” the reporter says. She’s standing on a rain slicked Japanese street and behind her you can see police officers and high ranking witches from the Japanese Magical Government Service Department. You recognise the symbols on their collars even from the distance the reporter is from them.

“The JMGSD at this point stepped in and with full protections sent in a camera to investigate. Thus far the most they have concluded is that some artifact in the dig site either possessed or drove the original team insane, causing the magi-archeologists to turn to murder and cannibalism. The rescue staff, though slightly affected, did not progress this far but unfortunately several of them were killed by the original team.” the reporter says gravely.

“What could DO that?!” Jade gasps.

“As suddenly as they arrived both the storm and the clowns have vanished. It is unclear whether the artifact within the dig site that caused this is still present and intact and ministers are in talks with the JMGSD about what to do with the artifact. Currently the survivors are in urgent care and the investigation is ongoing, we will keep you up to date with this story as it progresses.” the reporter says.

“That’s enough TV for now.” Dave says and turns it off. Certainly not the restful distraction he’d been hoping for.

It’s a waiting game, trying to think of anything you can possibly do as your mother works. None of you are in the right state of mind to work on classwork, not when it’s possible that Karkat could be dead on top of a mountain. You tried so hard to hold onto him before the spell yanked him away, you hope at least that he knew that you cared.

It’s solidly into nighttime when your mother appears in the room again, not that you hear her enter. You just sense her presence and feel Dave startle when he sees her.

“Are we ready?” Dave asks in a rush.

“He definitely isn’t human but I’m ready to do this spell. Come on.” she beckons you all back down to the lab and the process repeats again. The globe spins and you see two blinking lights on it.

“What does that mean? Is he- I mean has he-” Dave can’t say it.

Is Karkat dead?

“The flashing parts show higher than average concentrations of dead cells but not a larger amount than in the sample flask. One appears to be Salem, probably his room from shedding skin and hair and another in… Georgia?” she frowns.

“He used to live there before.” you tell her.

“Well, there you go. Same as Salem, then. Unless your friend was atomised and scattered over a very large area he’s not dead on this plane of existence.” your mom tells you.

“That’s good, I guess. Well what now, how do we get him back?” you ask.

“Unless I know where he is I can’t do anything. These kind of spells need an address to lock onto. I don’t know what you’re expecting kids but I’m not magic.” you mom considers this for a second.

“Okay, I am magic but I can’t do everything.” she adds.

“Hello?” a voice filters down from upstairs, a familiar voice. Sollux’s voice.

“Sollux! Down here!” Dave shouts.

The door opens again and you watch as Sollux peeks over the edge of the stairs to look down at all of you.

“You weren’t in your dorm. Why’s everyone here?” he asks and floats down. You see him look from your mom to Jade and June, he’s as surprised as you are that she’s tolerating their presence.

“Where have you even been? Karkat’s missing!” Jade shouts at him.

“He was with Rose and someone just abducted him away magically. Mom says he was on Everest but now he’s not dead and not on this plane of existence!” Dave adds urgently.

“Not dead on this plane of existence and also not on this plane.” your mother corrects. Implying that he could very well be dead on another one.

Sollux looks worn out but now very alarmed.

“I… need to go. Talk to a guy about a thing.” Sollux says tightly.

“What?! No! Sollux don’t go anywhere, we need your help!” Dave demands and Sollux pauses.

“I really need to-” Sollux tries.

“No! You’ve been gone without a word for weeks and our friend is missing, you can’t just go off somewhere for no reason. If you can do something to help then tell me what.” Dave insists.

Sollux wilts a little, he just can’t say no to Dave when Dave is really clear about what he wants. Sollux’s shoulders slump and he looks around at your group.

“He really didn’t come back?” Sollux asks.

“Back from where? What do you know?” you ask him suspiciously, you know evasive phrasing when you hear it.

“He… he managed to drag me to Everest. He wanted me to get him down. I couldn’t take him myself and I was already supposed to be somewhere else so I had someone else give him a ride, he should have been right back in his dorm a minute later at most.” Sollux admits.

“He isn’t.” your mom chips in.

“Who did you ask to take him for you?” June asks and steps out of her circle.

“I’m going to go ask and find out what’s gone wrong.” Sollux says hurriedly, not answering.

Dave jumps forwards and wraps his hand around Sollux’s tails, halting his escape.

“Who did you call?” Dave asks him.

“Ghostbusters.” June whispers softly. She is unashamed even when you and Dave both glare at her, Jade just seems confused and probably misses the reference. Actually, she’s lived with June for a while, no way she doesn’t know about ghostbusters, she’s just probably not as tired of it as you and Dave are.

“Sollux, who did you call to take Karkat back home?” Dave repeats his question once more. Sollux seems to squirm a little under Dave’s stare but he answers anyway.

“Spades Slick.” Sollux says, his volume low as if somehow Dave wouldn’t have heard.

“The guy who told your ex where you were so she could kill you? That guy? That’s the guy you gave Karkat to? Karkat who is missing? That guy?” Dave asks him incredulously.

“No, it’s not like that. Slick likes him, more than he likes most people anyway. Besides, he has no reason to take Karkat and keep him. He doesn’t know anything about anything, Slick knows that.” Sollux says defensively.

“So where is he and how do we get him back?!” Dave demands.

“I don’t know! Let me go somewhere and drag him out so I can ask him!” Sollux snaps back.

Dave lets him go and Sollux vanishes.

“So we know how he got off of the mountain then.” June says a moment later.

“I can’t believe that he thought that was a good idea, what the hell?” Dave mutters.

“Where has he even been all this time? Is no one concerned about that? What was so important that he couldn’t take Karkat home himself and instead outsourced it to someone else?” Jade asks.

“All very reasonable points. We suspect he was in Japan, based on Karkat’s prediction at least.” you tell her. The timing of things going the way they have in Nara and Sollux’s sudden reappearance can’t be a coincidence.

It takes a whole five minutes before Sollux reappears, looking very stressed out.

“So, good news and bad news. What do you want first?” Sollux asks.

“Give us the good news first.” Dave requests.

“I know where he is.” Sollux tells him.

“Bad news?” you prompt.

“I only kinda know where he is.” Sollux admits.

“That seems to contradict your first point a little, there.” June sighs.

“No, look, I do know what city he’s in and what plane. I just don’t know where exactly he is, neither does Slick and he’s looking for him. He dropped the ball on getting hold of Karkat and they got separated somehow.” Sollux explains.

“Well what plane is he on?” Jade asks, crowding around Sollux with the rest of your little group. Barring your mother of course who is leaning against a wall off to the side just watching.

“I… I’m trying to think how to explain this.” Sollux sighs, “Alright, you know when you mail a letter you put it in the letterbox, right?”

“Is the letter Karkat in this metaphor?” you interrupt.

“Him or anyone else. So, the letter is in the mailbox and a mailperson comes to pick it up. It goes to the sorting department and they work out where it’s supposed to go. When they know that what’s supposed to happen is a mailperson comes along and sends it on to its destination. Karkat’s in the sorting room, essentially.” Sollux explains.

“So can we not ‘return to sender’ him?” Dave asks.

Sollux makes an unhappy noise.

“It’s not… okay, extending this metaphor more. I can put a letter in a mailbox and I can recieve a letter if it’s addressed to a house I live at but I’m not a mailperson and they’re not going to let me just wander into a sorting room.” he continues to explain.

“So, what? Limbo? Purgatory? I assume your mailmen are psychopomps if their job is delivering people and given that Spades Slick is involved that seems likely.” you say.

“Limbo and purgatory are specific planes. That’s not what he’s talking about.” your mother interrupts.

“Yeah, those would be destinations. Like I said, it’s a sorting room. Except it’s a massive city full of dead people, and Karkat. If he has any sense he’ll be laying low because living people aren’t allowed there at all, not unless they’re psychopomps which I’m not. Also, if we’re wanting to make this more complicated, Aradia rules that plane of existence.” Sollux says.

You and Dave exchange a look. You both share the opinion that Sollux is definitively better off not dating a girl who would murder him. Not something you’d think would be a controversial take but Sollux clearly doesn’t agree. You have to wonder if Karkat’s association with Sollux would make Aradia consider him unfavourably if she caught him in a plane he definitely shouldn’t be in.

“What’s she going to do if she catches him?” you ask.

Sollux hesitates, clearly uncomfortable.

“He can’t be there when he’s alive, he has to leave. I’ve never known Aradia to kill anyone that wasn’t supposed to die right then and there, I’m the only exception because my death doesn’t count, it’s not permanent. But I don’t know when Karkat’s supposed to die, if it’s now then he’s done for. If he’s not she should just kick him out.” he explains.

“Should.” Dave repeats.

“There’s a chance she might… just kill him out of spite. Things aren’t really working right at the moment so what’s one more error? Or- I don’t know, I don’t think she would do that but I can’t say that she absolutely wouldn’t. We’re better off getting him out, but I don’t know how. I can theoretically get there if I die but it’s a massive city and I don’t know how to find him, also I don’t know if I can get a living person out of there. I don’t think I can. Spades Slick wasn’t supposed to take him fully into the city, he was just meant to use his office which doesn’t have the same rules.” he says in a rush.

If you do nothing there’s a chance Karkat will be returned to this plane just fine, but there’s a chance he could be killed. If you do something and work on a way to get him out then you stand a chance of rescuing him, but if in that time he’s returned just fine then you’ve lost nothing.

“Could you get a map of that plane?” your mother says suddenly, cutting over your thoughts.

“It changes a lot, it’s expanding more and more but I could probably get down there and find one for you if you really needed it. Why?” Sollux asks.

“If you give me a map I can give you his location, now that we know the plane. Then you could find him in person.” your mother explains.

“I could ask Slick if he has one, or try to get down there myself and steal one but it’s not going to do you any good. He can’t get out of there if he’s alive. It’s… look.” Sollux holds his hand up and in the air blue and red demonic letters glow into existence.

Your mom stands next to Sollux in silence for a few moments to read. You wish you knew the language enough to understand what’s written here.

“It would help if I had confirmation of what he is, but you can’t tell me, can you?” your mom asks, glancing down at Sollux.

“If you already know I can talk about it.” Sollux says. It’s not an answer but it also is, if your mother can guess right in one go then Sollux can ‘assume’ that she already knew. Your mom smiles deviously and leans down, cupping her hand around Sollux’s pointy ear so she can whisper without being seen.

“Yes, that’s exactly what he is.” Sollux confirms with a delighted little grin.

“That’s going to mean she can’t tell us though, isn’t it?” Dave says quietly.

“Most likely.” you nod.

“No, he doesn’t.” Sollux says to whatever else your mother is asking. His expression shifts to one of shock and embarrassment without any warning.

“ROXY! That’s not- I don’t- shut up! I’m going to go get your stupid map now!” Sollux blurts out and vanishes.

That leaves your mom standing there with a devious grin on her face.

“What?” Dave asks slowly.

“It’s so nice that you share.” your mom grins, although you don’t know what she’s talking about and from Dave’s puzzled look he doesn’t either. You hear a quiet snort of amusement from June’s direction but when you look she’s a picture of innocence.

A few minutes pass and when it becomes apparent that Sollux isn’t going to come back right away the four of you head back upstairs again.

“I hope Karkat’s managed to hide somewhere.” Jade says softly as she sits on the back of the sofa.

“He’s smart, so… I hope so.” Dave agrees unhappily.

“If we can locate Karkat then maybe this Slick guy can do something to find him and get him out.” you say. Sollux seemingly can’t bring him back to this plane but maybe the metaphorical mailman can in this situation.

Sollux pops out of nowhere with a sheet of rolled up paper in one hand and the other pressed to his side.

“What happened to you?” Dave gasps. You can see the gold seeping between his fingers, he’s bleeding.

“I’m fine, just a little stabbed. Slick is just like that and he’s pissed that Karkat’s loose in Midnight City. He can’t get Karkat for the same reason I can’t, also if Aradia catches him trying then he’s going to be in deep shit. He did get me a map though. Not sure how much good it’s gonna do. Come on.” Sollux leads you all back to the lab and you watch as he hands over the map to your mother.

“Here, we can’t get him out though. I think I’m going to have to bargain with Death herself to get him back.” Sollux sighs.

Your mother doesn’t even look at him, she’s too busy looking the map over.

“You don’t have shit to bargain with though.” she says.

“Ow, Roxy. Ow.” Sollux mutters. He takes his hand from his side and picks his blood damp shirt from his skin, seemingly healed now.

“I had a different thought. Dead people are the only ones in and out, you get in because you die. He can’t get out because he’s alive. Maybe we can just spoof that variable, transfer your death to him. You die in there but we act like it’s him, yoink him out. You res on your own, die again and peace out by yourself.” your mother says and folds up the map in a snap.

“Whoa, that’s a lot of Sollux dying that I’m not okay with. Especially for something that you just made up!” Dave protests, getting between Sollux and your mother.

“Everything is made up.” she says cryptically.

“Also I always get better. If Karkat actually dies down there, a for real death and not just an injury then he’s never coming back. I come back. The problem is that the amount of power it’d take to join the two planes together enough for a live person to go through is way more than I have.” Sollux says, turning his focus from Dave back to your mom.

“I’m sure you can find the power somewhere.” your mom tells him.

“I… alright. This is all theory, we have to write the actual spell out and see if we can make it work before we even try this.” Sollux sighs.

“What’re you waiting for?” she grins and marches off deeper into her lab.

“This’ll take a while. You should probably sleep.” Sollux suggests and then follows your mother.

That leaves you with the other three lingering uncertainly in the lab.

“I guess we’re really doing this then.” Jade says.

“In the morning, I bet. She might forget we’re here so we should probably go, if she finds you and me here overnight we could end up distracting her when she freaks out about it. My dad’s probably back by now, I’ll see if he can pick us up and we can stay at my house.” June suggests and pulls out her phone.

“Back from where?” Jade asks curiously.

“Oh, uh, business trip or something. Oh- hi dad! Yeah I’m at the Lalondes, can I get a ride home with a friend and stay the night? Yeah I- no she’s fine. Dad. Dad, don’t… fine.” June hangs up the phone and groans.

“Problem?” you ask.

“He’s going to pick us up, me and Jade can stay. He’s bringing a cake.” June grumbles.

“Ooh, cake!” Jade says happily.

“We should probably start walking if we want to get to the place Dad usually picks me up on time for him arriving. Call me tomorrow morning and let me know what’s going on, yeah?” June asks.

“Of course, man.” Dave nods and June picks him up in what looks like a spine cracking hug. She lets Dave down after a few seconds and moves onto you.

“It’s not your fault, you know. We’re going to get him back.” June whispers to you as she squeezes you tight. You’re going to put the tightness in your chest down to that hug and not your emotions about losing Karkat. Yes, that sounds sensible and astute of you.

June heads off with Jade and your house is as lonely as it ever was.

“This seems like a bad plan to me.” Dave mutters.

“What other choice do we have? We can’t leave Karkat there. It’s not as if we can ask anyone else for help, anyone we could ask is going to be far less powerful and capable than mother is. Her typical mental state aside, her magical theory is still as sharp as ever. If Sollux can keep her on track-” you say.

“And die in the process?” Dave interrupts.

“He offered, and as he said it’s not permanent. Would you rather it was Karkat?” you challenge him.

“I’d rather it was no one! What kind of impossible choice bullshit is this?!” Dave argues and folds his arms tightly. It makes him look like a petulant child.

“If you happen to come up with a method to get him out without anyone dying I would be delighted to hear it but until then this is the one plan we have. I’m sure you don’t want Karkat to die, especially given your quite plain feelings for him.” you say.

It’s conversational bait. Don’t think about this thing, think about your feelings for Karkat. He falls for it, of course because Dave is full of feelings despite the front he tries to maintain that insists otherwise.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Dave insists hotly.

“Oh, I’m sure. The pining way you look at him, the constant after class hangouts at that coffee place? All very disinterested and unfeeling, definitely.” you say with a smirk.

“Yeah, well, it’s not like anything would ever come from that. He’s not interested.” Dave mumbles.

You are entirely certain that is not the case, but you don’t want to breach Karkat’s privacy that much by just outright telling your brother that your roommate is clearly smitten with him. You need more information.

“And how do you know that? Did you ask him out?” you ask.

“Yes. No, kind of.” Dave says haltingly. He’s looking away from you now, his cheeks and the tips of his ears going pink. It always amused you with how much paler than you he is that when he’s embarrassed it shows up almost instantly and so very stark in colour.

“Explain.” you say and prod him in the arm with your fingertip.

“I asked him over to mine after our study thing, asked him to watch a movie with me. You know, like a date? But I thought that because it’s not explicitly a date that maybe I should be subtle and ask questions and he’s straight. Which means he’s not into me. I may have had to go hide in my room for a moment on the very flimsy pretence of getting a cool rock to show him.” Dave admits. He’s got his face in his hands now, clearly mortified.

The thing is that you know Karkat isn’t straight. This isn’t your supposition or anything, he’s very plainly told you that his attraction doesn’t seem to be based on gender at all and he just likes who he likes. He’s also been pretty obvious about his affections for Dave. So, the question you need to ask is how does Dave ‘know’ that Karkat is straight. You also want to ask exactly how his rock based diversion actually went down because you deeply regret not being able to watch that particular travesty in motion but you’ll make sacrifices for getting to the most vital information.

“And how do you know that he’s straight?” you ask.

“He doesn’t like Justin Timberlake.” Dave says miserably.

You stare.

You feel that false equivalence is not a strong enough term to describe just how wrong your brother’s insistance that ‘not being sexually attracted to Justin Timberlake’ is the same as ‘not being attracted to men’. Fucking stupid equivalence perhaps?

“A moment.” you tell Dave politely.

You turn away from him and pluck an appropriately plush and luxurious pillow from the sofa. It’s edged with a gold trim and tassels. Lifting it up you apply it to your face and loudly scream into it. Lowering the cushion you turn and face Dave once more.

“Please excuse me.” you tell him coolly and throw the cushion over your shoulder.

You hear it hit something and shatter but by the rules of Lalonde aloofness you cannot turn and look and Dave cannot comment on your actions, everything is as normal. Distantly a roomba is alerted to the mess and is dispatched to sweep it up.

“Perhaps you ought to consider that not everyone attracted to men is attracted to Justin Timberlake.” you suggest.

“Silence with your blasphemy.” Dave replies, deadpan.

“Mm. Perhaps also someone with a crush on you would have the good sense to not gush about an attractive celebrity when what he really wishes to convey is his feelings towards you instead. Someone with more tact than you.” you continue.

“Oh, you can’t be talking about Karkat then.” Dave snorts.

“Goodnight, my dearest and stupidest brother. I’m going to rest because I’m sure that our mental clarity and energy will be needed for this spell if what Sollux said is any indication.” you say and bid him goodnight. He can struggle with his feelings of attraction on his own.

Maybe if the two of them get married you can recall this in a wedding toast. Actually, you would definitely do that which makes it likely that Dave would try to stop you from giving such a toast and instead nominate Sollux to do it. Sollux does have a penchant for mischief though, you’re sure you could persuade him to tell it instead.

Before going to your bedroom you stop by the kitchen and put the kettle on to boil. Rifling through the cupboards produces some chamomile teabags. You pick a mug and lacking a saucer you grab a small plate. It’s easy enough to pull apart the top of the teabag and pour the loose chamomile into your cup. When the kettle hisses to let you know that it’s ready you pour water into your cup and go to your room.

You get ready for bed as the tea cools. You’ve had no luck seeing anything thus far, but now would be a really good time to see anything of the future. You slide into your bed and sit up crosslegged with the little plate balanced on one knee atop your blankets.

Drinking your tea you focus on the thought that Karkat is alone right now and probably scared, he needs rescue. Seeing is what you always did and you need it now more than ever. You need some indication as to how you can help him, if you’re going down the right path to do it or if you need to pivot to some other solution before it’s too late. You don’t care if you have to rely on these hokey methods, you’ll stoop to this if you have to.

You have about a teaspoon full of tea left. You swirl the mug exactly as instructed and look down, there’s plenty of chamomile dust and bits in the water. It made for a honestly quite mediocre and gritty tea but it left you with enough residue to read from, of that you are certain. Karkat, you think of Karkat. You upend the mug onto the plate with care and wait.

About a minute passes as liquid seeps out onto the plate and with bated breath you lift the mug. No tea on the plate. You turn the mug.

There’s no tea in the mug. It vanished again, SOMEHOW.

You just barely manage to resist the urge to fling the damned thing at the wall, instead dumping both on the carpet by your bed with a clatter. You flip the light off, roll over and angrily try to sleep.

When day breaks you pass your mother making coffee in the kitchen and head down into the lab alone to find Sollux there still working. There’s several whiteboards lined up and Sollux is staring one down intently.

“What’s the verdict?” you ask, coming closer.

“You know that old movie, The Fly? The one where the human splices himself with a fly? I think that’s what happened anyway, I haven’t actually seen it. We’re trying to make this spell regard every sentient thing within it as the same entity and then teleport Karkat out of there on my death without taking both of us and splicing us into one horrible thing.” Sollux says.

“~ATH relies on death for its triggering functions, yes? Could you not have the teleport only affect living creatures and activate it once you’re- oh no because you need Karkat to read as dead.” you realise your mistake almost as soon as you’ve said it.

“Thanks for summarising the last few hours of my work.” Sollux grumbles.

“Your work? What about mom?” you ask.

Sollux looks around, probably to see if your mom is within earshot.

“You know she’s worse when she’s tired. I convinced her to sleep at about three, she got up again at seven. It’s better than nothing.” he says softly.

“Kudos on being able to convince her.” you say in surprise. Your mother is as stubborn as you are so talking her into doing something reasonable that she doesn’t want to do is impressive.

“How was she without me here? I’m really sorry that I had to bail on you but I wouldn’t have gone if it wasn’t important.” Sollux asks quietly. His face is painfully earnest.

He’s always been kind to your mom and she’s never once protested at having him here, he’s the only person not related to her that she tolerates in this house, more than that she likes him. He’s always looked after her without complaint and they actually seem to enjoy each other’s company for what it’s worth. As much as you love your mother her condition can be… hard to handle. Sometimes she’s just too much for you to deal with and having Sollux and Dave to share the load means she gets the best of all of you. It’s why it always makes you livid when people suggest that all demons are naturally evil. Sollux is no more inclined to evil than the average human being is, which isn’t saying much, have you seen the shit humans do?

As far as you’re concerned he’s family, who cares that you’re not the same species?

“We managed, it was just the usual stuff. Her forgetting to eat or trying to cook things she shouldn’t. I caught her making alcohol in her alchemy setup one time, that was… a thing.” you sigh. She had a problem with that once. It’s entirely understandable, in specific amounts alcohol smooths out the shattered shards of her mind. It extends the focus she can get in her lab to the rest of her thoughts and life. The problem is that the dose varies so wildly based on so many different factors that it’s not a feasible treatment, not to mention the side effects and addictive nature of the stuff. You keep it out of the house now, but someone like your mom who can just conjour things she wants if she tries hard enough… well, it’s tough to keep things out of her hands.

“I saw the chairs in the dining room.” Sollux says.

Yes that had been quite the discovery on the day that she also cut your book in half.

“She got in one of her obsessions about dividing things in half, she even took a library book out although that turned out to not be a problem. Karkat found out, he was really sweet about it actually.” you admit.

“No shit.” Sollux snorts, as if you’d stated that the sky was blue. He turns his back to you again and looks at the whiteboard, though you suspect he’s just avoiding eye contact with you.

“Karkat’s good to a fault, he’s too nice to people. He doesn’t cut people out that he should, a stupid endless well of second chances. After everything he still called me to help him and look where that got him, idiot.” Sollux mutters.

It got him off of a mountain and it got multiple people working tirelessly to rescue him. You’d say that Karkat’s faith and trust was well founded there, but Sollux is prone to pessimism at times.

“I’m sure you’ll figure this out and when you know the answer the rest of us will give it all we’ve got to help you cast this spell.” you assure him and squeeze his shoulder. His tails gently curl around and squeeze your leg for a second a gesture of thanks and affection. Like you, Sollux is often subtle in how he shows his affection, unless it’s with Dave in which case Sollux is just clingy as fuck.

“Need to divide it in half.” your mom mumbles as she comes down the stairs into the lab with her coffee in hand. Oh no.

“I made progress.” Sollux announces.

Your mother walks over and looks the whiteboards over, especially in the places that Sollux points out.

“We need to cut this in two.” your mom insists.

“The spell?” Sollux asks.

“Make it two spells, in two. A loop in a loop, execute the second after the first.” she goes on and picks up a pen and starts to star certain sections of the code.

“That’s doable, complicated as fuck. If we can pull it off then it could solve some of our problems.” Sollux says thoughtfully. It’s interesting that there’s meaning behind her words for once, normally when she starts talking like this she’s just gone.

“If you separate it half is hidden behind the first.” she says nonsensically.

“I’ll… leave you two to it.” you say and back off.

Sometimes you just can’t watch this.

Upstairs Dave is up, although not dressed, and he’s staring at the sofa. Both halves of it. Your mother dearest decided to bisect the sofa before coming downstairs.

“The sofa’s not magical, right? We can just use that mending spell.” he says as he sips at his mug. It wouldn’t work on your library book because that was too full of its own magic to risk it. The furniture is mundane enough to be fine, though.

You walk off to look for the spell, stored away in a drawer for safekeeping. Taking it out you return to the sofa and press the paper to the sofa as Dave shoves the other half close enough for it to touch both.

“Hold up.” he says and comes around. Dave crouches at your side and sets his drink off out of the way, he presses his hands to the paper as well and with a little focus from you both the sofa snaps back together like nothing ever happened to it.

“She did the dining chairs too.” Dave says and picks his mug up again.

“I can get those.” you tell him. You stand up, spell in hand. You’ve had to repair more than a few things that your mother has done this to. Some things like glasses she’s broken when drunk or confused were too far beyond this spell’s capabilities and those you’ve just had to replace. This isn’t new to you. Dearly you wish it was but, alas, it is not.

“What if we can’t get him back?” Dave asks in a tiny voice.

“Mom and Sollux are making progress on a plan to rescue him, the spell is coming along well.” you say quite simply.

“And if it doesn’t work then what?” Dave asks.

“Then we find a new plan. Even if that plan is summoning up Sollux’s ex-girlfriend and fistfighting her to get Karkat back. He’s our friend and your beloved, we’ll fight to get him back.” you inform him. You will not be stopped, you will not back down and the rest of the universe can just get out of your way because you are on a mission.

“I- hey, I never said anything about love.” Dave says hurriedly, his cheeks pink.

Adorable.

“We’re getting him back, you can manage your feelings later.” you tell him and leave to go repair whatever else your mother has taken apart in the house.

Work on the spell takes time. You pass the time with schoolwork since you can’t be of practical help in the mission to rescue Karkat just yet. Dave is effectively down two partners on his three person project so you spend some time helping him work out the kinks in his spellwork so that he doesn’t fall behind because of this. You chat on the phone with June and Jade, keeping them up to date on the progress. They’re working on the BASIC project too so you don’t feel bad helping Dave. You’re missing alchemy class of course but you don’t care that much right now.

It’s not until the middle of the next day when Sollux finally comes out and tells you that they think they’re done with the spell.

“Call the others, we need as much power as possible. And when you’re busy doing that I’m going to sleep.” Sollux announces. He climbs onto the sofa next to Dave and pushes the notebook out of Dave’s lap and settles his head there instead. He curls an arm around Dave’s middle and tucks his face into his shirt.

Dave, who is long since used to Sollux’s behaviour, simply takes his phone out and starts texting the others one handed. His other hand rests on Sollux’s ribs, his hand idly petting his side there. He’s solidly asleep already. Demons don’t need to sleep so when he chooses to he can just do it on command, you would assume that it provides some benefit even if it isn’t needed.

Of course this is nothing new to you, studying Dave and Sollux’s behaviour both individually and together filled many of your notebooks when you were younger. They’re so psychologically fascinating. You’d call them codependent if it wasn’t for the fact that they don’t seem to try to control each other, it’s more that they just seem to deeply enjoy each other’s company. Who could blame you for finding them interesting? Especially with very few other people to interact with as you grew up.

You don’t relish bringing June and Jade back into your home, the ever present fear that your mother will have one of her turns and lash out at them hangs over your like some sword of Damocles. You try your best to keep them as far away from your mother as you can but when it comes time to actually cast the spell that Sollux and your mother have spent days working on then there isn’t much you can do.

Your mother’s work has always been complex but this is beyond what you’ve seen her do before. The floor is filled with rings upon rings, on the floor and the ceiling. The writing is small, neat and clear and seems to cover so much detail that you can barely wrap your head around it. Karkat’s things are placed in one section and the map that Sollux brought back is in another.

Heady incense fills the room and a vase of lillies is arranged in a very specific space. In other marked out areas there are alchemic components and the whole area is ringed with lit candles. Rising scientific methodology meets inscrutable mysticism.

Sollux is already in the circle when everyone else is being directed to their place, he’s crouched down adding a symbol of two wavy lines to the ~ATH code right near June’s area. He stands up and makes sure to stay within the inner circle of the two that ring him.

“Waiting on you, baby.” your mom says casually.

“Yeah, right.” Sollux nods. He casts a glance Dave’s way and winces.

“You might not want to watch this part.” Sollux advises him.

“Anything you’re going to have to do I’ll watch. If you really don’t think I should see it then maybe it’s not something you should do.” Dave tells him stubbornly. This isn’t a fight that’s going to go anywhere, Sollux needs to die to get to where Karkat is so it’s not negotiable, all the same Dave still doesn’t approve. Sollux hardly wants to upset Dave so he’d prefer it if Dave didn’t see, but Dave won’t turn away. It’s a stalemate.

Sollux sighs and produces a sword from nowhere. He shoots Dave one last pleading little look but it just bounces right back off of your brother’s shades.

“Alright.” Sollux mutters.

With a swift clean stab he runs himself right through the chest and keels over, bursting into burning gold before he even hits the ground fully. Jade and June both gasp in alarm and you can see the way that Dave cringes. Gold sinks into the floor and the text around the smaller circle bursts into life. The rings drawn onto the floor spin and the glowing text pulses in your mother’s bright pink magic.

“It’ll be a minute, there’s a time difference.” your mother explains.

A minute passes, then two. All at once the map in one circle starts to glow and the alchemic supplies seem to consume themselves, Karkat’s things take on a greyish to off white glow.

“Sollux has found him, he’ll make connection to the spell from that side and we’ll bring Karkat back here. There’ll be a pull and you gotta focus on him, give it what you got.” your mom says, somewhat confusingly.

Within the larger circle the smaller one that Sollux was standing in is still spinning slowly, it’s almost hypnotic in its gentle movements. At least that is until it jerks out of alignment and crashes into the outer circle by June. It starts to roll around, a wheel within a wheel or like gears meshed together until it gets to your mother.

She’s already kneeling down and when the circle reaches her she presses her long fingers to the spell and the second part of it flares into life. Hurriedly you focus on Karkat, drawing him into your mind. It’s hard to keep your concentration on him as the pull of energy from the spell is intense. It is as if gravity is suddenly stronger.

Everyone else seems to be affected as well and a wind that can only be magical whips around the circle, seeming to shape the red and blue light that’s flaring up through the lines of the spell. There’s no way it’s a natural breeze, you’re in the basement lab and there’s no windows down here.

The light burns brighter, blue and red intensely burning and within that light a shadow of a figure starts to appear. Then as suddenly as the light came it stops in a flash so bright you have to blink spots from your eyes. Karkat is laid out on the floor in the middle of the circle and where Sollux had been is just a tiny snake.

It… it worked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter's song is by The scary Jokes and Louie Zong


	10. Strange Magic

Dave and Rose’s mother has declared that she’s going to go off to cook, prompting a pretty panicked set of Lalonde twins to rush after her offering to help. You can’t believe that your friends went through so much to get you back, you can’t believe that Sollux apparently died TWICE to bring you back. 

You shuffle over to the freestanding fireplace and lean down to look at the glowing line on the coals. Sollux is a little coil of heat and glowing eyes. As you lean in his head perks up to look at you. 

“You died for me.” you say. 

Sollux’s little snakey body raises up a little higher from the tight coil of the rest of him and you wonder if he wants you to pick him up. 

“Twice, actually. You died for me twice.” you go on.

Sollux leans further over and so you dip your hands into the fire. As soon as you’re close enough he slithers over your fingers. His small body is dry, smooth and hot from the fire. It doesn’t burn you but you can feel that he’s really very hot. He slithers over your hand, raising himself up on your palm and stares at you with his tiny glowing eyes. 

You don’t want to talk down to him so you lift him up to your face. His little body sways slightly, almost like videos of snakes being charmed that you’ve seen on youtube before.

“I’m really grateful you know, I couldn’t have ever asked you to do something like that but you did. I-OW!” you yelp as Sollux lunges forward and bites your nose. Of course because he’s only little his fangs are tiny so it doesn’t do more than scratch the tip of your nose. 

Jerking back from him you hold your nose with your hand that is not currently holding a horrible bastard snake. Thankfully you’re not bleeding but your nose throbs painfully under your touch. 

“I’m grateful you saved my life and made a huge sacrifice doing it but somehow you’re still a total asshole and I utterly hate you.” you snap at him. 

Sollux freezes and then hides his face under a coil of his body in what you refuse to believe is anything like shame, you don’t think shame is an emotion that Sollux is even capable of feeling. 

“Listen, you bad tempered animated shoelace, do you want to go back in the fire or what?” you ask him a little waspishly. 

Sollux ducks out from under his tail and stretches his body back towards the fireplace. Because you’re not a complete asshole you gently put him back in amongst the coals. 

“Thanks for saving my life, you fucking jerk.” you tell him pointing your finger in his little snakey face.

A tiny forked tongue flicks out of Sollux’s mouth and swipes over your fingertip. You have zero clue for how to interpret that so you just shake your head and leave. 

The Lalonde’s kitchen is as fabulous and high class as the rest of their house seems to be, it was clearly designed for show with gleaming metal appliances, high windows and pure copper pots dangling from overhead racks in a way that you’ve only seen in movies. The classy nature of the place is undercut by you watching Dave try to stop his mother from dropping a plastic wrapped whole hunk of ham into a giant copper pot. 

“Mom, no don’t-” Dave tries but doesn’t manage to stop her in time. 

She walks off as Dave tries to fish the plastic covered ham out of the pot. 

“Karkat, a word.” Rose says quietly.

You step close to her, watching as their mother plucks some glass spice jars from a rack. 

“Running that spell to rescue you seems to have somewhat overtaxed my mother, she’s a little less well than she usually is. If you recall you offered to-” Rose pauses as the sound of glass shattering drags both of your attentions back to her mother. 

Dave is frozen, reaching for a pair of tongs off the wall to presumably pull the ham out of the pot. In his absence his mom has shattered a spice jar on the edge of the pot like an egg. She’s become confused about what she’s holding and did one food related activity when she should have done another, it’s heartbreaking.

“Anything you need.” you offer her quietly. 

“I think dinner is required, if you leave the property you’ll be able to catch an Uber into town and pick something frozen up that we can then just throw in the oven. I’m sure Sollux can show you the way, even if he can’t talk yet he can act as a compass. Besides I’d hate for mom to accidentally hurt him with him being so small and unable to defend himself.” Rose says softly. 

“Of course. If you think of anything else you need just message me.” you agree as quietly as you can so as to not attract attention. 

“Thank you, I really do appreciate it.” Rose smiles and turns her attention back to her mother again. 

You go back to the room you just came from and lean down to the fireplace and explain everything you just saw and heard to Sollux. He slithers off of the coals and towards you of his own accord and when you hold out your hand Sollux curls around your fingers without any fuss or protest. 

“I guess we’ll go then.” you say and Sollux bobs his little snakey head up and down. Alright you have rudimentary communication, you can work with that. 

It’s not hard to find the front door or to let yourself out but as soon as you’re out in the woodsy outdoors you’re unsure of where to go next. A flick of Sollux’s tongue across your fingers gets your attention and you look down to see him pointing his body off slightly to the left, when you turn that way he readjusts himself to be straight on down your fingers. Like a compass, just as Rose suggested. 

The walk is a little tough, you’re not the outdoorsiest of people. You don’t feel like people evolved for as long as they did and worked as hard as they did to invent buildings and cities only to tramp about in the woods. You could make this journey in silence but you’ve never been great at that. 

“So, have you… been a snake before?” you ask Sollux slowly and watch as he turns on your hand and gives you a look of despair and disdain that should not be possible for a snake to manage. 

“I mean, I know you said before that you could be different versions of yourself. Does that mean that this is a version of you or is this just some standard demon form when you’re out of power? Hey, hey, no don’t you dare.” you say as Sollux opens his mouth and leans towards one of your fingertips in a clear threat of biting. 

“It’s not as if I’m laughing at you or anything. I think you’re a nice looking snake, and you got to keep your two tone colour theme.” you reason and look over the blue and red patterning up his body. Everywhere that’s not patterned is a muted mustardy colour, like a non-metallic gold shade. It’s a pretty cool look, even if there’s no way he could be mistaken for a regular snake looking like that. 

Sollux directs you down a series of rocky steps and left on a forking path through the woods, it takes a few minutes which is more than enough for more useless babble to build up behind your teeth, just begging to be released. 

“Maybe it’s kind of shitty to have this conversation with you- or at you, when you’re like this but I’m doing it anyway. I know you’ve been going back all the time to look after their mom. I don’t think anyone was making you or bribing you to do it, I think you just did it because you’re a decent person. Not that it changes my stance on how deeply irritating you are but it does reaffirm my suspicion that you’re…” you frown as you think. 

“I was going to say a jerk with a heart of gold. But firstly I don’t even know if anatomically you actually have a physical heart most of the time in your normal form and secondly I’ve seen your blood and it looks like everything with you is gold. The metaphor still stands, I think, but you’re just a little more literal than you should be in this case.” you tell him. Sollux doesn’t bite but nor does he look at you, instead he’s just tightly coiled himself around your fingers. 

As it happens you finally make your way out onto the road so you pull your phone out. You take a look at the Uber app but find that it’s not loading your location. A soft bump on your finger attracts your attention to Sollux who seems to be indicating that you have to walk a little bit down the road still. You do as he indicates and sure enough a little way down the road the app picks you up. You hail a ride and sit down on a nearby fallen tree to wait. You rest your elbow on your knee and look at the little snake around your fingers. 

“See, the fact that you can’t talk right now doesn’t make a lot of difference to me because I know you wouldn’t give me any useful answers to what I’m going to say anyway.” you tell him. Sollux turns his head to look at you and flicks his tongue in the air, seeming to almost curve it in your direction. 

“I know you were in Japan. I know you had something to do with that dig that went so badly, I saw Latula on the news with those dead archeologists right before they died. When I dragged you over to help me you were covered in blood that wasn’t yours.” you state simply. These are just all things you know. Sollux keeps looking at you, it’s not as if he can say anything.

“If I had any common sense that should terrify me and I should stay away from you. But you saved my life and you look after Dave and Rose’s mom out of the goodness of your heart. I have no idea what you’re doing and even if you did tell me, or could tell me I might not understand it because of all the things I don’t know or remember.” you say with a sigh. 

“I know that much and even if I don’t understand this I think you’re a good person despite all of your assholeish qualities. So I guess what I’m saying is that I’ve got faith in you.” you tell him. 

Right before your eyes Sollux’s little snake body grows longer, now if he was laid out in a straight line he’d go from your fingertips to a bit past your wrist and down your forearm a little. Sollux appears just as surprised as you are, looking over his longer body with curious flicks of his tongue. 

You hear a car approaching and Sollux quickly winds himself around your wrist and stays still, like he’s a very convincing snake themed bracelet and not a real snake. If anything his unusual colouring probably helps with that disguise. You hop in and make smalltalk with the driver. He’s got one of those universal phone charger flail things, the one with one usb port that goes into his car and then a hundred different outputs for everything you could possibly need. You technically haven’t charged your phone in quite a few days so you won’t say no to free power. 

You’re careful as you travel to not accidentally squish Sollux against anything, he might be pretending to not be a real snake right now but you’re pretty sure he wouldn’t appreciate you banging him on things or smushing him against your knee. 

The driver takes you through some honestly beautiful scenery and about twenty minutes later drops you at a grocery store near the edge of the main town. You think that if you’d wanted to go into the actual town you’d have had to travel even longer, the twins are really isolated out here, huh? 

Shopping alone is not a new experience for you, nor is suddenly screaming far too loud a public place. However you’re not usually trying to wrangle a shopping cart out of the corral only to scream because a snake just slithered up your sleeve.

Several nearby car alarms start going off from the force of your voice and you’ve got one hand over your mouth, not that it’ll do any good now. All you can focus on is the cool slithering body winding its way up your bare arm underneath your sweater. He reaches your shoulder and you squeak in alarm as Sollux slides over your collarbone to reach your neck. He slips his body around the back of your neck and then rests his little snake head in the collar of your sweater. 

“The fuck is your problem?!” you hiss at him.

Sollux simply flicks his tongue at you. 

“As soon as you’re not technically all neck I’m going to strangle you, just you wait.” you promise him venomously. 

Sollux flicks his tongue at you, he’s no help at all. 

“You suck and I hate you.” you inform him and wrench a shopping cart free. Sollux isn’t big enough to wrap all the way around your throat so you’re in no danger of him strangling you but his body does tighten around your neck as if to threaten that anyway. 

“Yeah, you don’t scare me.” you sneer at him and push your cart towards the store. 

Through necessity you’ve become passable at cooking, but you get the feeling that Rose specified things that basically cook themselves because that way her mom won’t try to ‘help’ in the cooking process. They may well distract her from the food cooking in the oven and then just give her cooked food, someone actively preparing food in the kitchen and cooking it may be harder to hide. Rose knows best and if that’s the kind of thing she asked for that’s what you’ll get for her. 

You find an array of frozen pizzas and meals, a few refrigerated things of the same and some easy breakfast and lunch type food. You don’t know exactly what they’ll prefer or how long their mother will be needing extra care for so it’s better safe than sorry. 

“This one or this one?” you say under your breath, holding two boxes of frozen food up before you. The tip of Sollux’s tail on the left side of your neck twitches twice against your neck so you keep that one and open the freezer door again to replace the one you don’t want. As you shut the door you see that there’s a woman staring at you. 

“Is that a snake around your neck? I don’t think you can have a snake in the store.” she says uneasily. 

“This isn’t a snake, it’s a six foot four demon who rescued me from Mount Everest.” you tell her completely honestly. 

The busybody woman’s face scrunches up in a disapproving way and she tuts at you, stalking off muttering something like ‘well, really!’ under her snooty breath. 

“She asked.” you say under your breath and work hard to keep your amusement silent. 

All the same it’s probably best that you pay and leave as soon as you can, you don’t want the locals giving you shit. You head to the checkout and leave your phone filming the groceries that you’ve bought as you drop them into your bag of holding. As wonderful as your magic bag is, if you can’t mentally recall what you put in it then you can’t magically recall that item either. By filming your shopping you can replay it when you get back to Rose and Dave’s place and take things out without worrying that you’ve got a mini pizza stuck in your bag of holding for the rest of time. 

Getting a ride back is pretty easy although it’s hard to convince the driver that you want to be dropped off in the middle of nowhere. As far as anyone else is concerned there’s no house out here at all, it’s just a blank road by the woods. In fact, even as you stand by the road you can’t see any sign that the house is there at all.

You take Sollux off of your neck so he doesn’t pull that trick of slithering down your sleeve again and let him navigate you back to the house. As you walk it’s funny, if you’re not paying attention you can feel how your feet want to curve your path away from the one Sollux is leading you to. The amount of magic that must be around this place to subtly keep people away is massively impressive. You wonder if even top secret government facilities can pull this off, you bet not. Doctor Lalonde was the best witch of her generation for a reason. That said, she did just help Sollux get through to another dimension, so somewhat fractured mind or not she’s still brilliant. She is brilliant in the present tense.

Knocking on the front door of the impressive house produces one slightly frazzled looking Dave. 

“I have food and your Sollux.” you inform him, holding Sollux out to him. 

“Oh, yes, my Sollux. That Sollux I have, none of that off brand Captor stuff, only got the real authentic deal.” Dave rambles and scoops Sollux out of your hand. Sollux curls around his wrist and nuzzles his face into Dave’s palm. 

“He got bigger too, so I think he’s getting better. I also brought food.” you tell him and step into the house. 

“Oh, man, that is awesome news. Thanks for the food as well, let us know how much it was and we can pay you back.” Dave offers and shuts the door behind you. 

“You guys travelled across the country to get your mom and Sollux to help break me out of another dimension, I think this is the very least I can stretch to by way of a thank you.” you snort. 

“You’d do the same for us though.” Dave points out. 

“Of course I would.” you tell him. 

Dave falls silent and the air between the two of you feels heavy, charged with… something. You’re not sure what to say so you desperately try to pretend that you don’t feel whatever this is that you are feeling. 

“Besides I can absolutely afford to buy some food for you guys since I’ve been working at the… library.” you trail off as a horrible feeling floods you. 

“The library that I had shifts at the last few days that apparently passed when I was trapped in another dimension. Oh fuck.” you whisper with mounting horror. 

“Shit, I didn’t think to call them. I don’t know if Rose did either.” Dave curses quietly. 

You quickly scramble for the phone and call the library’s office number, the one that goes to Ms Paint’s office and not the one you share with Kanaya. It rings three times before Ms. Paint picks up. 

“Hello, Lalonde Library.” she greets you pleasantly. 

“Ms. Paint! It’s Karkat, I can explain, I’m so sorry I missed-” you say in a rush but she talks over you. 

“Oh, Karkat! I’m so happy to hear from you. My husband did tell me that you were stuck in his plane and he was looking for you, I suppose you must have found your way out.” Ms. Paint says cheerily. 

“Uh, yes. My friends and Doctor Lalonde got me out. Spades Slick told you I was in there?” you ask. Dave’s eyebrows raise in surprise and you watch as Sollux rolls his whole head instead of just rolling his eyes. 

“Of course he did, sweetie. Now, normally I’d say that if you can’t make it to work you have to call but there’s really no phone communication between planes of reality like that so you’re more than excused. Will I be seeing you in work tomorrow?” she asks. 

“Can I come in tomorrow?” you repeat.

Dave nods and mouths ‘yes’ at you. 

“Yes, I can. I’ll be there. I’m really sorry about all of this Ms. Paint.” you apologise. 

“Nonsense. I’ll see you tomorrow then, bye!” Ms. Paint says cheerily and hangs up. 

“Every time I talk to my boss I feel like the conversation goes in an entirely different direction than I was expecting.” you say a little weak from shock. 

“Well I’m glad your job is okay, come on.” Dave says and nudges you towards the kitchen. 

It seems like he and Rose have cleared up from their mother’s culinary misadventure and the place is back to gleaming spotlessness. You set your bag down on the very fancy kitchen island and pull your phone out, going up into your gallery to find the video so you can pull what you need out of the bag. That’s your plan anyway, but even as your thumb hovers above the video frame your eyes are caught on several glitched out photos on your screen. Even the previews for them aren’t working right. 

“What the shit?” you say under your breath and open one of the glitched images.

Your phone flickers the image just a glitching stuttering grey white and black. This was one of the photographs from the changing room in Midnight City, you’re glad you listened to your instincts and wrote it all out by hand. 

“What is that?” Dave asks as you put your phone down and reach into your bag. 

“Photos I took in Midnight City, the place I got stuck in.” you explain as you pull your notebook out of your bag, you flick through it and find that the painstakingly careful drawings of the spell you took down are still the same. You didn’t lose that too. 

“Oh, weird.” Dave remarks. 

Looking over you can see that he’s got your phone in hand and is looking at the image and tapping at the screen. 

“I’m not surprised that the photo didn’t come out. Sollux has said before that going between planes can brick tech, not that he goes to hell ever but I guess some demons try it sometimes and they have to be careful with their electronics. But the weird thing is the date of the photograph, look. The date’s totally wrong, it’s like more than five years ahead.” Dave says, holding the phone up to you. Sure enough the date is out, yet when he flicks forward to your video and pulls up the information for that the date and time are correct. 

“Well time passed differently there. I swear I was only gone for a few hours but you said it was days, makes sense that the time would be a little sideways, right?” you reason. 

“Wouldn’t it be out more than that, though? That plane has to be as old as Death herself is and if she’s been around since life began then you’d think… I don’t know. Nevermind, it’s weird. Want me to play the video?” Dave asks. 

“Please.” you say. 

Dave plays the video and you’re able to quickly unpack the food from your bag. The two of you get started heating up the food that you’ll all be eating and put away the things you won’t. Your hands linger on a packet of cubed ham. 

“Sollux wasn’t super helpful with detailed questions and I don’t know what magical demon snakes eat. I know real snakes eat mice and stuff but they didn’t have that at the store, obviously. But maybe he’ll eat this?” you suggest, offering the packet to Dave and by extension Sollux since he’s around Dave’s wrist. 

“Oh, that’s really sweet of you man. He doesn’t actually need to eat usually, but maybe when he’s like this he could use the extra energy. What do you think, Sol?” Dave asks as he peels the packet open and holds out a chunk of the ham to Sollux. Sollux flicks his tongue at it for a second or two, seemingly assured as to the nature of the cubed ham he leans closer and noms it from Dave’s fingers. 

“Here’s a question I have never contemplated before: how much cubed ham is it wise to put in your magical snake best friend?” Dave wonders. 

“I can’t say I’ve ever faced that specific problem.” you tell him and pick your phone up again, more for something to do with your hands so you’re less nervous around Dave. 

You flick back to the glitched out pictures and sigh. 

“What were you even trying to photograph?” Dave asks and leans against the counter next to you. He casually feeds Sollux a little more ham. 

“Well, when I was down there I saw my reflection and there was this bright red spell inked all over my skin. It wasn’t written in a language I know but I’m pretty sure it’s whatever spell or magical thing that’s made me forget everything before so I took pictures of all of it.” you explain. 

“Ah, shit. And now the photos are gone you can’t find out what it said.” Dave concludes. 

“Actually, no.” you smile, “I thought that it might screw with my photos so I spent time copying it down on paper in a mirror. I still have to reverse the writing and translate it from whatever language this is but if I know the details of this spell I’ll be able to work out what did this, maybe even to undo its effects on me!” 

“Whoa, really? Is… is that a good idea? That’s pretty serious magic and we’re only just starting to learn.” Dave says worriedly. At his wrist Sollux is bolt upright staring at you, swaying a little like a cobra about to strike. 

“Sure, but even if it takes me years to translate and work out I finally have something to do. Look how much there was.” you say and pull the notebook out of your bag to show him. 

You flick the pages open to show him your carefully copied albeit mirrored spell writing, several pages of the stuff with your notes about where the various sections were so that when you copy it all out properly the right way around you know how to stick it together. 

“Oh, wow, that’s a lot of-” Dave starts to say but Sollux lunges forward from his wrist. He sinks his tiny fangs into the page and without any warning your whole notebook goes up in black and yellow flames, just like your ouija board!

“AUGH!” you yelp in pain, dropping the book. Your fingers are singed already. Regular fire doesn’t hurt you but hellfire sure as shit does! 

“Oh fuck!” Dave gasps and picks the notebook up by the edge and flings it in the steel sink. 

You stick your burned fingers in your mouth and rush to the sink, your poor notebook is curling up in flames along with any chance you had at understanding the magic that’s etched onto your body. 

“What the fuck is your problem?! That was my only chance to undo all of this!” you demand, tears welling up in your eyes. 

Sollux doesn’t seem repentant, instead he slips from Dave’s wrist into the sink and coils up on the fire which dies down now that your notebook is nothing more than charred ashes. 

“I’m sure he wouldn’t have done it if there wasn’t a good reason. Maybe… uh… maybe that spell would have done something bad if you tried to read it the right way around or something?” Dave ventures a guess, presumably trying to come up with an idea that makes Sollux not a complete bastard for burning your only hope at translating the spell on you. 

“No. I can’t- I need to- FUCK.” you curse and turn and walk off. You can’t be near Sollux right now, or Dave who so clearly needs to believe that Sollux didn’t just do something unspeakably horrible for no reason. 

At the very least you’re glad you get away from Dave and Sollux before the inevitable tears spill over your cheeks. This is such a shit thing about you, among all the shit things about you that exist this one is perhaps the worst. You’re always so emotional, when something like this happens it’s such a stab to the heart and you feel that by your age you really should have a thicker skin to sad things happening but you just don’t. You cry like some weak little baby and you hate it. 

Still sniffling and blindly wandering the Lalonde’s massive house you end up in a library, it’s almost like being at work again. The library is huge, big plate glass windows filtering in dappled sunlight from the forest outside. The books look neatly organised and your trained eye can see that they are in fact in a proper order according to the system your library runs on. There are tables and chairs about but more than that there are comfy sofas and deep armchairs with low coffee tables scattered about. 

Maybe you should have just kept your big mouth shut, if you hadn’t told Dave about your notebook and the spell then Sollux wouldn’t have known and destroyed it. There goes any chance you have of finding out about this awful spell that binds you. Why did you have to say something? Why?!

You stumble to the comfy looking sofa and sit down, utter devastation filling your useless and species anonymous body. Right before your very eyes Dave and Rose’s mother appears out of thin air by the sofa. Not in the sense that she suddenly shows up but rather she becomes visible, somehow she had been invisible before and that fades from her patchily until she’s fully there. 

She doesn’t seem offended by the way you jerk back in alarm, instead she just sits down next to you. 

“What’s the matter?” she asks you curiously. Her eyes are bright pink, as unusual as both Dave and Rose yet totally different too. 

“Sollux is an asshole.” you croak out and rub at your face. Bleh, now your hands are all wet from tears. 

“Can be. What’d he do?” she asks. 

You wonder if you should say. She was clearly so mentally overstressed earlier that she couldn’t see what she was doing wrong in the kitchen and had to be guided out by her kids, yet here and now she seems fine and it’d be a dick move to act like the woman powerful enough to drag you through dimensions wasn’t intelligent enough to try to have a conversation with. She doesn’t need you condescending to her or treating her as less than a person because she’s supposedly less than she used to be.

“I copied down a really important spell, I’m pretty sure it’s the one that made me forget everything in The Event. I saw it on my skin when I was in Midnight City. But I mentioned it to Dave with Sollux there and he destroyed my notes. Now I’m never going to know.” you say with a sniff. 

Roxy hums thoughtfully and pulls her feet up onto the sofa, tipping her head back on the sofa. 

“Haven’t you ever heard of that whole ‘grass is always greener’ thing? Maybe you shouldn’t remember.” she says with a sigh. Fractured light from the setting sun plays over her face, disrupted by the trees outside. 

“I can’t see the grass on the other side to compare it to because I don’t remember it.” you point out. 

“Well what about that whole thing with Pandora and her box? Some things you shouldn’t open. Or the fruit of the tree of knowledge.” she rambles on and spins her fingers in the air. A flickering image of an apple appears for a moment and then vanishes. 

“Depending on the retelling of that myth Pandora was either in on it in the first place or a hapless victim that the gods used, as for setting mankind up to do whatever they want in paradise but NOT TOUCH THAT ONE THING BECAUSE REASONS that’s just- no. I don’t stand for that shit. Any god or otherwise who sets people up to fail like that can suck my dick because that’s not fair.” you argue. 

Roxy curls up slightly, her arms tight over her middle as she cracks up in silent shaking laughter. 

“Heh, and what would YOU do then?” she giggles, looking over at you. She’s still laughing, albeit silently like Dave does at times. 

“I don’t know. Try to help people be better, look out for people and bring them together. Just make shit better than it was when you found it, not treat people like pawns or puppets in a little moral allegory. No one has any right to take my memories from me.” you tell her firmly. 

Roxy’s laughter fades away and she stares out the window, the light and shade playing over her face as the sun sets. 

“And what if you did it to yourself for a reason, took a part of your mind for something worth it?” she says softly. 

“Then past me was an idiot for not leaving something to explain this shitshow to current me.” you tell her definitively and she laughs again. 

“I guess so.” she sighs a moment or two later. 

She doesn’t seem entirely there but the parts that are still here are still sharp and interesting to talk to, you don’t mind talking to her at all. 

“But it’s not just you, though. It’s other people who are in the dark and lost things. And I mean me- I- this isn’t how it should have been but it’s not fair and you do your best but it’s unforgivable!” she hisses, her fingers are digging into her arms where they’re folded. 

She’s getting upset and you don’t really understand why. You can’t see that she’s done anything wrong but then there’s a lot of things she could be upset about and this conversation doesn’t really seem to be anything to do with you anymore. Maybe it wasn’t about you for a while now. You get up on your knees on the sofa and carefully touch Roxy on the shoulder. 

“Hey, it’s okay.” you whisper. 

“It’s not! Unforgivable things and- and just because you’re doing something to stop something worse doesn’t mean you don’t cause harm!” she says in a rush as tears start to flow down her cheeks. 

“Oh no, don’t cry. If you cry I’ll cry again.” you warn her. She makes a choked off sob and if anything it gets worse, yeah, your own eyes are watering now. You’re a sympathetic crier, it happens in movies too, not just with real people. 

“Okay, no, look. If you did something I’m sure it’s something that can be forgiven, especially if you’re sorry. Besides, you said about trying to prevent something worse, right? That’s a good thing. You don’t always get a choice between a good thing and a bad thing, sometimes it’s an array of shitty things and you pick the least shitty one with the best of intentions. That’s completely understandable.” you assure her and rub her back gently. 

“Had no right to do it.” she sniffs, rubbing her face. 

“What did you do that was so bad?” you ask. It’s a dangerous question but you ask anyway. 

Dave and Rose’s mother looks up at you, eyeliner smeared over her cheeks. She looks distraught and clearly in pain over something. You don’t know what. Something she did, something she thinks she’s done, maybe even something someone else did that she blames herself for. Tears are running down her face and yours. 

“I made you cry.” she says softly and wipes at your face with the back of her hand. Like a mother would, you imagine. You don’t know if you ever had one of those, you don’t remember. 

“I cry a lot.” you sniff. 

She pulls her hand back and the shine of your tears glimmers in the light streaming through the library windows. The back of her fingers where she’d brushed your face gleams. 

“You don’t have to tell me whatever it is, you barely know me. But you’re smart and important, I’ve never met anyone who’s had a bad thing to say about you. Your kids look up to you a lot and you made them too, so that’s some A+ work right there. Rose is an amazing friend and roommate and Dave is… Dave is great. Both of your kids went out of their way to rescue me and you did all that work bringing me back! You seem like the kind of person who tries to do the right thing and does a lot of good.” you tell her gently. 

Roxy presses her knuckles to her mouth as if she’s trying to keep the words in with her fists. 

“I broke a lot of rules.” she says after a moment in a voice so quiet that it’s fit for the library you’re in. 

“Who cares about that? Everyone breaks rules and sometimes you have to break rules to do the right thing. Fuck, my friends are breaking the rules by ditching class to come here and rescue me. Following the rules only makes good things happen if the rules are good in the first place and no rule’s perfect all the time. If you’re trying to do the right thing that’s good and if you’re sorry when something bad happens then that’s all you can ask for. Rules my ass.” you snort derisively. 

“But-” she starts. 

“Okay, if it matters so much, I forgive you.” you tell her and she laughs, rubbing her hands over her face and relaxing into the chair again with a smile. 

“You’re not what I thought you’d be, you know?” Roxy sighs, and looks you over. 

“What did you think I’d be like?” you ask her. 

“Stuffy, boring, uptight about stuff and super anal about things.” she answers with a shrug. 

“Gee, I’m glad to hear Sollux speaks so highly of me when I’m not here. When he has an ass again I must remember to kick it.” you growl furiously. You hate the guy so much sometimes. 

She’s laughing now, loud and maybe a little obnoxious but it’s a damn sight better than her crying and distressed.

“Mom?” Dave’s voice comes from the doorway.

You look around to see him looking confused and somewhat concerned but he relaxes into something closer to politely baffled when it’s apparent that his mother is just very tickled by something rather than in some kind of hysterical fit. She gets to her feet and grins at her son, you think that the mischief in her eyes is very Rose-like.

“Your friend is fun.” she says with a smile. 

“Oh, yeah, Karkat’s the best. What are you uh… I mean there’s food ready in the kitchen. I bet you’re hungry and all.” Dave babbles. 

“Mm, I might.” his mom nods and then turns to you, “Thanks for talking to me I feel… I feel a lot better, actually.” 

“Good. I should be the one thanking you after everything so if anything I said made you feel better then I couldn’t be happier about that.” you point out. You still massively owe her as far as you’re concerned. 

“Remember what I said about opening that box up, Pandora.” she says quietly and taps the bridge of your nose with her finger. That’s right where that spell stretched across your face. Did… did you tell her exactly where it was? You’re not sure. 

Without another word she walks off and leaves you and Dave alone in the library. Well, not alone, you can see Sollux curled around his wrist.

“It’s crazy how much she seems to like you. I can’t believe it.” Dave says quietly, looking out through the door after her.

“Thanks.” you say flatly.

“I didn’t mean it like that.” Dave says hastily, looking back at you. 

“She doesn’t like anyone at all. She cares about me, Rose and Sollux and that’s it. Sometimes, if it’s a bad day, she’s not even okay with us or she doesn’t believe that we’re us. She’ll only tolerate June here supervised on a good day and she’d never just chill in a room with her talking like she just did with you. She must really see something in you.” he says softly. 

“That must be really hard on you three.” you say, aiming for empathetic and not condescendingly pitying. 

“It’s not her fault.” Dave shrugs, it’s not an answer but you can already tell that it is hard. You also don’t think that their mother is unaware of her condition or how it affects the people around her, she seemed pretty guilty back there. You don’t know if she regrets the things she did now or whatever high magic thing it was that she did that made her this way. It’s not your place to know but it’s not fair for her to feel so terribly about it, everyone involved seems to have more than suffered enough. 

At least she looked like she felt a little better just then. Perhaps all you can hope for is that she feels well for longer, whatever that means for her.

“I offered Rose my notes before in class to cover you two coming and going back here. That doesn’t have to be a thing that stops. I know Sollux can just go where he likes with virtually no travel time but I don’t know how long it’ll take him to get back to that, he’s not going to be taking much in the way of notes without hands.” you point out. There’s a quiet hiss from the vicinity of Dave’s wrist at your words. 

“But I don’t see any reason we can’t all pool our notes for as long as we’re all at school.” you finish. 

“Yeah I mean people hear the same thing and take different things from it all the time so sharing notes and comparing ideas is probably smart.” Dave nods. He gestures vaguely to the door and you remember that food was a thing, that’s why he came here. 

“Great, we can do that then.” you nod and walk over. 

“It’s kind of wild how that happens, actually. One person says something and the other person takes in a different idea. I mean, words are crazy if you think about it. You have an idea in your head that’s only yours and you put it into words and send it out and I get it and translate it into an idea that’s only in my head and it might not be what you had. It’s like how magic demands you be all specific or it does weird shit.” Dave rambles. 

“That’s… yeah, I guess I can see what you mean by that weird rant on language. People miscommunicate. Even in school having different people explain the same concept can be the thing that makes you get an idea or not, good teachers can make or break things.” you agree and walk into the kitchen. There’s no one else there now but there’s still warm pizza on trays and the burner on the oven is on, despite nothing being on it. You’re contemplating turning it off when Dave holds his arm out towards it and Sollux slithers off and curls up on top of the burner in the flame. 

“Yeah, yeah, for sure. Teachers.” Dave mumbles and hands you a plate. 

You take a few pizza slices onto your plate and Dave does the same, fiddling with a crust for a moment. He inclines his head and walks off, clearly intending for you to follow. He’s left Sollux behind on the burner but he seems perfectly content in the fire and you suppose he’s not really a snake and is fine on his own probably. You follow Dave as he leads you into the living room that you were in before, again no one is here and now it really is just you and him. 

“Even outside of class it happens though.” Dave says out of nowhere. 

“What happens?” you ask, not knowing what he’s on about. 

“The misinterpreting people thing.” Dave reminds you. 

“I guess.” you say around a bite of pizza. 

Dave sits down so you follow him, facing him on the other side of a sofa. Dave seems weirdly fidgety and abandons his pizza on a nearby coffee table. 

“So, I mean, sometimes perhaps a guy might say something in a non-academic setting thinking that he was communicating one thing but maybe someone else thought it was a different thing. But you’d have no way of knowing unless you try to talk about that thing specifically, or I guess about that specific conversation and if there was a miscommunication or not and your meddling sister is just getting meddly about shit she knows nothing about.” Dave says incoherently. 

“If that was an example of a thing you could say where I have no clue what you’re saying that congratu-fucking-lations you managed it, what on earth were you trying to tell me there? You said shitloads and communicated nothing, it’s a miracle.” you snort in amusement.

Dave goes pink, it’s unfairly endearing. 

“You’re right, I guess I’m somewhat ironically doing the thing again. Evading the point like some kind of hidden assassin, stalking the point from the shadows for years without ever being-” Dave babbles. 

“Dave.” you sigh, cutting that rambling tirade off before it starts. 

Dave stares down at the sofa and picks at a thread on it. 

“Is something wrong?” you ask him, lowering your pizza onto its plate fully. With no other option you wipe your slightly greasy fingers on your jeans because you’re not willing to get their fancy sofa all grubby with your greasy fingers. 

“Why don’t you like Justin Timberlake?” Dave asks you in a rush. 

That… was not what you were expecting him to say.

“I… what?” you say, too stunned to think of anything else. 

“Why. Justin Timberlake.” Dave says again. 

“I’m not sure I have an answer to why Justin Timberlake exists, that’s probably a philosophical question I’m not fucking equipped to answer. I assume you mean why I said I didn’t like him as an actor. Which isn’t what I really said, I just think he’s one of those actors who tends to portray generic male heroes in stories when you could change nearly any other actor in that ouvre out without losing much at all. He’s not bad or anything.” you explain. 

“So you just… think he’s a limited actor?” Dave asks in a rather strangled tone. 

“Well I think he has limited himself. This isn’t something I’ve thought a lot about, Dave. I’m just not as big of a fan of him as you apparently are. I mean- ok think of Joseph Gordon-Levitt. He was in 500 days of Summer which is sort of a romance movie, or a thinky meta romance- I’m not getting into that. Oh, he was also in 10 things I hate about you which WAS a romance. But he’s also done Inception which is a heist movie, that’s range, not just looking good in a suit.” you explain. 

“You think he looks good in a suit?” Dave blurts out, his attention laser focused on you. 

“Hey, I don’t care what anyone’s sexuality is, anyone who thinks he doesn’t needs their eyes checked.” you inform him sharply. You will not be taking comments or criticism on this point at this time or indeed any time. 

Dave is staring. 

“What.” you say bluntly. 

“See, this is my whole point. I say one thing and I mean something by it and you say something back and I don’t know what you mean by it. So when you said you don’t like Justin Timberlake you seemingly meant some in depth criticism of the man’s range which as a sidenote isn’t fair because he was a musician first so-” Dave starts. 

“Are we going to get into a debate on whether THAT was music? Because-” you try to interrupt but Dave keeps going despite you. 

“-we’re going to put that aside. So I meant a thing and you meant a thing. Now you say this guy looks good in a suit and maybe you mean that as an objective fact which, yeah I appreciate suits and I like them, it looked sharp. We agree. But is this a thing where you mean ‘hey we can objectively agree another dude looks good in a thing without it being all gay’ which I’m all for because blah blah Rose going on about toxic masculinity or whatevs.” Dave goes on. 

“People should be able to say things like that without other people yelling ‘gay’ like we’re all eleven again.” you grumble. 

“Oh for sure, we’re totally in agreement there.” Dave nods. 

Silence falls between the two of you, him staring at you and you looking right back at him. 

“Were you… getting to a point? I feel like you were making a point somewhere.” you prompt him. 

“Right, yeah. Inadequacies of language, you can say stuff without it being a gay thing, etc.” Dave nods. 

“Right…?” you say slowly. 

Dave picks at a thread on the sofa. 

“BUT. Hah, I mean- you know, it doesn’t have to be. But is it?” Dave blurts out. 

“Is-”

“Is it- you- a gay thing. Not that you’re a thing. The sentiment, is that also a gay thing because of you and the things. The things you said and thought because language isn’t- doesn’t- make the words do things. Please kill me.” Dave squeaks. 

He’s SCARLET, from the edge of his hairline right down to the neck of his shirt he’s bright red. Mentally you replay the conversation you’ve just had and the one where Justin Timberlake was first brought up. 

Oh. 

Inadequacies of language indeed. 

“Did you ask me if I was into Justin Timberlake as a way of gauging if I was into men or not?” you ask Dave suspiciously. 

“Maybe. Yes. Are you?” Dave asks. 

“You’re an idiot.” you sigh. Although you did sit through that whole conversation without getting what was going on, and this one too. “I’m also an idiot. We’re both idiots.” 

“I’ve been told that before.” Dave agrees. 

“Alright, just so we’re clear, I’ve not really thought much about where I fall on any kind of spectrum with that sort of thing. But I do like men, though that doesn’t have any relevance to my point on Joseph Gordon-Levitt in suits. It does colour my opinion on him out of them I guess if we’re being specific. I’m not straight at least.” you clarifly. 

“Cool, that’s great, that’s- yeah.” Dave nods dumbly. 

“I didn’t really think we’d have a conversation like this. I’m going to assume you’re only asking me this with this much intensity because you’re not straight either and your genius secret code of ‘do you like Justin Timberlake, nudge, nudge, wink, wink’ somehow failed.” you scoff, Dave looks mildly offended at you besmirching his dumb plan. 

“You thought I was straight? Please tell me why so I can fix that thing and never do it again. I’m very much into people, or vice versa, hah. What was that old joke about bisexuals being happy no matter what people had in their pants?” Dave laughs nervously. 

“That’s a stupid joke, but I only figured that you probably were straight because statistically it’s likely.” you tell him. 

Dave pulls a face at that, as if somehow you should have known. You don’t mention that your key factor for you deciding that he had to be straight was because there’s no way it could be at all possible that he’d be interested in you. Of course now what’s going to happen is that he’ll be into men, just NOT YOU. 

“Well I’m glad I satiated your curiosity about my sexuality vis a vis Justin Timberlake. You know you could have just asked Rose, I already told her about this. Although maybe she didn’t want to ‘out’ me, not that I think she’d do that to anyone she didn’t trust but better safe than sorry I guess. People can suck sometimes, but she knows YOU so-” you shrug. 

“Yes. Rose could have said instead of letting me angst about it, but Rose is Rose.” Dave grumbles. 

“Why were YOU angsting about MY sexuality?” you ask him skeptically. 

Dave tips his head back and sighs deeply, you stare at his neck for a moment and wistfully consider what you would do if you could. But, alas. He mutters something to himself, something about being all in, whatever that means. 

“Can I kiss you?” he asks quite plainly. 

“ME?!” you yelp. Dave flinches back, that was too loud, FAR too loud. You hold your hands over your mouth in utter mortification. Dave leans over and gently takes them away. 

“It’s cool.” he assures you, even though you probably just damaged his hearing. 

“Why would you want to kiss me?” you croak. 

“Because I like you.” Dave answers. Your pulse is probably going a million miles an hour where he’s holding your wrists, he can absolutely tell how flustered you are even if he doesn’t know your exact heart rate right now.

“My mouth tastes like pizza.” you whisper in horror, this isn’t how romcoms are supposed to go. 

“I also like pizza.” Dave tells you with an amused tilt to his mouth. 

“There is something wrong with me that I still want to kiss you even when you say things like that at a time like this. And with you that you want to kiss me when I tell you my mouth tastes like pizza, like that’s anything close to the… right…” you trail off. 

Dave leans in. He’s pretty clearly nervous and his hold on your wrists is ridiculously light, there’s no way you could construe this as him keeping you here. If you wanted to you could get up and leave, both from how hesitantly he’s leaning in to you and how he’s not keeping you here. You don’t want him to have to chase you for this though. 

You lean in as well, it’s kind of a rush and you end up bumping your noses together more than you do actually managing to kiss. It’s hardly the stuff of movies, this wouldn’t be in any romance you’ve ever watched or read. All the same though when you tilt your head slightly and you both actually kiss properly for the first time it feels so perfect that you could almost believe it’s your thousandth kiss with him. You fit together perfectly, his lips against yours just right, a perfect counterpoint to you. 

When the two of you come apart your heart is fluttering in your chest but the rest of you feels still and vast, like the smooth ocean in the night or something equally flowery and twee that even you would have rolled your eyes to read. But that’s EXACTLY how it feels and just from one kiss too. 

“Wow.” you whisper in awe. 

“You do taste like pizza.” Dave observes. 

“Oh fuck off.” you hiss and shove him in the shoulder, making him laugh as he falls back onto the sofa with a grin.

You watch as he grabs his own pizza and takes a very pleased looking bite from it. You can't believe that he would kiss you, that he would be interested enough to do it. Interested in YOU. 

"I had no idea." you murmur, touching your lips in wonder. As far as you know you've never been kissed before and Dave was your first, how incredible is that? 

"That you tasted like pizza?" Dave teases. 

"Why on Earth do I like you?" you wonder aloud in despair. 

"Ah, so you do like me back." Dave beams. 

"I kissed you back didn't I?" you counter, surely that's pretty obvious by now.

"I did invite you back to mine for a movie because I hoped you'd like me but I failed so badly at working out if you did that I had to go hide in my room for a moment and make up some bullshit about showing you a rock I had to get out of that." Dave sighs. 

Wait. 

"That was supposed to be a date?" you say in mounting horror. You had NO IDEA! 

"Yeah, in an entirely deniable 'no it's for sure a friend thing' kind of way if it'd gone bad. You are Rose's roommate after all, if I made things awkward with you she'd remove my liver or something." Dave says. 

"That does seem like something she'd do." you agree. 

"She totally would! When she wants to know something Rose has that look, I'm sure you know the one. It's all intense like she's seeing into your soul and there's nothing you can do to get away. I'm sure it's some kind of illegal magic. I should report her to the magic cops or something." Dave nods. 

"I'm sure you wouldn't do that." 

Both you and Dave jump and look up the stairs to see Rose coming down, she was totally silent before and you wonder how much she heard. 

"See, it's spooky shit like that. My sympathies for you having to live with her now, I have felt your pain." Dave stage whispers, enough so that Rose can absolutely hear him. 

"Karkat is a wonderful roommate and a complete delight, unlike you. Speaking of our resident situation at the university we need to go back there, I have a teleportation booked. It seems there's quite the rush of people coming to and from New York at the moment so slots were unusually full and this was the only one I could secure. I have already bid mother goodbye so we just need to get Sollux and leave, June and Jade are meeting us in the minivan with Mr Egbert who has kindly agreed to give us a ride to the port." Rose informs you both. 

"When do we need to go?" Dave asks. 

Rose checks her watch and grimaces. 

"About fifteen minutes ago." she admits. 

"I'll grab Sollux, I can take him out of the fire." you offer and jump over the back of the sofa as Dave hastily starts grabbing other things up. 

"Did you get everything from the basement?" Dave asks Rose as you hurry to the kitchen. 

You don't catch the rest of their conversation about the arrangements as you leave. You're focused on hurrying to the stove and turning off the burner. Sollux's tiny eyes blink in an unsettling reptilian way as you scoop him up, his body is super hot but you're fine to hold him. 

"We have to go now, Rose booked a teleport and we're in a rush." you explain and hurry back. 

"Why did you even BRING that abomination?" Rose demands. 

"What? Sollux?" you say in faux seriousness, you know she didn't mean him because she's looking angrily at Dave but you're not going to miss a chance to insult Sollux, are you? 

"No, she's dissing my very useful and helpful skateboard. We can all get on it and it'll take us right to where Mr Egbert is meeting us in no time at all. It's magic." Dave beams, holding up a garish and glitchily patterned skateboard. You swear you've seen it in his room before locked up in a case. 

"The Unreal Air is an unholy demonic artifact that even mother distrusts-" Rose starts. 

"And it's never hurt me, it's just freaky. Look, if we don't get there ASAP we miss our teleport and more classes. It won't hurt you." Dave assures her. 

Rose glares at him. 

"Sollux, do you think we should use it?" Dave asks, holding up the skateboard to you and Sollux. 

Sollux rears up in your hands and nods his little head. 

"What about you, Karkat? I'll admit it's a little freaky but it'll get us to where we need to go super quickly." Dave asks. 

"Well... I don't want to miss the teleport, I'm sure that'd be expensive. So if you say it's safe I'm willing to go, but will we all get on there?" you ask. 

The board is reasonably big but it's going to be tight squeeze at the very least. 

"We'll fit, you're outvoted Rose. Come on, to the roof!" Dave exclaims. 

"Nooo." Rose groans but Dave grabs her by the wrist and runs up the stairs. You have no choice but to follow. 

There's a fair few flights of stairs to the Lalonde's attic and there appears to be a skateboard slope set up by a large window, one which Dave is pulling open and setting a timer on. There's a little device with a countdown near it so you assume the window shuts after that, Dave must use this a lot. But from your point of view all that's going to happen is you're going to sail out of this window on his skateboard and crash into the floor. You follow Rose up to the top of the ramp where she's quite obviously displeased but going along with it. 

"So is it going to fly? Is that it?" you ask, it's the only conclusion that you can see from this. 

"No, better." Dave says and hurries up after you. 

"No, worse." Rose contradicts him. 

"Shut up." Dave retorts. 

He sets the board right on the edge of the ramp and stands one footed on the front with his other foot on the lip of the ramp. With sigh Rose gets in behind him, wrapping her arms around his middle. Uncertainly you get behind her and hold onto her sides as awkwardly as is probably humanly possible. Dave looks you over. 

"You got Sollux?" he asks. You raise your arm and show where the snake is curled tight around your wrist, he flicks his tongue out at Dave who nods. 

"Alright, to Mr. Egberts minivan." Dave says. 

He kicks off of the ramp, throwing his weight forward so the skateboard pitches down the ramp. You're pretty sure the thing handles like a cow with this many people on it but it doesn't stop it picking up speed as you hurtle to the open window. 

You're waiting, heart in throat, for something like flight to happen. 

But you don't fly. 

The four of you speed out of the open window and clip the edge of the roof. Beneath your feet the board stutters in space, it flails like a video game asset stuck in the wrong place. You're violently thrashed about like you're in the jaws of some awful predator, the world lurches and finally the roof seems to reject you and you're catapulted away from it with horrifying speed. 

Air whips past you so hard and fast that you're sure you must be hurting Rose with how tight you're holding her. You're hurtling through the air sideways and down below to your left trees are rushing past. You're dipping lower and lower though and both trees and rocks rise up to meet you. There's not even time for you to scream before you all hit a tree and go flying. 

A branch pierces your gut, or it tries to at least. Your physical body seems to stretch and warp and as you fall and smack into branches you're sure your bones break and bend in ways that nothing should but though you can feel it none of it registers as pain. You crash into the floor and inexplicably slide across the ground, pulled by some invisible force. As your body flows over a large rock you see that one of your arms bends in about four places and the end of Sollux's tail stretches out about three feet long but only as wide as a sheet of paper. Your body is horrifically stretched and warped and there's nothing you can do to move yourself at all, you're just hauled along the floor until it suddenly becomes road surface. 

For a moment you stay there in immobile horror and then, without warning, you're back on the board again holding onto Rose. You're all on the edge of a road and you can see a minivan approaching. Nothing hurts and you're in control of your body once more. 

"I hate that thing." Rose shudders and leaps off of it.

"I think I'm going to throw up." you whisper in horror and stagger back. 

"Aw, it's not that bad. It's like applying video game collision glitch physics to real life. You get here stupidly fast and nothing hurts, it's funny!" Dave insists and steps off of the board too. It starts to slowly float up into the air until he snatches it out at about shoulder height and stuffs it in his bag. 

"I'm never getting on that again." you say with a shudder. Running your hand over your arm you find it only bends in the places it should do but you are very keen to never repeat that experience. 

The sensible grey minivan slows to a stop on the road ahead of you and a gentleman in a fedora gets out and looks at you all in surprise. 

“Hey Mr. E, thanks for the ride to the port.” Dave greets him cheerfully. Through the windscreen you can see Jade wildly waving. 

“You knew this was going to suck, didn’t you?” you accuse Sollux, holding your wrist up to your face so you can glare at him. Sollux flicks his tongue at you. 

“I have no idea what that means but my response remains the same: fuck you.” you hiss at him. He flicks his tongue out again. 

“It’s no trouble. Where’s Sollux and why does this young man have a snake?” June’s dad asks with a slight frown.

“That’s Karkat, Dad. Sollux is a snake right now, I did tell you.” you hear June say, the open driver’s side door aiding your hearing. 

“Right, I thought you were being… well, no matter. I’m afraid I can’t have a loose snake in my vehicle, if you could just hand him over to me young man and hop in the car. I’m sure I can find something in the trunk to put him in for his own safety and then I can hand him back to one of you. Hop in.” June’s dad says, holding his hand out to Sollux who unwinds from your wrist of his own accord and reaches out to June’s dad’s hand. 

Well, if Sollux doesn’t mind then you don’t either. Rose and Dave are already getting in the minivan so you follow after them. You shut the door as you slide into your seat and Mr Egbert walks past it, it’s only when you go to put your seatbelt on that you realise you’ve accidentally shut the seatbelt in the door. 

You’re a genius, clearly. 

Carefully you crack the door open, not wanting the thing to suddenly spool back and hit you. You pause when you realise that Mr. Egbert is talking to Sollux. 

“-looked for you everywhere. Still, it was lost in the chaos.” he says. What is he talking about? 

“Though I suppose you have your own problems at present, unless this is somehow related? No? Ah, well that’s some relief.” Mr Egbert sighs. 

He opens the trunk of the minivan and makes a show of rooting around in it one handed and then returns to the front, you carefully shut your door so he doesn’t know you were listening. 

“Sorry about that, I couldn’t find anything for him. Here you go, Dave, just promise you’ll hold onto him carefully alright?” he says, reaching back and offering Sollux to Dave. 

“I will.” Dave nods and takes Sollux back. 

The minivan starts up and you stare at Sollux. It’s no surprise to you that he’s into some shady shit but what does June’s dad have to do with any of it? 

“Was their mom really cool with you this whole time?” June asks, turning around in her seat to look at you as her dad starts the minivan up. 

“It was so weird, dude.” Dave says from beside you. 

“She doesn’t mean anything by it, really.” Rose says, patting Jade’s hand. They’re sat in the row behind you. 

“I’m happy for you and all but that SUCKS. I’ve always been good around her place and she’s always been touchy about me and now Jade too.” June says with a frown. 

“It’s not just you two, it’s everyone. I don’t know why she decided that she liked Karkat that much, not that I’m complaining. It’s not as if there’s any reason behind it.” Rose says. 

“Thhhhanks?” you say slowly. Good to know it’s not anything redeeming about you as a person that makes her like you. 

“Still.” June pouts. This seems to really bother her, you don’t think that she wants Dave and Rose’s mom to dislike you but more that she’s bitter that it’s you and not her. 

“Oh my, look at those clouds. We weren’t forecast rain.” Mr Egbert says, peering through the windshield. 

June turns back around in her seat and slides down a little sulkily. 

“Hey, is it just me or is he bigger?” Dave asks, nudging you with his elbow. There’s a little space between you and him in the minivan as his sister and Jade are in the row behind you, more than enough space for Dave to hold out a handful of bicoloured snake out to you. 

You look at him but it’s hard to tell with him all wrapped up like that. He might be bigger. 

“I’m not sure.” you say, watching him coil over Dave’s spread out fingers. 

Your eyes widen as you catch sight of something on him, a pattern on his scales that you hadn’t seen before. 

“Wait, what’s that. Is he hurt?” you ask, pointing at his underbelly. Worriedly Dave turns his hand a little and moves his fingers until the mark is clear. It’s like a capital I joined up with another one, the roman numeral for two, in a bright red. 

“Oh, that. No, he’s fine.” Dave sighs in relief and runs his thumb over the mark. Sollux slithers down his hand and wraps himself tightly around Dave’s wrist. 

“What is that?” you ask.

“It’s just a mark, I think it’s a demon thing. He has it in his normal form too, right here.” Dave explains and gestures to his rib area with his free hand. 

Your mind reels back to that glowing mark on your chest when you were in Midnight City, that sideways 69 on your chest. Is there some sort of number thing going on that you don’t know about? But Sollux said there were no half demons and surely you couldn’t be a full demon without knowing it. What’s going on?

You can hardly ask Sollux right now, he can’t talk. Even if he could he may well not be able to give you a straight answer and as much as he annoys you even you won’t stoop to demanding a deal answer out of him because that’d probably make the poor snake demon spell it out with his body and that might hurt. 

There’s also no time to talk to Dave about that kiss because you’re about as not alone as you can possibly be and even you have more self respect than to message the guy ‘so do you like-like me then?’ in a minivan with a bunch of other people. 

Not a lot more, but at least a little bit. 

When Mr Egbert drops you all off at the port with a fatherly wave it occurs to you that you have no idea how you’re actually getting back. 

“Wait, Rose. Did you book me a ticket too? How much do I owe you or do I need to buy one in the same slot or-” you start but Rose shakes her head. 

“I’ve already bought your ticket and don’t you dare try to pay me back, come on.” she says and sweeps into the port before you can protest further. 

“I- but-” you splutter. 

“Not an argument you’ll win, man. She has that face on.” Dave tells you and follows after his sister. 

“And she always looks like that!” June cackles and walks along with Dave. 

You share a glance with Jade, hoping for some acknowledgement that the people you’ve mutually decided to have as friends are bonkers but she doesn’t seem despairing in the least. Perhaps you’re on your own here. 

Jade pulls you into the port and the pair of you catch up to your group. It seems that Rose is taking you to a rather more exclusive part of the port than the standard area you were at in Georgia’s port. The chairs in the waiting area are swish and exclusive and when you’re called into a room there’s casual acknowledgement of your varied species, including a demonic snake and Dave’s accursed skateboard. All of this is noted down by a polished looking attendant and between her and an assistant they put together a far more complex teleportation circle. 

Before you know it you’re back in Salem and heading back to your room. Your room that… has stuff missing. 

“Rose! Someone stole my things!” you shout and rush out into the main room, startling Rose who is at her doorway. 

“Ah, yes, that would be me. I have them in my bag, I needed things of yours to help mother locate you more easily, I picked things that you seemed to value a lot. This book included, though I must say it doesn’t seem like the rest of your reading material.” Rose says, rummaging in her bag and pulling your things out. 

“I guess so, I don’t really know why I liked it, it just sticks with me.” you admit as she hands them to you. 

“Interesting. Well, goodnight Karkat. Sorry for the scare just then.” Rose apologises and slips into her room. 

At least you haven’t been robbed, that really would have topped off this whole ordeal, wouldn’t it? You throw your things on your bed, momentarily wincing when your laptop hits your mattress because you really shouldn’t throw expensive tech that you can’t afford to replace. After that you have a shower and have a momentary freakout because that 69 mark that was on your chest in Midnight City is STILL THERE! 

You rub at it but the damn thing won’t go away. It’s not as if your skin feels any different or anything but it’s there and it wasn’t there before. Or perhaps it was and you just couldn’t see it until now. It’s not as if that spell is visible to you so why is this there? Perhaps it’s just visible to you but you’re not going to rush into Rose’s room and demand to know if she can see it.

When you get out of the shower you stare at your face for a while in the mirror but there’s still no spell there, you keep feeling as if it might appear out of the corner of your eye if you just look away and look back fast enough but that doesn’t happen. 

Exhausted you return to your room and sensibly put your laptop away to charge on your desk and your book back in its place. You remove your tarot deck and the sheet that came with it and go to put that on your desk when you pause. You have a lot of questions about a lot of things and in your hand you have a somewhat vague and open to interpretation method of getting answers. 

Thoughtfully you have a look at the sheet and wonder what other useful tarot readings you could have learnt if you’d stayed in class. Thankfully that’s what Google is for so you settle down and look up tarot spreads. It turns out there’s about eleventyjillion of them and most of them look complicated as fuck. 

However, it is possible for you to use the well known three card spread to ask other questions, much as you did back in Midnight City. Your eyes catch on a romance one, three cards representing you, your partner and your relationship. 

It’s trite and sappy as fuck but you are who you are, you’re not too proud to admit that to yourself. You’d rather think about Dave than the mysterious mark on your chest, or what Mr. Egbert was talking about, how you ended up on Everest, what Sollux was doing, any of it. Dave is a far more pleasant topic. You shuffle and think about love. 

You deal the cards, one, two, three. 

This first card represents you in your relationship with Dave, but as you pick it up you see that somehow you put two cards down at once. Well, shit. You’re going to go with them in the positions that you laid them out and ignore that one. 

Anyway, this card is you. You turn it over and see that it’s the Knight Of Cups. That sure is a dude on a horse with a cup. Maybe there will be a time when you know these meanings off of the top of your head but you don’t right now. You consult your sheet and see that this card the correct way up means following the heart, an idealist and a romantic. That’s… pretty on the money for you. Alright tarot being inexplicably a valid source of information. You set the card on the table a little down from the card you mistakenly dealt and go for the second one, this is about Dave. 

As you pick the second card up you see that you’ve yet again dealt another double set of cards. In disbelief you nudge your third card down and see another below that one too. What the fuck? You suppose this is no less weird that Rose’s cards going blank but you’ve no idea what it means. Damnit, you’ll finish this reading first before you investigate that weirdness. 

Okay, second card, Dave. Oh, another knight card. Knight Of Swords, again that sure is a guy on a horse with a sword. You squint at the card and feel a sense of unfairness, his horse gets wings! That’s not fair, your horse doesn’t have wings! Stupid lucky Dave. Fine, what does it mean aside from his superior horse? Your sheet informs you that it’s action, impulsiveness, defending beliefs. Hmm, you suppose you could say that Mr. Cursed-Skateboard is a little impulsive and he certainly had Sollux’s back with the whole demonphobic professor so he stands up for things. Yeah, okay, that can stand for Dave just fine. 

So third and final card of this one, what about your relationship? You turn the card over, holding your breath. Huh, Wheel Of Fortune. Consulting your sheet you see that it means change, cycles and inevitable fate. Being in a relationship is a change for you, if you are indeed currently in one. You two didn’t get a chance to really talk about it but you probably are, right? Right? Either way it’s certainly different than what you’re used to and the idea that it’s somehow fated appeals to your romantic side. 

...is that what this card means? You can certainly see your reading making sense but you get the idea that you’re suffering from that thing where when all you have is a hammer everything looks like a nail. Maybe there’s another reading of this that hasn’t occurred to you. You’re not sure how you feel about that and with little else to do you take a photograph of this reading and move Dave’s cards out of the way. 

Now what are you going to do about these extra ones you dealt? Getting rid of them is stupid and maybe they’re not answering the same question you just asked, maybe they’re just leaping into the opportunity to tell you something. 

First card, Judgement but it’s inverted. You had this before, it was about lack of self awareness. That’s an irritating recurring theme, yes you have memory loss, you already know this. Second card, two of swords. You’ve… had that before as well. This was that card about sacrifice but it meant Sollux and how he literally killed himself with two swords to get you out of Midnight City, an actual sacrifice. Is this card supposed to be Sollux? 

The information your sheet provides you on each card isn’t much but you can still Google a more in depth meaning. It seems to be about difficult choices, more explicitly mutually exclusive choices. The woman on the card is stranded in place, stuck in a stalemate. It says that the moon depicted on this card can signify illusions and deceptions that cause making a choice to be difficult. 

You stare down at the card, almost seeing through it with how your eyes start to unfocus. Assuming that this card does represent Sollux then does that mean this represents his situation? Is he stuck in some situation where he can’t move? You suppose he’s stuck on Earth and unable to return to hell like all demons. His allegiance to Dave seems particularly unusual to demons as you’ve seen no sign that Dave has or ever would force Sollux to obey him, you don’t see Dave as someone that would enslave a person the way you’ve heard of people trying to do to demons. No, when Sollux does what Dave asks he seems to do so the same way that you do things your friends ask of you, you do them because you like and trust them. 

The moon on the card shines at you and you wonder about the mention of illusions. The spell over your memory is a kind of spell like that, you not being able to see it is an illusion and the mark on your chest suddenly appearing or perhaps suddenly NOT being hidden covers that. You don’t know your past, something the card representing you shows clear enough and Sollux can’t tell you about it no matter how much he plainly wants to. That seems like an impossible stalemate. 

Well, wait, that means that the first card does represent you and this is him. This is a reading about the two of you. So what’s the third card? With your reading on Dave it was your relationship but does that mean this is the case with Sollux too? 

Uneasily you turn the last card. Five Of Wands. 

When you read the meaning you can’t help but laugh. 

Conflict, competition, arguments, aggression, tension, rivals and clashes of ego. Oh, hello, perfectly accurate description of your relationship with Sollux! As you look over the card you get the same feeling that you do about Sollux, yes, there’s a clash there and tension but even though you often think that you hate him you don’t really. Sure, he’s infuriating, secretive, frustrating, irritating on purpose and- you could go on. But when you needed him he was there. He’s never tried to really hurt you and he’s saved your life, risking a lot and paying a big price to do it. So, yeah, Sollux. 

It’s weird that this reading is exactly your relationship with him and the other is exactly you and Dave. But your relationship with Dave is romantic and yours with Sollux is… 

Platonic isn’t the word. You have a platonic relationship with Rose, you have platonic feelings for her or the rest of your friends. What you feel for Sollux isn’t that but it’s not Dave. With Dave it’s romantic, with the others it’s platonic but it feels like there’s another word you’re missing. It’s right on the tip of your tongue but it eludes you somehow. 

God, Sollux isn’t even here and he’s frustrating the shit out of you. You really hate the guy sometimes.


	11. Arsonist's lullaby

“He’s definitely bigger than before. We didn’t have any snakes on my island so I’ve never really seen one until now.” Jade says in wonder as she peers at Sollux over breakfast. Dave is sleepily eating cereal and has helpfully stabbed the rest of his food into tiny chunks on his plate, presumably with the intention of Sollux eating some. However Sollux’s body which is now about as long as the distance between your fingertips and elbow is mostly curled around Dave’s coffee cup. You stare as his little forked tongue flicks into coffee that should be far too hot.

“I don’t think you’re getting that back, Dave.” June warns him.

“Meh, he can’t drink the whole thing. It’s fine. And yeah he’s definitely bigger now, I think that’s a good sign.” Dave muses.

“Which should be of greater concern? A caffeinated snake or an uncaffeinated Sollux?” Rose wonders aloud.

“He doesn’t need to sleep though, right?” you point out.

“Yeah, and I do and Sollux isn’t the easiest person to sleep with as a snake so give me the coffee.” Dave agrees and starts unwinding Sollux from his mug.

“Wait, you slept with him?” June laughs, asking the question that had leapt right to your mind but you were too chicken to ask.

“He needs the warmth, he’s cold blooded right now. Don’t look at me like that.” Dave mutters and drinks his snake contaminated drink.

You then have to watch a snake eat a chunk of broken up sausage and after that you don’t feel like eating much. It’s probably a good thing, you have your first magical combat class this morning now that the schedules have all been arranged properly. You’re a little worried about getting hurt in this class and you’d really like to not lose your breakfast from getting attacked, so maybe it’s a good thing that you stop now.

The class itself seems to be an almost all day affair, which you suppose explains the scheduling snafus with arranging the thing. Nevertheless your group makes its way there together. Jade is the only one who's been to the sports centre of your University, seemingly the rest of you are all just too nerdy or lazy to check that kind of thing out for yourselves, so she's the one who takes you all. The class is being held in a room which seems to function as both a lecture amphitheatre and a training area. Like if your regular lecture halls had a baby with your highschool gymnasium. This place also smells of sweat and fear, perhaps a hint of social ostracization, but maybe that's you projecting.

The gathered class is pretty large and they're not all people you're vaguely aware of from your other classes, you suppose this isn't a class you're really supposed to be taking right now so you're probably lumped in with more senior students. Across one end of the training area you can see targets and humanoid dummies set up. Points are marked out on the floor in paint of varying colours, though you've no idea what they signify. Across one wall is a wide array of weapons, some you've never seen before, not even in movies or on TV. None of you are sure if you should sit down at the tables and chairs in the lecture area or if you should line up like it's gym class, which results in the whole gaggle of students just loitering uneasily in a spread out mass somewhat near the door.

You see Dave's head jerk up all of a sudden and notice that around his neck Sollux is looking up as well. You shift your gaze upwards and jolt in alarm when you see a woman descending from the ceiling, but no ordinary woman, a spider woman. Not the Marvel kind, but a woman with long black hair and a humanoid body that at the waist shifts into the body of a giant and horrific spider. Her bright yellow eyes are wide with delight behind her glasses as a few more students catch sight of her and a few scream in alarm.

The woman touches down on the floor on her eight hairy spider legs and tosses her long black hair over her shoulder, one of her eyes has so many pupils in it that it makes you feel kind of ill to look at her.

"Good morning class, welcome to Magical Combat Training. For those of you who make the cut I will be your teacher and you will call me Mindfang." she smiles, sharp and with fangs.

"What do you mean 'if we make the cut'?" June calls out.

"Ah, a sensible question. Due to scheduling problems this class is oversubscribed and instead of wasting my effort teaching AAAAAAAALL of you and lowering the standard of my teaching I intend to skim this class down to only the cream of the crop. Those of you who don't pass are welcome to try again later when the class is less packed, but for this run I want those of you with natural talent and I will only be taking thirty of you on this course. I will hand these out to those who are successful." Mindfang explains, holding up a bag of some kind of small blue objects.

"Natural talent? I don't have a natural talent for anything." you whisper.

"Don't sell yourself short, Karkat. You'll be fine." June whispers back.

You're not exactly reassured, especially as the class is probably double that size at the moment. If you want to take this class with your friends you have to beat out over half of the other people here, you don't think you can do that.

"Man, this is stupid I don't want to do this." Dave mutters. Sollux rears up and gently bumps his snout at Dave's cheekbone.

"I know, I know, I said I would so we'd all take the same class." Dave sighs, seeming to relent without Sollux even having to use words.

"I don't see the need to teach you any offensive spells just yet, if you need me to teach you the basics then I doubt you'll be better than the average. So with that said, the best defence is a good offense and I want to see your offensive capabilities. Step forward in any order you like, tell me your name, take a weapon if you feel you need one and attack one of my training dummies. Away you go." Mindfang says airily.

Your classmates all look at each other, clearly thrown and confused by this instruction out of nowhere. There's no teaching or lead into this? Just... away you go?

It seems that the hesitation is not shared by everyone.

In a rare change from usual Rose is wearing her hair up today, held in place by two long needles almost like knitting needles. Needles which she is removing as she slides through the crowd like a ship through water, everyone parting instinctively to get out of her way. Mindfang's eyes focus on Rose as she calmly and confidently walks out to the front of the room and stops before her.

"Rose Lalonde." Rose says simply and shifts the two metal needles so she has one in each hand.

"Oh. Do go ahead." Mindfang smiles in a way you can only describe as predatory.

Rose flicks her hair out of her eyes and strides towards the targets, she stops a good distance from them and squares herself up against her mark. She touches the tip of the needles together and pulls them apart again, trailing vibrant lavender and black light through the air. As her back hand raises above her head the light gets brighter and brighter until you swear you can see some extra colour that shouldn't even exist. The air becomes dark and Rose seems to almost glow, her eyes fully incandescent.

When Rose fires off twin beams of light there's not a loud bang or a crash, rather it's the inverse of that sort of sound. A negative sound that makes your ears throb just as much and when you're done blinking spots from your eyes the training dummies are nothing more than cinders. Rose nods to herself and turns to Mindfang for appraisal.

"Very nice indeed." Mindfang says in a pleased rumble that one might almost call a purr. She tosses Rose a blue token from her bag and directs her to stand in the other half of the room.

Other students are stepping forward now for their evaluations and some are doing well and some less so, those who do exceptionally well get a token, those who do not just stand there on the other side without. You're absolutely not going to make the cut at this rate. Panic starts to fill you, you don't have any innate magical ability like that, nor do you have any kind of weapon or a proficiency with any that you could borrow from the wall like a few of the other students are.

But Mindfang didn't say you couldn't use magic, or at least she wasn't specific that it HAD to be instinctual.

"I need a pen." you whisper and dig through your bag.

"Dude, what're you doing?" Dave whispers.

"It's the only plan I have and it's probably a bad one." you mutter as you outline a circle on your forearm.

"Hey, you, why do you have a snake?" Mindfang asks loudly, rising up on her many legs to peer at Dave.

"Oh, he's not a snake. Or- uh, well he is right now but he's a demon. He's just not himself at the moment." Dave explains.

"He's a student here? The demon one I heard about?" Mindfang asks. Dave nods and she checks her sheet.

"Ș̵̞͂̌ͅo̷̹̊͋̿̕ľ̴̢̳̖̤̹̅͛̈́̂l̶̛͇̞̘̼͂̀͝ͅȕ̶̧͉̫̅̚x̴̨̄͊̈́ ̴̯̲̔C̵̼̝̫͉̱̄̓̊̚͝ả̴̯̜͛̋p̷̤̙͇͎̅͊t̵̜͊o̴̫̫͗̈́ř̴̻̘̃?" she asks, giving his name a very specific intonation that seems to make Sollux shudder and makes your teeth ache slightly.

"Yeah, that's him." Dave nods.

"Well, he can either drop out of the class or take the test like that but you can't help him." Mindfang insists.

"That's-" Dave starts to say but Sollux slithers down from his neck, and winds around Dave's ribs. Dave seems to lose his train of thought and stumbles back slightly as Sollux slides off of his leg and then along the floor towards the test area. Dave shakes his head, gathering himself and reaches out as if to stop Sollux but he's already gone.

Your eyes widen as you watch Sollux slither away, getting bigger and bigger as he goes. By the time he reaches the test area he's at least as big around the middle as you are and twice as long as he is tall in his regular form. He rears up like a cobra and a cobra-like hood appears to fold out of his neck with a pattern on it just like his bicoloured eyes. Sollux opens his mouth with a crackle of blue and red light and with a blast, much like the one you saw that night at the club, he obliterates the targets.

Immediately Sollux shrinks back down to the same size as before, perhaps a little smaller.

Mindfang blinks at the targets and conjours new ones into existence before grinning at Sollux and tossing him a blue token that he catches in his mouth. Across the other side Rose scoops Sollux up into her arms and holds him close almost like a baby. Sollux certainly doesn't seem to mind.

You're starting to panic now as you hurriedly plan out the spell you need in your head, it's essentially a variation on the fire invulnerability spell you learnt in C. Rather it's you fucking it up in a very deliberate and terrible way on purpose.

#include

spell.subject = self;  
spell.tether = ”RAGING STORM AND RAIN”;

void setup() {  
spell.setup();  
}

void cast() {  
if (!(self.on_fire)) {  
self.apply(fire);  
}  
delay(1);  
}

Dave sighs and steps forward. He doesn't look happy about this, rather resigned to his fate. He gets into place in front of the targets and holds a hand out to his side. A sword on the wall glows red and flies over to him, smacking into his palm with a dull noise. Dave readies a fighting stance and then vanishes for a split second, you wouldn't be sure he'd done anything if not for the way that a few moments later the dummies fall apart. What the fuck?! They've been completely sliced to bits, you didn't even see him get over there! Needless to say he passes.

When Jade steps up she warps space around the dummies, fracturing and twisting space around them until they're warped beyond belief. When she finally lets it go they snap apart in pieces and Jade is given a token of victory and sent over to the other side.

There's only about ten of you left and June has been lingering by your side watching you write on your arm. She's the one who finally nudges you ahead and you're left with no choice but to go.

"I- Karkat Vantas." you say nervously, looking up at Mindfang. She peers down at you, her unsettling eyes skimming over your arm.

"I didn't say you could do that." she says, pointing at your arm.

"Right, but... you didn't say we couldn't either. You just said offensive." you point out.

"Tch, you've got me there." Mindfang shrugs, she seems somewhat amused by your gutsiness to pull a move like that.

You face the newly resummoned targets and hope against hope that this will work. You think of the storm, the raging weather and you feel the magic on your arm catch. Fire bursts over your skin, running over you, your clothes, your whole body. It doesn't hurt you and you're left to walk towards the dummies entirely on fire. As you walk you feel out of it, like you're out of sync with yourself somehow and there's a subtle warmth over your nose, your temples, your eyes. That spell on your skin.

You're walking through fire with a purpose. You've done this before. You're here in this strange classroom but you're not, you're in a burning building with desperate people crying out, you're walking through burning streets looking for a man who'll tell the tale of all of this in a diary, in another city directing people to go that way instead as fire harmlessly ignores you. Something like this can't hurt you, it never has been able to. You're barely aware when you reach the dummies as you pull the fire from yourself by plucking its very essence away and open your hand once more letting it flare over them instead of you.

The thoughts in your head snap back into place and you step back from the burning dummies and look at Mindfang, still a little numb.

"That was... interesting. Here." she says and throws you what appears to be the last token.

"You lot may as well leave, you're not getting into this class without one of my tokens and I don't give out extras." Mindfang says, looking at the group you just came from.

"Wait, what?" Dave gasps, June is still on that side.

"Wait, let me try." June insists, stepping forward.

"I doubt-" Mindfang starts but June ignores her, marching past to the wall and grabbing down a hammer so large you're stunned she can hold it, let alone carry it with the ease she seems to. As with you Mindfang seems to admire her confidence and obligingly summons three more training dummies at the end of the arena.

June draws in a deep breath. She stands there still in the sunlight streaming in through a large window, motes of dust glimmering as she seems to gather herself. The air shifts enough to make your hair move as June raises the hammer above her head. Lightning rushes over the metal and when June slams the hammer into the ground like a funfair game there's a near deafening bang like thunder and electricity arcs down the ground and EXPLODES the three training dummies.

June casually hefts the hammer back onto her shoulder and looks up at Mindfang who is staring at her.

"Do I pass?" she smiles innocently.

Mindfang seems at a loss for words but pulls a token out of thin air and tosses it to June.

Needless to say the rest of the class who hadn't yet tried out seem to decide to quit while they're ahead and leave. You're still more than thirty people, even just counting those who now remain with tokens so Mindfang must have another test in mind to thin you all down further.

“June, holy fuck how did you do that?” you whisper in awe as June comes to stand by you.

“Oh, you know.” June shrugs.

“I really fucking don’t, that’s why I said that, you cretin. Since when do you have lightning magic or are buff enough to hold a giant sledgehammer like that?” you demand under your breath.

“Aww, Karkat, I’ve always been buff. Or maybe you’re just a weenie!” June snickers and sets her hammer down, only to pick you up with ease in a frankly crushing grip.

“Hhh, I’m not a weenie! Put me down Egbert or I’m gonna- aaaack…” it’s hard to keep threatening her as she squeezes the breath out of your lungs. When you think you’re about to pass out she drops you on the floor but at least catches your arm so you don’t fall right on your ass in front of everyone. That’s something.

Mindfang looks around the remaining students now that the ones who failed her first test have filtered out, some with quite bitter muttering.

"Well," she says and raises herself up higher on her spidery legs with a self important look on her face, "as I said before 'the best defence is a good offence' but sometimes a good defence is actually needed. As such I intend on testing your defensive skills."

"How?" one student asks after several moments without explanation pass.

"Naturally I will be attacking you with a basic force spell, what you do against this is up to you. If you would be so kind as to stand just there on that green mark one at a time." Mindfang says casually, gesturing to the mark on the ground with a... a foreleg you suppose.

Another second or two passes and then Rose squares her shoulders and marches her way over there, first to step up for each test. The arrangement of their little showdown is such that you're side on to the both of them, set back from them with you slightly closer to Rose's side than Mindfang's. You have a front row spot to a show you're not that happy about seeing.

Rose comes to a stop on the mark and pivots on it to face Mindfang once more. She has her needles in hand and though her demeanour is cool and collected she is sharp eyed and clearly ready for action. Mindfang seems to appraise her for a moment or two before lifting a hand and flinging a ball of white light at her, it almost looks like spider webbing. Rose casually swipes it out of the air with a crackle, the two opposing forces neutralising each other until nothing remains.

"A counter, very nice. How about something stronger?" Mindfang says thoughtfully and flicks another attack Rose's way.

Rose repeats her defence and each time Mindfang ramps the attack up and up until it's clear that Rose can't deflect any more. She's shaking and her face is shiny with exertion, without her standard hairband her hair is hanging in her face as she breathes heavily. Unease itches under your skin, you don't think she can take any more of this.

"Oh, surely you're not done." Mindfang smiles meanly. The expression on her face is one of sadistic glee.

"Do you have... some point to prove?" Rose pants, slightly leant over with one hand on a knee as the other remains tight and ready on one of her needles.

"I wasn't aware anyone could prove anything to a Lalonde." Mindfang sneers.

"Ah." Rose sighs.

"Aw, fuck." Dave mumbles.

"If you had some issue with my mother I assure you that I have no part in that and I think my ability to defend myself has been proven well enough." Rose says tightly. She's positioning the issue in such a way that there's no way Mindfang can press onwards without tipping her hand and showing that she's going hard on Rose because of who her mother is.

"Hmmmmmmmm, I suppose you have passed." Mindfang nods and with her left hand she conjours another token and tosses it towards Rose. Rose moves to catch it and it's her focus on catching the token that means she doesn't see the surprise attack coming, but you do.

She'll be hurt, you're sure of it.

You move without thought, you need to p̸̲̣̅r̸̩̺͊o̶̗͝t̶̹̯̂ě̴̤c̸̛͈̐͜t̷͇̃͊ Rose. A shout leaves your lips, Rose's name and your hand flies up without your say so.

Nothing touches Rose, you're only half aware of Rose's hands on your back as you stand between her and Mindfang with your hand raised. Between you and Mindfang is a shimmering barrier. A glowing, translucent, barrier that shifts between grey and white as it glows like light through stormclouds. Mindfang is wide eyed in shock, she's talking but you can't make out what she's saying, you're kind of out of sync with yourself again. You can feel ill intent rolling off of Mindfang in waves and you're only proven right when Mindfang flicks her hand at you and some spell sizzles on the barrier between her on the one side and you and Rose on the other.

Mindfang recoils in alarm and throws another spell and another and another. The ground on the other side of your barrier is starting to sizzle and melt and Rose shouts something over your shoulder and waves her hand in front of your face. Mindfang snaps something, her voice angry and slams a foot into your barrier. You don't like that one bit. Mindfang's legs flail in the air as you repel her back several feet.

Mindfang gathers herself to her feet and she's looking at you with fear now, backing down. Rose is safe.

Rose is...

Rose is holding you up, you're halfway to falling over.

"Karkat? Karkat can you hear me?" Rose asks you desperately. Dave appears at her side and on his shoulder Sollux is reared straight up staring at you, his tongue flicking quickly and intently.

"Did I... what happened?" you mumble.

"You cracked out some serious as fuck defensive magic is what. How did you do that?" Dave asks, clearly as shocked as you feel.

"More importantly are you okay?" Rose asks.

You nod a little shakily and straighten up to stand on your own power. You see Mindfang out of the corner of your eye and jump, but when you turn to look at her properly she seems alarmed and wary of you.

"What exactly are you?" she asks you in shock.

"He doesn't know." June answers for you.

"Have you never seen anything like that before? We've been trying to nail down what he is, not that we've been very successful at it." Jade adds.

"I'm sorry, I acted without even thinking about it. It's like it wasn't totally me doing it. I feel really weird." you apologise a little weakly.

"No don't... don't apologise for strength. You both pass. I've never seen anything like that before." Mindfang says softly, her gaze is fixed on you even as Rose pulls you away so that you can both sit down away from the rest of the class.

"Do you need a drink or something?" Rose suggests and pulls one of those sports drinks out of her bag. You're not sure if it'll help but you feel shaky and weird right now so you can't really say no. You nod and untwist the cap off of it with trembling hands after Rose hands it to you. You take a sip and rest your elbows on your knees, leaning forward a little so you can try to recover somewhat. Movement catches your eye and you see Sollux slithering across the stone slabs, coming over to you. He pauses maybe six feet from you and just sits there watching.

"It's a shame he can't talk right now." Rose says, observing Sollux's interest in you.

"It's not as if he could tell me anything about this even if he could talk now." you shrug and have another sip of your drink.

"So you agree that whatever you just did was linked to whatever species you are that evades your memory. I wonder if the spell that you mentioned, the one that's keeping your memory back from you is weakening with you practicing magic recently." Rose says.

"What if I'm better off not knowing what I am? What if this thing I am is something terrible? Grabbing fire like that, the power I just displayed, I kept Mindfang off of you and combat is something she teaches." you say desperately. You hadn't agreed at the time with Rose's mother but her point about Pandora's box might be relevant here, maybe this is a mystery that you should keep a mystery. Perhaps you're better off not knowing.

"That's absurd." Rose scoffs.

"Is it? Maybe losing my memory was a blessing in disguise. Sure I feel lost and alienated all the time but that could be better than the alternative." you point out.

"No, it's not. For a start I don't believe that any species or any person is inherently terrible and I don't think you do either. Being terrible, being a monster, being a villain is a choice and your species could never be something terrible." Rose informs you rather sternly.

The literal demon watching you probably agrees. He's not an asshole because he's a demon, those two things are entirely unrelated.

"Secondly, not knowing what you are means that more surprises like this are going to happen. You acted without meaning to and no one was hurt but the less you know about yourself the higher chance you have of accidentally hurting yourself or someone else. Knowledge is power, Karkat. You will find out what you are, every new thing that happens gives us more information and I am intent on finding the truth here." Rose insists.

Sollux slithers closer and wraps himself around Rose's ankle giving her a squeeze and booping his little snake snout against her ankle. You... assume he approves of this idea. Actually, that isn't surprising. Sollux can't tell you what you are but he was clearly disappointed when you didn't know so of course he'd be all for you working it out and Rose helping you do that. She can help where he can't. That and the way he was watching you intently after what you just did... perhaps he's waiting for you to have a moment of realisation. An 'ah-hah' moment or something. It's not happening now, though.

You sullenly drink your drink, watching as Jade deflects all of Mindfang's basic attacks by zapping them to somewhere else, it's like she's tugging on the fabric of the world. It certainly feels like some foresty fae fuckery to you. She stops attacking Jade when she's proven her worth, she doesn't keep going like she did with Rose.

"Thank you for stepping in, though. I'm sure Mindfang wouldn't have killed me and any injury she caused could likely have been healed, but I'd sooner not be hurt and I appreciate you sparing me that. I also can't help but note that even in your altered state you didn't do so until it became highly likely that I couldn't defend myself further, before then you watched me handle it. I appreciate that kind of respect for my own power at least." Rose remarks.

"It sucks that she's just taking out her anger about your mom on you." you mumble.

"A lot of people are jealous of her and her sudden departure from academia left lots of people feeling as if they unfairly lost their chance to get the last word in." Rose says with a shrug.

"Oh, yes, it's definitely more unfair on _them_ what happened to her, not her or you two. God, those are some priorities. Sorry." you add that apology when Sollux flinches at you saying 'God' again near him.

"Quite, it was very selfish of her to do that." Rose agrees sarcastically and smirks at you.

"I liked your mom." you say after a moment.

"She seemed quite taken with you too. I feel bad for Jade and June about that but it's nice to see her talking to people outside of the three of us. I'm sure you'd be welcome back." Rose says thoughtfully.

You'd kind of like that. You're sure she still has her rough moments, you found out about her when she'd destroyed a book Rose had borrowed after all. Just because she seemed nice when you were there doesn't mean she'd always be so easy to deal with. Still, it'd be nice for Rose and Dave to be able to do that normal kid thing of having a friend over. Or... possibly a boyfriend? You really should talk to Dave about where the two of you stand, even if the thought of that conversation makes your palms sweat.

Speaking of Dave you watch him stiffly walk out before Mindfang and him going up there causes Sollux to quickly abandon Rose and move closer to Dave, as close as he can be without interfering with the test at least. Dave's posture is tight, he's practically shaking. He grips his sword in hand, his face blank but tense. Mindfang throws an attack at him and he deflects it with his sword, causing the bolt of white spidery energy to curve off in a path that seems definitely slower than it was before.

Dave is absolutely shaking now. Mindfang hasn't even thrown as much at him as she had at Rose but Dave has broken out in a sweat and it looks more like it's from nerves than it does exhaustion like it was for Rose.

"Is he okay?" you ask Rose.

"He doesn't look it." Rose agrees quietly. Mindfang waves Dave off, tossing him a token although it's somewhat halfhearted.

Dave stumbles over to you two and almost collapses down next to you.

"Are you quite alright?" Rose asks him, raising a delicate eyebrow.

"Not in the mood, Rose." Dave mutters.

Rose holds up her hands in silent surrender and walks off, leaving you two alone. You have your suspicions that Rose knows something happened with you and Dave but only because you suspect that Rose knows everything. It's a good starting assumption for life in general.

"Drink?" you offer him, you've half drunk the one that Rose gave you but he looks as if he could use it.

"I've not been backwashing in it or anything. Not that you haven't already- uh." you stop that before you make mention of the concept of you and Dave trading spit already because, ew, what a gross way to put that.

"Thanks." Dave says shakily and accepts the drink.

"You seem pretty shaken up, are you alright?" you ask him worriedly.

"I had to face off against a giant spider woman with a sword after she'd already attacked my sister, so no." Dave snaps.

"Sorry." you say dumbly, you obviously just put your foot in it there.

Dave presses his fingers to his forehead and shakes his head a little.

"No, don't be. Sorry, that was a dick thing to say. I don't know why but I'm really rattled." he says shakily.

"Well, like you said, a giant spider woman just attacked you and you had every reason to believe it'd go really badly." you agree.

"No, it's not that." Dave tells you.

You wait a moment and Dave has another sip of the drink you gave him.

"What is it then? If it's not that." you ask.

"I don't... I don't know? Just being attacked like that makes me terrified even though technically this situation is pretty safe. There's medical people here, she's a teacher so she can't outright try to kill me or anything and if it got hairy you might have stepped in again with your magic whatever-that-was. I guess I don't deal with aggression well. I don't think I ever have." Dave says with a frown.

He never has?

Your mind flicks to the damage his mother caused to that book, to her sudden emotional and mental changes, the way she seems confused sometimes and yet is still incredibly magically powerful. Oh. Oh no.

"Dave..." you say hesitantly, "Has your mother ever- I mean I know she's not herself and it's not her fault or yours but has she ever done anything like that to you?"

Dave straightens up suddenly and looks right at you in obvious shock.

"What? No! Mom would never hurt us. Shit, I guess it sounded kind of like I meant that didn't it? But that's not what I meant. Mom can be distant or hurtful but like- that's emotionally and we know she doesn't mean it. She's never ever hurt any of the three of us. She's chased June off before but that's because she gets confused about who June is and thinks she's dangerous or hiding something. No, Mom's never attacked me, that's not why I'm all freaky about some big magic lady coming at me." Dave insists and for what it's worth he seems genuine.

But there must be a reason.

"Okay, your mom is cool, that's good. But... you really seemed upset by that whole thing. I know it's none of my business and tell me to fuck off or whatever but was there someone else? I mean I presume you have a father, or did." you say as delicately as you can.

"I don't have a father." Dave says right away.

"Okay." you say. Dave pulls a face and clarifies his point.

"Well, like, I assume I do. Biologically speaking and all. I joke that Mom made me an' Rose in her lab but I'm pretty sure she didn't. I'm sure there's some dude out there who's rocking some of my DNA but we don't know shit about him and Mom has never ever brought whoever it is up. So when I say I don't have a father I don't mean there's some douchebag out there that I've disowned, I mean that literally whoever out there contributed to making me and then peaced out like a total deadbeat has had no impact on my life. Honestly, I'm glad, fuck that guy. He's probably a total bastard." Dave says with a certain amount of venom.

Well that's a whole can of worms that you probably shouldn't have opened so you're just going to try to close that again for now and leave it off to the side in the hope that it won't mess things up for you both.

“It’s dumb though, the way I feel would make more sense if I had been through something like that. It was like almost the edge of a panic attack being up there and I’ve no clue why. I literally don’t remember anyone ever attacking me ever. Thank fuck, right, but it’s just odd.” Dave muses.

Dave still looks pale, well, he always looks pale but he looks unwell and shaken right now. This is a chance for you to talk to him one on one for a change, you'd been waiting for just such an opportunity so that you can find out if you're dating or not. Somehow though you suspect that this isn't the time.

"Look, I'm literally shaking." Dave says, holding his hand out flat in front of him. Sure enough it is trembling slightly. Yeah, this isn't the moment.

"Just keep drinking." you remind him, pointing to the sports drink that Rose left you.

Once more movement catches your eye and you watch Sollux cut an S path across the ground with his body as he comes up to you and Dave once more. Your snakey demon acquaintance (friend?) seems to watch you both for a moment or two. He twists his body to look back at the group of people still waiting to test their defenses.

"Is something wrong?" you ask Sollux, leaning forward to look down at him.

Sollux turns back again to look up at you. Maybe it's just his snake face but he seems pretty unimpressed at your question.

"What is it, lassie? Did Timmy fall down a well?" you ask innocently, at your side Dave chokes a little on his drink.

Sollux opens his mouth and hisses at you, fangs on display but doesn't actually go through with biting you. With his displeasure fully communicated he returns to looking from Dave to the group and back over and over, you're not sure if he's trying to communicate something or not. Just when you're about to ask Sollux what's going on in a less mocking way he winds himself up Dave's leg until he's able to slide over Dave's ribs like he did before.

"Ugh... hey man." Dave groans and props his head up a little, resting his elbow on his knee to do it.

Sollux pulls away from him and gets back down onto the floor, quickly heading away to the group. You'd swear that he looks... bigger. You'd also swear that Dave looks a little worse right now. Did... did Sollux do something to Dave?

"Are you feeling worse?" you ask him worriedly.

"Just a little lightheaded. Adrenaline comedown or something probably." Dave mumbles.

You look back to the other students and see Sollux suddenly become big again in order to defend himself and pass Mindfang's test. With every attack she flings his way he blocks with scales of crackling bicoloured light, his body twisting over itself in knots that ought to tie him up but never do. When she’s done he shrinks back down again.

You frown as you watch. He's a snake right now because he's low in power from getting you out of Midnight City, right? So how has he got the power to pull off flashy things like that? Is he taking energy or something somehow from Dave? Dave doesn't seem to have noticed it himself if that's the case and yet Sollux is doing some pretty energetic stuff. So maybe you're wrong, maybe Sollux didn't do anything to Dave. Maybe he did take a little energy and demons are just... highly efficient with it or something?

This is way too much speculation. Besides, what are you going to do? Ask Sollux? He can't talk and even if he could he doesn't tell you shit most of the time.

"Hey, after this do you want to get coffee or something? I'm sure caffeine and sugar would make you feel better." you offer, trying to fix a different problem instead.

"That sounds- yeah." Dave nods.

"Ah, I'm so glad that it sounds 'yeah'." you nod solemnly. Dave elbows you in the side for that which is probably fair enough.

The rest of your class runs through their remaining tests, some people passing well enough to make the class but a decent number don't make the cut and get told to try again at a later date. Somehow you managed to make it, you managed to outperform a whole bunch of other people to make it into this class. That's crazy, especially as not long ago you didn't know you had any magical capabilities at all. Your life has really changed.

"Now then," Mindfang declares to the remaining class members, "I will be assigning reading before each class. Background on what I intend to show you. I get bored of repeating myself over and over to people-"

"Why are you a teacher then?" Dave says under his breath, you can't help but agree.

"-as such a lot of the learning will be done by you in preparation. Class will be mostly practical instruction and demonstration." Mindfang explains.

As irritating as her reasons are, you kind of get why she's doing it this way, if you've got limited face to face time with people then dedicating that time to stuff you can only show and test in person makes sense.

"You may have experienced group projects in your other classes," Mindfang goes on and you scowl at that, Sollux is still not helping with your project. "however this class will be almost entirely group assessed. Though I intend to grade you on your individual abilities as well, you will be mostly tested on how well your group works. In expeditions witches travel in groups, being alone is no good. You have no one to keep watch, you have too much to do alone and that sort of complexity leads to mistakes and fatalities."

That thought is kind of chilling. There are plenty of areas in the world, some small patches of woodland but some far larger expanses hundreds of miles across, that humans know better than to go to alone. Not to mention the danger of sea travel without properly negotiating passage with the people that live in the waters. If it wasn't for teleportation people would have to risk that kind of thing all the time to travel long distances. Wandering into a highly active magical area seems dangerous as hell and you're not keen to do it, that couldn’t be more clearly demonstrated than the expedition in Japan being driven to madness and cannibalism. It's not exactly great advertising is it?

"Between what you already may know of your fellow students and what you have seen here I suggest you group up. You have until the end of the week to submit your groups to me and anyone not assigned to a group at that point will be assigned one by me, if that group doesn't accept you then you will have to either form a new group with anyone else remaining or drop out until a later point. I am very serious about this. I will send you the reading for your next class by email and if any of the rest of you want to practice what you've seen here today then this room is available for that for a while." Mindfang says.

You're not super keen to stay here at all.

"Coffee?" you suggest to Dave.

"Hell yes." Dave nods and stands up. You get up with him, ready to steady him if he needs it but he's pretty much fine.

The rest of your friends walk over together, Rose carrying Sollux in her arms. When she gets to Dave she hands the demon over and Dave promptly puts Sollux on his shoulder. Sollux slips down into Dave's hood and doesn't move at all.

"Is he just sleeping in there?" Dave asks, trying to turn his head to see. You peek in yourself and Sollux doesn't seem to be moving at all aside from softly breathing, but you have no idea how to tell if a snake is sleeping or not. You shrug a little helplessly and Dave seems to let it go.

"We should all be a group." June insists.

"I'm not sure how much help I'll be." you say uncertainly.

"Are you serious, Karkat? You're incredibly defensively powerful, even if you're not sure how you did it. A group needs to be well rounded between defense and offense and you're wonderfully defensive." Rose assures you.

"In combat. Socially you're more offensive." Jade snickers.

"Har, har. Fuck you too Harley." you grumble.

"We should all sit down and plan what we're going to do, maybe look over what Mindfang's sent us. I'm kind of excited about this!" June says brightly, light dancing in her eyes as her whole face lights up with excitement.

"Oh, we were just going to get coffee." Dave says stupidly.

"Yes! Drinks and cake and PLANNING!" Jade cheers.

"Did you see they're doing oreo milkshakes at the coffee place, Jade?" June says eagerly and links her arm with her roommate to pull her off.

"So glad we're all going." Rose smiles sharply. She clearly picked up on Dave's point that he had meant that just you and he were going to get coffee but apparently it's too late, your plan has been hijacked and there's nothing you can do about it now.

Dave shrugs and gives you an embarrassed little look but it's fine, you're still happy to hang out with your friends, even if you were hoping for just you and Dave alone.

In the coffee place you end up sat next to Jade who leans against you and shows you the offensive spells that you’re going to be taught, all laid out in neat little diagrams on her screen. June and Dave are off getting everyone’s order, you hope no one’s going to notice the snake in the hood of Dave’s hoodie and freak out but you didn’t think to remind him until after he’d gone.

“I’m really excited to learn how to do all of this.” Jade says in wonder.

“Me too. Is all of this stuff different from the fae things you know? The space bending stuff I saw you do was incredible.” you tell her. It really was, manipulating reality like that is just incredible and surely very high level stuff. What would you expect though, she’s fae and they’re very powerful.

“Oh, thanks.” Jade says brightly, but the smile doesn’t quite reach her eyes. You guess that she notices that you’re not convinced by her cheer and sighs softly.

“Well it’s not- the only fae magic I know is stuff I know instinctively. I was never taught anything. I’ve never even seen another fae until coming here and passing a few people in the hallway. I’m a changeling, so…” Jade shrugs.

Oh.

Oh shit. Changelings are fae children swapped for human children, the human children are taken back with the fae and the fae child is left behind with the humans. It’s effectively abandonment, and you managed to bring that up for her.

“I… shouldn’t have brought that up. Wow, fuck, I’m so great at talking to people. The literal best at it. Someone needs to lock me away so I never speak to people ever again holy shit.” you groan, covering your face with your hands.

“Your histrionics are always so funny, Karkat. It’s fine, it's just a fae thing, you know? Anyway that’s the reason I’m so excited to be actually taught combat stuff like this instead of figuring it out for myself. My grandpa never really taught me anything about magic, if anything he spent his time making notes on what I worked out!” Jade laughs.

“I don’t have- how dare you.” you huff and slide lower in your seat.

“That is probably not helping your case, Karkat.” Rose says with a smile. She’s balancing one of her needles on its tip on the table, just supporting it ever so slightly with a fingernail at the other end.

“Hey, Rose, can I ask about those things? Are they magic wands or whatever?” you ask her curiously. You’ve seen stuff like that on TV but not in real life.

“There’s no such thing as magic wands, honestly.” Rose says rolling her eyes. Behind her Dave comes up with the drinks in hand as June balances a tray with plates on it.

“Oh no, not the magic wand debate again. I’m not participating in this, I’m not here.” Dave groans and starts handing out drinks.

“Debate?” Jade asks curiously.

“There’s no such thing as a magic wand. There’s nothing more magical about these needles than any other knitting needles out there, as cool as they look. June gave them to me and it just happens that using them to point helps me to focus more aggressive magic that requires a directional element. They are not inherently magic, ergo, they are not magic wands.” Rose insists.

“You use them to cast magic, there are magic wands or at the very least magic needles.” Dave argues.

“Oh, but you cast magic with your hands. Are those your magic hands?” Rose counters immediately.

“I thought you weren’t having this argument.” June says, but is ignored anyway.

“Yes. Yes they are. Everyone says so.” Dave tells her.

“Oh please, the only one who’s benefitted from your ‘magic hands’ is you.” Rose tells him snidely. Well, that’s an image you didn’t need in your head, certainly not around other people.

“Cool, if we can not allude to Dave jerking it when I’m handing out food that’d be great.” June says loudly and shoves a toasted sandwich in your direction.

Dave grumbles and sits down but it seems that her intervention has successfully put the brakes on what you assume is a repeated argument between Dave and Rose.

"How long do you think it'll be until we're allowed to go out together as a group? Like, exploring together?" June asks as she sits down and changes the topic back to your previous class.

"A while, I'd hope. I don't want to go out there unprepared." you point out. You don't want to end up as some headline.

"Pssh, you'll be fine. I hope we get to train as a group though. We could form specialised plays and maneuvers like sports teams do, all working together like a machine." June says eagerly, despite being pretty blase about the possibility of you dying or being hurt.

"I would assume we're meant to stick together in the same group so I guess so." you concede.

"Besides, Sollux is in our group and he's immortal. We'll be fine and all of us passed no problem." Jade agrees.

You don't really rate your offensive capabilities and you think you might have to go out of your way to rent a practice room soon to try to get a head start on that, you don't want to let your friends down.

Still, you have other demands on your time. Returning to work is a little unnerving but Ms. Paint really was fine with you not being there. Kanaya was understandably concerned but she listens attentively as you tell her everything that happened to you.

"And he just burnt your notebook like that?" Kanaya asks when you tell her about Sollux.

"Yeah." you say unhappily.

"Do you think you could recognise the language if you saw it again?" Kanaya asks thoughtfully.

You spent a while copying it down, reversed or not you think you could pick it out.

"Yeah, I think so." you nod.

"Then come with me." Kanaya smiles sneakily and gets up.

She flips the sign on the office door and leads you down to the lowest level of the library. The book she picks out is not restricted but one in need of restoration. It's a large book, about as big as your chest and it has pages sewn into it from clearly quite disparate sources.

"Some of the languages for rather minor deities corrupted during the event so we've been trying to restore this edition, it has all the examples of magical languages that we've ever found. Not all of them have been identified but still, have a look." Kanaya suggests.

Carefully you open the book up. It's easy to flip through the human magical languages and the fae ones are pretty to look at but not what you were looking for. The aquatic languages are interesting as well but, still, not what you're looking for. One page makes you pause.

"Ah, yes, see this is one of the unidentified languages. Let's see." Kanaya murmurs and leans over your shoulder.

"Found on several stone tablets, it seems to be part mathematical and part language. A few other fragments have been identified but not enough to work out any kind of translation." she explains, gesturing to photographs and rubbings of the fragments that remain. Your eyes catch on one word.

"_**Forbidden**_." you read, your tongue shaping around the word without a second thought.

You jump when something across the room bangs loudly. You whip around to see that a book in the highly dangerous fenced off section has thrown itself at the wire cage and seems to be trying to get at you. Whatever you just said pissed it off badly.

"Can you- did you just read that?" Kanaya asks in shock.

"I think so. Just that one word, the rest is just... fragments of words I think. I don't know how I know what it said though, I just did." you tell her, your eyes still glued to the book that has now sunk to the floor and slid under a shelf menacingly.

You close your eyes and sigh, just what you need. Yet more mystical and unexplained bullshit on top of everything else in your life. You came to this place to learn and get more answers but so far you've come up with more questions than answers, it feels like you know less now than you used to.

"Let me guess," you say wearily, "there's no leads at all as to where this language that I apparently know a word from is from or what species it comes from at all?"

"I'm... afraid not. I would say that it seems to be quite an old language, chronologically speaking, but that doesn't really narrow much down. And even if it did, just because part of you remembers how to speak this language doesn't mean that you are the species that it belongs to. I know how to speak French but I certainly am not French, so. People didn't seem to forget languages in The Event so you may have known this and just not been aware of it, it doesn't really offer a clue as to your species I'm afraid." Kanaya admits.

"Fucking... fantastic. Let's keep looking." you grumble and keep flipping through the pages.

Your fingers still on the pages when your eyes catch on a certain script, it's sharp and pointed, every letter looking like it's been chiselled into the page somehow. This looks just like what you saw on yourself.

"This is it." you whisper.

"That's demonic, you're sure this is the language that was on you?" she asks.

"I'm absolutely certain, it's just like this." you say and lift up your arm and think of the deal until it glows softly on your skin. It's the same script for sure.

"Then whatever this spell was that you saw on your body it was done with demonic magic. I suppose that makes sense given how demons are the only species that have perfect recall of things before The Event and of The Event itself but I'd never thought that they were responsible." she says. It's not a view everyone shares, more than a fair few people blame demons.

"I don't see why it would be demons in general but someone who spoke their language, or saw it as the most useful to do whatever that spell is. We already use magical languages selectively to cast magic depending on what we want to do, this could be more of the same." you reason.

Kanaya frowns and turns so that she's half leaning and half ever so slightly perched on the edge of the table.

"So that leaves two options, either whoever put this spell on you and presumably everyone if what that woman in Midnight City said to you is true was a native speaker of demonic and just cast the spell in their native language because it's easier to work in your native language. Or it's a spell that demonic and ~ATH lends itself especially well to and could be cast by anyone fluent in it." Kanaya says.

"So how many people are fully fluent in demonic but AREN'T demons?" you ask, fearing you already know the answer.

"Shockingly, demons are cagey about sharing knowledge so very few people are fluent in the language, you've already met the world expert on all things demonic. Or should I say the human world expert in it." Kanaya tells you.

You somehow suspect that Roxy Lalonde is not going to be helpful to you here. If you had the spell written out you could perhaps have shown it to her but you're not sure you want to stress her out with something like that when there's no reason to. It was already more than generous of her to sacrifice her time and energy to bring you back to this plane of reality. As much as you want this spell off and to know your past it seems irresponsible to tax her mind on something that isn't life or death. Besides, the way she was talking at times made you wonder if she wasn't already at least partly aware of the spell and maybe even The Event.

"At the very least I know it wasn't Sollux, but I don't know who would have the power to cast a spell like this on the whole world." you say.

"People have theorised that The Event was caused by the gods themselves, a last mysterious act before they left. But if that is the case then this spell being written in demonic casts uncomfortable implications." Kanaya says with a wince.

"Yeah, let's not go there. There's probably some way for people who aren't gods to have done this, some bullshit combination of the right people on some cosmically aligned date with the right blah, blah, blah. Some shit like that, you know?" you say, you don't want to think of the alternative.

"Perhaps." Kanaya nods and picks up the book, returning it to the shelf.

"You know, I'm deeply invested in seeing any essays that you write if that's how you explain things." she adds with a sly little grin.

"I'll be sure to show you them all. Should we check out whatever was throwing a hissy fit in the cage?" you ask, gesturing to the restricted cage.

"We shall do no such thing, I will have a look. Although Ms. Paint did mention that she's going to be tutoring you more on magic for the library. Have you had any lessons with her yet?" Kanaya asks and lets herself through the first cage doors and locks them behind her.

"No, not yet. I had a lot of work to catch up on after being in another dimension for a few days. I didn't really want to explain it to any of my teachers, I know it's a step up from 'my dog ate my homework' but... yeah, no. She said she'd be teaching me finding spells first though, that sounds useful." you say.

Kanaya lets herself into the restricted cage and nods.

"It is very useful, however it does mean that seeing books out of place will forever bug you and your own book collection will henceforth be obsessively organised." she says somewhat distractedly as she looks over the shelves.

You keep quiet now, you don't want to distract her in there. Instead you just watch as she crouches down and fishes a thin and plain brown book off of the floor under the shelves.

"Was this the book that flew at the cage or did it get knocked off? This one's never shown a hint of animation or trouble before." she says as she turns it over in her hands.

"Why is it in there?" you ask.

"I don't know off of the top of my head. It doesn't even have a visible title or author, its appearance tends to- look." Kanaya flaps the book in her hand, it's not hard covered like you would have expected but soft and flexible and as you look at it the appearance of it glitches slightly in a way that reminds you of Dave's terrible skateboard.

"That makes me feel a little sick to look at." you grimace.

"Quite. Back you go." Kanaya tells it and slides it back into place on the shelf. She unlocks the door, slips out, relocks it and then does the same with the final door.

"I want to know what that book was, I need to note any unusual behaviour. I'm not sure it was that book that threw itself at the cage or not, but there weren't any out of place. Not that a book couldn't reshelve itself if it wanted of course." Kanaya explains and starts to flick through a book on a podium by the cage.

"You think that book's some kind of fall-book for some other book?" you ask her. That's a bonkers sentence that you just said and yet a perfectly reasonable one in your current job.

"Hmm, yes, look. This book has never shown any mobility at all. Its contents are unreadable and its appearance is changeable, all very benign." Kanaya says, tapping her finger on a listing for the book in question. You can see a space under the book's information for 'incidents' but it's all blank. In fact most of it looks blank, there's no country of origin or era listed. Literally the only interesting information is speculation that its pages seem fire retardant.

"Why is it in there?" you ask.

"Code... 413? Uh... that's..." Kanaya scrunches her eyes shut and frowns as if she's trying to remember something for a test, "I think a prophecy. We have a different book for that, upstairs."

This isn't really work you should be doing but it is a book related mystery and you're sure that Ms. Paint would understand and encourage a diversion of book related curiosity.

Kanaya leads you up a floor and into a back office and pulls out what's more accurately a scrapbook than an actual book. The pages inside are notes written down and stuck in, a few solid pages are written by one person and then it's back to other people.

"What is this?" you ask.

"It's a book of prophecies by seers over the years about the university and the library as well. We flag the ones obviously to do with us and- ah, here." Kanaya pauses on one page.

my dragon seer said this book would lead to great mind rending evil and someone bein *being drowned in a bath or something it was unclear no one can read it anyway so lock the sucker up in book jail - RL

"The fuck?" you ask, quite reasonably.

"That's a note from Doctor Lalonde, I don't know what she means by a dragon seer. I assume that's a title. Still that makes sense, if the book isn't usable anyway and it's indicated to be involved in a dangerous prophecy then it would make sense to lock it up in here to prevent that." Kanaya explains.

"Ok, here's a thing I never understood, if a seer sees that something is going to happen can they actually do anything to change it? Because if they can, aren't they wrong? Do they only see inevitable shit or is it just things that can happen or what? Doesn't seeing it at all change things?" you ask. You probably could ask Rose this but that seems tactless to demand explanation on the thing she can no longer do.

"Ugh, there're whole fields of study about that. The nature of timelines and prophecies and whatnot, I took a course on it for a semester and promptly dropped it because all that paradox stuff makes my head hurt. Either way the book is locked up down there and it's going to stay there and I don't mind because it's never tried to take a chunk out of me." Kanaya says as if that's that.

"Fair enough." you nod.

The two of you go back to the office via the other drop boxes and get back to doing your actual work, hushing a few students on the way there. When you're in the safety of your office and can talk again without being hypocritical, Kanaya asks you another question.

"So. How goes your obvious crush?" she asks.

You never even TOLD her about that, she just worked it out. The girl can sniff out drama and emotional intrigue like a bloodhound. Wait, is that an offensive thing to call her? Probably, shit. Still, you won't get out of this by dodging the question so your best option here is just to roll over and tell her what she wants to know.

"We might be dating now, or not. I don't know." you say and frown at a book. Kanaya looks up at you over the edge of a book trolley, her gaze is incredibly judgemental.

"Please do tell me the reason that you're not sure, I'm positive that it is wildly absurd." she says.

"We kissed but... we didn't get to talk about it because we got interrupted and we've not really had a chance since then. So I don't know." you admit.

"I was under the impression that you quote unquote millennials were all on your phones these days." she says flatly.

"Oh, yeah, it's all charging our phones, being bisexual, eating hot chip and lie. No, Kanaya, I don't want to just text him and ask. I want there to be some romance here, not just... idiocy." you say as you try to explain it. You just want this to be meaningful, not some casual thing negotiated through messages. Is that too much to ask?

"And yet idiocy is what I see here. This is only going to get more idiotic the longer you leave this, you know. This is not how you play gay chicken, you're doing it wrong." she says. You roll your eyes so hard you think you might have sprained something.

"I know, okay?! I'm going to have a mature and adult conversation with him about this when I can. I'd like for it to just be the two of us, but since Sollux is a snake and Dave's wearing him like the world's worst necktie all the time at the moment it's kind of hard to do that. Hopefully when Sollux has legs again I can ask Dave out properly." you insist.

"You have the most interesting, weirdest and dumbest social life of anyone I've ever known. And I've been around a very long time so that's saying something." Kanaya sighs and returns to shelving books.

Well, at least you excel at SOMETHING.

As it happens Sollux doesn't seem to be turning back into his usual bipedal self anytime soon, he's just getting bigger each time you see him. You can very charitably say that he's attending your BASIC group's meetings but given that he can't talk he's been fuck all help. Dave is in no hurry to put Sollux down so he can slither about on his own or hand him off to other people so you can't catch him alone. If anything Dave is relishing being able to walk around with a giant snake around his neck and shoulders all the while interacting with people as if everything is normal and almost daring them to say anything about it. You're certain Sollux finds this just as amusing, the shitlord. June of course is no help because she's into any and all pranks and this is deeply funny to her, Rose is suspiciously oblivious about all this in a way that tells you she knows everything and is also having a laugh at your expense. Jade would probably play wingman for you but you don't have the guts to ask her and so you're wallowing in your stupidity.

"Isn't he heavy, or something?" you ask, pointing your pen at Sollux who is at least five foot long now with a head bigger than your fist.

"Nah, he does that thing where he doesn't weigh much at all." Dave answers with a shrug as he stares down at his e-reader with the books that Mindfang sent out. Class starts in a few minutes and you all want to be prepared.

You remember Sollux pulling that magical trick before on the night where you all stayed in his room. Sollux lifts his head up from Dave's shoulder and stares at you, unblinking. You stick your tongue out at him and he does the same in return, that's about the limits of your conversational ability with the demon right now.

"Magical attacks can be done either barehanded or through a weapon of some kind, the weapons needn't make contact and for this test they must not but they can serve as a focus for unleashing a basic force attack which is what you will be doing today." Mindfang declares without any preamble as she scuttles into the room.

"Everyone first will line up and attempt a barehanded force attack on the target wall, if that fails after a few rounds you may select a weapon or continue trying barehanded. Go." she says, waving a hand.

She's certainly not one for pleasantries.

You've read the texts before this but you're still not sure that you're going to be able to do this. This isn't like the strictly formulated magic that you have done in your other spellcasting classes, this is basic instinctive magic. You have to find your own magical source within yourself and use that. You know where your magical source is within you about as well as you know where your gallbladder is. You've presumably got one but you don't know where it is or really have any proof that it's ever done much in your life at all.

The class lines up, you're between Dave (with Sollux on his shoulders) on your right and Jade on your left.

You follow the directions, stand with the foot of your non-dominant side first, in this case your left, and keep your dominant hand and foot slightly back. It looks like something from a martial arts class. Because Dave is left handed you're directly facing him. At least he's focusing ahead of himself but Sollux is staring right at you. You don't know if he's been staring more lately or if him being a snake just makes it more unsettling than usual.

The feeling of magic itself is so fleeting that it’s hard to grasp and your first attempt to cast a force attack does absolutely nothing. You dig inside yourself and find nothing. Your hand lowers and your eyes shift to Dave. He’s looking forward so you can see the way his eyebrows pull lower in concentration, the hint of his red eyes exposed by the open sides of his sunglasses. He pulls his left hand back, turning it from an open palm to an almost clawlike shape and between his fingers the world seems to stutter. The air feels odd, it takes on a texture that you can only describe as feeling like the sound a record makes when you pull the needle away. Dave’s hand strikes forward and bright red shoots forth making his target fly apart.

“I don’t think I can do this.” you say softly.

“Don’t think that, you’ve already shown off that you can do stuff. Just give it another try.” Dave suggests. His reassurance sounds genuine, he’s being nice and he has confidence in you. This just feels wrong, like you know that you can’t do this. All the same you try again, you breathe, you go through the movements but still there’s no result.

Sollux is hanging off of Dave’s shoulders, a thick and looped weight, but you watch as he uncoils himself and balances on Dave’s right shoulder for a moment before stretching out towards you. Halfway there Dave lifts his hand up to provide support and Sollux swiftly moves from Dave’s shoulders to yours.

“Augh, what do you want?” you yelp as Sollux loops himself around your shoulders.

Sollux slips down your chest and bends his body so he’s looking you right in the face, all the while the rest of his body is still moving. You only realise how tight he’s getting around your neck when it’s too late. He’s not choking you but the threat is there. Sollux jerks his head off to the side but you’ve no idea what that means.

The demon shakes his head and moves forward, sliding over your shoulder and wrapping down your arm. He’s like an anaconda at this size and his body is far stronger than your arm, so when he pulls your arm raises up away from the targets without your permission.

“The fuck?!” you yelp.

“Uh?” Dave says in agreement.

Sollux’s head is at your wrist now and he pointedly looks to the other side of the room then back to you and back away again.

“I think he maybe wants you to go over there.” Dave guesses and Sollux bobs his snakey head in a nod.

“Well he can go himself if he wants toaaAAACK.” a coil of snake tail tightens around your throat, cutting your words off.

“Sollux, stop strangling him, man.” Dave sighs. He’s taking his far too casually.

Obligingly Sollux’s tail loosens enough so you can breathe but it’s still tight and his glowing eyes hold no mercy.

“You’re the fucking worst.” you remind him and Sollux jerks his head again so you go the way he’s leading you.

You’re pretty sure you look dumb as fuck, being led around by the arm by a giant snake but this is just your life now. You for one resent your serpentine overlord.

Sollux moves your arm like a compass needle, directing you over to the wall that’s covered in weapons. When you get there he jerks your arm off to the side so you go that way until he has you stop and then he lifts your arm up until it grazes the hilt of a weapon. It’s a sickle, you’re not sure exactly where that tidbit of information came from but you know it.

You twist the weapon around in your hand, practiced and familiar despite you never remembering touching one at all in your life. You want to ask what’s going on, how you know this. Sollux can’t answer you now but he led you here. He’s not telling you things he’s not allowed to but this seems very much like him deliberately directing you to things where you’ll discover something on your own. He wants you to remember, doesn’t he?

The target range is calling you and Dave is watching you return. As you walk you flip the sickle around in your hand. The familiarity itches at you, literally it’s itching, your skin feels prickly and wrong. You scratch at your face, trying to chase the phantom irritant away.

Suddenly you feel it, like getting your fingernail between the screen protector and your phone, and something suddenly floods back.

A range, much like this one. It could be this one. A weapon, the same kind, heavy in your hand and reluctance deep in your heart. It’s a test and one you know you have to pass but suddenly you don’t have the stomach for it.

_”But why do I have to even attack anyone at all? Wasn’t the whole point of reasoning with people, being empathetic and seeing things their way to AVOID fighting people?”_

_“Yes, but sometimes you have to. Sometimes you need to because that’s what you’ve been told to do, it’s your duty, Karkat. So stop wasting your time and mine and prove to me that you can.”_

_“That’s- you didn’t need to make them look like real people.”_

_“Why shouldn’t they? You need to be able to face the gravity of what you will have to do, distancing you from the reality of the situation will only make this harder for you in the long run or God forbid make you fail when confronted with the reality of the situation.”_

_“But-”_

_“That was an ő̴͉̜͕ȓ̷̘̞d̴̜̰̭͐̓͝e̶̟̤̓̑̄r̴̞̤̈̑́͜, Karkat!”_

You drop the sickle, you didn’t in the memory and even now you have the lingering sensation of blood. You don’t want to do that again. You jerk your hand away from your face and the memory recedes.

“Karkat? Are you okay?” Dave asks worriedly.

Sollux’s tail curls up around your face and nudges at your cheek where you’d been scratching before that memory came back.

“I don’t… know.” you say hoarsely.

Mindfang scuttles past you on her unnerving spider legs and judgmentally looks as your perfectly untouched target.

“Disappointing.” she comments in a way that’s far too similar to the person in your memories.

You make some excuse, you don’t remember exactly what, and leave the classroom. You find a bench somewhere outside, sit down and lean forward on it, your hands tightly gripping the edges as you try to remember to breathe right. It’s only when Sollux slides off of your shoulders and into your lap do you realise that you accidentally abducted him.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to-” you say a little breathlessly. You can’t even get to the end of the sentence before you have to close your eyes and try to keep yourself together.

You’ve wanted for so long to get memories back and you’re sure that’s exactly what that was, fractured and with parts missing, sure but a memory nonetheless. It wasn’t a good memory and right now you wish you could forget it, you feel like even before The Event took your memories you’d probably have tried to keep this one out of your head.

Sollux nudges his head against your chest through your hoodie, right above the mark on your chest that’s shown up. The one you’ve never shown him and he shouldn’t know is there. It feels a little like you can breathe again.

“There he is!”

Opening your eyes again you look around to see your friends hurrying over to you.

“Why’d you go, Karkat?” Jade asks first.

“You look a little like you’re going to hurl, dude.” Dave adds, gee, thanks Dave.

“I think I remembered something.” you tell them hesitantly.

“Wait, what? What do you mean remembered something?” June asks you quickly, her eyes wide behind her square glasses.

“How about you tell us everything, starting from the beginning.” Rose suggests, sensible as ever as she sits on the bench next to you. You nod mutely for a moment and watch as Rose takes the chance to boop Sollux’s snout with the tip of her finger, making him shake his head to get rid of her.

“Sollux took me over to the weapons and I picked up a sickle. Somehow I knew how to use it even though I don’t remember ever touching one and I went back to the targets and…” you pause, if your hands weren’t gripping the edges of the bench by your knees so hard they’d be shaking right now.

“I remembered this conversation with someone. A man, I think. Older than me, I think his eyes were red and… I don’t know, it’s all fractured. He was telling me I needed to attack some targets, like in class, I guess that’s why I remembered it. And- somehow he made them real people? I don’t know. Magic or something, there was blood, he made me do it somehow.” you say shakily.

“I mean, you don’t know what that was. It being all incomplete like that… it could be some magic runoff from something or some bad juju that Mindfang was putting out to ‘test’ us or something like that. People don’t get memories back from The Event.” June reasons.

“It sounds quite traumatic whatever it was.” Rose says.

“No, no, wait. What happened in this memory? You said he made you attack these people? What happened?” Jade presses you.

Bile rises in your throat as flashes of blood flicker behind your eyes.

“He- he just ordered me and I had to. Physically had to. It was some- what?” you pause as Sollux’s head jerks up.

“Sollux, do you know something?” Rose asks him and Sollux just sort of squirms about in your lap as if he can’t communicate right, you suppose that he can’t.

“It’s not like he can talk.” June points out.

“Well he can, if you ask things in a binary way. Kind of hard for this sort of topic though.” Dave says.

“Ah, perhaps I have a solution. Sollux, come here, please.” Rose says and holds out her arms.

Sollux slithers off of your lap and into her waiting arms. Rose kneels down on the stone paving and places Sollux on the floor in a loose coil.

“You can still read in this form, yes?” Rose asks and Sollux bobs his head in a ‘yes’ motion.

“Excellent, then perhaps…” Rose trails off and pulls a chalk pen from her bag.

On the floor around Sollux she starts to write. Yes, No, Maybe, I Don’t Know, Good, Bad. Sollux looks around as she writes, taking in the options.

“That ought to give us a few more options, between your tail and your nose you should be able to indicate whatever you need to.” Rose says.

“Well, wait, is there even any point in this? There’s so much shit that Sollux can’t even talk about, right?” June interrupts.

“A fair point.” Rose nods and makes an X on the floor.

“If you cannot tell us the answer, indicate there.” Rose says, tapping the X.

“So where do we start then? Not that I’m not down for Snake Ouija in the first place but do we have a plan or what have you?” Dave asks, leaning over the back of the bench near your shoulder so he can see.

“Sollux, I’m aware that it seemed like you weren’t present in this memory so I wouldn’t expect you to know for sure, but setting aside that do you think that what Karkat experienced was, in fact, a memory?” Rose asks, wordy as always.

Sollux nudges his nose to ‘Yes’.

“Did I scratch at that spell somehow and do something to it?” you guess.

Sollux seems to hesitate and points his nose to ‘Yes’ again but his tail taps on ‘I don’t know’.

“So he doesn’t know for sure but thinks that’s probably it.” Rose concludes.

“Would something bad happen if he did that again?” June asks.

Sollux hesitates, at first selecting ‘I don’t know’ but then shifting to ‘yes’.

“I can’t say it felt great this time.” you admit.

“Do you know the person in Karkat’s memory?” Jade asks.

Sollux tilts his head ‘Maybe’.

“Allow me to clarify, do you know who the person in Karkat’s memory is?” Rose asks.

‘Yes’

“Do you know him personally?” you ask.

‘No’

“So something in what Karkat said was descriptive enough to tip Sollux off, which wasn’t a lot, not unless Karkat’s giving off magical vibes that Sollux was picking up when he was doing that whole remembering thing. Not that that’d surprise me because magic amrite?” Dave rambles.

“You seemed to react to him being ordered to attack, was that what tipped you off?” Rose asks.

Sollux freezes and smacks his tail sharply against the X on the ground. He can’t say.

“But it’s not like Karkat is compelled to do what people order him to. Maybe this person had some special power or something, like mind control?” Jade wonders.

“Why would that be secret though?” Dave frowns.

“Well- hm, no that’s probably irrelevant.” Rose cuts herself off and Sollux looks sharply at her, as if asking her to go on.

“I just remember something that Mother once told me about demons and deals, about how if one actually does break it then you can go tell on them to their maker. Demons are physically incapable of disobeying direct and real orders from their makers, but Karkat obviously isn’t a demon so that’s a pointless line of conjecture. I don’t know why it came to mind.” Rose explains.

Sollux just stares unblinking at her.

“I already asked him if I was part human and part something else and he told me for free that I’m not part demon.” you offer.

“Unless! Sollux is Karkat the weirdest looking softest demon ever?” Dave gasps.

Sollux doesn’t even pick an answer off of the ground this time, he just smacks his face with his own tail. Impressive, Dave made a creature without palms find a way to facepalm.

“Whoa, whoa, are we just blowing by how demons can order their kids around like that? That’s kind of messed up. Sollux, is your maker alive? Could whoever it is do that to you?” Jade asks in concern.

Sollux slowly picks ‘Yes’ but he seems a little thrown by the question.

“Oh man, if I ever see your maker and they start making you do things you don’t want to do I’ll fight them for you!” Jade vows earnestly and Sollux buries his face in the coils of his body like he’s embarrassed.

“Hah, I mean, maybe don’t do that!” June laughs. Yeah, you don’t feel like seeing her fight a demon either, especially one more powerful than Sollux.

“Alright, serious question. Is Karkat in danger from the person in his memories?” Rose asks.

Sollux pulls his head out of his body and touches his tail to ‘I don’t know’.

“That’s fair, you can’t ask him to see the future.” you nod.

“Let me rephrase, from what you know of this person do you think they’d have any reason to want to hurt Karkat?” Rose tries.

Sollux hesitates and picks ‘maybe’ but he doesn’t seem entirely satisfied with that answer.

“Oh, good. Great. Reassuring.” you whine.

“Alright let me cut in. Sollux, if this person showed up tomorrow hunting Karkat down would you be super shocked about it?” Dave asks.

Sollux picks ‘yes’ to that with no hesitation.

“So it’s possible but hella unlikely, you can probably relax.” Dave nods.

“Are they a bad person then? I mean obviously we don’t like it if this person would attack Karkat but are they generally a bad person?” Jade asks.

Sollux turns his body to look at the ‘good’ and ‘bad’ options on the ground but he seems lost.

“We already covered that Sollux doesn’t know this person personally, just knows who they are. It’s probably a lot to ask him to make a binary choice on their moral character based on just that. Also you’re asking a demon for a moral judgement and is he meant to give a demon judgement, a human one, a fae one? I think that’s too complex.” Rose reasons.

It’s certainly complex enough that it took her ages to get through explaining why it’s complex.

“Alright, would you recognise this person if you saw them?” Jade tries again.

‘Maybe’

“I’m less reassured by the moment.” you whine.

You look down at Sollux on the floor and a question bubbles up in your mind.

“You picked the sickle for me, were you trying to get me to remember that?” you ask.

‘No’

“Were you trying to get me to remember something else?” you try again.

Sollux ducks his head, not looking at anyone. ‘Maybe’. You’re pretty sure that he’s lying there, that should be a yes, but you’re not using deal questions to compel him to tell the truth, you’re just relying on his honesty.

“How did you know to pick the sickle?” you ask?

“Dude, he can’t answer with those answers, try again.” Dave reminds you.

“Right, shit, uh… have you seen me use those before?” you ask.

Sollux moves and then freezes, he tries to move again and a ripple of yellow and black fire flickers over him. Hellfire, that’s a warning. Sollux slumps a little and points at the ‘X’ instead, he can’t tell you that.

“And we’re done, I’m pretty sure that’s not fun for Sollux so snake ouija is done for now.” Dave says. He walks around the bench and scoops Sollux up off of the ground and holds him to his chest. Sollux winds himself tight around Dave’s torso and rests his head on Dave’s shoulder.

“Thanks for the help at least. Sorry I made a scene. AGAIN.” you groan and rub your face. You can’t feel the spell across it any more but knowing that you could interact with it makes you feel wary of doing so accidentally.

“Hey, no, it’s not like that.” June says gently and rubs your back.

“I think I’m just going to… go back to my room. Sorry.” you apologise and quickly head off. There’s too much going on in your head to deal with people right now.

When you get in you shut your bedroom door and fall face down on your bed. You don’t really want company right now.

You try to examine your thoughts and that memory. You can’t put the face together but you’re not sure that it’s because of your memory being corrupted or anything. Once you know what people look like it isn’t as if you study their faces at all times. Not unless it’s Dave and you’re in a flutter about how much you like him. Rather you remember what expression someone was making.

You remember the arrogance on the man’s face, the familiar condescension, the irritation and the stern order at the end. It’s the feeling you can recall, not the way his face looked exactly. What colour was his skin, what did his face look like, his hair? None of that. You just remember that he was lecturing you and he didn’t approve of what you had to say or what you thought one bit.

Just thinking about it makes you feel about an inch tall. Mindfang’s disapproval earlier must have just added to that. You wonder how Sollux knows about that man though, did you tell him before all of this when you were younger? Did you tell him what happened?

That night you miss dinner and like a coward you just make yourself toast when Rose is out eating with the others. You just feel like too much of a raw nerve to be near anyone else right now. The very most you can tolerate is one simple text based message with Dave.

turntechGodhead [TG] began trolling  carcinoGeneticist [CG]  
  
TG: hey man our presentation is tomorrow  
TG: so do you like  
TG: wanna come to mine first thing instead of going to breakfast and we can go over it all  
TG: sollux is still a snake rn so i dunno how helpful hes gonna be in the presentation itself  
CG: YEAH, SURE. SEE YOU IN THE MORNING.  
  
carcinoGeneticist [CG] ceased trolling  turntechGodhead [TG]

Wait, shit, you could have asked about whether you’re dating or not. Text be damned. Ah, fuck, maybe later then. You drop your phone off of the side of your bed and go to sleep instead of thinking more.

In the morning when Dave lets you into his dorm room you spot that the ferret hammock for morons seems to be occupied by something reasonably big and weighty.

“Oh, yeah, he’s real big now. I figure he’s getting to a certain size before he spends energy to switch forms or something.” Dave says, noticing the direction that you’re looking.

“I bet he’s just holding out so we do his work instead of him.” you say.

Sollux’s head appears over the edge of the hammock, he flicks his tongue at you and ducks back in.

“Nah, man. Then he’d miss the chance to show off how smart he is.” Dave says and then coughs into his sleeve.

“Are you okay?” you ask him worriedly. You’d check to see if he looked pale or anything but with Dave you just can’t tell.

“Ah, man, I’m fine. I think I just like- ok have you ever woken up in the morning with your mouth open and you know you’ve just been like that for hours and so your throat is like sandpaper until noon or some shit like that? Yeah I think that happened to me.” Dave explains and shuts the door behind you.

“That’s rough.” you tell him consolingly.

“I know, right? Poor me.” Dave sighs and leads you over to his coffee table.

“Unless this is a ploy to get me to do all the talking in the presentation today, in which case fuck you.” you add.

“As if you don’t talk all the time anyway.” Dave retorts.

“You’re just as bad!” you counter, it’s true too.

“Ooh, stalemate. Come on, look at my stuff.” Dave says and hands you his laptop, the damn thing is covered in ‘ironic’ stickers and you hate it instantly. But then of course he has bad taste, he kissed you didn’t he?

Dave was the one putting the presentation together for your group and once you get past the horrendous overuse of clipart and screen transitions (seriously, a star wipe?) it’s actually a really good presentation. He’s neatly added in all of your mutual work and the notes that you’d leant him.

You want to ask him if he acts like he doesn’t care that much about his grades or about this presentation to diffuse questions about how smart he really is, to play off comparisons to his mother or his sister. That’d probably be too personal and besides you’re pretty sure you know the answer already.

“This is really good.” you tell him instead and smile at him.

“You think? Sollux helped too but it’s hard to get more than positive and negative responses when I was reading it out to him, he can’t talk or really type like this. Poor guy.” Dave sighs. He reaches his hand up and Sollux leans down to nudge his now quite large snake face against Dave’s hand.

“Oh, I meant to ask you about the-” Dave breaks off into a string of coughs and shakes himself off.

“Yeah… I’m reading this out.” you tell him.

“I can do it too.” Dave insists, his voice croaky.

“Nope. What were you going to say before you started hacking up a lung?” you ask him flatly, you’re not taking debate on this topic now.

“I was going to ask you to double check the spellwork so we don’t run a bad ID spell and get it saying ‘cylinder’ at us again.” Dave says.

“I can do that.” you say with a nod and slouch down on the sofa a little to read it over.

Movement out of the corner of your eye makes you jump, a reaction fully justified as Sollux uncoils himself from the hammock so he can lean down and read over your shoulder. You already saw that his head was bigger than Dave’s palm. His body is so wide around that he’s easily thicker than your thigh, nearly as much as both of yours added together. Despite the way he’s hanging down from above there’s clearly a lot more snake up there still.

“Fuck me you’re big!” you yelp in alarm, only processing the way that sounded when Dave lapses into a laughing and coughing fit combined.

“Not what I- shut up!” you insist, kicking Dave in the leg and shoving Sollux away by the face.

For what it’s worth the spell is fine, you’d know because you check it over twice to give yourself some distraction from how red your cheeks have gotten. You also have the excuse of a pre-class library shift to go to that gets you out of the awkwardness just perfectly, though Dave’s still grinning at you when you flee the scene. You think you injured yourself on that Freudian slip.

By the time class rolls around Dave sounds even rougher than before and you almost think that given his size now Sollux should carry Dave to class and return the favour that Dave has been doing for him lately. Alas he does not and instead just slithers along the ground after you and Dave on the way to class. No doubt terrifying several students on the way.

Giving your presentation is a little nerve wracking, you’re trying not to accidentally yell the faces off of the front row but it’s not as if you can have Dave or Sollux do it, one can’t speak right now and one probably shouldn’t. When it gets to the point where you have to show that your spell works Dave casts it and to your delight it correctly identifies the shape of the item that you toss in it and the one afterwards too. You think describing exactly how you worked around the problems is going to give you greater marks because it shows what you understood.

It doesn’t surprise you that the girls’ presentation is way better and doesn’t have tacky screen transitions and clip art but what can you do? Apparently what you can do is lose to the girls and definitively decide that it’s boys and not girls who have cooties. According to June.

“That’s horseshit.” you inform her.

“I think I read a scientific study on cooties once and how boys definitely have it and not girls, I’m sorry Karkat, you have cooties.” Jade agrees.

“You can’t argue with science.” Rose adds with a solemn nod.

“Are you all five or something?!” you demand but get only sly and smug girly giggling in response.

“You’re not gonna win this one.” Dave sighs, he’s looking pretty clammy and unwell now and Sollux keeps giving him worried glances.

“Anyway, it’s Halloween in two days, we should absolutely have a dorm building party. I’m all about parties!” June exclaims brightly.

“I’m surprised that one hasn’t been organised already, perhaps we can encourage other people in our building to help us organise one.” Rose nods thoughtfully.

“I’ll go but count me out of organising it, I have an actual job to do as well as homework.” you tell them. You were at work this morning and you’re hoping to stay late tomorrow so that you can get some tutoring in with Ms. Paint. You don’t need to overtax yourself this much but good God you are going to!

“I’ll go but I think I’ll… think I’m just gonna go have a nap right now.” Dave says. Sollux nudges him in the small of his back and that seems to push Dave into walking off with Sollux trailing him.

“He does not look good. But I bet you have a different opinion on that, right, Karkat?” Rose smiles at you.

“BYE ROSE.” you say far too loudly and see Dave jump a little in the distance. Without another word you start walking back to your room.

You have a reasonably productive late afternoon and evening, mostly catching up on all the reading you missed from your other classes. You grab dinner by yourself and eat it on the sofa watching Judge Judy before you get back to it. You fall asleep content in knowing that you actually got shit done. It should be a peaceful and restful sleep, but it’s not.

Not when you’re woken up at ass-o-clock at night by something landing on your legs. You scream and slap the light on, knocking the lamp off of the bedside table in the process. It still throws light up your wall though, more than enough to see a ferally grinning Sollux perched on his knees on your bed on either side of your legs.

“Too bad no one can hear you with that spell.” he snickers.

“What the FUCK is wrong with you, you fucking PSYCHOPATH?!” you screech at him and smack him in the face with your pillow.

Sollux is too busy laughing to answer and when you check your clock you see that it’s two twenty two am, fuck this guy, seriously.

“Glad to see you’re walking about again, now let me break your legs you asshole.” you hiss at him.

“I’d like to see you try.” Sollux grins.

You fall back onto your bed with a sigh covering your face with both hands as you try to get yourself together enough to talk to this bastard.

“The fuck do you want? Why are you here?” you groan.

“Believe it or not I didn’t just come here to jerk your chain.” Sollux tells you and you lean up on your elbows to glare at him again.

“If not my chain then what?” you snap.

Sollux laughs, clearly surprised and you replay your words back in your head. That sounded… damnit.

“Not what I meant!” you growl at him.

“Sure it isn’t.” he says with a grin.

“What. Do. You. Want.” you grit out, one word at a time.

The smile fades from Sollux’s face and he looks away from you for a moment, seeming to think and when he speaks it’s very carefully done.

“Since our combat class have you, ah… remembered anything else?” he asks in a quiet voice.

“No. I haven’t and it’s stupid because I’ve spent all this time trying to remember things and when I do it’s something I wish could have stayed forgotten. It wasn’t pleasant.” you say bitterly.

“Yeah, I can relate. You get the shit luck, huh? I remember everything, even things I would rather not and you finally get something back and it’s something like that.” he laughs without humour.

“Did you know about that memory before?” you ask, he obviously knew something about that guy in your memory.

“Not exactly. You’d alluded to shit, there was stuff you were empathetic to that someone who hasn’t been through it couldn’t really be. I knew of the guy, I had a hunch.” Sollux says softly. He shifts to lean against your bedroom wall now and you sit up properly and move so you’re basically sat next to him with your legs hanging off of the bed.

“You knew about the weapon though.” you point out.

“Obviously.” he nods and stretches his legs out next to yours too.

“Can’t tell me how you know that?” you guess.

“Nope.” Sollux sighs.

Silence falls between the two of you, despite the fact that he woke you up by scaring the shit out of you this doesn’t actually feel uncomfortable.

“You said before about how you’re a super high ranking demon and all, how many people are actually of a higher rank than you?” you ask carefully.

“Why do you want to know?” Sollux asks suspiciously.

“Humour me.” you say, you have a feeling if you tell him why then he won’t be able to answer.

“That depends on your definition of people.” Sollux answers you carefully.

You think for a moment and word your answer as best as you can.

“Living people on this plane or… hell.” you say slowly.

“There’s only one wholeass living person on Earth or Hell that outranks me.” he says very deliberately.

You nod. That either means that whoever wrote the spell that’s on you is that one person or is someone who’s since died.

“The spell on me is in demonic.” you state simply and Sollux just stares at you.

“I didn’t get to translate it because SOMEONE destroyed my notebook, thanks for that by the way.” you add a little sharply.

“You should be thanking me.” he mutters.

“Shut up. I don’t think you did this spell because it seems to be stronger than you are and I don’t think you’d inconvenience yourself this much for no reason. So it’s either someone who outranks you now or did and is dead or whatever now.” you say.

Sollux is conspicuously silent. You turn and look at him, he’s watching you with all of his eyes, glowing in the dim light of your room because of the way you slapped your lamp off of your bedside table. The volume at which he’s NOT commenting on what you just said is incredible.

“Why should I be thankful that you burned my notebook?” you ask him instead.

“Because-” Sollux pulls a face and pauses as he presumably tries to word something just right.

“Yes?” you prompt.

“Consider this: you have a bomb. You want to not have a bomb that will explode. You can either a) blow it up or b) very carefully disarm it. Both result in you no longer having a bomb that will explode.” he says.

“So fucking with the spell more and brute forcing it like I did by mistake before will… blow it up? When it’s all over me?” you ask him worriedly.

“Metaphorically. Possibly literally. That’s why I’m here, like I said it wasn’t just to jerk your chain. I wanted to get a better look at that thing now that I have hands.” he says and pulls his legs back up onto your bed. Before you can ask what he’s on about he turns and swings one leg over yours and sits himself down on your lap as if he owns the place and possibly also you.

“Hey!” you squawk in alarm.

“Shut up already. Let me look at you.” he grumbles as if you’re making a fuss out of nothing.

Sollux leans in close to you and raises his hands to your face, instead of warm snake scales touching you it’s delicate grey skin and sharp golden nails against your cheeks. His larger set of eyes flutters closed and it’s just his smaller set looking at the magic that runs over you.

You’re frozen in place, you can feel it as he touches the magic that winds over your face, it’s very much not your skin but he is also touching that too. Your heart is hammering and you don’t think that it’s just because he could put one of your eyes out with those claws. You stare at him, not that you have a choice because he’s so close up. Your fried brain notices dumbass things. He has longer eyelashes than you might think with his smaller eyes, but then you did think that they were smallish eyebrows before didn’t you? His regular ones are pretty long too.

“You fucked with this a little.” Sollux says quietly, though you can hear him perfectly well with how close he is.

You mean to say something like ‘Oh, did I?’ but it comes out as more of a garbled and stressed out vowel sound.

“I need to fix this up so your brain doesn’t accidentally explode if you pull more weird shit like you always seem to.” Sollux mutters.

“Don’t you want me to remember?” you blurt out.

Sollux’s hands still on your face. This would look so odd to anyone else, with him sat in your lap with his face this close to yours.

“Maybe you wouldn’t want to, you remembered something already and you didn’t like it. This could be better for you.” Sollux says gently, even though he looks pained to say the words.

“But you remember, it’s only you and other demons, right? Isn’t that lonely for you? You knew me before and I get that you don’t really- it must suck for you. Doesn’t it?” you ask him quietly.

“I…” Sollux hesitates but you go on.

“And besides I think if anything happened to me then I lived through it once, I should be strong enough to handle it. I want the truth even if it sucks in places.” you tell him. You weren’t sure about it before but now that you’re talking to Sollux you know it’s the right thing.

Sollux is staring at you with all of his eyes now and you watch as he leans back and rubs his temples with his fingers, clearly stressed out.

“Hell, how are you still- you don’t remember shit and you’re still like this.” he says under his breath.

You open your mouth but Sollux speaks before you can.

“Shut up.” he tells you.

“I didn’t say anything yet!” you protest.

“Good, keep it that way for once. Let me do what I came here to do.” Sollux retorts and puts his hands on your face again.

Whatever he does feels a little like if you were laying in bed and someone tugged at the sheets underneath you, straightening the creases out. It’s something that would feel weird, movement where there shouldn’t be, but it’s not painful or exactly unpleasant. Just… odd. The weirdness of it has you digging your fingers into his knees to try to stay still because even though he’s not trying to he really could damage you with those claws.

Seemingly satisfied he leans back a little and takes his hands away from your face.

“Feel okay?” he checks, you nod. It’s weird but fine.

Your eyes flicker away from him and fall to the tarot deck on your desk, the Two of Swords, all about sacrifice.

“Hey, I know you were a snake before-” you start out slowly.

“I was aware of everything.” he says before you can keep going.

“I know that. I mean, I just wanted to thank you for getting me out, when you can talk back this time. Even if it was kind of your fault I ended up in Midnight City in the first place. You still died to get me out and that’s huge, thank you.” you tell him.

“Backhanded, but you’re welcome. You called me at the worst possible time, any other time and I would have taken you back by myself but I needed to call Slick to take you. I didn’t think you’d end up there.” he admits.

“Yeah, shit really hit the fan in that dig in Japan, huh?” you say flatly.

Sollux freezes, he was halfway through rubbing the back of his neck and now his arm is just held in place as he looks at you wide eyed.

“Come on, I watch the news. I read. The timing was a little too spot on to be a coincidence and I worked out that my tea leaf reading was literally the Japanese flag, and the spade wasn’t just Spades Slick but a dig? With a spade?” you point out.

“I… can’t tell you anything about that.” he says tightly and you believe him.

“What else is new?” you snort and take your hands off of his knees as if to gesture at all the surprise you don’t have. Of course that makes you realise that you had your hands there still for quite some time.

“Anyway, I just wanted to say thanks. You saved my ass then and you may just have stopped my head exploding or something now.” you thank him.

“Well, I’ve got your back.” Sollux mumbles.

“Tch, yeah right. If you had my back I’d expect to find a ‘kick me’ sign stuck to it afterwards.” you snort in amusement.

“You say that like not wanting you to die in another plane of reality but wanting to trip you up in the hallway are mutually exclusive.” Sollux points out.

“Oh, when it comes to you I know they’re not. You would do both.” you say and roll your eyes.

Sollux opens his mouth as if to say something but then doesn’t, looking away from you and closing it again. He looks so contemplative and full of burdensome secrets.

“What?” you ask him quietly.

Sollux seems to shake himself off and flashes you a grin. He reaches out and touches the very tip of your finger to the bridge of your nose, right where that invisible spell is.

“Stop touching yourself so much, Karkat. You’ll go blind.” Sollux says teasingly. The moment you parse the innuendo you go to smack him away but he vanishes in a puff of smug smoke and laughter, it almost seems to hang in the room after he’s gone as if he was some demonic cheshire cat.

You fall sideways on your bed and sigh. You hate him so much.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My wonderful friend and beta @imaginotion did some awesome art for this chapter and has been sitting on it until I could release this update! It's so cute so please go have a look! https://twitter.com/ImageiNotion/status/1250093264922750976?s=20


	12. Fear and Delight

Shocking absolutely no one you're pretty tired in the morning because SOMEONE decided to disturb your sleep. Sollux isn’t even a sleep paralysis demon, he's more of a wake you up and emotionally disturb you demon. It doesn't roll off of the tongue as smoothly. You end up missing Rose on the way to breakfast, she leaves a note on the door explaining that she's gone already. You're just grabbing the last of your things together when your room suddenly becomes a strobe-fest of lights from someone knocking on the door.

"What." you say flatly as you wrench the thing open, only to find that it's Jade there.

"Oh thank fuck you're still here, come with me!" Jade gasps and drags you off out of the door so fast that you barely manage to shut it behind you.

"I had to find someone to see this because it can't just be me! Sollux went off with a bunch of demons and-" Jade babbles excitedly as she hurries down the stairs.

"Jade, he IS a demon, what's so weird about him hanging out with a bunch of other demons?" you ask her as you try not to trip up on the stairs.

"Because June was with them and they were whispering all secretively, when they saw me they slunk off together and I had to pretend to go back to my room! Something's going on, I know it!" Jade exclaims.

That's pretty weird.

Your mind flashes back to June's dad talking quietly with Sollux about weird and suspicious shit and suddenly this doesn't seem so odd after all.

"You think they're in on something?" you ask her.

"I know sneaking around when I see it." Jade states matter of factly. She tugs you out of the building and lingers around the side of it, she pulls you close to the wall and turns to face you.

"Ok so, I'm fae, I can do this specific kind of magic. It's not really invisibility, it's sort of an ‘I'm not here’ thing. It makes people overlook me. I'm going to hold your hand to try to do it to both of us but I need you to try to get in that headspace too. Just be certain that they can't see you, the harder you know that is true the more it is. Okay?" Jade whispers. She takes your hand in hers and gives it a squeeze.

Something washes over you, prickling your skin. Before you Jade seems to blend in to the rest of the world to an extent where you have a really hard time picking her out even though she's right in front of you. You need to do this. You're not here, you're out of step and invisible to the eye. Around you everything becomes muted, colours are softer, voices quieten. You can still see and hear but it's as if everything has been turned down but Jade is suddenly clearer.

"That's good, come on! Keep quiet!" she whispers and pulls away again with your hand still in hers. Your palm is getting a little sweaty and gross but you're not going to say anything.

As you round the corner you can see Sollux talking to Mituna and Latula with Redglare and June standing there listening. The pair of you sneak close enough to hear, ever so carefully. You’re crouching low on the grass, not that it should matter if they can’t see you but still.

"-need to find it." Sollux insists.

"No duh, we can't let that thing just be out in the world. We've already seen the damage just one fragment does." Latula tuts.

"The place was scoured completely, wherever it is it isn't in Nara." June sighs.

"That's exactly what worries me, if it's left Nara then it's somewhere else. We saw what it did to humans but there's nothing else like that happening anywhere so who the fuck has it and why?" Sollux asks.

"It's got to be one of our own, right? Who else could handle that kind of thing?" Latula reasons.

"Or a follower gifted with immunity." Redglare points out.

"Great." Sollux groans.

"Exactly how many cults did he have?" June asks.

"How the hell should I know? Dude was shady and secretive as shit." Sollux grumbles.

"What're they talking about? That dig?" Jade whispers.

June's back snaps straight and Jade gasps. Just as June turns around Jade shoves you to the ground but it's too late, June has seen her. You watch as Jade flickers into visibility and runs over there, feigning innocence.

"There you are, we're going to be late for breakfast." Jade says brightly.

"Why were you invisible?" June asks her suspiciously.

"Oh, it happens sometimes. Nature shit, you know?" Jade laughs, gesturing to the grassy lawn and trees all around.

"I'll uh, I'll catch you two up." Sollux says and June nods, letting herself be pulled off by Jade. Somehow they haven't noticed you and from the way everything is still faded you think you're still invisible.

"Is she a problem?" Redglare asks after a few seconds.

"No. Look, we need to find out who took the fragment and how. The timing of Karkat summoning me was the fucking worst, I was so close to it and when I got back it was just gone and I never saw who else was there." Sollux hisses in frustration.

"Well you shouldn't've made such a bitch deal in the first place so you had to go." Mituna snorts.

"Tuna, of course he was going to trust him and make a dumb deal, it's not his fault." Latula sighs.

"I'm right here." Sollux reminds them.

"I think the better question to ask is not who took the fragment or why, because the answer to the second of those is pretty obvious. It's not like someone is hunting for a rare trophy, that shard has a purpose and it's one piece of who knows how many. If it's completed it won't be good for any of us but especially not you." Redglare says, looking at Sollux.

"I know that." Sollux hisses and you watch his tails flick angrily in the air.

"The better question is who arranged your absence at such a crucial time." Redglare says.

"If you're implying that any of this is to do with Karkat then you can take that right back. He doesn't know anything, the amount he doesn't know drives me crazy. He sure as shit wasn't calling me away to fuck me over." Sollux snarls.

"Easy tiger, I don't think that's what she meant. Your boy was pretty obvious bait, so the question is who set that trap. Who put him there so he'd call on you?" Latula says soothingly.

You're very interested in this answer.

"Hell if I know. We're guessing someone was trying to get him out of this plane but I don't know who would do that, I don't know who would want to hurt him. It can't have been one of our side, we need his permission to move him, that's why I had to have Slick take him away because it would have taken too long for me to do it." Sollux explains.

"And we're ruling out the psychopomp why? He serves Death, she might not serve any side but this regime change hardly benefits her. It's not as if her colleagues are pleased with you either, War and Famine were right outside the club before and they'd have torn you limb from limb if they had the chance. Whether you like the psychopomp or not you have to consider his motives, besides with people dying down there Death would have been aware of what was going on." Redglare points out.

"So, what, you think it's in Midnight City?" Mituna asks.

"No way, that thing would shred the souls down there, Aradia wouldn’t do that to the dead. We need to work out what's really happening here. Besides, I was down there and I didn't feel the thing anywhere there." Sollux insists.

"Tsch, yeah, good job being a snake for ages, that was hilarious to see." Mituna snorts.

"We got pics!" Latuna giggles.

"Fuck my life." Sollux groans.

"And how is your better half faring after all of this?" Redglare asks, her question effectively killing Latula and Mituna's amusement.

"He's fine, he was worried about me but he's fine." Sollux says defensively.

"You can't seriously be intending on staying here, Sollux. This diversion is entertaining and I enjoy this world as much as anyone, humans are deeply in need of my legal prowess and it's good sport for sure. But you're hardly in a position to be indulging in this kind of escapism, power vacuums never lead to good things. Everyone has been waiting to see where the chips will fall and you've done nothing. Inaction isn't seen as a mark of strength, say what you will about the other guy but he was decisive and he always had a plan. People wonder if the same can be said of his successors." Redglare says stiffly.

Sollux bristles, his tails slashing through the air angrily and his hair actually starting to stand up on end as he snarls at Redglare.

"People can think what they like. I outrank you and everyone else for that matter and if anyone wants to question shit they can come say it to me and I'll put an end to it. They can enjoy the anarchy, it's supposed to be what we like. And YOU can do what you're told and keep looking for that shard, it's not a request, it's an order. Now fuck off." he snaps at her and turns on his heel to stalk off.

Redglare sighs and shakes her head.

"This can't go on." she says softly.

"I like things how they are." Latula says softly.

"Yeah, same, so do lots of people. Things are better now. Pretty much everyone thinks so. Not everyone, I mean Kurloz..." Mituna trails off sadly.

"Oh, I know honeybee." Latula says softly and squeezes him close to her side. With three puffs of smoke the three of them vanish, somehow without seeing you there at all. Like letting out a breath you feel the world around you come back into focus.

Something is really amiss in the world of demons.

You can’t help but feel guilty for spying, even though it’s clear that they’re up to something. So when you walk into the dining hall and Sollux perks up at seeing you there’s a hot flush of guilt that runs up the back of your neck. Dave on the other hand isn’t perky at all, if anything he’s wilted.

“Dave,” you say as you sit down, “you look like shit.”

Dave looks up at you, his shades are on the top of his head so you can see the way his eyes are red rimmed and how he has dark circles underneath them. His skin is almost greyish and clammy looking and altogether he looks really unwell.

“I feel pretty shit too.” Dave croaks, his voice sounds just awful.

“I was trying to talk him out of going to class.” Rose says, filling you in on what you missed.

“I second that motion.” you nod.

“You can’t, I seconded it. You’re like… fifth. You can fifth the idea.” Sollux informs you.

“How can you two agree and still be so petty?” Dave rasps. Rose nudges a steaming drink closer to him and Dave aqueces enough to take a sip, it smells lemony.

“Don’t blame me. Do you have a fever?” you ask. Dave inclines his head towards you so you lean over the table and reach for him. You gently sweep his soft white hair aside and in your fluttery heart you think it feels like clouds, you press your hand to his forehead and find that it’s burning hot.

“Hhhn, your hands are cold.” Dave sighs, his eyes fluttering closed.

“Cold hands, warm heart, isn’t that the saying?” Rose asks as she takes a sip of her drink.

“Well either way you’re definitely running a fever, you should go back to bed after you’ve eaten.” you tell him and take your hand back.

“See?” Sollux says petulantly.

“Fine, fine. I’ll play ‘mad snacks yo’ in my pjs on the sofa if you all insist.” Dave says begrudgingly.

“I don’t think anyone was demanding that but okay!” June laughs.

“The people have spoken.” Dave says, his voice cracking a little on the words.

“Hm. Oh, Karkat, did you get the email about class? We’re doing a two parter on dream analysis and visions.” Rose says, turning to you.

“I haven’t checked my emails yet but that’s cool. I suppose you know all about that stuff, right?” you ask curiously.

“Yes, it’s very much more my field. I’ll be intrigued to see how our professor will grade our homework on this because lots of people can’t even remember their dreams.” Rose wonders. It’s a valid point, sometimes you remember your dreams if you wake up at an odd point but often you sleep and get up the next day with no memory of anything at all.

Dave coughs loudly in a deep and rattling way that doesn’t sound good at all. Sollux’s face twists in pity and he picks up Dave’s plate with one hand.

“I’m taking you back.” Sollux says softly. He touches Dave’s shoulder and with a puff of bicoloured smoke and that now familiar hint of synthetic apple the pair of them and Dave’s plate are gone.

“Poor guy, he looks really rough.” Jade says sympathetically.

“I don’t remember him ever being this sick before, we usually both have fantastic immune systems.” Rose says.

“Yeah, I don’t…” you trail off, trying to remember the last time you were sick. It must have happened, everyone gets sick, and yet you can’t recall a single time. When were you ever sick? This isn’t like not being able to remember the last date exactly that you cut your nails or something because you distinctly remember that you have done that but you just can’t place when because it’s mundane. This is instead you not being able to recall ever being unwell. You’ve been tired and groggy from not sleeping, you’ve felt sick from eating way too much or something, or lightheaded when you’ve forgotten to eat but you can’t recall ever having the flu. You have no memory of having a cold, being curled up with a fever, nothing.

It makes sense that you wouldn’t remember it before The Event but there’s no reason you’d forget that since. Years and years without being ill at all, is that possible?

Before you can speculate further on this discovery Sollux reappears, although this time he’s alone. He squints judgmentally at you.

“What’s that stupid look on your face for?” Sollux asks you in a mean tone, one he seems to reserve specifically for antagonising you.

“I was doing my Sollux impression.” you retort, making June snort juice out of her nose and start half laughing and half coughing. You can see Sollux trying to think up a smart comeback to that but he’s clearly got nothing and seems to reluctantly accept that you’ve beaten him.

You have your magical languages class and it turns out that you’re being subjected to the fire test for BASIC this morning. You don’t know if you didn’t read an email or if it’s a surprise test but you have all of ten minutes to check your notes over and write out your best estimate of what you’re supposed to do. Like last time you have to write on the teacher instead of yourself but to your pleasant surprise your spell works. Despite having been absent for almost all of your teaching on BASIC and being a snake for some of the rest of it Sollux passes as well with zero obvious effort on his part and you kind of hate him a little for it.

Well, no, you don’t hate him. You’re just envious at how instinctively good he is at this stuff and how hard it is for you. You’re getting through your classes but it feels like you spend so much time studying just to keep up. Then Sollux just breezes through the whole thing like it hardly takes any thought, it gets your back up. It… kind of makes you insecure. You want to be good at this, you do!

Your class settles into their seats for the actual lecture itself now that the test is over. You end up between Sollux and Jade with Rose and June further down the line of seats in the auditorium that’s pretty much been staked out by your group by now.

“The next language that we’ll be covering is Basilisk, this one will go on for a little while as the projects that you’ll be working on will take some time. Basilisk specialises in spells that continue onwards so a lot of what we’ll be talking about is stable spells over time.” your teacher explains and starts to clear the board off to begin writing.

“There are a few factors that influence how long a spell will last, can anyone think of any?” she asks.

“When you tell it to end.” Rose suggests.

“Yes, quite, proper spellcasting has a finite end to it most of the time but long term spells often have woolier end conditions as it were. But certainly if your spell’s life is linked to a condition such as ‘until the next full moon’ or something like that then it will end when that is met.” your teacher agrees.

“The power source going out? Lots of stuff broke after The Event because it was tied to gods.” another student suggests.

“Exactly, but the same holds true of elemental magic. There’s spells that have deactivated and reactivated based on volcanoes that they’re tied to becoming active or inactive. We should also consider the individual magical power of the caster in question, a very powerful witch or magical caster can power a spell for longer, very old magical caches from long dead witches have been known to have still powered magical artifacts in them. The library also has a number of books that remain magically charged or even semi-sentient because of the same reasons.” your teacher goes on.

“Is that what happened in Japan? At that dig, I mean? Some old artifact that still had power in it?” Jade asks loudly.

Sollux sucks a sharp breath in and even though he’s next to you it’s like you can feel how suddenly tense he is. Your teacher seems to consider Jade’s question for a moment.

“What happened in Japan certainly is a tragedy and a reminder to be careful around magic. I certainly can’t say for sure what happened there as it’s under investigation and I don’t know any more than you about that.” she says quickly.

“But,” she goes on, “it is a good case study. Whatever spell or artifact is down there could be one of a few things. Firstly it could be a very old and powerful spell tethered to something still extant, so not a god but instead perhaps the sun. There’s little evidence to suggest that it was a sentient being down there but that doesn’t mean that we should rule out a possessed object, in that case what you’re dealing with is an item whose magical power comes not from a spell but rather the being within it and it’s not limited by the same kind of entropy that spells are.”

Is that possible? For whatever was down there that Sollux was looking for to be not some enchanted thing but an item with someone in it? No, that’s probably not it, right? Sollux said he was looking for ‘it’ not ‘him/her/them’ whatever, so the odds are he’s looking for a cursed object. Taking a chance you cast your gaze over at Sollux, as surreptitiously as you can but he’s staring forward with laser focus. Yeah, he’s not going to tell you anything about that.

The lecture goes on, going back to the planned topic and not Jade’s diversion. You’re listening as best as you can but you’re starting to feel guilty. On the one hand there’s absolutely something suspicious going on here and it’s very obviously affected you, the fact that June is somehow involved as well as possibly her dad is even more suspicious. But you’re still spying on the guy who died to save your life. That doesn’t sit well with you.

The more time passes the less at ease you feel and as your teacher seems to start wrapping things up you scribble a note on the page of your notebook, because goodness knows you’ve not been taking notes. You keep it simple and easy to read ‘CAN I TALK TO YOU ALONE AFTER CLASS?’

Sollux looks at the note and shoots you a curious glance but he nods all the same. When class ends you slip away from your friends and when you start getting worried that Sollux won’t follow he appears out of nowhere behind you, making you jump.

“You’re passing notes in class now? What are you, in middle school?” Sollux teases.

“Technically I didn’t pass you anything, it’s still in my notebook.” you point out and Sollux shrugs at that.

You’re outside of the building now, leant against the sun warmed brick with Sollux watching you.

“I need to confess something.” you say quietly as you look down at Sollux’s mismatched shoes.

“I think you need a priest for that, that’s not really my line of work.” Sollux scoffs, clearly amused.

“Well I’m confessing something about you so it seems relevant to you, shitlord.” you snap.

“A...bout… me?” Sollux says, wide eyed.

You nod and look back at the ground. You need to tell him what you did but you don’t want to get Jade into trouble.

“I followed you this morning, I heard part of your conversation with Mituna, Latula, Redglare and June. Not all of it. I somehow made myself invisible to you, I don’t know how.” you admit.

“I do. You vowed you wouldn’t- but I guess you don’t remember so maybe it doesn’t count?” Sollux kind of trails off into a mumble, looking away from you with a frown.

“What’re you talking about?” you ask him, poking the demon in the arm.

“Ehhh,” Sollux says as he hesitates, “I wouldn’t do that again if I were you, and not because you were spying on me like a creep.”

“I said I was sorry.” you mumble.

“You didn’t.” he points out.

Oh, right.

“Well, I am. I’m sorry. I just hate not knowing so much but now all I have is more questions and no answers. How can I be invisible? Why would it be a bad thing? What did I promise you to do with that? It didn’t get me anywhere.” you sigh.

“There’s just a chance it might be bad for your health, I don’t really know how it works and I won’t tell you in case that actually makes things go bad, so don’t ask me.” Sollux says hurriedly.

“Great.” you mumble.

“I’m guessing you went out there with Jade who got caught instead, huh?” Sollux asks and you nod, no point in lying about that. It’s pretty obvious.

You stay leant against the wall sadly, you wish you knew any answers to do with this. Sollux sighs and puts a hand on his own chest.

“I know you hate not knowing shit, I’m not a fan either. There’s a lot of shit going on and as much as I’d personally like it if you remembered anything it probably isn’t a good idea. But you’re at a disadvantage here without knowing your ass from your elbow magically and you shouldn’t be getting stranded on mountains.” Sollux says.

“It’s not like I chose to go there!” you argue.

Sollux shakes his head and then- then he puts his hand inside his chest. He sort of phases it through and when he pulls it out there’s a weapon in his hand. It’s the same as the kind you picked up in class that time, a sickle.

“You should take this, at least you won’t be unarmed if anything happens again.” he explains and hands it to you.

The weapon fits in your hand perfectly. It’s light but not insubstantial. Unlike the weapons that you saw him with ever so briefly before he stabbed himself this one is plain. Its blade is almost matte for how much it looks like it’s been sharpened over and over leaving tiny scuffs on the metal. The handle is wrapped in red leather and there’s no ornamentation about it at all. Yet somehow the weapon feels powerful, it’s not showy, it’s FUNCTIONAL. This isn’t a weapon to be shown off, it’s one to be used. You touch your finger to the blade lightly and you can feel how terribly sharp it is.

The whole thing feels familiar.

“This is mine.” you say without thinking.

“You remember it?” Sollux asks and you hate how the trace of hope in his tone makes your heart ache.

“No, I just… know somehow. Why did you have it?” you ask him.

“I was holding onto it for you but obviously I lost track of you for a while, couldn’t give it back and you never asked for it. You probably shouldn’t be unarmed with everything that’s going on.” Sollux says, looking away from you. You don’t know if he’s checking if anyone else is around or if he’s just choosing not to look at you.

“What makes you so sure that I can even use this thing now? I don’t remember it and combat class wasn’t exactly great.” you point out.

“I’m not expecting you to go on a murder spree with it or anything, it’s a last resort method of defending yourself and anyone else that needs it. It’ll come back to you in that situation, I’m sure.” he says with a shake of his head.

You look down at the curved blade again and the residual discomfort from your recovered memories rises up to meet you. How much have you used this weapon? Has he seen you attack people before? That’s not the kind of person you’d like to think you are.

“Have I killed people with this?” you ask, barely above a whisper.

“I don’t know.” Sollux shrugs. He seems to clock your expression and his shoulders drop slightly, when he speaks next his voice is a touch softer.

“I could find out for you, if you want me to. Doom and time are aspects that I’m pretty familiar with and both work well with that.” Sollux offers.

“What does that mean? Doom and time?” you ask curiously.

“It’s- ugh.” Sollux grunts and drags his hands through his hair until he hits his horns, he pulls a displeased face but explains anyway.

“Demons aren’t from this plane. People on this plane talk about elemental magic and non elemental but they don’t categorise it much more than that. They focus on languages instead. That’s not how we do it, all demons know ~ATH from the moment we’re made. We categorise people by the kind of magic they use. In the same way some languages work better with some goals the aspects we have lend themselves better to some things. I know what everyone is when I see them. My aspect is doom so anything to do with death, rules, systems, some kinds of prophetic stuff, doomy things. Looking at your sickle and seeing if you caused anyone’s doom with it is exactly my kind of thing.” Sollux explains.

“That’s… huh, that’s cool. What am I then?” you ask curiously. This is way better than knowing your star sign or whatever.

“Blood.” Sollux says without a beat of hesitation, “It’s all about bonds and relationships, bringing people together, protecting.”

He’s not looking at you again so you slap him in the chest with the flat of your sickle.

“Is that a good one to have?” you ask him.

“Good and bad are kind of a matter of opinion, it’s not as if there’s some almighty objective answer out there for that.” Sollux hedges, clearly trying to play you off.

“Oh, so it’s a bad one.” you conclude. Sollux’s ears drop and his face takes on a slight hint of panic.

“No, it’s- it suits you exactly.” he says hurriedly.

“See, how am I supposed to know if that’s an insult or not? What about the rest of our friends? What’re they?” you ask, moving on.

“Dave is time.” Sollux says.

“So that’s why you’re so familiar with it, because all his magic must be like that and you spend so much time with him.” you say.

“Right. Rose is light, that’s all about the truth and luck and all that shit. June is breath, the most breath anyone has ever been. Jade is space, you saw how her magic worked in combat class, that’s how she instinctively does it.” Sollux goes on. He’s right too, Jade was bending the space around her as her first instinct. By the same token you protected someone you had a relationship with.

So you’re blood and he’s doom. You wonder if you would know how much blood has been over this blade if you were more competent with your magic. Do you want to know? You run your finger over the cool metal, it really does feel like something you know well. It’s been broken in by you, maybe even made for you. By you perhaps?

“Tell me then, have I killed people with this?” you ask quietly and hold it out to him.

Sollux looks down at the offered blade and his mouth twists into a sad smile, he laughs softly but it doesn’t sound especially happy.

“Most people wouldn’t want to know, ignorance is bliss, you know?” Sollux says quietly.

“Just because I don’t remember something doesn’t mean I didn’t do it, doesn’t mean it’s not real and it didn’t have an effect on the world. If I killed people I should own that, it’s the least I should do for taking a person’s life.” you insist.

“And if you have?” Sollux asks curiously.

“Then… then I deal with that.” you tell him, even though you deeply hope that he tells you that you haven’t taken anyone’s life.

Sollux watches you for a second or two, his eyes locked on yours. The moment feels charged and heavy somehow. He lowers his gaze and raises his hands to either side of the weapon still held out to him. Red and blue flicker around the weapon and the space between his open hands, then as quickly as it started it stops.

“You haven’t killed anyone with this.” he tells you quite simply.

You slump against the bricks in relief. That doesn’t mean that you personally haven’t ended a life but it’s something and you’ll take it.

“I thought you’d ask me if I was lying or not. You obviously wanted that answer, I figured you might say I just said that to spare your feelings. We know you have a history of fainting.” Sollux teases you.

“First of all: fuck you,” you start and he snickers, “and second of all I don’t think you’re lying at all, I don’t think you would. I want to own up to anything I did and I told you that, I don’t think you’d lie to me about this.”

“I- yeah, okay but it’s not like I don’t fuck with you for fun.” Sollux says quickly.

“No shit, I’m well aware of how much of an ass you can be. But you saved my life, died and turned yourself into a snake doing it, when it’s actually important I’m pretty sure I can trust you completely. You wouldn’t lie to me about something like this.” you tell him, you’ve never been more certain about anything in your life.

Sollux is staring at you. All of his eyes are open wide and you watch as a crackle of energy rushes between his horns like he’s some living Tesla coil.

“I-” Sollux’s voice sharply goes up in pitch and he coughs before talking again, “I have to go.”

He turns away from you and you get the feeling that something important is happening here, something you don’t have the context for and you’re certain you shouldn’t lose it.

“Sollux, wait.” you call out, not knowing yet what you’re about to say.

He pauses and looks back at you.

“June’s throwing that Halloween party tomorrow, are you going?” you ask him.

“Uh. Dave is- he’s pretty sick. I need to convince him not to go, he should stay in bed…” Sollux says hesitantly.

“Right, no, of course. He’s your moirail, you look out for him.” you say, hastily pulling back on whatever conversational road that is.

“But if I can convince him to stay I might be able to come by. I’d hate to miss the chance to see you looking stupid in costume.” Sollux grins.

“Oh shit I need a costume.” you whisper in horror, you hadn’t thought about that at all.

“HAH! Ok, yeah, I’m definitely going. I’ll see you there.” Sollux laughs and then promptly vanishes. Asshole.

You feel kind of strange, bubbly almost. It’s probably just the high from finding out that you’re not holding a murder weapon. Or something. Although that said you’re still standing around outside your school holding a weapon and you should probably not be doing that. Your bag seems like the best place for your weapon so you swing it off of one shoulder and go to fiddle with the toggle that holds it shut, it often ends up taking two hands to do and it does so this time. You open up the bag and go to-

Your hand is empty. Both of your hands are only holding your bag of holding and your sickle is gone. It’s not on the floor, you have somehow LOST a weapon within minutes of getting it, holy shit.

What do you do? What do you do?! It’s not on the ground around you although you’re pretty sure that you would have noticed if you’d dropped it. You have to do something, you can’t just let a weapon wander off on its own but you don’t have Sollux’s phone number. As you scramble for your phone you figure that you have the next best thing.

It rings.

“H’llo?” Dave says thickly.

“Dave!” you gasp in relief.

“Babe. I mean Karkat, Karbabe, can I call you that? I was sleeping, what’s good?” Dave rambles, he sounds rough.

“That’s not- yeah don’t call me that. Is Sollux there? I need him.” you say.

“Mood.” Dave agrees.

A second passes.

“Is he there then?” you ask again.

“Oh, yeah, right. Just…” you hear Dave move and shamble about and a quiet back and forth of voices before the phone rustles and Sollux’s voice fills your ear.

“Why did you wake Dave up?” he asks you a little judgmentally.

“I didn’t have your number and I needed to talk to you! I’ve lost my sickle!” you say in a desperate rush.

“You dense fucker, how did you even manage that? Hey- no, he’s fine, go back to sleep. No ‘but’s’, move it. ...I can’t catch what you have anyway so that threat means nothing to me, so get!” Sollux is clearly talking to Dave and despite your panic the meanly phrased gentle care is both adorable and amusing.

Sollux coughs awkwardly and returns to talking to you, you hear something squeak and he sighs a little. You wonder if he’s just jumped into his ferret hammock thing.

“Walk me through what you did.” Sollux says right into your ear.

“You went off like you do and then I was just standing there with a weapon in public in broad daylight. So I thought ‘hey maybe don’t do that on campus’ because of reasons too numerous to list.” you hiss and glance around to make sure no one can hear you either. Only thing dumber than having or losing a weapon on campus is to be caught loudly talking about it.

“Uncharacteristically smart for you, go on.” Sollux snickers.

“Fuck you, do you have to be an asshole at all times?” you demand.

“Absolutely, but you need my help don’t you? So guess who has to deal with that.” Sollux asks teasingly.

“Me.” you say and get only a quiet laugh through the phone for your trouble.

“Just so you know, I hate you.” you inform him and you hear a startled little intake of breath from Sollux.

“I- okay, sure. I’ll be helpful, what happened after that?” Sollux asks, suddenly being useful again.

“I went to put the sickle away and I took my bag off my shoulder, fiddled with the toggle things and then my other hand was suddenly empty and there’s NOTHING THERE.” you hiss, still looking around with paranoia.

“That’s because you did that. Magically. Like how I pulled that out of my chest, you did the same thing in reverse for however that works for you. You wanted to put it away so you put it away. Don’t think about it just get it out again.” Sollux explains.

“That’s the vaguest instruction ever.” you say in protest.

“I’m sorry I don’t know how to explain basic operation of your physical form to you. It’s your version of something I’ve been doing my whole life, you just do it. Want me to explain breathing to you next?” Sollux says in exasperation.

You try to ‘just do it’ but unlike Nike that doesn’t work for you.

“It’s not working!” you say to him.

“You’re panicking that’s why. Just leave it.” Sollux advises.

“Well now what?” you ask.

Sollux hums thoughtfully and you hear him shift, you think he actually is in that hammock thing.

“Are you in the hammock?” you blurt out.

“Yeah. It’s comfy. Just because I only sleep when I feel like it doesn’t mean I don’t like to relax.” Sollux says somewhat defensively.

“Do you dream? I’ve got a class on dreams tonight with Rose, interpreting them I mean.” you tell him.

“I don’t. Probably because I don’t sleep that deep and I haven’t slept for most of my life so I guess I didn’t learn or get in the habit. I can daydream but that’s not the same thing, right?” Sollux says thoughtfully.

“I think the line gets blurry there sometimes,” you tell him as you slide down the wall into a crouch on the floor, leaning most of your weight backwards, “sometimes you can daydream and your mind wanders off with whatever you’re imagining and the whole thing becomes a little bit freeform like a real dream.”

“Are your dreams vivid? Can you remember details in them, colours and things like that?” Sollux asks.

“When I first wake up, sure.” you tell him with a nod.

“If you closed your eyes now can you remember your last dream?” Sollux goes on.

You close your eyes but after a moment you frown.

“I can’t remember what my last dream was. They’re usually nonsense things that are just a mashup of stuff you’ve seen and thought, I don’t bother remembering them much.” you say.

“I guess it’s hard to remember things like that. Even things you’ve just seen. Can you even remember the colour of the handle of your weapon?” Sollux asks.

The vision of it flickers in your mind and you feel the urge to look at the real thing but it’s not-

There’s a sudden weight in your palm. You gasp, opening your eyes and when you look down you see that your sickle is right in your hand again.

“Told you, just do it.” Sollux says and you can hear the smug smile in his voice.

“That’s…” you trail off as you turn your hand, staring at your weapon. You should put it away. As you think that it fades from view, not going invisible but leaving your hand and going somewhere else. You want it back and it comes to you.

“That’s amazing.” you whisper.

“I know I am, later.” Sollux snickers and hangs up on you.

What a bag of dicks. You put your sickle away with thus far unexplained magic and continue on with your day. It’s not just because of talking to Sollux about it that you’re excited for your class on dream interpretation but it’s certainly there. That evening you and Rose trek up far too many steps to get to class.

“I swear if we end up on Freudian dream theory I’m going to throw myself out of the window.” Rose grumbles as you go.

“It’s just falling asleep, how can either of us fuck that up?” you reason.

Rose looks at you sidelong, her gaze flat and unimpressed. You regret the words already but they’ve happened and you can’t do anything about it now.

Your teacher gushes through a lecture about dream interpretation, saying that a lot of it is up to instinct. However that doesn’t make up a long lecture so she pads it out with common interpretations of dreams, like how dreams about all your teeth falling out mean something to do with money. You’re unimpressed, Rose is unimpressed and sarcastic looks are traded betwixt you two whenever your teacher isn’t looking.

The one and only useful thing your teacher gives you is a charmed stone. You put it near your head when you sleep and it’ll sense when you dip into the dreaming phases of sleep, when it determines that you’re getting close to the end of that dreaming phase it’ll alert you to wake up. At that point you’re meant to write down everything you can in a notebook and in the morning read over it and interpret what you remember and what you wrote down.

You settle into bed that night with the stone under your pillow and your notebook on your cleared bedside table, ready to record any dreams you have. Your expectations aren’t high but you await the insight of your sleeping mind.

_The sky above you is dark, impossibly dark. Yet as you walk you can see just fine. You feel the weight of your armour shift as you walk but it makes no noise. As you walk the landscape forms, you see castle or perhaps a palace, maybe a temple. It’s hard to say._

_The closer you get the more detail comes into view. Two people are sat outside the grand building. Your eyes land on Sollux first who is knelt on the ground as he stares at an empty set of armour. It’s very much like yours but the insignias are different. There are two swords strapped to Sollux’s back and he doesn’t seem to notice you as you pass, he’s just waiting._

_On the steps of the building there’s a woman slumped over but as your foot touches the first marble step her head jerks up. She whirls around, her religious robes fluttering as she turns. It’s Rose. She stares past you, her eyes white and blinded as red glowing light wraps around her eyes and head. Eyes cover her ceremonial robes but the chest of them is emblazoned with a shining sun._

_You try to talk, to tell her who you are but you can’t seem to get sound out and she can’t seem to hear you. You have to leave her and walk on. When you reach the highest step on the palatial staircase your eyes land on a tower at the corner of the building. Soundlessly it wrenches itself up out of the ground and slams back into place upside down. In slow motion bricks are starting to fall away towards the ground, silhouetted against the huge green moon in the sky._

_The inside of the palace beckons you and so you step inside to a throne room. There is space for two thrones but there is a shattered hole in the ground where one should be and the throne that ought to be there is missing. The remaining one is occupied._

_You walk closer, drawn without a thought. The woman on the throne, the Empress, becomes clearer. Despite her regal finery it’s obvious that it’s Roxy Lalonde. Her focus is not on you however but on an elaborate chessboard laid out before her. You stop in front of it and see that Roxy is playing as the white side and someone else is playing as the black. She appears to be losing badly, her white queen is almost surrounded and you can see no way out for her._

_Roxy’s pink eyes glimmer with amusement and she beckons your attention with a smile. Her index finger is pressed to the top of her queen, the way you can do in chess to indicate that your move is not done yet. She presses, harder and harder on the queen. Transfixed you watch as the piece shatters and divides itself in two, as it does Roxy’s own skin falls away like shattered egg shell leaving only a Roxy shaped infinite void behind._

_A void in space in the shape of a hand pulls back and gestures as the white dust and shards of the queen reform into two other pieces, a knight and a bishop. The two new pieces shift about the board, slipping through the formation of the black pieces that were in play already. The game plays out but the black side topples in the end._

_The void smiles at you, gets up and leans close to you. You’re frozen in place, staring at the hole in the world where Roxy should be but isn’t and also is more than ever before. The void leans close to your ear and whispers._

_“The tower was always going to fall, but the game isn’t over.”_

The charmed crystal under your pillow startles you awake and you blearily scramble for your notebook, hurrying to write down the wildest and most confusing dream of all. When you’re done you pass out once more and sleep dreamlessly until morning when your alarm wakes you.

When you wake your hair is a mess as it always is when you wake up, and also the rest of the time. Even though you went back to sleep afterwards the dream you had is still fresh in your mind. Fishing on your nightstand gets you the notebook where you clumsily wrote down all that you could recall in your barely awake state. Your notes are a little incoherent and you wouldn't expect anyone else to understand them but as you remember the dream you can get what you meant with your disjointed scrawl. You take ten minutes on your laptop to write it out in long form with as much detail as you can remember, underneath you start outlining a section for interpretation.

Rose's very obvious blindness is pretty clearly symbolic of her actual loss of her second sight and the way that her mother fell apart was also very clearly a metaphor for what happened to her. The rest is... less clear. Does Sollux waiting by that armor mean anything? What about the palace, the chess game, the tower? You close your laptop and get up to get ready for the day. Once you're dressed and all your things are in your bag you step out of your room, intent on brushing your teeth, washing your face and pointlessly trying to tame your hair if Rose isn't already in the bathroom. As luck would have it she isn't, she's on the sofa instead.

Rose is sat under several knitted blankets, half slumped against the armrest. She looks around when you enter the room and her eyes are shadowed underneath, her hair is a mess and she's still in pyjamas.

"Oh, great. So it's time to get up then." Rose mumbles.

"Are you... okay?" you ask warily. You're not brave enough to tell Rose that she looks shit, the girl might shank you.

"When we did tarot the cards went blank, when we did tea leaf reading the tea leaves vanished. What do you think happened when I tried to do dream interpretation?" Rose groans, rubbing her temple with long nailed fingers. The black paint is chipping off of them in places and the contrast is stark against the bruised colour of her under eyes.

"You didn't sleep, did you?" you guess as dread creeps through you.

"Not even a little. I don't know whether to laugh or cry." Rose admits.

"Shit, I'm sorry. Do you want me to make you coffee?" you ask her as you drop your bag on the armchair near her.

"You're the best theoretical husband, yes, please bring me coffee." she sighs.

You walk over to your little kitchen area and set about making Rose a strong coffee with the pour over filter cup, you make sure to give Rose extra. You keep your coffee normal and pick out the mug that you know Rose likes best for hers and take another for your own. Her mug is one of those screen printed ones that you can get at photo shops that also do pillows and shirts with your picture on them. This one is a picture of her and Dave one Halloween. Rose has little cat ears on and whiskers painted on her face and Dave appears to be dressed as spiderman, except he's got several fake stuffed arms stuck to his back. It's adorable.

"Oh, Happy Halloween by the way." you say as you flick the measuring spoon into the sink. Washing that is a problem for future you.

"To you too. YOU sound like you slept well." Rose says, her voice mild but the accusation still there.

You pause at the open refrigerator, you don't know what to say and the half full bottle of milk isn't giving you any clues.

"You had a dream, didn't you? Come on, tell me. I'm deprived of my own, at least tell me yours." Rose says. Looking over you can see that she looks... not exactly desperate, that would be overstating things but certainly keen to hear what you have to say. You don't think that lying to her would be wise either.

"I did have a dream." you admit and take the milk out of the fridge. You don't always go for milk, often you don't but this morning you felt like it. You doubt Rose wants her coffee anything but black.

"Tell me about it." Rose says.

So you do. You tell her all the details as much as you can as you toss out the paper filters, stir your milk in, put it away and when you've returned to Rose and set her mug down on the coffee table you're about done.

"It sounds like tarot to me." Rose says thoughtfully and picks up her mug, blowing across the top to cool it.

"How do you mean?" you ask.

"Well you said before that Sollux had two swords with him, the two of swords is a card, as is the tower, there's several knight cards for your armour, and you referred to my mother as the Empress, not the queen. That's a card as well." Rose points out.

She's right, and the two of swords is the card you associate with Sollux. On top of that your last reading put you as the Knight of Cups and Dave as the Knight of Swords, does that mean that the empty armour on the floor was supposed to be something to do with Dave? You reach into your bag and pull out your deck, selecting the cards that Rose mentioned as well as another when you pass by it.

The High Priestess, she's wearing a dress very similar to the one Rose was in your dream. You show it to her and tell her as much. Rose is flicking through a page on tarot on her phone as she looks over the cards you have.

"The tower inverted as it was in your dream is literally about disaster, but if it's connected to the chess game my mother was playing and the message that she gave you then perhaps you're dreaming about an inevitable disaster. Perhaps it's not all bad though, the strange gambit she pulled in the game might represent a way around that disaster. Or it could just be a way your sleeping mind incorporated her habit of dividing things in half, one you knew about already." Rose muses.

"It seemed pretty significant, the chess game must mean something. I also couldn't see who she was playing against and there was a very obvious lack of another throne in that room. Maybe it's related to the Emperor card? If it was absent would that mean it's inverted or..." you're not sure.

"Mmm, yes. My distinct lack of a father figure is understandably present in your dream. There's no torrid story there if you're wondering." Rose tells you.

"No, I know. Dave told me so. Whoever he was he's never been there so I would guess that it would be more likely to be the card's actual meanings rather than referring to some guy who might not even know you exist." you agree.

"Which would be... authority or tyranny. Ah, how very like mother to be fighting against authority even in dreams." Rose says with a smirk.

"Oh, that reminds me, I found a note from her the other day. Some book in the library was locked up and me and Kanaya went to look up why, turns out your mother reported on some prophecy from a 'dragon seer' about the book." you tell her.

"I have no idea who that would be, that's not a title with seers if that's what you're wondering. She's always been one for in jokes and silly names though so I wouldn't think anything much of it, everyone knows dragons don't really talk to humans and they're vanishingly rare anyway. They certainly don't bestow seeing abilities on humans or anything." Rose shrugs.

You look over the cards in your hands again. What does this dream mean, then? Are you foreseeing the future? Remembering the past? Or is this some reflection on your feelings in the present? Dave being absent from his suit of armour and Sollux waiting there could be a representation of how Dave is sick and defenseless at the moment and you're waiting for a chance to talk to him and Sollux is obviously waiting for him to be better. Your distress at Rose's lack of vision seems a pretty straightforward statement of how you feel but the rest... you don't know.

"What are you going to do about not sleeping? There's only so long you can go without sleeping at all." you say, leaning back in your seat and looking at Rose.

"I don't know. I could try off and on. If I resolve to not interpret my dreams I might be able to sleep. I'll probably give it a rest tonight, we've got the party this evening anyway. Although, that said, perhaps the excitement of the party and the exertion of getting the place ready and perhaps dancing might wear me out enough to sleep regardless." Rose says.

"Yeah, I hope so." you nod.

You've never been to a party before and you're actually looking forward to it more than you'd expected. You might even dance if presented with the opportunity, you did at the club and once you got past your worry about it then it was pretty fun in the end.

"Can I invite a friend?" you ask suddenly.

"Your coworker from the library? The girl you mention sometimes?" Rose asks, looking at you over her mug.

"Kanaya, yeah. I wouldn't want to ask her without checking but it'd be nice to see her outside of work, I really like her." you nod.

"Of course. Oh, on the subject of the party do you have a costume? I was going to go shopping for mine with the girls this morning since Dave is banned from going and Sollux magics his own clothes into reality. You should come with us if you don't have anything already." Rose suggests.

You don't have a costume but it is pretty traditional to dress up. There's been posts on social media and even around campus about not dressing as anything offensive, that 'culture not costume' campaign. Like, no, you cannot dress up as your racist interpretation of what a Native American looks like, nor can you put on a shitty fursuit with a horrible face and claim to be dressed as a werewolf. Demons certainly don't appreciate people wearing 'devil horns' although the practice has faded in recent years, what with the odds of being set on fire if you're caught being quite high. Also a lot of mysterious fires at the factories that make that stuff.

Yeah, demons don't fuck around with that kind of thing.

Still, you've no idea what you'll go as.

"This is just going to be several hours of you all dressing me up for your amusement, isn't it?" you ask her and Rose grins widely behind her mug.

It is, in fact, several hours of your friends dressing you up for their amusement. Jade is laughing so hard you think she might pee herself and Rose in an act of treachery takes a picture of you in the bunny suit that June all but forced you into.

"You delete that!" you demand, pointing at her.

"Did you say 'send that to Dave'? Okay, will do." Rose smirks.

"WHAT?!" you yell and the alarms on the doors go off from the force of it.

"He says go playboy bunny next." Rose grins darkly.

"Oh, I can for sure find that!" June cackles and rushes off.

"Absolutely not, I draw the line here. Here and no further. I want something good to actually wear tonight, I swear to God." you hiss. Jade is still giggling and wiping tears from her eyes, her glasses pushed slightly out of the way to do it.

"Oh, oh boy. Okay, good costume. I think I saw one a while back, let me go get it." she giggles.

"Why did you wait until now?!" you demand, pulling the bunny head off of yourself.

"Karkat, you know why." Rose snickers and catches the head as you toss it at her.

You slip back behind the curtain and start pulling off the bunny suit, it doesn't smell great and it's hot as balls in there so you're glad to be out of it. Behind the curtain you hear a stressed out member of staff talking to Rose, telling her that your group needs to keep it down. He also adds that the ‘banshee or whatever’ that your with needs to zip it.

Tch, banshee. Like you hadn’t thought of that one.

You toss the rabbit costume over the top of the changing cubicle at the same time that Jade shoves her arm in with another offered costume. You snatch it from her and peer at it. It doesn't look too bad but it does require taking off your shirt. You'd kept it on in the bunny suit because you dreaded to think how many other sweaty people had been in that thing.

The thought of communal sweat aside this costume is actually pretty nice. It's a pirate costume but more 'Pirates of the Carribean' than 'sad kids themed birthday entertainer'. Jade asks for your shoe size as you're slipping the leather vest on and by the time you've wrangled with the highly impractical but very aesthetically pleasing number of buckles you're actually feeling pretty good about how you look.

"BEWTS!" June cheers and tosses them over the top of the cubicle, catching you in the head with one although you dodge the other.

You inform June that she is, in fact, the worst as you pull the boots on and stand to inspect yourself in the mirror. Oh, this... this is a nice costume.

You pull the curtain aside and the girls look around at you and stare in silence for a moment.

"Damn, Karkat." Jade says eventually and looks you up and down.

"Oh, I can absolutely work with this. Johnny Depp can move aside, this is far better." Rose nods and turns you around.

"What- that's- I doubt that!" you splutter, red faced.

"No, you look really good! For real!" June says sincerely.

"I think you're all blowing this out of proportion but... I do like it." you admit quietly.

"We're getting it. Go change so I can get it rung up." Rose nods, apparently she's deciding this now. And by the sounds of it she’s paying.

"Wait, you're not paying for this, are you?" you say in shock as June shoves you back in the cubicle.

"Consider it an investment on my part." Rose tells you, although she doesn't say what it's an investment in and you're not entirely certain you want to ask.

You know that Jade picked out a really pretty butterfly costume as well as some additional things she was going to add to it, Rose got a mismatch of things to make herself into some deep sea creature and June got her costume when no one was looking and refuses to tell anyone what it is.

That afternoon you attend a quick workshop on Basilisk and swing by the library afterwards.

"Karkat, what a pleasure to see you. You're not working today." Kanaya smiles pleasantly at you as you let yourself into the office.

"I know, I just wanted to ask if you'd like to go to a party with me. My friends arranged one in my building and they said I could ask other people to come and I wanted to know if you'd like to come along. I'm sure my friends would love to meet you and... honestly I've never had friends to invite to parties before now so I'm taking the chance now that I have it." you say in a rush.

"When is it?" Kanaya asks, setting her book down.

"It's from eight until, and I quote, late. Here, June made a thing." you say and fish out the little paper invite that June had made. She'd handed them out and stapled them to a few notice boards in the building.

"Ah..." Kanaya says slowly.

She bites her lip and then looks up at you.

"I'm supposed to be working tonight until at least nine, if not later. I'd hate to miss most of the party and show up at the last moment." she says regretfully and your heart sinks.

"Hey, no it's fine. You don't have to come, but don't feel like you can't come just because you'll be late. I don't think it's anything formal, people are probably going to come and go whenever so if you want to come then do. If you want to." you add. Perhaps she's just letting you down gently.

"I'd... I'd like to. I'll see if I can get away early, but I can't make any promises I'm afraid. I usually don't go to these sort of things so I usually offer to work the less desired shifts on days like these so that more social people can get out. But we shall see." Kanaya tells you.

"Okay, I'll let you get on with it then. Hope I'll see you there?" you add, still not sure that she isn't just humouring you.

"I hope so too." Kanaya agrees.

You leave the library feeling a little uneasy. Perhaps it was a premonition because when you get back it turns out that the girls are waiting to ambush you and inflict makeup on you. You blame Johnny Depp for the idea that pirates have smudgy eyeliner on because you're certainly not getting out of it. Nor are you escaping their attempts to turn your hair from a general mess and into artfully tousled, you also don't think they manage it either. At the very least the four of you split a pizza afterwards which you get to eat as Rose bats your hands away from your eyes repeatedly.

You watch as Jade braids some of her hair and Rose puts iridescent green eyeshadow on her. Her costume is technically very simple, the wings are more like a patterned butterfly wing shawl that attaches to her wrists, but because of the makeup and the glittering green clothes she has on, it all looks far more fantastic than it technically is.

June takes her turn to slip into your bathroom to get changed. Rose has already got into her outfit and is now just putting on makeup and accessories to really give the impression that she's some ethereal deep sea creature. There's a fair amount of glitter involved between Rose and Jade and you're reasonably sure that it's never ever coming out of your carpet. They're going to have to burn that thing to be finally free of it and maybe not even then. A hundred years from now some poor sucker is still going to find glitter still on the floor of this room.

You're putting on lip balm when June comes out of the bathroom and in your surprise you end up getting it on your teeth which feels fantastically gross. She doesn't really seem to be dressed up at all, except for a different shirt that you've not seen before and a single boxing glove. June gives you one of those shitty grins and crouches down near you. You look at her outfit in confusion and only look around when Rose groans loudly and smacks June in the arm.

"What? I don't get it." you say.

"Look at her shirt, the line down the arm. She's a punch line." Rose says despairingly.

Your eyes run down the black line on June's otherwise white shirt that leads all the way to the boxing glove she has on. A... punch... line.

"Oh my god I hate you." you insist, somewhat undercut by Jade's snickering laugh behind you.

"Don't encourage her!" you tell Jade, but that only makes her laugh more.

"Come on, Karkat. You know I'm funny." June grins, waggling her eyebrows at you.

"Funny LOOKING more like!" you snap and look away, not willing to endorse this clownish behaviour any more than you already have!

When you're all done with your costumes and June's terrible joke of a costume, you head down to the large room that the party is going to be in. It looks like most of the set up was done yesterday by the girls but there's always a few things to do and you've no problem being a gopher for your friends. Bring these drinks here, set those cups out, put these snacks in this bowl and so on. You're currently trying to walk without spilling a bowl of punch that Rose has whipped up. It's full almost to the top and if this was a cup just for you then you'd sip the top so it would be easier to walk but you're going to backwash into EVERYONE'S punch, thanks. You just have to be careful.

"Hey." a voice says behind you with a sharp puff of air across the back of your neck.

It's a goddamned miracle that you don't drop or spill anything, although you do squeak in alarm somewhat embarrassingly. You set the bowl down on the table with a thunk and turn around to face the four eyed fucker who tried to sabotage you. The righteous chewing out that you'd been gearing up for is derailed when you see him.

Sollux stands before you in a sharp black outfit which could probably be considered flattering, but it's the dog collar that catches you. Not the kind for an actual dog or the more... illicit kind for people, no, you mean the kind for priests. You forget their actual name, but the stark white strip around his neck under the collar of what is very definitely a priest's outfit has you speechless for a second.

"That-" you say in a strangled voice and Sollux's grin gets impossibly wide, "-that's DEFINITELY some kind of blasphemy! You're a demon you can't dress up like a priest!"

"How hurtfully speciest of you." Sollux says, his words dripping with amusement and the obvious smirk on his face entirely undercutting any offense he might be pretending to feel.

"Oh fuck off. Isn't something like that likely to hurt you? Holy symbols and that? Oh, but... I guess that stuff doesn't work now, huh?" you trail off in thought.

"That'd apply before The Event if it was an actual priest's outfit and if that priest had blessed it and was actually genuinely a holy person. As it is, I made this with very unholy magic, so I'm good." Sollux explains with a half shrug and reaches past you to steal a snack.

"I don't think 'good' is a word I'd use to describe you. Also I meant to say thanks for your very irritating assistance yesterday. You have a unique ability to be really reliably helpful in a way that makes me want to peel my skin off every time I have to ask you for help with anything." you tell him.

"Thanks!" Sollux says cheerfully.

"Sollux!" Rose calls out, you turn around to see her walking over to you. You glance back at Sollux in time to see him brighten when he catches sight of her, his smile actually warm and pleasant.

"Hey, you look really good. Can I help with it?" Sollux asks, gesturing to Rose's outfit.

"Sure." she nods.

Sollux twists his hand in the air and you catch a flickering of blue and red around Rose. Rose's dress and the gauzy dark tendrils on it start to float ever so slightly, the wisps of fabric drifting in the air like they're moving in some deep ocean current. If she looked good before she looks genuinely supernatural and terrifyingly cool now. Rose twirls around for a moment, looking down at herself in clear approval.

"That's exactly what I was going for, you must teach me that later." Rose smiles.

"Sure. Here, Dave gave me this. He insisted that if he couldn't be here then he was at least going to DJ remotely. He has made a regular playlist anyway in case he falls asleep from his cold medicine. If I don't set this up you know he's going to come down here." Sollux says despairingly.

"I can believe it. He's useless at just resting up when he's sick so I'm impressed you got him to stay up there as it is. By all means set up whatever you need to." Rose nods and gestures across the room.

"Thanks Rose." Sollux says and with a last look at you he walks off to set up the music for Dave.

You don't have much time to linger as Rose pulls you back into helping her. As you’re running around on every errand your friends give you the first few guests start to arrive, you’ve too busy to be nervous and you have a built in excuse to not have to do the awkward meet and greets. By the time you’re done the party has properly started and though a lot of the people here you recognise from your building there are a good number of other people that you don't recognise. The party starts to pick up and as it was at the club you find yourself dragged into dancing by your friends, only it's a little harder to let go and enjoy things because the people around you are your peers. They're other students and you don't want to be known as the stupid, uncool, uncoordinated pirate at the first party of the year. That's not something you want at all. It feels like everyone's watching you even though you're sure that it's not true.

Rose and June are the lead hosts of the party so they’re flitting about talking to people and steering things along smoothly. This mostly leaves you with Jade, which is fine because she’s fun and talkative enough for both of you. You don’t want to dance but smalltalk is somehow way worse and so you don’t protest when Jade pulls you off to dance with her. You twirl June around one time when she bounces over to your group to dance and it’s… nice. It’s goofy and fun and you’re actually really enjoying yourself.

Sollux gets too close to you one time, venturing away from Dave’s music setup. When he gets close Rose grabs him into dancing with her, which derails into June fake grinding with him that lasts all of five seconds before the two fall apart in laughter that you can only just hear over the music. Jade spins you around with a laugh that's a little too entrancing to be mundane, you're sure she's letting more of her fae side loose here but you don't mind. After a bit you need to break away to get a drink and catch your breath, as much as you're enjoying the music it'd be nice to get a little quiet.

The sensible part of you wonders if it's wise to drink open punch at a party like this but Rose made it and you wouldn't want to hurt her feelings by not trying any. Also all your friends are here aside from Dave and you're not human so you'll probably be fine, right? You hope so because you've already had a mouthful of Rose's dark forest fruit punch. You lean against the wall and catch your breath only to see Sollux melt out of the crowd as he walks towards you. Hoping to set the tone of the conversation you get the first word in.

"Dave did all of this?" you ask over the music and point towards the speakers with a finger on your cup holding hand.

"Yeah, he's really good. I managed to get him to not include anything too dumb seeing as he's not here to enjoy confusing the shit out of people." Sollux tells you.

"Dork." you snort but you can feel the smile on your face and it's echoed on Sollux.

"So, pirate." Sollux states, looking you up and down.

"You've no idea how many costumes they had me try on, this one I actually like." you say defensively.

"Like that adorable bunny suit? Oh yeah, I bet." Sollux snorts.

"Of course you saw that. I'm going to kill Rose now, will you give me an alibi?" you ask him darkly, glaring at Rose from across the room. She doesn't notice of course but it's the principle of the thing.

"Not a chance in hell, I'd tell everyone you did it and pin some other crimes on you too." Sollux informs you.

"You're the worst." you sigh and sip at your drink.

"Yeah. Wanna dance?" Sollux asks after a moment.

You consider that for a moment, Sollux might be a shitlord but he is one of your friends and you do like him. Well, not like. But not... not like? Something. Thinking about that is way too hard so you'll take Sollux up on his offer instead.

"Sure. If you're trying to make yourself look better at it by being next to me who is comparatively worse than all other dancers then I applaud you on your cunning plan." you tell him and down the last of your drink, you toss the cup away and push yourself away from the wall.

"Yeah, that's definitely it." Sollux says after a pause.

You figure he's not going out there on his own so you lead, heading over to where Jade and June are dancing together. Sollux follows and you spend a good number of songs, appropriately spooky themed, dancing both with Sollux in his blasphemous outfit and trading out with Jade and June too. June one time takes the opportunity to dramatically dip you and you only manage to resist screeching in alarm by biting your bottom lip hard. You think Sollux is going to pass out from laughing so hard and Jade is no better off either.

As you're licking your poor lip to check it's not bleeding you catch sight of a familiar face. Kanaya is at the doorway!

"One sec!" you say to June and dart through the crowd of dancing people. It's probably not the most efficient path there as by the time you get out the other side you see that Rose is already talking to Kanaya at the doorway.

"-was invited." Kanaya says with a delicate frown.

"My point wasn't whether you were invited or not, I think you should leave." Rose says coldly, looking at Kanaya over the top of her drink.

"Rose, what's-" you start, hurrying over to them.

"Karkat. I was just telling this girl that she should leave, it's pretty poor taste to come dressed up as a vampire. I mean, really." Rose tuts as she waves at Kanaya.

"Oh." you say in shock.

"And, really, just because you're attractive it doesn't make it okay for you to come dressed as a sexy vampire either. It’s not as if there weren’t plenty of posters and general awareness raised on the issue to make it clear that dressing up as something you’re not, especially a sexual version, is absolutely beyond the pale." Rose adds sharply, shooting a glare at Kanaya.

"Oh my." Kanaya says, her eyebrows climbing up her forehead in surprise.

"Rose! Rose, this is my friend. Kanaya? From the library? The... the vampire friend?" you choke out, looking from her to Kanaya in second hand mortification.

Rose's eyes go wide and you can all but see her replaying her words back in her mind. You can almost hear the words “sexy vampire” going through her mind and you also kind of want to die just from being near this embarrassment.

"I... see. Well, Kanaya, was it?" Rose says stiffly, looking at your friend again.

"Yes, it was. Still is in fact." Kanaya says calmly but you can see the quirk of amusement at the edges of her black painted lips.

"Well I do apologise for the impression I must have made on you, you are of course welcome at our party. If you'd excuse me I think I need to go walk into the ocean and drown myself now." Rose says.

"I don't think you need to go that far. I came right from work but I wasn't aware that I could classify my regular attire as 'sexy vampire', that's news to me." Kanaya says as her smile starts to inch a little wider, showing off one of her fangs a little more. You don't think you're imagining the way Rose's skin is colouring and you're not convinced it's all embarrassment.

"You wear that to work? But you're so put together and stylish and, well, for lack of a better term very 'sexy vampire'." Rose says, waving a hand at Kanaya's outfit.

"Oh, well, I do take quite the interest in fashion. I must say as well that your dress is absolutely spectacular." Kanaya compliments her.

"She actually-" you start but Rose gets there first.

"That means a lot coming from you. I really must apologise for how I came off earlier, I really am mortified." Rose admits, one hand pressing to her flushing cheeks.

You're getting the distinct feeling that you're not needed in this conversation.

"No, no need. I have to say the idea that someone is standing up for my kind without doing so performatively in front of me is quite sweet. A little unneeded though, I don't really need defending from anyone." Kanaya assures her.

"Really?" Rose says, somewhat breathily.

Yeah this is getting really gay and also really awkward for you to be around as a silent third party to this conversation.

"I just remembered I left a thing over there, I'll be right back." you say, getting no notice from anyone at all.

You slip away, still somewhat flustered by second hand embarrassment. Something about watching someone lecture someone else about appropriate behaviour despite the other person being blatantly well aware just... sets your teeth on edge. Of course it's massively cringeworthy for Rose and she's really got no high ground on Dave now, his far too subtle 'do you like Justin Timberlake' was absurd but not radioactively embarrassing to be around like that was.

God, you feel weird now. Why do you feel so weird?

You look over at Kanaya and Rose who are very clearly flirting now, you can't even hear what they're saying from this far away but you know the body language. You're happy for them, it's cute. Still, replaying Rose coming off all condescending and lecturing Kanaya makes you feel-

"Where'd you go?" Sollux asks, suddenly at your side.

"I should put a fucking _bell_ on you, you personified shitty jumpscare!" you hiss at him.

"You're pissy all of a sudden. Did you remember how bad you are at everything you do?" Sollux sneers at you, his eyes sparkling with amusement.

"Fuck off, I'm not in the mood." you groan and shove your fists against your eyes. You're almost certainly smearing your eyeliner, a quick glance at your hands confirms that you are doing that very thing. In your head the scolding tone of Rose’s voice keeps bouncing around and making you wince.

"Wow, what happened?" Sollux asks.

You don't answer and so Sollux looks around, you see him spot Rose and Kanaya. It's good because you get to see the way he jolts in alarm.

"What the hell?!" Sollux gasps.

"That's my coworker Kanaya, Rose is hitting on her somewhat ineptly." you explain.

"Kanaya. Fuck. Wow." Sollux whispers.

"What, you know her or something?" you ask, your strange irritation moving away for curiosity.

"No, not personally. A friend of mine definitely does though. Of course she's friends with you, I shouldn't be surprised." Sollux says with a shake of his head. He turns his gaze away from her and back to you.

"And I don't suppose you're going to tell me who knows her, why her liking me isn’t surprising, or how you recognised her, or anything?" you guess.

"No." he says, of course he does.

You grit your teeth in irritation and Sollux looks you up and down.

"What happened? Seriously." he asks again.

"I don't know. Rose was lecturing Kanaya on coming dressed up as a sexy vampire despite actually being a vampire, Rose didn't realise." you tell him, Sollux barks out a laugh, he clearly hadn't been expecting that answer.

"I know, it's funny as shit but- something about the way she was lecturing her makes me feel-" you stop because you can't explain it, even to yourself. You’re just staring down at your empty hands like they might hold the answer but they are as you already noted, empty. No answers, no nothing.

Understanding dawns on Sollux's face. He reaches down and catches your hand in his and tilts his head. Now you have Sollux’s hand in yours, that’s something.

"Follow me." he says and pulls you away. He takes you towards a side door that leads out of the building. There's a couple of people nearby finishing up a cigarette including a half fae guy who is definitely not smoking tobacco, not that you especially care.

"Remember how I didn't know the person you remembered? I did know some things about him, he used to do that sort of thing. Or you used to bitch about the way he talked to people, I guess it reminded you. Made you feel the same way even though the memory it... connects to or whatever isn't there now." Sollux says, actually explaining for once. He nudges you to lean against the wall and shoves his hands in his pockets, standing in front of you and watching.

"That's why it feels like it doesn't make sense?" you say.

"Makes sense to me." Sollux nods.

"I've had two whole memories about this guy, or one memory and one feeling and they've all been shit. Fuck this guy. Erase him from my brain again, please." you complain.

"Out of my league, sorry. I can help you kill brain cells the old fashioned way, there's booze back inside probably or I could just punch you in the head a lot." Sollux offers with a mean grin.

“I’ll keep you updated on my decision on that.” you mutter and rest your head against the bricks with your eyes shut.

You hear the group who were smoking go back inside and when you open your eyes again Sollux has his head turned in their direction, watching the doorway.

“You were in my dream last night.” you say suddenly.

“Latula can do that, she did offer to teach me how to get in people’s dreams.” Sollux says thoughtfully, looking back at you.

“Wait, was that actually you in my dream then? Not just whatever my brain does when I’m asleep?” you ask in alarm, maybe if he saw your dream too he could give you more insight about what it might have meant!

“I wasn’t doing anything deliberately, so you’d have to tell me so I’d know if it’s what she told me about or not.” Sollux says, he looks like he’s trying not to break out in a grin, though you don’t know why.

“Okay,” you nod, “I was outside this palace and you were kneeling down and-”

Sollux snorts with laughter, his hand flying up to cover his mouth.

“...What?” you ask suspiciously.

“No, no, tell me more about you dreaming about me on my knees. This does sound like Latula’s thing.” Sollux laughs.

Wait. Latula’s a succubus. Sollux is implying-

“You ASSHOLE!” you snap and shove him in the shoulder, your insult echoes off a few buildings.

“I thought you were actually being helpful, that should have been my clue, shouldn’t it?” you hiss, Sollux seems entirely without remorse.

“That’s not a denial, though. Is it? What WERE you dreaming about KK?” Sollux cackles.

“Sorry I didn’t catch onto your very fun prank immediately, you shitlord. Some of us don’t think with our dicks all the time, unlike you who apparently does.” you sneer.

Sollux’s laughter dies down a little and his expression shifts into something more devious.

“Making some assumptions, aren’t we?” he grins at you.

“What, that you think at all? Yeah, I guess I am.” you retort.

“Or were you not paying attention to how I told you all about demon anatomy and how it’s not always what you’d expect from a human who has this shape.” Sollux adds, gesturing to his body. His male body, you suppose.

You… accused him of thinking with his dick and he’s implying that…

It’s through sheer force of will that you DON’T look down at his- God help you, the bottom half of his priest outfit. You only manage the self restraint because you know it’ll mean he wins and he’ll mock you for it.

“Sometimes I don’t know why I talk to you.” you mutter.

“Yeah you do.” Sollux smirks.

“No, I don’t. And don’t come at me with that look on your face, it makes me want to punch it off and I’ve never punched anyone in my life. Not that I remember at least.” you add that last part uncertainly. Who knows what you did before.

If anything your words just make Sollux’s expression worse.

“You’re just salty because you can’t keep up with me.” Sollux says.

“Yeah, you’re way better at being an unhelpful and irritating son of a bitch than I am. It really keeps me up at night.” you say sarcastically.

“_Does it?_” Sollux asks, his innuendo very VERY clear.

“Ignoring that.” you tell him. You won’t tell him that you won’t rise to that bait because that’s just leaving yourself open for more of this shit, isn’t it?

“Anyway, I don’t know why you’re acting all innocent about this. You’re the one who did this, and added another onto it.” Sollux says and holds his arm up, pulling his sleeve down as he does so. Your deal glows on his skin for a moment.

“You say that like it’s my fault you’re bad at the thing you’re literally supposed to be trained for.” you tell him, unable to keep all of the smugness that you feel out of your voice. What are you supposed to do? You’re only human or- well, something.

“And you wonder why this happens.” Sollux mutters.

“You started it.” you point out, a little petulantly but it’s true.

“Did not. You got under my skin first, whatever I did before that isn’t relevant.” Sollux says defensively.

“Oh, a convenient excuse! Very believable. And I bet that if I asked what I did you’d say you can’t tell me, which may or may not be true but I wouldn’t put it past you to keep me out of the loop and let me know JUST because it’d annoy me. That’s what you’re like.” you accuse him.

“Only with you.” Sollux says.

The hair on the back of your neck is standing up on end, you wouldn’t be surprised if you zapped Sollux if you touched him, that’s just how charged the air feels right now.

“You know, I can’t even-” you shake your head and try again, it’d be easier if you weren’t looking at Sollux but somehow you can’t seem to not do that.

“If you were just some jerk who was actually dangerous to me I could ditch you completely, but you’re obviously not a psychopath and you’ve saved my life before. But it’s like you walk this line between being a likeable person and being a complete asshat that I just can’t cut you off and walk away. It’s as if there’s some science to this that you’re doing!” you accuse him.

“Like it’s any better with you. You’re all nice and sweet to everyone else but the things you’re able to say to me are completely different. I don’t care about how good you are but you’re really just as savage as you say I am. Besides, I know you enjoyed leaving me on the roof after getting an EXTRA question just as much as I got a kick out of waking you up the other morning and making you scream the room down.” Sollux challenges you, leaning closer.

“If there was any justice I’d have burst your eardrums.” you hiss at him.

Sollux smiles, way too sharp and self satisfied. You just went and proved his point, didn’t you? You just told him you wished you’d hurt him but you don’t really mean it, besides you know he’d get better from it. There’s no way you’re taking what you said back though, then he’d have won.

“You think you’re so smart, don’t you?” you say, leaning closer to him. You can get in his space too, it’s not just always him doing it to you.

“Smarter than you.” Sollux brags.

That’s it, you’re out. You heave a sigh and push past him, you’re going back into the party.

“So you admit it.” Sollux goads you, grinding you to a halt. You turn around to face him and glare at him, it doesn’t make him back down of course.

“Oh, I’m so sorry I’m still learning when I’m in one of the best schools in the world despite having like five years of memories. I only learnt that I had magic this year so sorry if I’m too slow for you.” you sneer at him, taking a step closer.

Sollux presses a hand to his chest like he’s actually touched.

“It means a lot to me that you’d apologise, KK.” Sollux says in faux sincerity, one that shatters when you one handedly shove him against the wall.

“Listen here, fuckface, you’ve been able to do magic your whole life and you remember everything. Whereas I did all the work for our GROUP presentation and gave the damn thing when you did fuck all, so really your skills are just empty boasting at this point!” you snap at him.

“I was a snake!” Sollux says defensively.

“At least you admit it.” you grin and delight in the way he realises you just insulted him rather than talking about him literally being a snake earlier.

“You’ve not ACTUALLY beaten me at anything academic yet at all. We’ve all passed the same tests, if anything you’re just coasting.” you add.

Sollux bristles and it feels like a win. You really are getting under his skin for a change and it feels so satisfying to know that you can get him back. He glares at you darkly, all of his eyes are open but his smaller set are just furious little slits of illuminated rage.

“And you say I start shit.” Sollux says in a low voice, leaning in towards you slightly despite your hand on his chest keeping him against the wall. He’s a demon though, if he didn’t want to be there he probably wouldn’t be. So why is he? Is it some brag that he’s so unintimidated by you or something?

“You do, and here I am. Ending it.” you retort because you have to say something, if you don’t he wins and you can’t have that.

“Don’t see anything ending, I’m just here and you’re the one talking at me.” Sollux says as if he’s innocent.

“Bullshit, you- this is your fault. You’re irritating on a molecular level!” you accuse him. You’re closer now, somehow. You’ve got your fist in his blasphemous costume with him boxed in against the wall. He’s taller than you but you’re broader. He doesn’t look the least bit intimidated, if anything he looks smug.

“Don’t give me that look, like you won something.” you demand, poking at his chest with your other hand.

Sollux leans his head down as much as he can with you shoving him against the wall like this, smiling like a cat just about to shove something expensive off of a shelf. Or perhaps like a cat that’s just caught a mouse and is going for the kill.

“You don’t have to be here. If you didn’t want to, you’d have gone inside again already.” he says all low and secretive.

Your breath catches in your throat as you try to come up with a response. He started this, and he kept you here by- by being like this! It’s all because of HIM! But even as you think all of this you can already predict Sollux’s response that he’s not doing anything, you’re the one keeping him here if anything. He’s not even said anything and your blood is boiling.

What’s worse is that as you’re playing all these scenarios and responses through your head Sollux’s smile is just getting more and more self satisfied. You just can’t take it.

You rush forward, not that there was much distance left anyway, and crash your mouth to his. You bite him about as much as you kiss him and from the noise Sollux makes you’d say he doesn’t object at all. He wraps his hands around several of the very many useless buckles on your outfit and pulls you closer. He tilts his head a little and kisses you back, enough that your spine goes electric at the feel of his split tongue.

Your system is alight at the fact that you finally shut him up, that you finally won something. The way his tails loops around your leg absolutely feel like him giving in. Sollux is sharp and wonderful, his sharp fangs scrape your lip but never break the skin, his claws prickle but don’t maim. He could hurt you but he doesn’t and so you kiss him more urgently because of it.

You don’t think you’ve ever been kissed like this, it’s so intense, so… so something that you lack the word for. It’s completely different to-

To…

Dave.

You kissed Dave first, you wanted to date him and here you are kissing his best friend.

“Oh fuck!” you gasp, jerking back from a slightly dazed looking Sollux.

“Sounds good.” Sollux says a little breathlessly.

You take a second to realise that he interpreted that way differently to how you meant it. It’s no wonder with how you are now. Flushing hot with shame you push away from him, taking several unsteady steps backwards. Sollux’s cheeks and the tips of his ears are almost goldenrod in colour but his expression is shifting into something of confusion.

“What?” he asks.

“What the fuck is wrong with me?” you whisper, one hand over your mouth. You did this, YOU kissed HIM, you can’t even say that it was the other way around.

“Would you like a list?” Sollux grins lazily, his tails shifting hypnotically through the air as he watches you.

“No, no, I think I can make that on my own. I shouldn’t have done this, I shouldn’t have kissed you. This was all a big mistake.” you tell him in a rush.

The amusement falls straight off of Sollux’s face and his tails drop straight down.

“What? That’s not funny.” he says stiffly.

“I know it’s not. I’m so sorry, Sollux, I should never have done this. I- I already kissed Dave, we have… there’s a thing going on there. I was supposed to ask him if he wanted to- but then he got sick and… I shouldn’t be doing this. I shouldn’t have kissed you, I’m sorry.” you apologise.

“You’re sorry?!” Sollux snaps.

“Yes, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean this.” you apologise.

Sollux jerks back as if you slapped him when you say that, his eyes wide. What have you DONE? You cover your face with your hands.

“What have I done, what have I done? What the fuck is wrong with me? Oh Goooood.” you groan. You jerk your head up when you hear an injured little noise and see Sollux looking at you with hurt on his face.

“Fuck, I said it again, I’m sorry.” you say hastily.

“Screw your sorry’s, don’t tell me you didn’t mean all of that. I was the one kissing you, you meant it. You hate me!” Sollux argues.

“I don’t hate you!” you protest.

“You… you do.” Sollux insists, still staring at you.

“No, I don’t. I like you. You’re nice and you care about your friends, you care about Dave and Rose’s mother and you saved my life. You’re a good person and just because you irritate me sometimes doesn’t mean I hate you. I shouldn’t have kissed you, much less out of anger, I don’t know what’s wrong with me. But I really don’t hate you, this is my fault, not yours.” you assure him.

“No, you’re just saying that. You hate me!” Sollux says, trying to grab your arm and missing when you jump back.

“I’m not just saying it! Sollux, I could never hate you!” you tell him.

Desperation crosses his face and Sollux starts listing off all these things that he knows you ‘really’ think and feel, things that you really want. That you want to hurt him, that he’s your opposite and no matter how much you try to stay away you keep coming back. He says that you want to beat him at anything he does, to be better, to prove yourself. You deny each thing, and it’s easy enough to say that you don’t want to hurt him but it’s hard to shove down the memory of how many times you’ve smacked him in the arm or tried to kick him under the table. You’ve wanted to retaliate, to get him back, to beat him at his own game. But you don’t want that.

You do, you don’t.

He’s Dave’s best friend, his oldest friend. He’s a good person who cares about the people in his life, he’s saved your life and cared about you despite you being quite different people. You like him, you think he’s great. You can’t listen to the horrible parts of yourself that want those other awful things, it clearly leads to shit like this. It leads you to angrily kissing him against the wall of your building when the guy you want to date is sick in his room. In THEIR room.

“I’m sorry, I don’t hate you, I shouldn’t have done this. It was all a huge mistake, I’m sorry.” you apologise to him, you have to be better.

Sollux stares at you, out of breath from yelling all things you shouldn’t want at you. Your apology seems to wash over him and leaves him just looking at you, wide eyed and shaking slightly. Then, without a word he’s gone in a flash of blue and red smoke and synthetic apple scent.

Shit.

You need to find Dave and tell him what you did. You need to own up to your mistakes.

It’s easy enough to walk around your building to avoid the party, you head up the stairs to Dave’s floor, with your heart already in the pit of your stomach. You reach your hand out to the door and freeze. The thing is, your dorm is isolated from sound but not everyone’s is. Dave and Sollux’s dorm isn’t.

You hear the muffled sob even through the door, your hand stalls but you need to do this. Screwing up your courage you knock on the door. It’s Dave who pulls the door open. His hair is stuck up at strange angles, his shades are missing and his eyes and nose are a little reddish, he’s in his pyjamas as well.

“You.” Dave says.

“Dave, I-” you start. You hear a gasp from within the room and another puff of teleporting demon.

“Sollux, wait I… well, shit.” Dave isn’t quick enough to stop Sollux from leaving and the end result is him standing in the doorway looking into his now empty dorm with you in the hallway. He sighs and then coughs into his sleeve for a moment.

“Well, come in. Not doin’ this shit in the hallway if I can help it.” Dave says a little raspily.

You step inside and neatly shut the door behind you, making sure that it’s properly shut before you turn back to face Dave. He doesn’t look pleased to see you at all.

“Dave I’m really sorry, I… I fucked up. I came here to tell you and apologise, I wanted you to hear it from me.” you tell him.

“Hear what from you? How you kissed my best friend or how you ripped out his heart? Which thing?” Dave asks you waspishly. You wince but you deserved that.

“Fuck.” you mutter and look at the ground.

“How did I screw all of this up? I didn’t mean- I don’t know what’s happening anymore.” you say softly.

Dave sighs and when you look at him you see that his expression is just sad. He reaches out and grabs your sleeve and pulls you towards his sofa.

“How about you just start talking?” he suggests.

“Where do I start?” you ask as you both sit down.

“The beginning?” Dave says, tilting his head and shifting side on to the sofa so he can rest his head on his arm as he drapes it across the back of the sofa. He’s tired and he’s sick, as well as probably feeling sick and tired of YOU.

“I liked you, we kissed. I can start there.” you say.

“Liked?” Dave asks, his head lifting up and his eyes widening.

“Like. I still like you, I just meant specifically then.” you amend hastily and Dave relaxes a touch.

“Go on.” Dave nudges you with his foot.

Alright then, you will. You stop looking at him though because it’s just too much to bear, instead you stare down at your hands in your lap.

“I liked you and it became a crush and then more. I didn’t think you’d like me back at all, which probably added to me not decoding your Justin Timberlake code.” you say.

“I’m never living that down.” Dave sighs.

“No. But… I saw what I thought was there which was me being lucky enough to be friends with you, but then we kissed and it was everything, you know? But Rose showed up and then our friends were there and I didn’t have time to ask you if you wanted to date me, because I didn’t really want a casual thing. I didn’t want to ask by message because that’s so unromantic. Then you got sick and it didn’t seem like the time and…” you sigh in frustration at yourself.

“You overthink things a lot, huh?” Dave says.

“Clearly this current situation is evidence that I don’t think enough, I’m a fucking moron, Dave.” you inform him.

Dave looks at you, his cheek squished against his hand and his red eyes focused on you.

“I just assumed we were dating already.” Dave says after a moment.

“Oh.” you squeak.

“Oh, that’s… so much worse. So I actually cheated on you then, not even just slightly grey area shittiness, but actual- oh great I’m going to hell.” you whine and bury your face in your hands. You were DATING Dave?!

“Mmm, it’s frozen over and kind of terrible, so don’t. Gets bad yelp reviews, do not recommend. Maybe don’t go.” Dave suggests, although it’s a bit late for that.

“I don’t even know why I kissed Sollux, I still like you and I don’t feel for him what I do for you!” you insist.

“Well, no shit.” Dave groans.

You look over at him in alarm but Dave is just resting his back against the armrest and combing his sweaty ill person hair out of his eyes with his fingers.

“It was pretty obvious that you two had some kind of thing for each other, you were always up in each other’s grills all the time. I figured it was a demon thing and a… whatever you are thing. But it’s not what I have and you having that for him and me being in l- uh, I mean, you liking me like I like you are different and I don’t care about it.” Dave says hastily.

“I don’t like him like I like you.” you assure him.

“But you DO have feelings for him.” Dave points out.

“No!” you deny hotly. You don’t have any romantic feelings towards Sollux at all! You don’t know why you kissed him at all and you want to never ever think of it again.

“Try again, because if you got my best bro all fired up for you and then kissed him for no reason THEN told him you had no feelings for him then you can fuck off out of here. Preferably through the window.” Dave says coldly, gesturing to the window across the room.

You’re on the sixth floor.

You stare at your feet and Dave waits you out.

“I don’t hate him. He’s frustrating and irritating, I swear he does everything he does just to drive me nuts but it’s not like I don’t respect him. He’s kind to you and our friends, the way he is with your mom is so nice, he’s clearly smart and a good person.” you tell him. Or, well, the floor since that’s what you’re looking at.

“Yeah, he is.” Dave agrees softly.

“But it’s like I’m allergic to him, it just itches and I can’t not scratch it even though it’s obviously a bad thing to do. I trust him and I like him and I also want to punch him in the face and that’s a HORRIBLE thing to think and he just pissed me off so much that I kissed him and it somehow made total sense until I remembered that I have feelings for YOU not HIM and I’m clearly the worst person ever and I don’t know what’s wrong with me!” you say slightly hysterically.

Dave sighs and slides a little lower on the sofa, his feet almost touching your leg.

“This is a shit show.” Dave states.

“Yeah, it is.” you nod.

Silence covers you both for a while. Guilt and shame are coiling hot inside you, Dave’s being so nice and you don’t understand why. You’re the worst, you messed up so badly but he’s talking to you!

“I don’t have feelings for him, not like you.” you swear to him and Dave shakes his head.

“Sounds like you have a craptonne of feelings for him.” Dave replies.

You open your mouth to protest but he’s not exactly wrong.

“Look, dude, it’s not as if I’m not pissed. You didn’t think we were dating but you did like me and you go and kiss someone else when you thought we were going to be an exclusive thing, that’s pretty shitty no matter how you slice that shit.” Dave points out.

“I know, I’m sorry.” you apologise.

“But, fine, you made a dumb mistake and to your credit you came right here to confess instead of hiding it and it’s kind of hard to be completely mad at you when you’re dressed as a sexy pirate.” Dave adds.

...Sexy pirate?

“On top of that I knew that Sollux had some kind of thing for you and that it’s a demon thing but because it was it wasn’t the same as my thing I didn’t think that it was worth bringing up to you because it’s not my feelings so it’s not my place. He told me about it but I can’t tell you all of that. You obviously have a lot of feelings that you don’t get when it comes to him and I can’t blame you for being confused and it’s not as if shit hasn’t been bugfuck nuts lately, so that’s fair too.” Dave goes on, seemingly just letting the sexy pirate thing lie as it is.

“But what you said to him really hurt him. Really REALLY bad. I’ve never seen him that upset over anything, you ripped the dude’s heart out and I didn’t even get all of what you said out of him before you showed up here but I got enough to work out that you trying to backpedal managed to say all the wrong things. He’s really hurt.” Dave says seriously. Your heart sinks, you didn’t mean to hurt him.

“I didn’t mean to do that, I’m really sorry.” you apologise, turning on the sofa to face him properly. He needs to know how much you mean it.

“Don’t apologise to me, man, tell him. Although I’d say good luck with that, I doubt he’s going to want anything to do with you now.” Dave says.

He doesn’t want anything to do with you? Ever? Panic starts to fill you and Dave shakes his head.

“Don’t have feelings for him, my ass. Look, Sollux isn’t one to keep hurting himself for no reason and you hurt him really badly. I get that this is all some well intentioned and misunderstood fuckup, I get that. I don’t think he’s going to forgive you that easily and he’s my best friend.” Dave says.

“He’s your moirail.” you say. Dave seems surprised for a moment but he nods.

“I gotta side with him on this, I can’t date you unless he’s cool with you and right now he’s significantly uncool with you.” Dave says.

“I didn’t expect that you would date me after this. I’m surprised you’re even talking to me.” you admit uncomfortably.

“Nah, man. We’re not doing this middle school bullshit where I won’t talk to you because you hurt his feelings, I’m not here for that drama. I’m still going to talk to you in class and shit, not to mention we’re still all in the same non-changeable combat class group. I’m still going to be around you but unless you manage to make things square with him we can’t be a thing.” Dave tells you, it all seems very diplomatic and more than you probably deserve.

“Do you think that’s going to happen?” you say skeptically.

“I hope so.” Dave says with a shrug and leans back against the arm of the sofa again. You’re not so convinced.

“This is all very reasonable.” you say slowly, because it feels like a trap.

“Well one of us had to be the smart one and apparently it’s me.” Dave scoffs. You’d argue but after what just happened with you and Sollux you think that he’s won by process of elimination here.

“And as a side note to stop more miscommunication; I’m totally cool with you dating him in whatever thing that is if we get to do what we were supposed to be getting to. Like, regular dating. To be honest that’s what I thought was already happening, as far as I knew this was all going perfectly fine until you did a triple backflip into the worst option in the tell tale games choice menu. All like ‘Sollux will remember this’ and now it’s all complicated, now how’re you gonna get the good ending for all of us?” Dave asks, clearly waist deep into a tangent that you can’t even pretend to understand.

You skip ahead to the bit you caught.

“You thought I was going to date you and Sollux?” you ask skeptically.

“Well yeah. I mean I technically am by demon standards with the moirail thing so it was going to be a nice triangle of everyone getting what they want so it was all going well.” Dave explains.

You stare at him in disbelief.

“And you didn’t think to mention this to me?” you ask.

“Didn’t wanna, like, ruin the magic.” Dave mumbles, glancing away.

“You are NOT the smart one. None of us are, we’re all stupid, including you. Jesus fucking Christ you can’t just assume that’ll- people don’t just fall into perfectly working polyamory if that’s what you’re suggesting. Certainly not without all talking about it and I don’t even understand what happened with him. But you thought it’d all just work out without any discussion about it! If we did even all date there’s not a brain cell between the three of us, frankly at this point Sollux seems the least stupid!” you insist.

“Ouch.” Dave pouts. You hate how it’s cute and how it makes you want to kiss him, no matter that he’s sick. Yeah, you aren’t smart either.

You sigh and rest your head on the back of the sofa. You consider that Sollux isn’t going to want to talk to you after this and you feel cold at the thought.

“I should apologise to him.” you say quietly.

“Yeah.” Dave agrees.

“It’d be good if I knew what I should and shouldn’t say because I don’t want to make this worse. I don’t even fully understand why I kissed him or what I- none of it makes sense!” you whine.

Dave pats your arm consolingly and leans a little closer.

“I really hate that this bro-code is making me have to swear off of you because damn I don’t blame Sol, I’d kiss you too with you dressed like that.” Dave says secretively, you look over at him sharply and the somewhat wanting expression on his face without his shades in the way tells you that he’s not joking. He’s not joking and you can’t take him up on the offer until you fix this problem that you don’t understand.

“Ah, I see. I’m already in hell.” you say tightly.


	13. Oh My God

When Rose comes back from the party you don’t know if Dave or Sollux told her what happened or not and you’d really rather her hear it from you instead of through the grapevine. You sit her down and confess the whole thing. You’re sure that you’ve ruined everything but Rose just listens patiently until you’ve talked yourself out and are reduced to trembling with stress.

Rose seems to think for a moment or two before she speaks.

“I can’t say this is your proudest moment.” she begins.

“More like the worst thing I remember ever doing, but yeah.” you agree miserably.

“But it seems to me that at least with Sollux there’s a lot of questions, I can’t help but think that what you’re running into here is some species problem.” Rose reasons.

“How do you mean?” you ask.

“His feelings for you seem plain given how heartbroken he seemingly was, and I can’t deny that I’ve not seen him act around other people the way he so often acted around you. It makes sense that you’re perhaps dealing with a demon specific kind of romance.” Rose says.

God, the thought that Sollux had such strong feelings for you without you knowing just hurts on a deep fundamental level. He genuinely had seemed hurt when you changed your mind after kissing him and you heard him cry in his dorm when you got there, you rejected the guy. But what’s worse is you made the first move right before you did that. What the hell is wrong with you?

“He could have explained any of that to me.” you groan, the guilt is making you feel sick.

“You kissed him, didn’t you? What reason would he have to think that you didn’t feel the same or understand how he felt?” Rose points out.

This is a good point but you feel like you’re going to explode. You lift a finger as if to pause the conversation and get up onto your feet. Quickly you walk into your room and shut the door and then scream. You scream for how much you hate yourself for this and how much you know you deserve to suffer for hurting someone who has only helped you so far. You scream for being dumb enough to kiss him first, you scream for liking it when you have feelings for Dave. You just scream.

When you’re done and gasping for air you stand and listen to your voice bounce around the room as it fades away. Your window remarkably hasn’t shattered but it is ringing. You let yourself back into the main room and look at Rose.

“Maybe,” Rose continues as if you hadn’t left to scream, “he thought you already understood. Perhaps your species shares traits with demons, perhaps your romantic inclinations as a species mesh with demons.”

“Then why don’t I understand how he feels?” you ask her. If this was supposed to be some native feeling wouldn’t you have noticed before now? Wouldn’t you have handled that better?

“Or the other alternative is that the two of you were together before all of this. Perhaps he used to teleport away to Georgia to see you before The Event.” Rose suggests with a sly smile.

Your face heats up at that idea. If anything that makes you not knowing him when you saw him again even WORSE.

“I would have been thirteen or something.” you mutter in protest.

“Thirteen year olds do have feelings I believe.” she laughs.

The thought that you and Sollux could have been dating as awkward preteens is agonising. Young love or, whatever that was, separated and reunited only for you to smash it all on the ground. This is the literal worst night of your life.

“What do I do, Rose? This is a mess, my _life_ is a mess. Help me, please.” you beg and flop onto the sofa miserably next to her.

“I don’t know if this is a situation I can fix for you.” Rose says sympathetically and brushes your hair back from your forehead.

“Please, I’ll do anything.” you whine.

Rose seems to consider this for a moment, her glossy black lips pursing slightly as she thinks.

“I will help you on three conditions.” Rose says.

“Name them.” you say and sit bolt upright. You NEED help badly and you’ll do whatever it takes to get it.

“First, agree that you’ll at least think about the feelings of Sollux and Dave. Even if you don’t end up with either of them romantically they both do care about you and they are needless to say important to me, I don’t want to see them hurt. So try to be considerate.” Rose begins.

“I can absolutely agree to that, I hate how I’ve acted.” you nod.

“Secondly, you help me meet your hot coworker again. Kanaya is devastatingly gorgeous and I’m so mad you didn’t tell me that, I also need to know if she likes women.” Rose goes on.

“I… have no idea how I would have brought that up in a not creepy way but okay, I also don’t know how I’m going to ask her that but I’ll do what I can. You can absolutely come meet me at the library when we’re working together and just talk to her then.” you say.

“Thirdly, and most importantly, you don’t breathe a word to ANYONE about my first conversation with Kanaya and that awful and cringeworthy misunderstanding. That was horrendous and I’d rather no one else knew about it.” Rose says, glancing around as if there might be someone else within earshot. Perhaps growing up with Dave and Sollux gave her that reflex.

Great, now you feel guilty again.

“So just… be considerate to Dave and Sollux, give you an in to talking to Kanaya and never ever mention the horrifically mortifying introduction you had with Kanaya? That’s it?” you check.

“It sounds fair to me.” Rose says. It does sound more than fair.

You press your hand to your heart and look her right in the eyes, you absolutely mean what you’re about to say and you will hold yourself to it.

“I give you my word that I will try to be considerate to Dave and Sollux, that I will help you see Kanaya again, and I will never ever speak of your first conversation with her to anyone.” you vow.

Your skin tingles and you put it down to the way Rose smiles at you.

“Excellent. I would say that our first joint area of recourse from here is to see if we can find out anything about demon romance. We can check the library and failing that my mother’s personal library and notes would be useful. Your personal mission is to work out what your feelings for Sollux really are.” Rose insists.

You want to protest that you don’t have feelings for him. Except that you do, you just don’t understand them. But it’s fine, because you can ignore them! But then you kissed him first…

“I don’t understand shit.” you say miserably.

“Yes, I know. But I didn’t sleep last night and I’m tired and you should go think, so goodnight Karkat.” Rose says. She pats you consolingly on the shoulder and gets up to go to her room.

You take the bathroom first, shower and wash the eyeliner off of your face, it’s smeared all over the place now. When you brush your teeth you avoid looking at yourself in the mirror, you’re not sure you can face yourself right now.

Sleep comes easily to you when you get into bed, but you probably shouldn’t be surprised that you don’t want to be conscious. Although it does mean that what takes over is your unconscious, which isn’t much better.

_You dust yourself off and look around. You know he’s close by but you can’t see him._

_“HELLO? DON’T BE AFRAID!” you call out loudly. Your voice echoes over the open space by the road, a few birds explode out of the sparse treeline nearby and fly off into the dark night._

_Breathing in you taste car fumes in the air and if you squint you can just see a vehicle in the distance, currently stopped. Maybe he’s there._

_You walk closer, looking around as you go. It’s dark but you can’t see anyone else here. As you come close you can see that the car is bright red, some muscle car that you don’t know the make of. The lights are off on it but when you reach it and touch it the thing is warm, it was running very recently._

_There, behind you! Spinning around you see nothing but you can hear someone rushing away from you through the trees._

_“Wait! Come back!” you gasp._

_Stumbling down the incline by the road you make a break for the treeline, you can hear him up ahead, running from you._

_“Please!” you say but he says nothing back._

_You skid to a halt before a fallen tree, it was huge before but it’s snapped in two now and there’s a dark shape on top of it. Four glowing lights shine in the darkness from it’s- (his?) face._

_“It’s ok, I’m not here to hurt you.” you say._

_Your eyes adjust a little, it’s a demon on top of that broken tree. The four horns are clear now, as well as the angrily lashing tail. A growl builds and warps into a snarl as he looks down at you. Cautiously you take another step closer._

_The demon moves and you just catch a flash of a blade before he’s on you. You should defend yourself, bring out your own weapon, but you don’t want to hurt him and you can empathise with why he’s attacking you. You can’t call your weapon out with a feeling like that._

_The demon’s sword bursts through your chest, running you through clean from front to back. He jerks it out and leaps back out of your range, holding the blade ready and staring at you. The wound burns, your skin sizzling and peeling where the blade went in and you collapse to the floor as your punctured heart fills your lungs with bright red blood._

_The demon stares at you as you bleed out, and gasping for air you try to communicate with a look alone that you don’t blame him_.

You jerk awake, your dreaming stone under your pillow chiming to wake you up. You’re still gasping for breath and sticky with fear sweat. You should write that dream down in your notebook but you don’t think you want to analyse a dream where Sollux murders you despite you pursuing him, the meaning of that is pretty clear.

The idea of trying to go back to sleep is not appealing in the slightest, especially given that your subconscious mind seems set on making you pay for what you did. Instead of settling back in and hoping for better dreams you just figure ‘fuck it’ and get up. You dress, make yourself coffee and stare out into the darkness through the window.

Something white streaks across the night sky and you wonder if it’s true that wishing on a shooting star brings you luck. You close your eyes and wish fervently for things to get better.

As you do the sudden feeling of being watched flares over you and then dies down, like someone walking over your grave or something. You shudder and stand up. The library is open at all hours so you may as well go there. It’s cold outside now so you hug your jacket tight around you and quickly scurry into the empty office.

There’s always work to do so it’s not hard to just fuss about putting things in order, especially as you’re not on the clock you don’t feel any need to rush. When the door to the office opens you jump and look up, Ms. Paint and Spades Slick are in the doorway.

“Karkat, what are you doing here?” Ms. Paint asks you.

“Good to see you back on this plane, alive an’ all.” her other half adds, shutting the door after him.

“I couldn’t sleep.” you say in answer to Ms. Paint’s question and completely ignoring Spades Slick’s statement. It’s nice that he’s pleased to see you alright but he didn’t exactly help you get out all that much either.

“Is something on your mind, sweetheart? You look a little troubled.” Ms. Paint asks and pulls out a chair. She delicately sits in it and brushes her hands over her skirt to straighten it out.

You hesitate and Spades Slick suddenly grins wide and sharp toothed.

“Oh, I know what kinda problems he has. I know that look. That’s romance problems right there.” he grins and then only laughs harder at whatever look comes across your face and gives you away.

“I just messed everything up is all.” you admit unhappily.

“I’m sure it’ll work out alright.” Ms. Paint says comfortingly.

“I’d hope so, only I’ve got no clue what’s going on at all. I don’t understand his whole thing and I don’t know if it’s some kind of species thing or-” you cut yourself off with a frustrated groan.

“Wait, different species? Who’re ya talking about?” Spades Slick asks, his expression flickering with curiosity.

You consider for a second the fact that Spades Slick is on at least semi-friendly terms with Sollux and then you figure that you shouldn’t say anything about it at all.

“Nevermind.” you mutter, looking away.

“Ohh, Sollux. Yeah, demons have non-human romance but it’s basically what your kind has. Or yours does it anyway as far as I know.” Spades Slick says, tapping his chin thoughtfully.

“Then why don’t I understand it?!” you demand.

You know you don’t have feelings for Sollux like you do for Dave, it’s not the same at all. But as Dave pointed out, you can hardly claim to not have any feelings at all for him.

“Well a lot of relationships and the understanding of them is cultural. Fae understanding of marriage and relationships are very little like human expectations, werewolf understanding and concepts of social bonds are vastly different from other species and so on. You’ll still have those same biological feelings but without the social instruction manual it can be hard to interpret them.” Ms. Paint explains.

“It’s not like I can find him an instruction booklet on this and there’s none of his kind kicking around that I’ve seen to ask and demons don’t…” Spades Slick trails off with a thoughtful one eyed squint.

“Yes?” Ms. Paint prompts him.

“...You’ll like this. I might be able to find a book. Hold tight, I’m going to go freeze my dick off looking for it but I’ll be back.” Spades Slick nods. He turns and opens a doorway right in the middle of the room, steps through and vanishes.

Ms. Paint blinks at the space her wayward husband was previously occupying and then turns to look at you.

“Well, there’s no students in the library right now. Would you care to get your first extracurricular magic lesson?” she asks cheerfully.

You’ll do anything to take your mind off of your problems, so you’ll absolutely settle for learning more magic. Ms. Paint takes you out of the office and down the elevator to the restricted area, only she stops on the floor above it and lets you both out.

“A lot of the library’s records are in here, back from before everything became digital as standard. Other departments sent us their old records and of course the university did have a library before this one was built in honour of Doctor Lalonde, we have all the records from that library. There are also the computer servers and all of that technical wizardry in here that is a little beyond me if I’m honest.” Ms. Paint explains as the two of you walk down the hallway.

She opens a door to what appears to be a chilly server room but it also has a large book on a table. As you step through the door you notice that the whole room is in a magic circle.

“What spell is this?” you ask, pointing to the circle.

“This filters all information about the library into that book as a living record. The servers and computer system all feed into this, it is the heart of the library.” Ms. Paint says softly as she approaches the book.

She presses her hands to the leather cover of the book.

“People have always looked for immortality, Karkat. People seek elixirs, tinctures, pacts and other such things. We have immortality in this very building and people overlook it. Every book in this library is a part of someone’s life, their thoughts and a little bit of themselves. The majority of books in this building have authors long since dead but you read them and they’re still here, as long as their books remain they do as well.” she says reverently.

“It’s proof that they were here, even after everything else is gone. When I thought those rare books were in danger I guess that’s what I felt, even if it wasn’t real. For all I knew that was the last copy of something someone had written and it was about to be destroyed.” you agree.

Ms. Paint smiles at you, both fond and a little sad.

“That’s why I liked you, Karkat. Now this book is the very soul of the library itself, it knows where every book is within and without this place. Before I can teach you anything else you need to learn how to listen to books, you need to understand the library itself.” she explains.

You look at the large book on the table and feel distinctly like it’s looking back at you.

“What exactly does that involve?” you ask, you’re trying not to sound suspicious but you absolutely are.

“The gods may be gone but there are still spirits around, consider this communing with a spirit to gain some power. Go on.” she urges you and nudges you towards the book.

You approach it warily, it gives you the same feeling that the books in the cages downstairs do. You feel wary, some part of you attuned to the power contained in these pages.

“Can I… open it?” you ask as you reach your fingers out towards it. The book shudders, its cover hinging up slightly and its pages ruffling as if the wind caught them. Needless to say there is no wind in this sealed room.

The book opens itself dramatically almost exactly in half, the pages and cover at the front side hitting the table top with a thump. Your breath hitches in surprise and as you lean closer you feel as if it does too. Finally your fingers just brush the page and words rush off of the page and up your arm, running under your skin.

Your vision darkens as you feel something ghost over your mind. Your mouth tastes like old paper, you can smell leather binding and your ears fill with the sound of pen scratching on paper. Pages rustle in your ears and the image of your stack of books in your room flicks into your head, how when you were lonely you would read. With a whisper of written words you see a list of books in the demonology section and you see yourself seeking refuge from meeting Sollux, hiding in the books and searching for their knowledge. You see yourself from the position of the books on the shelves. A book cut in half reports on your horror at seeing its damage and others rustle their pages verifying the care you’ve taken with them.

The great beast of the library smiles in your head and you feel a papery touch run over your chest to the mark that still sits there. You would protect these books and this library. Ink rushes off of your skin and back onto the page and reality kicks back in. You gasp for breath and pull your hands back. Entirely by itself the book on the table closes again and you turn to see Ms. Paint smiling.

“It likes you.” she says happily.

Pressing your hand to your head you can’t help but feel like you’ve been very invasively scruitized. It didn’t hurt and it wasn’t unpleasant as such but you can’t say that you liked or appreciated it either. Like having a cat walk over your face when you were sleeping in bed, not fun but also not malicious as such. The thing wasn’t trying to hurt you, just get a look at you. You’re not keen on repeating the experience though.

“That was the library?” you ask a little breathlessly.

“Yes.” Ms. Paint nods.

“Oh, uh-huh.” you say a little shakily with one hand resting on the edge of the table.

“Also,” you add, “what the fuck?”

She’s your boss, you probably shouldn’t say that. As it is she just laughs a little.

“You’ve had a book in your head now and the library approves of you, now that you’ve done that you can listen to books properly. I can teach you the most basic spell and once I have you’ll be able to use it all of the time. You probably won’t have a choice about that actually, sorry.” Ms. Paint admits.

“Uh.” you say.

“Come on.” she says and leads you back upstairs.

“When you say listen to the books what do you…” you trail off when the doors to the elevator open and you feel it. The whispering.

Perhaps you should say that you hear it, because whispering means- well it’s a word for sound, isn’t it? What you’re experiencing has that same quality. It’s hushed, secretive, a quiet babble too indistinct to truly pick anything out like a quiet and distant reading. Like many quiet and distant voices reading. Yet as you consider this you realise that the whispering isn’t taking the traditional route through your ears, it seems to just be hitting your mind right away without bothering the rest of your senses.

You step out and look around, though you’re in the hallway you can see shelves of books off down the way and again although you can’t hear it coming from there you’re sure that it is. Without thinking you walk towards the shelves and the feeling of words around you grows and grows. You wade in through it, stepping between the shelves the words wash over you on every side as if you’re in an underwater cave. The books thrum around you, the words and meaning empowered by the time and soul it took to make them. It’s not oppressive or terrifying as you might have thought it would be, it just feels like you’ve opened eyes or ears that you didn’t know you had before now.

Your fingers grace the spine of a book at random and it seems to wake up under your touch, you can feel that it’s cared for. It’s not on a required reading list so it doesn’t get loads of traffic but people do read this book and it’s happy. You know just touching it that there’s no damage to it and you realise that you sort of knew how to do this already. You’ve checked over so many books that you just kind of got a feel for it, you were looking at the book itself as a living thing like you are now, you just didn’t know that’s what you were doing.

A book on the shelf sticks out to you as wrong and you move along to touch it. It’s not damaged or bad or menacing, but it is in the wrong place. You know that even before you look at the number on its spine, someone’s put it back in slightly the wrong location. You remove it and slide it back a few books down and the book seems to settle.

“I thought you’d take well to that.” Ms. Paint smiles and you jump as you realise she’d been there the whole time.

“Thank you.” you whisper, your fingers lingering on the books. The wave of mental noise from them has settled into a background sensation now although if you listen right you can hear it just fine. She’s given you a whole new awareness of something that’s always been precious to you and you couldn’t be more grateful.

“Thank you.” she says back in return with a gentle nod. She loves these books incredibly deeply and it must make her happy to see that you feel the same.

You ghost your fingers over the books at your side, marvelling at the sensation. There’s no way that you’re not going to be all over the books in your room when you get back, you’re probably going to reorganise them too.

“I think that’s probably enough for one night, I don’t want to overload you. You’re welcome to stay of course and I have work to get back to but… you should probably try to sleep at some point dear.” Ms. Paint says gently and pats you on top of the head.

You nod and she walks off, leaving you alone with the books. You wander the library, snaking up and down each row of shelves and fixing any books out of place. You can feel the warm approval of the spirit of the library, almost as if it was winding around your ankles like an affectionate cat. With your senses open and your body busy reshelving your mind starts to wander. Naturally it lands on your current romantic problems.

The feelings you have for Dave are perfectly clear, you’re romantically interested in him. Though you could wax poetic about those feelings you think that you’re better off not doing so. Sollux though… you want to deny that there’s anything going on but you’re the one who kissed him, certainly he kissed you back but you very much made that move. What do you do with that? What are you supposed to think?

This needs to be broken down, the issue tackled in parts before you can see the whole.

Sollux is… he’s… perhaps that’s too big. Finer grained descriptions and thoughts then.

Appearance wise he is interesting. He’s kind of dorky looking in a way that is kind of humanising, as speciest a term as that is. He probably could evaporate you with an attack if he wanted but he doesn’t look like he could, he doesn’t look as intimidating as he should be. His horns aren’t especially threatening but you’d say they sort of suit him, you certainly can’t imagine him with a different set. His little eyes which were once jarring seem endearing and between that and his main set it makes him quite expressive, the fact that he also wears glasses is pretty entertaining too. His whole obsession with the number two and doubling things is amusing and endearing, the fact that he even goes so far as to wear odd coloured shoes and socks is another thing that makes him more of a dork.

You trust him, to an extent at least. You don’t trust him to be forthcoming with information or to not misdirect or mislead when it suits him, but when he does tell you things you generally believe what he says. When he explained about aspects with magic you’re certain he was being completely truthful. When you called him to rescue you there was of course the fear that he might not come but that was down to you not being sure if you could call him at all, you didn’t really think he’d leave you there knowingly. There’s plenty of things you don’t trust him with. You wouldn’t be surprised if he swapped sugar for salt when you were sitting down for coffee just so he could laugh at you when you mix them up. You wouldn’t be surprised at him tripping you up, making fun of you, being a jerk about things, deliberately winding you up and arguing with you.

You like him but you also spend a good amount of your time wanting to strangle him. He’s so deeply irritating that you can’t help but go back to something you’ve said before, it feels like you’re allergic to him. As if every cell in your body reacts in irritation when he’s being like that.

And yet you kissed him. What are you supposed to make of that?

The sound of a door opening and shutting makes you look around, you’re in the middle of the room and it sounded as if it was right behind you. When you turn you see Spades Slick covered in ice, a long icicle dangles comically from the brim of his hat and you’re reminded of when Sollux threw your ouija board away. Held in his hands is a large ice covered book.

“Got ya this. I wouldn’t touch it with your bare hands just yet. Not ‘nless you don’t want to keep the skin on your hands.” he says gruffly and holds the book out to you.

“I… have a bag.” you suggest and hold it out.

“Won’t you have to touch it to get it out?” Spades Slick points out. Wait, he’s right and then you’d be left with the same problem. It won’t thaw out in your bag so then you’re just getting frostbite in a different location.

You shrug your jacket off and lay it out on the floor. The psychopomp crouches down with you and drops the icy book on your coat. You wrap it up, the chill still bitter even through the fabric, and then toss it in your bag.

“That should be… entertaining.” Spades Slick says and blinks slowly.

“Thanks?” you say uncertainly.

“I was winking. This is the worst thing about only having one eye left, you can’t wink and you have to TELL people and it just ruins it.” he says in a tone that you’d describe as sulky, even though that seems more apt to describe a little kid than an intimidating possibly immortal psychopomp.

“Oh.” you say, because you have to say something.

“That pestilent bitch ruined everything when she stabbed me in the eye!” Spades Slick curses angrily.

“Who?” you ask, surely he doesn’t mean his wife? You can’t imagine Ms. Paint stabbing anyone in the eye.

“Pestilence.” he says.

You already know Death, you met her.

“The horseman?” you guess, really hoping that he’ll say no.

“Yeah. I hate her. She’s my kismesis sometimes, read the book. Later.” Spades Slick says and then just opens a door and fucking leaves like the rude asshole he is.

You’ve not had nearly enough sleep to deal with this so you take your things and head back to your dorm. You don’t have classes today anyway so you can just try to sleep and not have to go anywhere. You flip the little sign on your bedroom door over to ‘do not disturb’ and close it.

When you remove the still frozen book from your bag of holding you have to drop it on a chair because it’s painfully cold to the touch, even through your jacket. You want to read the book but you can’t right now. For a moment you contemplate putting it in the microwave but whenever you’re contemplating microwaving literature it’s definitely time to stop what you’re doing and go to sleep. You balance the book on your radiator under the window and change back into your pyjamas, you crawl into bed and tell yourself that you’ll try to read it in the morning.

As you lay in the dark you feel the whisper of your own books and you can just tell that they’re in the wrong order. It bothers you but you silently promise them that you’ll deal with them in the morning.

Your sleep is thankfully dreamless and you wake up in the late morning. The book that Spades Slick gave you isn’t totally defrosted yet and the frost over its cover seems very unnatural. You unwrap the book, it’s warmed up enough that now it’s just really cold as opposed to dangerously so. The decision you finally come to is setting it down in the sunbeam in your room and letting it warm up more as you reorganise your own books.

As you touch each one you feel that nostalgic feeling of treasured moments reading them, each one feels loved although it’s clear that your favourites have that feeling more intensely ground into them. You could identify All You Need Is Kill with your eyes shut, no wonder Rose was able to use this one to track you down. By the time that’s done you decide that you’re going to read the cold book no matter what, you’ve waited long enough.

The book itself is large, about A4 size and thicker than your clenched fist. The cover is hard to make out with the ice but you can see that there is paper embedded in it ever so slightly under the surface of a bit of ice. With a little careful scratching at it with your fingernail and huffing warm breath over it you’re able to tug the strip of paper free. Black handwriting on white paper greets you, on the one side there’s a short message.

Karkat stick the other side of this to your forehead it’ll only last 13 hours - Slick

Okay…

Curiously you turn the paper over and see a spell written out in a language you don’t know, the letters squirm a little when you look at it so you try not to. What else do you have to lose? Perhaps dumbly you press the note to your forehead and concentrate on it. You feel a flare of something in your eyes and you’re pretty sure your eyeballs just lit up, not that you can see them of course. Nothing else seems to have changed.

That was weird but not harmful, you don’t know what the purpose of that was so you go back to looking at the book. You try to listen to it and stroke your fingers over its icy cover. What book is this? What stories does it have? You feel the volume wake up as you look over it mentally and as it starts to whisper in the way that you’ve come to understand that books do you can tell that it’s doing it in another language. You try to listen but the words are indistinct, although the tone is… enticing. The pages of the book ripple and the ice on it abruptly turns to steam, releasing a cloud of vapour upwards that immediately fogs your window. The book is now free and undamaged by the ice.

Its cover is lacking a title or an author but instead is divided into four with card suit pictures on it. Curiously you open the cover and glance over what appears to be a page of contents. Immediately you can see that the language is demonic, but as you look the words seem to warp so you can read them. It’s listing off titles of works in the book which seem unreasonably long. Based on the titles though you can guess that this is a book of stories, presumably short stories. Flicking past the contents you get to the first story, there is a number one at the top and a picture of a diamond.

You begin to read.

_Durtik Eincom, was a demon of good standing. His maker, Zimrih Iandam, was a well known demon who specialised in torturing souls. Durtik had taken the creativity that his maker had created him with and spent his working hours devising new and ingenious punishments for human souls. He was a man of intellect and power and it is known that a demon of such standing is in need of a moirail._

_Durtik had just such a moirail. His name was Frinet Zephyr and he was small, slight and terribly pretty. His calling was message delivery and Durtik so often worried after his moirail, he was not nearly as powerful and Durtik thought him far too trusting. Despite, or perhaps because of this, their souls fit together like puzzle pieces and Durtik could never pity anyone more than him._

_One late evening Frinet let himself into Durtik’s hive, the door was always unlocked for his soul. The door, as all of Durtik’s possessions, was as charmed for the messenger as Durtik himself was. He stumbled through the doorway, trembling and wide eyed and Durtik knew immediately that something was terribly wrong._

_“My piteous one, what is wrong?” Durtik gasped in alarm, rushing to the doorway._

_Frenet shied back slightly, his long eyelashes wet with tears sticking slightly to his soft cheeks._

_“I ought not to have come.” Frenet said breathily._

_“Tell me what happened to you immediately.” Durtik insisted as he caught his moirail by the jaw._

The fuck are you reading? You know what a moirail is, Sollux told you before. This seems like a story about two moirails but the way it’s written is weirdly old fashioned, or maybe it’s just the spell that’s letting you read it translating it oddly. You skip past a certain amount of insistance and reluctance to talk that is probably significant but just seems weirdly belligerent to you. You guess you lack the social context for it. Your eyes catch when things seem to get weird and you keep reading again.

_-towards the pile. They tumbled down on it together, limbs tangled together so much they almost did not know who was who. Durtik pressed his nose to the vulnerable and soft underside of Frenet’s jaw, turning his head upwards so that eventually his fangs ghosted the supple flesh._

_Frenet gasped and melted as Durtik’s hand trailed up his bare arm-_

You squint at the book. This is somehow the most erotic not-porn you’ve ever read. Literally all they’re doing right now is having a weirdly intense cuddle on a pile of junk in this dude’s house and yet it’s written like this is the build up to the textual money shot. It’s not bad, just kind of weird.

You keep reading through the weird sort of pornographic descriptions, plot-wise not a lot happens for a while until Frenet finally breaks down and confesses that he’d been caught by some other demon who’d made him agree to some terrible deal. It goes into specifics that mean nothing to you but make Durtik very angry indeed.

As you read on the story takes a sharp left from softcore cuddle porn to horrifying and graphic murder story. Durtik eventually messily eviscerates this demon but is nearly killed in the process, Frenet shows up just in time and distracts this other demon so that Durtik can land the killing blow. They embrace at the end and kiss, still covered in gore and the story ends, on the next page another starts.

Huh.

Alright, so this is demon romance. You lean back a little and puzzle over it for a moment or two. From what you know and from what Sollux has told you demon society is very much based on who’s who and how powerful people are, other than that it seems pretty cutthroat. It makes sense that having someone who would have your back and both protect you and keep you balanced would be advantageous. It sounds nice and you get the appeal, you certainly love having friends and your relationship with Rose is very dear to you. This sounds like a hyped up version of that and if you were wired to be into that this story would probably have you swooning.

What this means though is that Spades Slick answered your relationship woes by giving you a book of demonic bodice rippers. That’s… something.

Curious you flick onwards. Eventually the symbols on the page corners change to a heart instead of a diamond. You begin to read but pretty soon it becomes clear that this is just regular erotic fiction. Or regular slightly violent themed erotic fiction with an interesting array of ‘guess what this one has in their pants’ with each new character. These stories do get your face a little red and you can’t say that you normally spend your weekend mornings reading erotica alone but you also can’t say that you’ve never done that.

Look, you refuse to be judged here, okay?

The point is that aside from the gratuitous amounts of fucking going on the emotions involved are totally familiar to you. There’s some pretty juicy pining in there and love confessions. Sorry, ‘pity’ confessions although it’s clear it means the same. It’s referred to as red romance, as contrasted to the pale diamond cuddle porn kind.

Those feelings more accurately describe how you feel about Dave. That thought of course has you mentally replaying several of the scenes you just read with Dave in there instead and that certainly makes your face bright red. Yeah, that’s accurate for how you feel for him. It’s not accurate for you and Sollux though. Even as you think that though there’s a part of you that feels a little off about that statement. Your eyes flicker to a line on the still open page where one demon passionately makes out with another pressed up against a wall. The similarity is pretty telling.

The best thing to do is to distract yourself from that thought so you push on through the book. You start the next quarter marked with a spade and at the first words of this next story you start to perk up.

_”The mere thought of Filgeu filled Xarnuk with a bubbling rage so black and loathsome that she could hardly contain it. Filgeu was a demon of high station, coasting on the tails of their powerful maker, spending their time on work that was of no real importance to anyone. Unlike Xarnuk’s wearing job of possessing mortals on the material plane. While Xarnuk had to work with her whole being to do her work, Filgeu did the barest minimum possible and was still better regarded. To put it bluntly everything about them irritated Xarnuk. It would not have been so bad if they were not Xarnuk’s flush’s diamond and as such they were forced to share each other’s company often. Every moment listening to every self-important work coming out of Filgeu’s mouth was a soul deep irritation to her.”_

Hate, that’s what Sollux called it. This is about hate and you have to admit that thus far the perpetual itch of animosity to the demon is pretty similar to what’s on the page here. You keep reading.

_”So the hatred brew and grew stronger until Xarnuk could stand it no more. She bided her time and summoned Filgeu to her hive under some pretense or another, leaving Filgeu to assume that their mutual connections would be there._

_When Filgeu arrived they looked just as detestable as ever, their slender form and irritatingly delicate features wrinkled slightly in agitation. Their one yellow eye swept the seemingly empty room and they tutted, a sound so oft repeated whenever they found anything even mildly inconvenient, which for someone with a life as cushy as theirs was often._

_Xarnuk could take it no more and psionically slammed the door to her hive behind Filgeu. The demon jumped and in that time Xarnuk flew across the room in a rage and caught them by the throat, slamming them against the door._

_“I absolutely LOATHE you.” she hissed furiously and tightened her fingers around Filgeu’s throat._

_Filgeu tried to choke out some curse but Xarnuk tightened her grip enough to stop it. Her mind was rushing with the possibilities, they filled her mind faster and faster as Filgeu looked down in terror and anger. It was just so… wrong for a demon of their ranking to be so useless and it drove Xarnuk out of her mind to see it, but she had every intention of fixing it._

_“I’m going to destroy you.” Xarnuk vowed as Filgeu’s claws bit into her arms, trailing rust blood down Xarnuk’s arms._

_Xarnuk pulled one hand back, eyeing Filgue’s prissy shirt and-”_

You read on with mounting horror, eventually covering your face with your hands and only reading as you peek between your fingers. For a good page you’re sure that what you’re reading is- it seems clear to you that Filgue isn’t happy about what’s going on. Certainly it doesn’t seem to be legal or consensual by human standards but as the violent encounter goes on you realise that it is supposed to be read that they’re both into this and moreover that this is some great romance. Indeed the story warps into them both being very vocally in favour of… what they’re doing and you’re not sure if you misread it or if this is some cultural thing you don’t get. You don’t feel comfortable about it though.

The language describing Filgue is as lavish as any of the other stories, the point of view’s character’s fantasies and thoughts are treated to just as much pining and drama as the red or pale romances. This is MEANT to be romantic but you feel sick to your stomach as you read. You only just make it to the end as the two declare their mutual hatred and kismesitude towards each other before you have to slam the book shut.

You crawl backwards away from the book and shudder. You’re well aware that different species approach romance differently and there’s no problem with that as long as everyone involved knows what they’re getting into and feels the same. You’re not speciest about this. You wouldn’t try to save any demons in a relationship like this if they’re both happy, you won’t tell anyone they’re doing it wrong.

But it feels wrong. This feels like the kind of thing that you should be ashamed about and you feel sick even though you’ve done nothing but read a book. As you remember that Sollux insisted that you hated him you shudder. Does Sollux think that you want that? Those two characters seemed at times moments away from killing each other, they absolutely gravely injured each other at times. Sure, you can put down a certain amount of that to demon toughness and regeneration ability but still.

The idea that Sollux thinks you want to hurt him like that makes you feel cold inside. At one point one of the demons stabbed and knife through the hand of the other to stop them going anywhere. Now, sure, you shoved Sollux about and you’ve thought wistfully about strangling him a little or punching him in the shoulder when he says something especially awful. Thinking about it is one thing, but you’d never try to actually hurt him and Sollux is a demon, an immortal one at that. Even so you can’t even make yourself imagine wanting to put a knife to him even though he’d certainly recover. You LIKE him, even when he pisses you off you’d never want that.

How could he think you’d want to hurt him like that?

Does he want to hurt you back? You don’t think he would, you still trust him, but reading this makes you feel ill. You clutch your hands to your head and feel the cloying shame of being lectured about how that’s a disgusting thing to feel, how demons should be ashamed only they have no shame, how you’re better than them. Or you SHOULD be, if only you were better, nicer, more-

You… think you’re going to be sick. It’s an effort but you fight down the nausea. You’re not an idiot, being alarmed by demon romance is one thing but this strong of a shame/guilt/disgust reaction to it absolutely feels like something you’ve remembered. Something you had internalised somewhere in your past that’s come back to bite you now.

Part of you wants to keep reading the book out of spite but you don’t think you can face it. If that’s what romantic hate is for demons then you can’t do that, you don’t feel that for Sollux and you can’t be that for him. For some reason you feel a little sad at that. Not that you WANT the things you just read, not at all. But… you did kiss him first. You’re not so stupid as to deny that you are at least partly attracted to him. Maybe more than partly. Looking back on it, perhaps part of your frustration with him and almost compulsive need to irritate him back was something like that thing they say about kids on playgrounds. Kids who don’t know how to express their emotions so just torment the person they’re fixated on.

It also means that you have to stay firm on your position of not being interested in dating him like that, because you don’t hate him. Which also means that unless Sollux gets over that rejection you won’t be able to date Dave either, since Dave is very reasonably staying away from you romantically unless his moirail is cool with it.

Great. Good job ruining it, Karkat.

You don’t read more of the book, instead you just put it in place with the rest of your books and curl up on your bed. Rose doesn’t see you until the day after, when you finally feel up to socialising at all. Maybe Rose senses that if she’d asked you how you were that you’d have scuttled back into your room with some bullshit excuse, so she doesn’t ask.

“Have you checked your emails?” Rose asks when you come into the main room.

“...Ever?” you ask, confused by this sudden question.

“Specifically since yesterday.” Rose clarifies, leaning over the back of the sofa to look at you.

“No, why, is something wrong?” you ask, distinctly under the impression that something must be wrong because everything is going wrong at the moment, isn’t it?

“Seemingly the Xenobio class being cancelled did all sorts of interesting things to the scheduling system, we’ve all been invited onto the magical history course. You should have got an email too.” she says.

Obligingly you take your phone out and flick your thumb across the screen to open up your emails and find the one from the university department. You read over information that’s more or less what Rose said as well as information about the room it’s held in and the-

“Eight am on Mondays and Thursdays?!” you say in horror. You’re pretty firmly of the opinion that you don’t agree with any day having two eight o’clocks in it, it’s just not natural.

“You have a morning session? The rest of us have it in the afternoon, let me see.” Rose says in surprise.

You show her your phone and she compares your email to hers, sure enough she’s in a different session to you along with everyone else you’re friends with. And, you suppose, Sollux. This is the worst.

You’re wrong of course, the worst thing is getting up in time for your eight am class the next morning. It’s across the other side of campus and naturally you’ve not been sleeping well what with everything on your mind. You used Rose’s smoothie maker to make what past you thought was a compromise between coffee and breakfast. That is to say that you have a travel mug with several bananas, an unpeeled apple and instant coffee all blended together into a fine liquid regret.

Past you is a fucking idiot.

At least you find the room easily enough and sit down in a seat about three quarters of the way back at the end of the row. You’ll probably regret it later as for some reason this room isn’t tiered in seating despite it being closer to lecture hall size than classroom sized. There’s also a weirdly wide gap between the sections of desks.

Whatever, you’re just going to sit here with your brain out drinking your shame breakfast abomination and waiting to be talked at. You’re not a morning person, in fact you don’t even know what kind of person you are at all.

“Karkat?” a voice asks.

You turn and look up at a skinny… guy, you think this is a guy you’re looking at. Kind of androgenous at least. Whatever, it’s too early for gender. The person has thick black plastic rimmed hipster glasses and a purple streak in the front of their hair.

They knew your name.

“Uh?” you say dumbly.

“It is you, isn’t it? Karkat?” they- probably he from the voice if you’re going to make assumptions here.

“Yeah, how do you know my name?” you ask. You’ve never seen this person before and- oh wait.

“Unless I’m getting some reputation. Like the guy who did that stupid shield thing in Mindfang’s class or passed out in the C test.” you groan.

“Something like that, I’m Eridan Ampora.” they say primly.

“Okay, hi. Did… you want to sit down or something?” you ask.

Eridan nods so you shift all your stuff sideways down the desk and shift your butt over to the next chair. Eridan takes your space and sets their things down. You fiddle with your terrible drink for a moment and then figure, fuck it, what else do you have to lose?

“Feel free to punch me in the face for this but you are a guy, right? I don’t want to call you something you’re not and be an asshole about it.” you say quietly, you don’t want to blast this conversation across the whole room like a tactless fucker.

Eridan looks surprised to be asked and frowns like he’s thinking about it.

“I mean, yeah, sure? I guess. I have bigger things to be concerned about, I don’t really care enough.” he says with a shrug.

“Okay, cool, that’s fine. If you change your stance on that just let me know. I am too, a man I mean. Man sounds weird, guy or whatever.” the words just keep on happening and you stare in horror as they just roll out of your mouth. At least Eridan seems amused and finally reaches out and puts his hand on your shoulder.

“It’s fine, Karkat.” he laughs a little.

“Oh good.” you whine and press your face into your desk.

“So,” Eridan says slowly and sips at the fancy coffee he brought with him, “why are you here?”

“In this room or on Earth because sometimes I wonder.” you groan, still with your head on the desk.

“Either.” Eridan shrugs.

“Well, with this room I got told I was assigned this class, so here I am.” you answer.

“What about this place as a whole, why are you in this university?” he presses.

“I don’t know.” you admit and sit up, “It’s not as if I know what I want to do after this, I don’t know what specialty I want to go into afterwards. I got invited here out of the blue and it was better than being stuck in Georgia doing nothing, besides I wanted to find out what I was.”

“Georgia.” Eridan repeats.

“Yes, I know, Georgia. I’m not going back _there_.” you say with a grimace.

Eridan pauses for a moment, watching you and for a second it feels a little weird.

“What do you mean that you wanted to find out what you were?” he asks.

“I lost all my memories after The Event, but worse than most people I didn’t even know what species I was. I still don’t, I’ve ruled a few things out though.” you say with a sigh. You know you’re not a demon, although your life would probably be easier if you were. Then you’d be able to like Sollux back like you’re supposed to- sorry, hate him back. And if that was the case you’d be able to actually date Dave. But that’s not the case at all.

“No way.” Eridan says softly, you look around at him and he’s staring at you in alarm. He seems to realise he said that out loud and hurries to continue.

“Me too!” he says urgently.

You’ve never met anyone else who didn’t know what they were. Certainly people were out there who didn’t know because it was an option on forms and it was people like them and you who memory retrieval scam artists preyed on. It’s still fantastically rare though and to run into someone else in the same situation as you is incredible.

“Really?” you gasp.

Eridan looks excited as well and you’re about to ask him a thousand questions when you hear… horses? There’s a horse in the building. As they come through the wide classroom doors you correct that to two centaurs. There’s a taller one, he’s huge and powerful looking with a grey and black coat and long, straight black hair that reaches down past his shoulders. His more humanlike skin is the same grey tone that the rest of his body is, just without the horse hair. He is at least wearing a prim and proper black button up and a sweater vest with an astrological symbol on it.

The other centaur is smaller and younger looking, he’s a dappled grey colour but from his long and straight black hair as well as the sleeveless shirt with the same sign on it you’d guess the two are related. They trot to the front of the room together and come to face the class.

“Ahem.” the older centaur actually says ‘ahem’ rather than actually coughing but it’s weird enough that it does actually get the attention of the class.

“I am professor Darkleer and this is my teaching assistant Equius Zahhak, I will be teaching you this course on magical history.” the man says. He looks a little sweaty and nervous but you weren’t totally at ease when you had to speak in front of a class either so you’re not going to hold it against him.

“I will be running the main tutorial sessions however there will be optional classes run by Equius for students who have questions or would like a more in-depth look at any subject we have covered.” he goes on and Equius nods at the front, his hands held behind his back tensely as if he was at a military parade.

You take studious notes as Professor Darkleer starts going over the history of magic. It's similar to those family trees of related languages that you've seen before, with Germanic and romance languages branching off with the ones in those families following off as branches. Perhaps the comparison is apt because a lot of magic seemingly was transferred through history by word of mouth. He explains how the magic that's inscribed into ancient Egyptian tombs fits in with this school but later when the Egyptians and the Greeks intermingled more you can see more of their Hellinistic magic influencing things. It's genuinely fascinating and mingles in with what you've already learnt from your magical languages course.

But as you're writing everything down and making a mental note to binge read the course reading list you can't help but notice that Eridan isn't writing anything. He's not even got a notebook out. Instead he's just staring straight ahead at Darkeer and his TA. Maybe he has one of those eidetic memories or whatever that's called. You wish you had that, you have to take all kinds of notes to be able to remember your lectures.

"I'll see you around, Karkat." Eridan smiles at the end of class and walks off without you.

He seems a little odd but nice enough and you wonder if you're going to end up making friends outside of Dave's little group. That'd be nice, that way if you end up screwing up so badly that they don't want to talk to you then you'd still have other people to speak to. Wow you're cheery today. You head back to your room and have a quick forty-five minute nap before you have to go off to your alchemy class. Not that you really manage to have much in the way of a nap, the prospect of seeing Dave and Sollux again after everything fills you with dread.

Still, you have to go to class so when you drag yourself through the door it turns out that you're the last one there.

"Hey man." Dave greets you cheerfully.

The end of his nose is still a little red but he looks far healthier than he did the last time you'd seen him. Sollux isn't even looking at you, instead he's glaring a hole in the table in front of him. June is busy rummaging through her bag when you arrive and just gives you a quiet 'hey' as you arrive.

"You look better." you tell Dave and sit down next to him.

"Yeah, I feel a lot better. Still a little tired but otherwise I'm back to normal." Dave nods happily.

"Good, you looked like such a sad sack. Here's your pen, finally found it." June says, reaching across the table and giving Dave a pen that has a fluffy bauble on the end. You squint at it and see that it has little sunglasses on it too. You're not in the slightest surprised that the bright red, fuzzy, glittery thing is his. It's so tacky that you know he got it ironically.

"Well, I’m glad you’re feeling better." you nod and pull your notebook from your bag, dropping the thing on the floor by your tall lab chair.

"What about you, Rose told me that you had an eight am class. That's rough." Dave says sympathetically.

"It's a really good class, I'd just kill for it not to be that goddamn early." you say, you realise your mistake when Sollux flinches at the word.

"Sorry." you tell him immediately but instead of replying he just hisses at you, like a pissed off cat. Well, okay then.

Awkwardness settles over the table and you're pretty sure that June knows what went down as well from the uneasy way she's looking between you and Sollux. You're spared having to think of anything else to say when your teacher decides to begin the class.

"Rust is a problem for many buildings, machines and vehicles and being able to remove it without damaging the machine underneath is a very important skill. It will also let me teach you how to remove the results of a chemical reaction from an object. Rust of course is just oxidization so that's what we'll be working on today. Now if you turn to your worksheets we can start the process of designing the alchemic circles for this experiment." your scatterbrained teacher says.

"What worksheets?" one student asks, sure enough you don't have any.

A whole five minutes goes by of your teacher distributing worksheets and then realising that he also hadn't handed out any rusty items either and goes back around to do that. You and Dave end up with a rusted wrench between you and the two of you settle into working out how to remove the rust from the item without making the wrench just a pile of iron filings. A fae student in your class has to work with latex gloves on to protect them from the iron. The questions on the worksheet guide you through the thinking that you need and give you the reference material to make sure you add in the right alchemic instructions.

It's a nice little puzzle and you and Dave get sunk into it pretty easily, going back and forth on how you think it should be done. When you're quiet you can hear Sollux and June talking over the same thing. You'll admit that at least briefly you end up distracted, glancing up and listening to the tones of Sollux's voice when he talks to June. June cracks some joke and you ache a little to hear him laugh, to see the way his eyes crinkle a little in amusement at June's wordplay.

You don't have the same feelings for him that you do for Dave, so why does this feel so much like heartbreak?

Other people around the room are starting to run their alchemy spells, you're attuned now to that pull of magic around you when a spell goes off. A few people are triumphant but a couple express disappointment and go back to working on their spell. It's just background noise and at first you pay no attention to the people on the table behind you when they cast their spell, you know it didn't go right because they loudly whine that it did nothing. It did make your ears pop though and you work your jaw a little to even the pressure. You keep on with your work, carefully outlining the symbols you two have decided you need.

Dave coughs heavily at your side, having to turn his head to cough into his sleeve.

"Hey, you okay?" you ask, because that sounded worse than you've heard from him so far. It sounded as if he couldn't breathe right, which is far more concerning than the chesty cough he had before.

"Yeah, I just- a little light headed." Dave gasps as he tries to get his breath back. He clutches the desk to steady himself and shakes his head a little but he doesn't seem to get his breath back right.

"Dave?" Sollux asks, looking up.

Dave's hand grips the table tighter and your eyes widen to see that he's hyperventilating. Around you other students are struggling for air and fanning at their faces, something is wrong. A light in the ceiling flashes red and your teacher grips onto the wall.

"We need to- to get- get out. Outside." your teacher wheezes.

Sollux sits bolt upright and flicks his hand, a flame appears and instantly snuffs out.

"There's no oxygen in here." he whispers.

June stumbles to her feet and you catch Dave as he starts to keel over towards you. Sollux pulls him from your arms, already at Dave's side and vanishes in a puff of smoke that you see reappear in the hallway. Your fellow students are rushing for the door but the lack of oxygen in here is making it hard for them. People are bumping into each other, tripping over bags and pinballing off of the tables. It's like everyone is suddenly very drunk and getting worse by the second. Out of habit you grab your bag and hesitate, trying to leave. Something is so clearly wrong here, some spell must have misfired.

Yet... you feel fine. You can breathe without any problem at all. Off to your left a girl collapses on the ground and instinct compels you to run towards her. She's out cold and struggling to breathe so you half carry and half drag her to the door, foisting her on a student standing just outside who is seemingly fine now.

You turn, still in the classroom and see a few other students too dazed to make it all the way to the door and so without thinking about it you rush over and shove them out of the doorway, going back over and over again until everyone is out. Minutes later as you're hauling the last unconscious person from the room you realise that you're not out of breath at all.

"Give him here." June insists as you lower the student, a human guy, to the ground as gently as you can. June scoots over and gives the guy mouth to mouth until he coughs and gasps back into life again.

"How did you do that?" your teacher asks you seriously.

"I don't know." you admit.

Apparently you don't need oxygen to live. That's new.

"What happened?" one of the other students asks, her eyes wide with shock.

"I... my best guess is someone tried to remove the oxygenation that caused the rust and remove the oxygen in the room. The room is magically insulated so it wouldn't spread out here but... it would have affected the whole room, gasses are like that." your teacher says, still sounding a little out of breath.

If all of the oxygen went out of the room suddenly that would explain why your ears popped, it'd be the sudden change in pressure.

"So you don't need to breathe?" Dave asks. Sollux is supporting him against the wall but he looks mostly fine now, you guess that perhaps the illness he just got over made this worse for him or something.

"I guess not? It's news to me." you shrug helplessly.

"You mean you didn't know?" another student interrupts. You look over and see that it's the first girl you dragged out of the room, she's sitting on the floor leaning against the wall and staring at you.

"I didn't. I don't know what I am. I found out recently I'm fireproof too and I didn't know that." you admit. You're a disaster.

"But you dragged me out and came back for him." she points out a nearby guy.

"And me." another adds.

"Me too." someone else chimes in.

"And you didn't know you were going to be okay or how long you could not breathe for? You just did it anyway?" the girl presses you. They're all staring now.

"I don't- I mean... I couldn't just leave you in there. I had to do something." you say awkwardly.

"Fucking hell." Sollux mutters but he vanishes in a flash of smoke before you can look around at him.

"Well, yes, I think that class is probably over for today. I'm going to have to reoxygenate that room without overdoing it so... yes, best go." your teacher nods, which is good as Sollux has already left.

"Thank you so much." the girl you pulled out says, standing up and smiling gratefully at you.

You flush in embarrassment as the others you rescued do the same. It's not like you did anything special, you're supposed to save people in danger and you were fine, weren't you? So they shouldn't be THANKING you. You're pretty sure you're already scarlet when Dave pulls you away.

"Come on, I'm buying you a drink Mr. Hero." Dave says, his hand on your arms.

"Oh, I would come too but I forgot my wallet in my other pants, gotta go." June says, fantastically unconvincingly. You're not swayed any further into thinking her excuse is genuine when she shoots you a very obvious wink as she leaves.

"Are you sure? I mean... Sollux." you mumble. You're pretty sure you and Dave are supposed to stop doing anything close to dating ever since you fucked up with Sollux.

"It's a... a totally platonic coffee for a guy who saved lives. For sure." Dave nods and pulls you towards the door.

You go along because you're weak and also because standing near people wanting to thank you is awkward so you'll take the excuse.

"So do you not need to breathe at all or do you breathe something else in the air that's not oxygen. Hey, hold your breath and see." Dave suggests.

It's a reasonable experiment, so as you two walk through the double doors out of the building you take a gasp of fresh air and hold your breath. Dave watches you curiously as you walk and you're acutely aware that you should be breathing but you're not.

"Sollux doesn't need to breathe but he always does. I found out when one summer we had this jacuzzi- I say had, mom still has it, and it was far enough from the house that June could come and visit and mom wouldn't spazz out so much." Dave says. He pauses and frowns.

"Okay she still didn't like it and she chased her off once but still. Anyway, June kept pranking Sollux so he hid in the jacuzzi under the water one time for ages until she got in and scared her to get revenge. The point is he didn't need to breathe in all that time. But he does it the rest of the time, so maybe you're like that. Like, it's an optional thing but obviously you need it to talk and people notice when you're walking around not breathing probably." Dave goes on.

You're still holding your breath as you walk and though you're aware you should be breathing.

"Are you still not breathing though, really not at all? It's not like some prank and you've been doing it this whole time and letting me ramble." Dave says, holding the back of his hand near your face, close enough that if you were breathing he'd feel it.

"I mean that said you could just let me keep on talking because I know I can talk at an olympic level when I want to, not that Rose is any better, she's a verbose, purple prose and also purple text machine. Obviously I don't remember mom teaching us to talk but I can only assume her instant response was regret. Hah." Dave laughs a little at his own joke.

"Okay, I'm going to stop that now because I'm unnerving myself." you say in a rush and instinctively start breathing again, apparently without any need to.

"That's wild. I really want to know what you are, you know?" Dave whistles.

"Yeah, you and me both." you mutter.

Dave holds the door to the coffee place open and he pushes you towards a free table as he goes to get drinks. It's not like he pays every time, you take turns, but he always likes to order the dumb drinks so you've resigned yourself long ago to reserving the table and accepting whatever pretentious conoction that he brings you. It feels a little like a date and you hate yourself for thinking that.

When Dave eventually returns after some time he sets two tall plastic frappe cups down with the domed lids, both have whipped cream in them and are a chaotic clash of pastel colours, each drink with two or three in each. You sigh and grab the purple, green and blue one with glittery sparkles in the cream, leaving Dave to the one that's green, red and buttercup yellow.

"One day one of the people working here is going to strangle you and the courts will rule it justifiable homicide." you warn him.

"Maybe, I just watch to make sure no one spits in the drinks in revenge. They don't, I think this place is too cool for that and I do watch." Dave adds as you pause, halfway to putting the straw in your mouth. You narrow your eyes at him and drink from the straw all the same.

For all that it looks impressive and instagrammable the thing doesn't taste fantastically special, just fruity and creamy. You're suspecting there's no caffeine in here at all.

"Are you sure Sollux is okay with this?" you ask warily.

"No, look, he said that I don't need to stay away from you anyway. I'm pretty sure he'd still be hurt if I went and actually dated you but he wouldn't say I couldn't, this is my rule. Not his. We're cool. This is just a totally platonic thing. Just guys being dudes, just dudes being guys." Dave rambles.

You decide not to point out how the thing he's referencing ends.

"Still, you're kind of a hero today, huh?" Dave goes on.

"Ugh, don't. I didn't do anything special, people needed to get out so I helped." you sigh.

"Ok, but, hear me out here: it is special." Dave counters.

"It isn't." you argue.

"Then why were you the only one doing it? Sollux got me out but no one else helped anyone. In fairness I couldn't even see straight at the time but no one who got out and recovered ran in to help as you were tossing people through the door and going back for more. You were the only one, making it special by definition." he reasons.

You open your mouth to argue. It's hard to come up with what to say because you can see that logically he's right. You didn't do it for that and you didn't think about what you were doing either. People needed help, you were able to so you did. It's what you should do, isn't it? Why should you get praise for something you're supposed to do? It isn't as if you think less of people for not going back in. June was helping by giving people CPR and you can see that people would be reluctant to go back in incase they got in the way or passed out themselves which would only have made more work and worsened the situation.

As you're wrestling with how to counter Dave's very rational yet somehow surely wrong argument he pulls his straw out of his frappuccino.

"I guess that maybe you have a point but it doesn't feel like I did anything." you say with a frown.

As you're talking Dave licks his straw clean in a way that has your mind immediately punted into the gutter. Who cares about the very rational point that you cannot date Dave because he has very sensibly decided that it'd be a bad idea? Clearly your brain doesn't care because all that's going through your mind is various fixations around 'oh shit hot boy tongue licking the thing oh god what if it was-' well. At least you're not trying to talk right now because who knows what the fuck would come out of your dumb mouth now that your brain is on this one track of thought. Actually, your brain probably isn't the part of you that you should be blaming for this diversion, is it?

Dave reaches across and gently whaps you on the nose with the end of his licked clean straw.

"Bad Karkat, accept that you did a good thing. Also that Dave is always right." Dave says seriously.

"I refuse to accept anything from anyone talking about themselves in the third person." you grumble, trying to force yourself to speak sensibly.

"Dave accepts your judgement against people who speak in the third person but Dave thinks that it might be growing on him. Perhaps he'll talk this way all the time from now on." Dave says, waving his straw around as he talks.

"Well, this was nice. I'll be talking to you again never." you sigh and start to get out of your seat.

"Aw, you're no fun." Dave snickers, but that's not in the third person so you'll stay in your seat for now.

"I'll live with that somehow." you say.

"So what was your new class like, I can't believe you got the early slot. That's some shit luck but now you can give me the details beforehand." Dave asks.

You settle in your seat and sip at your drink as you tell Dave all about the class and fill him in on your interesting centaur instructors, you even mention that you might have made a new friend in your class too. Although him already knowing your name was disappointing.

"Well either people heard about the cool shit you pulled in being immune to fire and defending Rose from Mindfang or you have a stalker, which of those do you want to be true?" Dave reasons.

"The first one I guess. I suppose the chance for me to be a normal student was never really there, huh?" you admit.

"Ah, don't sweat it. Normal is widely overrated." Dave assures you.

It's getting closer to lunch time so Dave suggests food, no sooner have you agreed that it might be a good idea than he's sprung off to get some. You watch him lining up to pick food out and something about the way the sunshine filters through the glass in this coffee shop with its suncatchers and other trinkets... it just makes Dave look a little ethereal. Realistically you know he's pretty unusual looking but you forget about it most of the time, instead just appreciating that he's attractive. Given how Rose and their mother looks you suppose that Dave must have some kind of albinism but the way it makes him look you would almost think that he wasn't fully human. He has that not quite earthly vibe that the fae can have where they feel a little too perfect or too real to be actually human. Then again Rose gives off the same kind of vibe as well but then she is a very pretty girl who is massively intimidating so it could just be that. He could just be very magically gifted, his twin is a seer and his mother is the most powerful witch alive as far as you know.

Dave walks back to you with food in hand and you realise you've spent the whole time staring at him like a creep. Thankfully he doesn't seem to have noticed.

Dave drops two plates on the table, one a mushroom and mozzarella ciabatta thing and the other much the same but instead it's chorizo and some other kind of cheese in it.

"Take your pick." Dave invites you and you pull the mushroom one closer.

"Was hoping you'd take that one." Dave admits and eagerly bites into his own sandwich.

"That reminds me, how much do I owe you?" you ask and bite into your sandwich as well, it's really nice. This place actually does really good food, you should eat here more. Or, well, you shouldn't if you want to save money but it is very good.

"Don't worry about it." Dave says through a mouthful of food.

You swallow your bite of food before speaking because you have some manners, damnit.

"But it's my turn, you got the last one." you point out. It hadn't been an explicit agreement to alternate when you started doing your post-class coffee trips but it fell into that pattern.

"I might not owe you my life, dude. But several people in our class do, so the least I can owe you is lunch." Dave tells you and from the way he's talking you can tell he's not going to be swayed from this point. It's a tone you know well from Rose. They don't often do that overly similar twin thing but every so often you see it.

"People are going to think I'm even weirder now." you say unhappily.

"People are going to be grateful. Seriously." Dave insists and screws up his napkin to throw it at you, because he's super mature. You throw it back because you're just as bad. The thing goes back and forth a few times before it goes too far and gets lost. Either way you're both giggling afterwards.

Warm sunlight plays across Dave's cheek and your breath catches. This feels like a date. But it's not a date, can't be a date. Not after what happened, but yet it feels that way.

"Man, this sucks." Dave mumbles and glances off.

"What does?" you ask.

Dave doesn't look back at you and because he's looking so far away you actually can see the red of his eyes when he looks at you out of the corner of his eye. He turns to face you again and watches you for a few seconds, long enough for you to wonder if you've got something on your face at least. Self consciously you rub at your cheek just in case.

"Not being able to date you." Dave says finally, his voice quiet but very VERY earnest.

"What?" you squeak.

Dave leans forward a little on his elbows. Heat flashes up the back of your neck and for all that you seemingly don't need to breathe to survive you feel a little breathless with him looking at you like that.

"Because I really wish I could. I know it's my rule and all, Sollux didn't say no but I can't do that to him. I know that and you know that but it doesn't mean I don't still..." Dave trails off and you get the feeling that he's very deliberately looking you over.

You don't know what on Earth you're supposed to say to that. Telling Dave that he apparently has bad taste in men will either seem like fishing for compliments (which it isn't) or an insult to his beloved Justin Timberlake (an argument you really don't want to hear). Instead you just stare back at him with your face no doubt clearly telegraphing just how you feel about the concept of him liking you and wishing he could date you.

"Sorry. Rose keeps going on about how I shouldn't just vocalise every thought. Hah." Dave mumbles, clearly embarrassed.

"I think Rose has other things on her mind now." you say.

"Oh?" Dave says, clearly curious.

Ah, you immediately remember you promised not to speak about it. You feel very strongly that you should stick to that promise.

"Don't worry about it. Oh, hey, I meant to say I got taught cool library magic." you tell Dave, and he happily takes the diversion.

You tell him all about what Ms. Paint taught you although you leave out the book of demon erotica that apparently Spades Slick thought would be a good thing to give you. You don't want to admit to Dave that you read some of them, much less have to recount them from memory to him in a public place. Of course that brings to mind the possibility of saying anything like that to him in private which is- no, bad brain, stop that.

The end result is that you end up talking until it's time for you to work in the library and Dave to go off to his history of magic class.

It still felt like a date.

You walk into the library and toss your bag into the office, kick the door shut behind you and fall into your seat. There is a stack of books waiting for you, as if accusing you for not working but you can only stay slumped over your desk. Five minutes later Kanaya walks in the room and spots you there.

"Well you seem in a good mood." Kanaya notes without inflection.

"My life is ruined." you tell her dramatically.

"How so?" Kanaya asks, hanging her bag up neatly and unwinding her long jade scarf from her neck and hooking it on a peg by the door.

"Hot boys have destroyed my ability to think." you complain.

"I'm afraid I can't relate." Kanaya shrugs and goes to her desk.

Your mind tingles with your promise to Rose and you sit up, swivelling around in your chair to look at Kanaya.

"You're into girls, right?" you ask.

"Do I give off that vibe?" Kanaya asks, watching you carefully. You're put in mind of a hawk watching a mouse.

"In that you're very pretty and also very intimidating which seems to track with all the girls into girls that I know so far. But also you can't relate to hot boys destroying your life." you tell her. Because apparently those are literally the words that you said.

Kanaya's mouth quirks into a smile that she's obviously trying to resist and it exposes one of her fangs ever so slightly before she laughs, it's a lovely sound. It might be strange to think that, and it's not as if you're attracted to her in the way you are with Dave but she is very pretty and you do like her an awful lot. It just makes you glow to hear her laugh. Not literally glow of course, not like she is now.

"I suppose you could say that about me, yes. I forget what the term is now, sapphic? After Sappho, she does have lovely poetry and I do wish I could have met her." Kanaya sighs wistfully. You're pretty sure that she just means that in the way that you wish you could have met any number of historical authors, she's surely not as old as that, right?

Still, you did what Rose asked and found out if her crush is into women as well. Not that you think it needed affirming given how she and Kanaya were talking to each other before but you're hardly one to criticize people about how well they handle their romantic attractions, are you?

You move the conversation onwards to telling Kanaya that Ms. Paint inducted you into library magic and you got to meet the spirit of the library and hear the books. Kanaya laughs when you confirm that you had to go home and reorganise your books, apparently the same happened with her. The two of you chat as you work and you find that this time you only need to touch the books that have been returned to know whether they're in good condition or not, they speak to you. You can tell they're happy to be home but enjoyed being read all the same, you silently greet them back warmly and set them in the right book carts to be put back in their place once again.

It's nice being here, you can feel the library around you as a living thing and it has a gentle hum to it that you're acutely aware of now. When you come back from replacing some books on their shelves Kanaya asks you a question, one you suspect she'd been building up to for some time.

"So that girl at the party, Rose. Your roommate." Kanaya says. Technically not a question but you know she's fishing for more information.

"She was really mortified about th-" you break off in a cough. Kanaya gives you a look of concern but you think you just... what, choked on your own spit or something? Well done, you.

"Are you okay?" Kanaya checks.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry, as I was saying before I forgot how to talk for some reason, Rose was really- was really mortified about- AUGH!" pain flashes through you and white fire streaks out from between your teeth which are suddenly stuck together.

You clap your hand over your mouth in horror and the pain and fire immediately pass.

"Karkat?!" Kanaya exclaims and rushes over to you.

"What the fuck was that?" you whisper. You touch your mouth but you seem unharmed by that fire, even though it didn't look like normal fire.

"I don't know, what caused it? Are you sure you're alright?" she asks, looking at you with concern.

"I think I'm fine, I don't know what happened. I just choked up and then fire!" you tell her.

"Repeat what you said, maybe it was a spell or something and you didn't realise." Kanaya suggests.

You don't think it was and you can't remember what you said word for word anyway.

"I don't know, all I was doing was talking about how Rose was so embarrassed about- AGH!" your teeth slam together again and once more you breathe out fire, this time you have the sense to put your head between your knees as it happens so there's no chance that you're going to breathe fire on the books by mistake.

"Karkat!" Kanaya yelps. She pulls you into the middle of the room and starts looking you over but once again you're pretty much fine afterwards. But you can't talk about Rose and what happened at the party, the only time you've seen anything like this happen is... is with Sollux. Oh shit.

"One second." you mumble and pull out your phone.

carcinoGeneticist [CG] began trolling  turntechGodhead [TG]  
  
CG: DAVE I NEED TO TALK TO YOU RIGHT NOW!  
TG: dude im in class and messaging you under the desk chill whats up  
CG: I NEED TO KNOW IF SOLLUX HAS CURSED ME BECAUSE I'M SUDDENLY SPITTING UP FIRE AND THE ONLY PERSON WHO I'VE SEEN DO THAT IS HIM! I'M REALLY FREAKING OUT HERE DAVE!  
TG: what no he wouldnt do that  
TG: look ill ask him  
CG: THANK YOU  
TG: he looks confused and said that he didnt do it  
TG: look not that im not happy to have a distraction from my really unsettling ta but im not really sure what to do here  
CG: I DON'T EITHER! I'M JUST SUDDENLY SPITTING OUT FIRE AND MY TEETH KEEP LOCKING TOGETHER WHEN IT HAPPENS.   
TG: uh sollux says hell be right there  
  
turntechGodhead [TG] ceased trolling  carcinoGeneticist [CG]

For a moment you don’t know if Dave means “hell” or “he’ll” but given that it’s Sollux it could be either. No sooner have you finished that thought than Sollux appears in the library. He gives Kanaya a weird look for a moment but then turns his focus on you.

“Come here.” he tells you, his voice is pretty cold and standoffish but he’s talking to you at least.

Obligingly you come closer and Sollux reaches out and grabs your arm. He pushes your sleeve up to get a look at it. As he twists your arm a little to get a better look your deal with him flares up, only now it’s not alone on your arm. Something written in a strange script glows off white under your skin.

“Where did that come from?!” you yelp, peering at it.

Sollux breaks out into loud and obnoxious laughter, letting you go and wrapping his arms around his middle to contain his outright cackles.

“Sollux, what is it?!” you demand. Are you cursed? Did someone do this to you? What happened?!

“Eheheheh, don’t look at me! You did this to yourself!” Sollux laughs.

“What’s that supposed to mean?!” you snap.

“If you know the answer please tell us, it was clearly painful when the fire came out of his mouth.” Kanaya interrupts sternly.

“Oh, don’t I know it. I generally avoid that by not making stupid deals and then trying to break them. If you didn’t want this to happen you shouldn’t have made a vow you didn’t intend on keeping, should you?” Sollux says smugly.

“What- what do you… I promised Rose I wouldn’t…” you trail off in horror. You did this to yourself?

“And then you did.” Sollux grins.

“But it’s Kanaya! She was there, I’m not talking to anyone who doesn’t know about- a-” you falter as you feel a warning tingle in your mouth.

“Well if you’d wanted to have that exception you should have vowed not to speak about Rose and Kanaya’s first conversation to anyone who wasn’t already aware of it before that time. You also should have specified exactly what counts as the limits of that conversation that you can’t talk about. Or defined talk. But if you’re going to be vague as shit and throw in words like ‘anyone’ and ‘ever’ then this is what you get.” Sollux tells you tartly, you can tell he’s enjoying this.

“But… but I’m not a demon. How did I do this?” you whisper.

“You’re not a demon, that’s not a deal. It’s a vow.” Sollux says as if you’re especially stupid.

“The fuck does that mean, you bag of ass?! I can’t do shit like this until suddenly I apparently can?! Make it stop! Please, help me fix this!” you insist, holding your arm out towards him.

Sollux folds his arms and narrows his eyes at you.

“First of all you specifically stated the end terms for your vow, maybe you should read them.” Sollux tells you.

You open your mouth to protest that you can’t read that weird language but you focus on the words and they shift like a magic eye picture. What is there no longer looks like gibberish but gently glowing words that you know exactly what they say.

_”I [Karkat Vantas] give you [Rose Lalonde] my word that I will try to be considerate to Dave and Sollux, that I will help you see Kanaya again, and I will never ever speak of your first conversation with her to anyone.”_

Those are your own words to Rose, and you can see clearly that you’ve said that you will ‘never ever’ speak of that conversation. That’s the defined end condition.

“Second of all, I can’t undo it. If it was a deal maybe I could help if I wanted to but as it happens it’s not a deal, it’s a vow which means that I can’t do anything about it. Which is also good because even if I could I don’t want to.” Sollux says coldly.

“I… what do I do?” you whisper.

“Stop being a fucking liar, I guess. Or don’t and set your mouth on fire, see if I care.” Sollux says sharply and then vanishes in a flash of smoke and apple.

Maybe you should just never talk to anyone ever again, that could be a good plan.

“...Why did you vow to Rose never to speak of my first conversation with her?” Kanaya asks curiously.

Now that’s not strictly against what you managed to write into the skin of your own arm, but maybe it might still ping it given how badly worded it is. But even if it doesn’t and you outright tell Kanaya that Rose is romantically interested in her then Rose might maim you for being so blunt. Either way…

“I think I’m going to not answer that for my own wellbeing. But you should probably talk to her though, I’ll give you her trollian name.” you say evasively and go to find some paper to write it down.

You’ve just finished handing it to Kanaya when Sollux reappears with a scowl on his face.

“And another thing!” he blurts out angrily.

“AUGH!” you yelp, because he did just appear out of nowhere.

“Thanks for accusing me of cursing you when I didn’t do anything to you!” he hisses.

“I know, that was shitty, I was just scared. I’m sor-” you say but Sollux cuts you off, pointing his finger right in your face so it’s less than an inch from your nose.

“Don’t you dare apologise to me like you’re better than me. And if you’re going to accuse me of cursing you then I WILL!” Sollux snaps.

All his eyes open wide and his lips move as a breathless sibilant flow of sound that you can’t break into words flows out. You feel magic crawl over your skin and snap and then all at once Sollux is gone.

“Well, great. This is just fantastic.” you say miserably.

“I’m sorry Karkat. Do you want me to try to get him to reverse whatever that was?” Kanaya asks.

You sniff and shake your head, you probably deserve it, whatever it was. Maybe he didn’t even curse you and is just trying to make you paranoid.

“How about tea?” Kanaya suggests instead.

“That’d be great.” you say, not admitting how wobbly your voice may or may not be.

You take a seat and contemplate your many failures in life. You really wish Dave would have told you about how he thought things were going to go with the three of you before so you could at least have had some heads up and not dove headfirst into the worst timeline. Kanaya hands you your mug of tea and you thank her.

The mug is about an inch away from your lips before it snaps off suddenly from the handle and shatters on the floor in a mess of tea and broken crockery. It’s not a random mess though, as you look down you see that the steaming liquid and the shards of broken mug have perfectly spelled out the words ‘u2ele22 2hiitwea2el’ on the floor.

“...I’ll get the mop.” Kanaya says after a moment.


	14. Thriller

The key to any curse is to work out its specifics. If you’re cursed to lose your first born child then just adopt or don’t have kids and the curse does nothing. The details of Sollux’s curse on you seems to be that anything you pick up to drink falls from your hands and shatters on the floor spelling out some insult. That happens even when shattering isn’t a thing that makes sense for what you’re holding. You’ve had polystyrene and plastic shatter on the floor and accuse you of being a ‘taiint liicker’ and a ‘heartless tool’ so there you go. If you don’t pick it up it doesn’t happen. Which is good news because it means you’re not going to die from dehydration, but you are having to stick your head under a lot of taps to drink.

Rose was the one who figured out that she could move your drink for you and that straws didn’t count. It would feel like winning if Sollux didn’t seem so pleased at how much this inconveniences you. You assume he’s pleased from how often he smirks at your difficulties but it’s not as if he’s talking to you right now.

Him not talking to you is going to present quite the problem as you’re stuck in the same magical combat group with him and you’re graded together.

“I hope none of you have plans this weekend.” Mindfang says as she skitters across the floor at the front of the class. You wince because that certainly sounds like a big essay coming your way.

“In your classes this week I will be teaching you all about basic survival skills, in preparation for your test over the weekend.” she goes on.

Test? What test?

“What is the test going to be on?” another student in class asks, a far dumber one because Mindfang turns on them with a savage leer.

“A test… of SURVIVAL!” she cackles.

After a few moments of dramatic laughter she stands up properly and flicks her hair over her shoulder with a sigh.

“You will be exploring an out of bounds area and surviving out there for the weekend. What I teach you next will be vital for your very survival. However, after that one year the school has insisted that I am legally obliged to generate you an emergency recall teleportation crystal in case something happens that you can’t handle. Naturally I have determined that needing to use this crystal will result in a failure for this test.” Mindfang adds that last part with a sinister smile.

“That’s so cool.” Jade whispers, far more excited about this than you are.

“First of all, your groups need to give samples of blood to generate the crystals, which I’ll give you in my next class.” Mindfang says, gesturing to her desk which has a set of trays laid out on it.

Your class all shuffles down to the desk but there’s such a bottleneck about it that your group just ends up waiting for a bit.

“I think we’re pretty set with this, I lived on an island that was off of the grid, Dave and Rose lived in the woods, Sollux is an all powerful demon and Karkat can do that badass shield-y thing!” Jade says enthusiastically.

“All powerful? I like you, Harley.” Sollux flashes a grin at her, clearly pleased by the flattery.

“Wait, why am I the liability here?” June protests.

“It’s ok babe, I’ll hold your hand.” Dave offers jokingly.

“I guess it’s not as if the moment we step outside of the human sanctioned zone there’s going to be thousands of supernatural creatures trying to murder us. It’s just a weekend.” you agree quietly.

It’s a weekend camping, you’ll be fine. Right?

Your group finally gets in front of the trays set on the table and you can see that the one marked for your group has your names laid out one by one with a tiny needle each. Rose steps towards it first and Sollux’s tails are swishing with agitation as she does so. Rose pricks her finger and drips a single drop of blood in the dent in the tray by her needle and steps back with her finger in her mouth. June goes next, then Jade. When Dave steps forward Sollux looks wildly displeased. All the same Dave pricks his finger as well and then looks expectantly at Sollux.

“I don’t want to give my blood to her. Besides I can teleport, I don’t need this.” Sollux says sulkily.

“Dude, just do it.” Dave tells him.

“When you say ‘it’...” Sollux tries, clearly attempting to get out of it.

“Sollux, go prick your finger on the needle meant for you.” Dave clarifies, clearly meaning his demand.

Sollux grumbles but does as he’s told, though he doesn’t look happy with it at all. With him done it’s your turn.

You step up to the desk and look down at the tray. Jade’s blood is a little greenish in tone and Sollux’s of course is like molten gold. The bare needle next to your name beckons so you carefully reach out and prick your little finger, of course you’ve not done it hard enough so you have to go back a second time and actually press instead of wimping out. You drip your blood into the little well and think that maybe it looks a little brighter red than the others. Eh, it’s probably because yours is the newest on there.

The class begins in earnest and Mindfang runs you through some basic survival oriented spells. How to magically dry wood to make it ready to burn in a campfire, protective wards to set up around a camp, how to construct a proper shelter. It’s when she’s instructing you about alarm systems that there’s a problem.

Your groups have broken out into areas outside of the classroom in a haphazardly paved over area. Sollux is sat slightly above the ground, floating as he holds the end of a string in place with his tails. On the other end of the string Dave chalks out a circle, using Sollux as the centre so it’s perfectly round. From Mindfang’s instructions this is a circle that’s perfectly fine to go in and out of, it doesn’t keep anything out. What it does do is flash an alert when anything enters the circle that means harm to anything else in it. The idea being that you’d make a larger version of this around any camp you made and that would help in keeping watch.

As is so often his way Sollux is doing the bare minimum that could be considered participating and you watch as he even yawns widely. His jaw hinges and you’re treated to an alarming number of sharp teeth that fixate you for reasons that you can’t quite place. You’re still staring when he opens his eyes again from yawning and you’re caught. Sollux scowls at your attention on him and it’s that which forces you to look away.

“Alright, that should be it. I think the rest of us can get in it now.” June says as she finishes the last of the spell around the edge. The twins are looking over her shoulder and both seem to agree. Jade hops in first, followed by the others in turn. You’re the last. When you step over the threshold the air inside flares red and flashes brightly, from across the paved area Mindfang looks around at the silent alarm.

You yelp and jump out again, the alarm stops.

“Try again?” Rose suggests after a moment.

You step forward once more and the light flares up again.

“Is it me?” you ask, yanking your foot back.

Jade frowns and steps out by your side but hops back in with no problem at all. When you follow her the alarm is once again triggered to start flashing and being generally alarming.

“Could it be a species thing? Everything else seems to be.” you mutter and scan the wording for anything specific to you that could be doing this. Or maybe it’s whatever curse that Sollux placed on you.

“Wait…” Dave says slowly and turns his head towards Sollux.

“...What?” Sollux says, sounding a touch offended.

“Try again.” Dave says stiffly and it’s only when he glances over at you that you decide he might have been speaking to you.

Once more you step into the circle but this time nothing happens. By now Mindfang has scuttled over curiously.

“What changed? It was going off every time.” you say dumbfounded.

“Oh, I see.” Rose says and you note that she’s also looking at Sollux now who is looking very annoyed at the scrutiny.

The spell was meant to go off if anyone in it meant you harm. Or perhaps just wanted you hurt? The specifics aren’t entirely clear. What is clear is how when Sollux looks up from his seated and slightly levitating position and locks eyes with you the entire circle flashes with light.

“...If any of you die the rest of you fail. That still goes if you kill each other.” Mindfang informs you all curtly and walks off.

Great.

“I just worry. I don’t THINK he’s going to try to murder me in the woods but that wasn’t exactly reassuring.” you complain to Rose later as she studies a map. Even if she’s not much of a seer anymore your group let her pick the spot, but despite this she’s not yet picked anywhere.

“He’s not going to murder you.” Rose assures you somewhat absently as she scans the map.

“I had a dream about him stabbing me through the chest.” you admit unhappily.

“That is unlikely to be prophetic. Most likely guilt.” Rose says, she’s probably right.

You sigh and lean back on the sofa so your head is hanging off of the arm and look out of the small kitchen window with its gauzy purple curtains that Rose chose. Outside the sky is almost completely dark.

“At least it won’t be a full moon when we’re out there. Shit gets weird around then, not just werewolves but lots of things.” you say.

“Mmm, it’s a new moon tonight. As far from full as you can get.” Rose agrees.

You get up and peer out of the window. As Rose said there is no moon visible at all, you can’t even see a shadow of it. As you look at the night sky your memory lights up a little.

“Did I tell you that in my dream the moon was green? Bright… bright green.” you say softly as you remember the way it hung huge and lime coloured in the sky.

Something small and plastic hits the ground across the room. You turn and see Rose holding an uncapped sharpie in her clenched fist as she stares forward at the wall.

Something feels… wrong. For some reason you glance back outside at the lack of a moon before shaking it off and looking at Rose once more. She’s sat stiff in her chair, straight backed and unmoving.

“Rose?” you ask quietly and you edge closer.

As you move around the sofa you finally see her face and the sight makes you gasp. From edge to edge her eyes are white. Her shadow on the wall behind her, cast by the nearest lamp, is wrong and squirming.

Rose turns her hand over so the point of the marker is facing down and tilts her head so she sees the maps. She flicks her other hand over them, tossing map after map on the floor until she finds one and then scrawls a circle on it so hard that the marker squeals and is finally jammed right in the pen itself. With that done she drops it and starts to speak in words that the human tongue should not have been able to form.

“Y' ahf' mgep ymg' mgepahe, ymg' hafh hai l' ymg' ahornah na'ah'ehye ya.” slips from Rose’s mouth.

With that utterance her eyes darken back to normal human levels and you see her pitch forward. You leap for her just in time to stop her slamming her face on the table and almost immediately Rose shudders in your arms, coming back to herself.

“Are you okay? Rose, do you remember what happened? I should get you to a doctor or-” you start.

“It… I saw.” Rose says breathlessly and reaches out for the map. An area is crudely circled on it, it’s not all that far from where you are now. Out past the boundaries of Salem where people are permitted, but pretty local albeit what looks to your eyes as several days of walking to get there.

“It was a vision, or- not a vision as such, the kind where Cthulhu takes me over to leave a message. But… before when that happened I’d get a glimpse of his domain, the space between the stars. But it wasn’t that, it was somewhere else.” Rose says uneasily.

“Where was it?” you ask.

Rose shakes her head and squeezes her eyes shut as if trying to remember exactly what she saw.

“It was dark, closed in. There were others there, things hunting each other down I think. It was more of a feeling than a sight.” Rose answers you.

“But still, that was the first time anyone has had communication with a god in over five years. This is huge.” you say in awe.

Rose nods but her mind seems like it’s churning over a different problem.

“I think we should go here but… I know this is a lot to ask but I don’t want you to tell anyone what just happened. Not a soul. I got the distinct feeling that I shouldn’t do that and I’ve never been wrong about feelings like that before. I need you to promise me, Karkat.” Rose insists.

You certainly don’t want to accidentally vow and land yourself in trouble again, so you’re very careful about what you say next.

“You’re really sure? Not even Dave?” you ask.

“I’m sure. Not a soul.” Rose says very firmly.

You don’t think this is a good thing to keep from people but on the other hand it’s been this long without contact, how much could it hurt for people to think it’s longer? If Rose keeps having visions after this you can try to convince her to tell people but you don’t need to do that now. Besides maybe Rose isn’t being entirely upfront about why she wants it a secret. She’s gone ages without any visions at all, maybe she’s almost afraid to scare them off. Or if she tells people she can do it again and it stops happening she’ll look like a fraud.

“I won’t tell.” you say, not promise, you’re very careful about that. Not that you intend on saying one thing and doing another but you don’t want to get stuck in a situation where in an emergency you don’t have the option to do something else. You’ve seen how much deals make Sollux’s life hard, you’ve no desire to keep adding to your vows.

“Wow.” Rose breathes again as she looks over her map. That wasn’t even an answer to your- not promise, your statement. You guess she’s just overwhelmed at having a vision again, you’re happy for her. A little selfishly you can at least start feeling less guilty about doing well in your shared classes about seeing and when she was having so much trouble with it.

Rose ends up spending all sorts of time trying to read into the history of the area but there doesn’t seem to be much to find. When you have your next class and she tells Mindfang where your group has selected to go, Mindfang just says that on Saturday morning you’ll all be teleported there. She also hands out little crystals wrapped up and hung from thin leather necklaces to each of you, the crystals seem to be in a variety of colours but you get the joy of finding that yours is a gross brownish red. Worse still it has some kind of coagulated fluid sloshing about inside of it. Dave’s is a bright red, Rose’s yellow, Jade’s is black, June’s blue and Sollux a dark green. It’s not even as if it seems to have much to do with the colour of your blood. Jade’s blood was tinted slightly green but it’s Sollux with the green crystal and Rose has the one with the closest colour to Sollux’s blood.

“These crystals are reasonably fragile, crushing one with your hand will activate the spell to bring you back here in an emergency, although that will fail you on this test as I mentioned before.” Mindfang explains.

You put the thing safely in your bag and don’t take it out again until you’re back in the classroom early on Saturday morning with the rest of your group. Dave and Jade got food supplies for your group, June took over camping supplies, Rose staked a claim on navigation but also magical supplies and you’re left with everything else. All the things people don’t think about. You get first aid supplies, spare batteries, playing cards for when you get bored, one of those solar battery chargers for your phones. If all goes well all that will happen is a cautious camping trip over the weekend and you’re going to bet that being that you’re a bunch of teenagers it will become grumpy and unpleasant if no one has any downtime to use their charged phones. Candy crush may be a dumbass game but boredom leads to fighting.

You download a few books onto your phone from your library’s digital archive, just in case there’s no signal out there. You also take a book on magical plant identification, a few wilderness survival guides, just in case. Unfortunately your current curse prohibits you from picking up anything that you want to drink from but you’ve worked around that by getting a lot of straws, you even buy one of those water backpack things with the straw so you can drink without having to pick anything up with your hands. You really don’t want to go through the weekend with people pouring water into your mouth for you as Sollux looks on all smug and self satisfied with his curse. No, you’re going to outsmart it and him.

You also pack your tarot cards.

The six of you are as prepared as you can be when you show up to be teleported. This isn’t an official thing like the port, it’s more of a temporary thing like Sollux did to get you to the Lalonde house. Your group steps inside the circle and Mindfang closes it up, fills in the details for your destination. You can’t help but note that as she works she doesn’t seem to feel the need to ask you for your permission, not like Sollux had to.

With the way her giant spider body is set up Mindfang has to support herself with her left arm to write the details out with her right, so she’s lowered over the edge of the circle when she speaks. She looks up at you all with a sly smile as she does so, her eight pupilled gaze focused on Rose as she delivers her line.

“Since you picked a point so close to home I’ll be expecting you to make your way back here if you want to pass.” Mindfang says lightly.

You don’t get a chance to protest before there’s a flare of blue and the world around you all is different. Tall trees reach up around you all and the forest surrounds you with its stillness.

“Oh no, if only I could teleport.” Sollux says deadpan and Rose snickers in amusement.

“She didn’t say we had to walk back.” Dave agrees.

“I can’t wait to see the look on her face.” June snorts.

You look over at Jade who is standing silent and still as she takes in your surroundings. Her skin seems to ripple almost and at once your eyes skip over her, though you know she’s still there. She’s doing that invisible thing again, if you really focus you can see her looking about curiously. A few seconds later she comes back into view.

“We’re not the only ones here.” Jade says.

That certainly deflates the levity.

“What do you sense?” Rose asks seriously.

“Other fae, not right here but around. I don’t think they’ve been here exactly in a while, I’m not really sure, I don’t see my own kind much. That’s just the feel I get.” Jade explains.

“We should probably look around and scout out a place to make camp for later tonight.” June suggests and the rest of you agree.

“Any ideas?” Dave asks Sollux.

Sollux looks around for a moment and then suddenly rockets up into the air above the treeline and just hangs there, looking around. He looks so carefree up there and you’re struck with a crashing wave of envy so strong it makes your eyes sting and your throat tighten. The demon drifts back down like a falling leaf and lands next to Dave once more.

“The forest goes on like this for a while but it’s clearer over that way and there’s a lake nearby too.” Sollux tells you all.

“My research indicated that the lake was home to some kelpies so it would likely be wise to steer clear of that, but a sparser treeline would be more easily defensible.” Rose agrees.

That seems to be that and your group starts walking in the direction that Sollux pointed out. You guess that technically Sollux could just teleport you all there but it seemed hard for him and he needed your permission before, he probably doesn’t want that now. Besides, hiking is basically all you have to do for this test so you may as well do it.

The trees aren’t massively close where you are now but you also can’t walk more than two together so it ends up with Jade and Rose walking ahead, Rose with her map and Jade’s keen fae senses charting the easiest hiking path. Behind them Dave and June walk together and they talk to each other as much as they talk to you, sometimes with one or other of them dropping back to walk beside you instead. For his part Sollux switches between flying above and darting from branch to branch of trees that you go past, he doesn’t really talk to anyone. In fact, as you watch him he seems starkly different from usual.

Sollux often seems very aware of his moirail and what’s around him but this is a whole new level. His behaviour is clearly defensive, his every sense is trained on detecting any danger in a way that puts you more in mind of a guard dog than a bodyguard. What it does remind of is your nightmare, of Sollux crouched on that broken tree, fending you off with a primal ferocity.

Your dream probably wasn’t prophetic but you’re sure that Sollux would turn that same defensiveness on anything that came near Dave, and by the token of your proximity, anything that came near you too. It makes you feel a little better.

After a while of walking you all take a break, you drink from your backpack thing and you all trade snacks, sharing a bit of this and that. It’s November now so it’s pretty cold but despite that it’s not too bad for the time of year and the cover of the trees keeps you a little warmer, so between the coat and the walking you’ve been doing you’re comfortable enough.

At least you are until Jade speaks.

“Can everyone just… just shut up and stand still for a moment?” Jade asks, holding up a hand.

Your group falls silent, all looking at her. From above Sollux peers down, crouched on a tree branch.

“What-” Dave starts.

“Shh.” Jade hisses.

You stand up, along with the rest of your group, everyone suddenly uneasy. You turn to look around and the ground crunches underfoot, you can hear the same from the others as they look around as well. The wind is rustling the leaves above you and you don’t hear anything of note. The tree branch creaks as Sollux goes from crouching to standing, his head tilted to listen better.

“I don’t hear anything.” Jade says quietly.

“...Good?” June says after a moment.

“No, not good. No bugs, no little animals, no big ones either. I’ve been looking at the ground and I’ve not seen any animal tracks at all. I can’t hear anything in this forest except the leaves and us.” Jade explains.

Your group goes quiet once more and sure enough Jade is right. It’s not as if you’ve spent a lot of time in the woods since your memory started but you can’t hear anything that you can’t put down to the wind.

“You’re right, it’s way too quiet. I couldn’t tell because we were all talking but the woods never sound like this.” Dave agrees quietly.

“Perhaps we scared the creatures here by walking through? But… I’ve never scared bugs away.” Rose says.

Jade looks around for a moment and then scurries over to a largeish rock and flips it over, she looks for a few moments and then turns to a nearby tree, stares at that for a bit and then scuffles her hands through the dirt. Finally she looks back at you.

“There’s no bugs. No bugs at all.” Jade confirms.

“I guess we don’t need the bug spray I packed then.” you say weakly.

Sollux jumps from the tree and lands light as a cat on Dave’s shoulders, sort of resting his knees on Dave’s shoulders with his feet against Dave’s back as he looks around almost like a meerkat. His larger eyes shut and he looks about with only his smaller set.

A few second pass and Sollux jumps off onto the ground.

“So… aside from us and the plant life, I can’t sense anything here that can die. Or not within my range anyway.” Sollux informs you all.

“What about anything alive?” you ask worriedly.

“Anything alive can die, stupid. Everything dies eventually.” Sollux says sharply.

“I think we should keep walking, get out of this area as fast as we can. Your range isn’t much, right? Half a mile or so?” June asks, you guess she knows this from her history with Sollux.

“About that. Let’s go.” Sollux nods.

Your group packs tight together in the same formation as before but this time no one talks. The wind dies down to nothing and the silence around you all is oppressive, nothing should be this quiet. Where are all the animals, the birds, bugs, the little mice and squirrels?

You sort of wish you hadn’t thought that, when you find the first animal skeleton. Or more accurately, bits of skeleton. You suppose the bones must be old because they’re completely clean but the remains of what you think is- was, a deer is in about three parts.

“Is it bad that I’m really hungry all of a sudden?” Jade says softly as your group hurries on past the skeleton.

No one answers but when Jade starts to nervously snack the rest of you end up following suit too. You feel hungry even though you know you just ate recently, maybe the crunching of your pocket smashed granola bar between your teeth just provides some noise in the otherwise silent forest. You’re thirsty too, incredibly so.

Above you you hear a growl from Sollux, not him growling at something but the more mundane sound of whatever he has analogous to a stomach complaining of hunger. But… Sollux doesn’t need to eat, or sleep, he doesn’t work like that so why…

Sollux is staring down at his own stomach as well, his face mutely horrified. He jumps back down to the floor and grabs you by the shoulders. Everyone stops and looks at him.

“Karkat, I need you to do something for me.” Sollux says quietly, glancing around.

“What?” you whisper.

“That shield thing you did before, I need you to do it again around all of you. A complete sphere around the whole group except for me, don’t drop it until I tell you, no matter what happens. You need to keep everyone safe.” he tells you.

“You know what’s doing this, what is it?” June whispers in horror.

Sollux just shakes his head and pushes you all closer together, he’s looking around warily as he backs off a little but when he shoots you an expectant look you know he expects you to do that thing you did.

Your friends are huddled close by you and you don’t feel safe with anything that sets Sollux on edge. Anything that he feels he needs your help to defend Dave and the rest of your friends from can’t be good. But this is the one thing you were able to do, your strength in the team.

You harden your resolve, take a deep breath and p̴̹͍̐r̸̠͋ȯ̷̪͕̯̈́͒̾ͅt̸͕̺͛͌̋ẹ̷͈̿͗̈́̈́c̵̲̳̈́̔̐̔t̴̡̤̤͉̞̄͒̔͘̚

A shimmering whitish bubble blooms around you all as you hold your hands out and you can see where it dips into and through the ground around you. Sollux is the only one outside of it, he nods at you, grateful.

“Sollux, be careful.” Dave warns him as Rose holds onto his arm like she’s afraid he might try to leave this bubble.

“Hey, it’s fine. You know I can’t die.” Sollux smiles a little weakly.

“That’s not the same thing.” Dave protests but Sollux turns away.

He takes a few steps from your bubble and looks around, glaring at the scenery around you.

“I KNOW YOU’RE HERE, JANE. DON’T MAKE ME SUMMON YOU.” Sollux yells into the silent woodland.

Not a single sound comes back. This time when Sollux growls it is out of anger. He holds a hand out and a circle starts forming on the floor in red and blue.

“There’s really no need for that.” a woman’s voice says behind you.

Everyone in your bubble bumps together as you all try to turn to see who spoke.

There’s a woman standing there, leaning against a tree trunk. With a snarl Sollux teleports between her and you. As you stare at her past Sollux’s form you see how out of place she looks. She looks like she’s in her thirties maybe, certainly not old by any means but older than the rest of you. She’s dressed in a bright red but sharp woman’s business suit, the kind with a skirt and shoulderpads that puts you in mind of the nineteen eighties power suits. Not that you remember the eighties of course. Her hair is short and black, but neatly styled. Her blue eyes are sharp behind red rimmed glasses and generally her irritated but poised demeanor makes you think she’s going to ask to see someone’s manager. She has that slightly ruthless WASP-y vibe and an air that unsettles you.

“The fuck are you doing here?” Sollux hisses.

“I certainly don’t need your permission to go anywhere.” the woman Sollux addressed as ‘Jane’ says.

“I didn’t say you did, I just don’t like you hanging around. Besides this isn’t the kind of place you usually hang around, is it?” Sollux points out.

It’s taking more than a little concentration to keep you all protected from her but it becomes harder when movement distracts you. The tree Jane is leaning on has the kind of plants growing against it that you pay no attention to, only now you can see that one plant is growing rapidly, winding itself tight around the trunk as it climbs up.

“Well, I thought Salem was the place to be, what with its exclusive parties that I’m not invited to.” Jane says acidically.

The vine keeps growing up the tree, tendrils plunging into the bark itself as it climbs. You think it might be one of those parasitic plants. As you look around you see the same happening to other trees around you.

“I’m sorry, did I miss the part where we were friends? I didn’t invite you because I don’t like you and you’d have killed everyone in the room. I don’t throw a lot of parties but if all your guests die that’s a bad one.” Sollux snaps angrily.

“You don’t have Aradia around for protection now, so I’d watch your tone, mister.” Jane snaps at him.

“Oh yeah? Go on, then, kill me permanently. I know it’s not my time to die any time soon and if anything would piss Aradia off it would be someone dying when they’re not meant to. Or did you forget that she’s got a clock out there with your name on it too? You kill me and I wouldn’t be surprised if she hunted you down to even the scales. So go on, try me.” Sollux snarls at her.

The plant around the tree keeps growing and growing. When one of the branches of the tree falls off and plummets to the ground dry as bone it’s all you can do to hold on to the barrier you’ve made. The bark on the tree splits as it seems like the very life is being sucked out of it.

“What are you doing here?” Sollux repeats again, since Jane didn’t call him on his bluff.

You’re starting to feel a little lightheaded and you sway a bit.

“Easy, easy, keep going. You got this.” June says gently in your ear.

Jane stares at Sollux with a look of utter loathing and then just like that she’s gone. You haven’t forgotten what Sollux told you though and you don’t drop the barrier. Sollux looks around worriedly, turning around in every direction looking for her. Finally he seems satisfied and presses his hand to the barrier.

“Let it go.” he tells you and you do so gladly.

You buckle to your knees out of breath but your friends have a good enough hold on you that they gently lower you to the ground.

“Who was that?” Jade asks.

“Are you alright?” Dave asks you quietly.

“I’m… I’m ok, just lightheaded.” you mumble.

“You did really well. You probably saved our lives.” Rose tells you and squeezes your shoulder.

“He definitely did.” Sollux agrees.

“Who. Was. That.” Jade repeats angrily.

Sollux sighs and looks at the strangled tree.

“Jane, but her proper name or I guess you could say her title is Famine.” Sollux says quietly and presses a finger to the tree. The whole thing snaps in half and you see in horror that it’s now hollow, the grasping vines of the plant that had wrapped around the tree reaching into what used to be the insides of the tree.

“She has that effect on things. Makes you hungry. I mean you’d think that in this day and age she’d be weaker, less famines around. But she makes people hungry for all sorts of things. People desperate to be famous, rich, powerful, the kind of hunger that’s never enough. Not a lot of billionaires around that Jane hasn’t got her claws into. She can do it to anything living, without that shield you’d have all either starved or started eating each other.” Sollux answers.

“But why’s she here? It’s not like things were fine and then got all weird, I’m pretty sure the forest has been this way for a while.” June points out.

“Yeah, that’s what I think and I don’t like that. I don’t know what she’s doing out here but it can’t be good.” Sollux agrees and warily glances around again.

“Well what’s her problem with you?” Dave asks with a frown. You wonder if he can’t get the idea that someone might just not like Sollux.

“Ehh, I was involved with Death. And, well, Famine and War were never big fans of that. You think she’d be happy since AA broke up with me. But I may have been a little involved in something that fucked up some very big plans of hers.” Sollux admits.

You hold your hands out in front of you and see that they’re trembling, you feel very weak. Not hungry, thank goodness but weak. Actually, you can’t help but wonder if your earlier hunger was a sign that you were close to Famine herself. You have a horrible feeling that’s exactly it.

Sollux crouches down in front of you and looks at your shaking hands and then peers into your eyes. He tuts and mutters something disapproving that you don’t quite catch.

“Wait here.” he tells you all and teleports away.

“Maybe that’s why the other fae were hiding, staying in another plane away from her.” Jade says after a few quiet seconds. That sounds about right.

A few minutes pass before Sollux returns and when he crouches down in front of you again he has a glass in his hand with a familiar looking thick amber liquid in it.

“Here, drink this.” he tells you and presses the glass into your hand. Before you can do anything to stop him the glass magically falls from your grip and shatters on the soft forest floor. As soon as the liquid inside touches the ground the forest floor blooms into tiny flowers and moss.

Which neatly spell out the word ‘diickpriince’ on the ground with bits of broken glass embedded here and there.

“Gee. If only he wasn’t cursed.” Rose says flatly, June snorts, barely repressing laughter.

Sollux grumbles, vanishes again and when he reappears he has the same kind of glass in hand. Before he gives it to you this time he presses his bare hand to the delicate skin of your forearm and you feel something magical in you shift.

“There.” Sollux mutters and slaps the glass into your palm.

You hold it and for the first time in a week you don’t drop the glass. Sollux lifted the curse he’d put on you. You’re too tired to think more on it and instead you just drink. Like before the taste of the drink is so familiar, rich and sweet. When you’ve drained it you feel a lot better and you’re able to get to your feet again.

The rest of your group seems wary of your surroundings but June is anxiously watching you as if you might drop dead or something. Somehow you think that if Sollux was going to kill you he wouldn’t do it by poisoning you.

None of you are keen to stay here so once it’s clear that you can walk without keeling over you all start moving on again, eager to put the hollowed out trees behind you. You don’t hear any more animals or bugs as you go on but also Jane doesn’t show up again either. As early afternoon passes your group crests a hillside where the trees are thinner. Looking down into the valley below you can see the lake off to the left but more interestingly…

“Are those RV’s?” June asks, peering down the hill.

“And tents and motorhomes. But we’re miles and miles from any roads, how did they get here?” Rose wonders.

“Can I put a vote in for not investigating the weird shit?” Dave asks hopefully.

“I’m kind of in favour of that.” you agree.

“Yeah, but if we don’t then we don’t know what could be nearby.” Sollux reasons.

“Knowledge is power.” Rose agrees with a nod.

“I think power is power but I’m also all for investigating.” Jade nods.

“I also vote investigate, you two chickens are outvoted. Let’s go!” June agrees and hurries off down the hill.

You sigh and go with. The hill itself is steep enough that you think if you tried to stop the jog down it that you’re doing that you’d trip and fall, so as it is you all make it to the campsite pretty quickly.

It is a whole bunch of RVs and motorhomes and the like, a whole group of cars too. They’re parked in a sort of semi-circle and when you creep around the edges of it you see that there’s a big stone circle with a large square centre stone and standing circle stones around it.

You take a step forward and your foot clinks against a bottle hidden in the long grass. You bend down to pick it up and see that the weather worn label is for Jack Daniels. The closer you all get the more empty bottles of booze you find, not to mention faded food wrappers. You raise your eyebrows when you see a discarded bra over a rock but it looks like it’s been there for quite a while, it’s all faded and discoloured.

Sollux squints at the stone circle not willing to go into it. Your gaze shifts from the abandoned bra to the empty bottles to the circle and it hits you.

“Dionysus!” you gasp.

“Oh yeah… you’re right.” Sollux says softly, walking around one of the stones and running a finger over it.

“God of wine, parties and general debauchery?” Rose asks and looks around with a smile.

“Yeah, that’s cool and all but where are all the people? There’s no one here and all their shit is still here, cars and stuff and it looks like it’s been a while.” Dave points out.

He’s right. The car he’s pointing at has dust inside and there are leaves built up on the roof and windows, a few of the motorhomes have their doors still open.

June pulls a large hammer from her bag and hops up inside a motorhome, disappearing inside.

“June?” Jade calls out worriedly.

“OH WOW THAT IS A LOT OF COCAINE!” June shouts from inside.

“Is she joking?” Dave asks warily. Sollux makes an uncertain ‘ehhh’ noise and see-saws his hand.

“God of revelry, illicit substances are to be expected.” Rose points out.

Sollux hops up on the steps of the motorhome and takes two of them up as June gasps loudly inside.

“HOLY SHIT!” June yelps and you see Sollux turn around to look at her.

He jumps a literal foot in the air and bolts back out of the motorhome, wide eyed and obviously rattled. Your sickle falls instantly into your hand and you’re ready to defend when June bursts out. Brandishing…

“That is comically large.” Rose says with a laugh as June waggles what you can only categorise as an exceedingly ambitiously sized sex toy at her.

“I really hope that was clean.” Jade points out.

June grimaces and drops the thing which bounces comically down the steps. At your side Dave steps back and the clearly unsettled Sollux slightly behind him goes with. You take in Sollux’s clear discomfort with some amusement.

“You’re a demon, this freaks you out?” you tease him.

“Shut up.” Sollux mutters.

Your group checks each and every motorhome, car, RV and everything. There’s no one there at all. Certainly a lot of things that tell you they were very devout followers of Dionysus, everything here seems to be geared to either just getting out of your head for a party or very blatantly sexual. Sure, there’s things you don’t want to touch for hygiene reasons but nothing seems weird.

Aside from how there’s no one here.

Sollux and Dave both stay outside, they claim they’re keeping watch but you don’t buy it.

“So where is everyone?” you ask as you come out of the last RV.

“The cars are still here for the things that needed towing, no one left.” Dave says.

“Maybe they broke down and other people drove them back home?” Jade suggests.

“Then you’d leave your trash behind, sure, but June said that there was a huge brick of coke in there. You wouldn’t leave that behind.” Dave argues.

“And you’d come back and tow things.” Sollux adds.

“So what, then? Jane got them? I don’t see any bodies.” you say. You look around, uneasily at the mention of Jane but she doesn’t leap out from behind anything like some shitty jumpscare in a horror movie.

“There would be bodies if it was her, I’m sure. I’ve seen her quickly affect people, they die as fast as that tree did. And if they’d eaten each other there’d be signs of violence but I can’t see anything.” Sollux says.

“There were mentions of kelpies in the lake and that’s not too far off. Perhaps skinny dipping gone bad?” Rose suggests.

That’s certainly possible. Legends about kelpies vary from place to place but the common features include a black horse in the water that sometimes can transform into a woman. There’s certain overlaps with sirens too, sometimes enticing people into the water itself. Regardless of the method the goal is always to drown someone in the water. A bunch of drunk, drugged up revellers are going to be more susceptible than most to that kind of thing, especially if the kelpie looks like a naked woman at the water's edge.

It seems pretty clear that all these people are dead and exploring has a darker edge to it now. You take a few moments to snap pictures of all of the license plates of the vehicles, when you get back you’ll report their location. If they have loved ones out there wondering where they went then at least they’ll know something.

“We should find somewhere to set up camp.” Jade says when you’re done.

No one suggests camping where you are now.

Your group heads up the other hillside of the valley that you’re in and carefully heads a good distance back from the lake, none of you wants an encounter with any murder horses, thanks. There’s a little clearing that’s as good as any and you start setting up a fire as Dave and June start setting up the tent.

The moment you’re done with the wood for the fire Sollux flicks a hand at it and sets it alight, far easier than matches. He hovers a good eight feet above the highest flame and patiently keeps watch.

“That’s definitely not the main tenty-roofy-pole.” June says as Dave tries to jam two poles together.

“No, no, I’m sure this is it.” Dave replies and tries to bend the pole a little. It springs apart from the one he’d been trying to attach it to and the two idiots have to rush off to retrieve it. Yeah, you’re not getting involved in that, you’re going to help with dinner.

You carefully chop some chilli peppers on a small chopping board as Rose stirs one pot, at her side Jade sets the lid on a pot of water and rice, taking it off of the heat to steam. By the time you’ve all made dinner the tent is upright and it actually looks stable.

When you eat Sollux actually joins your group for food. He’s probably still feeling hungry after being around Famine. He doesn’t talk to you or sit near you but he’s not making it VERY OBVIOUS that he’s ignoring you either. It’s a slight improvement from the past week. It’s also nice to be able to hold a drink up to your lips without it flinging itself to the floor and insulting you when it lands.

June suggests playing ‘never have I ever’ to pass the time before you go to sleep, but Jade lived alone on an island for years and before that with just her grandpa for company and you can’t remember anything before The Event. It’s not going to be an interesting game. You settle for cards and toasting marshmallows. You give up when it becomes obvious that the game you’re playing is not rummie but rather who can cheat the most without getting caught.

You turn in to sleep when everyone else does. You’re all sharing the same tent because it’d be stupid to have different ones based on sex. For a start Rose is incredibly gay and if you could be tempted into sleeping with anyone here it’d be Dave, so putting Rose with the girls and you with Dave is just dumb. Besides, it’s November and it’s pretty goddamn cold even with the fire going so having the one tent with you all snuggled up is way smarter.

Sollux is staying outside to keep watch and you all set up that circle of detecting intention to harm and you’re pleased to see that this time Sollux doesn’t set it off at all. You figure that saving the lives of your mutual friends has softened his anger towards you, you hope so anyway.

Inside the tent you’re in your sleeping bag, curled around June for warmth. On the other side of her Jade is the loudly snoring filling in a Lalonde sandwich. It’s nice, cosy. You’re not used to sleeping with people but the presence of another living person slowly breathing next to you is reassuring after the day you’ve had.

And yet you can’t sleep.

After an hour of tossing and turning you jam your feet in your boots and shuffle out of the tent. Sollux is looking at you when you come out but when he sees that it’s you he goes back to watching the horizon with a bored expression.

“Can’t sleep.” you mumble and shuffle over to the fire.

Sollux has kept the fire high so it’s nice and bright out. He doesn’t seem like he’s going to talk to you so for a while you read the book you brought on plants, it’s dull but not enough to make you sleep.

“Seen anything?” you ask Sollux finally.

“No.” Sollux answers.

...Well then.

You put your book away and pull out your tarot deck. You start shuffling it for something to do with your hands. Every so often you turn a card around and try to remember the meaning of it. Your focus shifts when Sollux sinks lower in the air, closer to the fire.

“I don’t want to talk to you,” he starts with a sigh, “but no one else is awake.”

“...Thanks.” you mutter.

“I don’t really want to talk to you, just at you. I can’t figure this out and thinking out loud can… you know.” Sollux says with a shrug.

“Do you want me to ask questions?” you ask him and flip a card over, it’s his card. The two of swords. You frown and flip it back.

“If they’re sensible. I might not answer though.” Sollux tells you.

You just resist saying that him not answering you is nothing new.

“So let’s say that Jane’s bored, she starts starving a forest. But why here instead of some third world country or some terrible dictatorship? If she feels like going ‘classic famine’ that’s where she’d do it, not here.” Sollux says.

“Was there something that lived here?” you wonder.

“I don’t know, it’s pretty uncharted. You’re not supposed to come out here and I’m betting those guys down there weren’t supposed to be here either. She’s not a god, she doesn’t need belief or anything and animals wouldn’t do anything for her.” Sollux goes on.

“As far as I know there’s nothing… geographic that’d make her come here. It’s not like a gateway to anything, no more than anywhere else.” he adds.

“Okay so what if it’s not what is here but what’s not?” you suggest.

Sollux tilts his head and thinks for a moment.

“I’d say we’re pretty far from any temples or whatever but it doesn’t matter after the event, plus that’s not true because of that whole Dionysus thing down there. As far as I know there wasn’t much beef between the two of them, if anything she made people hunger for more and he was about overindulging so it’s not like they would have been opposing. So I don’t think she’d have wanted to nuke his place specifically. The only thing that’s not really here is people. Well, aside from them.” Sollux says.

“Could be hiding something but she’s got a whole plane of her own to hide things on if she wanted. It’d have to be something HERE.” Sollux says with a frown and leans back in the air.

“It seems like she’s been doing whatever for a while, right? So it’s not going to be because of the party, or because we’re here.” you say and Sollux nods.

“If it was anyone else I’d have an idea. But it wouldn’t work for her.” Sollux says with a frown.

“Such as?” you prompt.

“If it was Aradia lurking here I’d suspect something bad and important was about to go down, like a nuclear bomb going off or a volcano erupting. She always tried to oversee the big disasters. If it was Pestilence I’d think she was using the place as a nursery for some new disease, some super malaria or something. If it was War- well, it wouldn’t be war. War couldn’t plan her way out of a wet paper bag, she made others want to scheme, she just wants blood. Surprise sneaky attacks with delayed gratification isn’t her thing. But it’s not any of them, it’s Famine.” Sollux explains.

Something creeping and awful runs up your spine and the cards fall from your hands. Your breath catches and all you can work out is that something is terribly, awfully wrong.

“What?” Sollux asks in surprise.

“Is there something there?” you ask, your voice shaking. You stand up and look ahead, past your tent into the night.

Sollux floats up higher in the air and stares into the dark for several long moments.

“I can’t see anything, can’t sense anything either.” he tells you finally.

Wrongness still creeps over your skin and you wrap your hands around your arms and hug yourself tight to try to fend it off, not that it works.

“Maybe I’m just jumpy.” you say uncertainly. It feels like every sound that’s probably the wind or the fire is something else coming closer.

“Famine makes people jumpy.” Sollux says. Not outright telling you that it’s okay and he understands but he’s also not… not telling you that.

You kneel down to pick up your fallen tarot cards and freeze when you see that every card that’s face up on the floor is the same. Death.

“S… Sollux. Tell me how your sense works.” you whisper, not daring yet to pick the cards up.

“I get a sort of vibe off of things that can die if I really look for it. Like I said, everything dies. It’s a doom thing.” Sollux explains.

You scoop up your handful of death cards and stand up again.

“What if something is already dead?” you say quietly.

“Well- that’s…” Sollux seems to hesitate.

Famine was here, right?

“Can something dead be… hungry?” you whisper.

You and Sollux stare at each other for a long moment and you hear something crack that you don’t think was the fire. Sollux raises a hand and the large circle that you all drew around your campsite catches alight, Sollux’s affinity with fire using the edges of that magic to illuminate what’s beyond it. It’s a distant enough light to see that there is something moving out there past the circle.

Sollux doesn’t need to tell you to wake the others. You sprint into the tent and throw yourself at the others, grabbing up your bags and shouting at them to get up, to get their shoes on because you have to go and go NOW. Needless to say they’re all wide awake when you do that because you can SHOUT. In less than a minute you’re all blearily out of the tent, Dave still jamming his feet into his shoes.

At first you think Sollux is gone but you catch sight of him far up in the air. He plummets like a stone and lands on the ground.

“We need to go, there’s an island in the middle of the lake. If we can get there it might stop them.” Sollux insists.

“The lake full of kelpies?! Why? What are we-” Rose cuts off with a scream as a distant moan startles you all.

They’re close enough to the fire that you can make them out now.

They were people, once. Shambling, dragging themselves right towards you and as they cross your circle the light flares but you didn’t need it to tell you that they mean you harm. You all start to run. There’s no time to talk but unfortunately you can’t run as fast as you otherwise might have been able to because the woods are dark now and the ground is uneven. You wrestle a flashlight from your bag, your hands sweaty on it. Your necklace with its crystal bounces against your neck as you run, if they get too close you can teleport back. You’ll fail but you won’t be eaten by… by the undead. You’re going to call them that, not the z-word.

“Sollux, teleport… take everyone else there, I’ll… I’ll get Karkat.” Dave pants as he runs. You’re not sure what he means but as you reach the water’s edge Sollux grabs the rest of your friends and vanishes. Dave wrenches his bag open and pulls out a glaring neon skateboard.

That thing again.

You want to say that there’s no way that you’re getting on that godawful thing again but the undead are lurching after you, faster than you would have thought they could have managed. You can hear them crashing through the trees. Dave stands on the board and holds a hand out to you. You rush to him, wrapping your arms around him.

“We gotta jump on three, up and down on the board, ok? One, two, three.” Dave counts and you hop slightly in place.

As you touch down on the board again you clip through the ground slightly and then ping off away just as what was once a man in a leather harness lurches for you. As you fly you’re dropping lower, and lower, and then the wheels of the skateboard clip through the water and you both come tumbling off. The board is stuck to Dave’s hand like he’s doing some skate trick with it.

When you open your eyes again you nearly throw up. You should be underwater and opening your eyes should show you the underside of the lake, maybe some angry kelpies. Instead though what you see is like a video game glitch. The water surface is badly rendered above you and below you is an endless drop. Stacked up inside it is something that’s like a jukebox, the old ones with all the records lined up in it, but each ‘record’ is a whole plane of reality. Sickeningly huge in a scale you shouldn’t be able to ever see, you can’t be outside of infinity like this but somehow you are.

As suddenly as you came into that terrible place you both flip out of it, sliding along the wet muddy shore for a few seconds and then abruptly both standing on the board again together. You’re not too proud to admit that you immediately get off and throw up.

“Yeah, that’s happened to me before too.” Rose says softly from nearby.

You very nearly scream at her for making you come here specifically, this is the last time you listen to one of her visions. What did you expect, listening to Cthulhu of all gods?!

With shaking limbs you stand up on the little island in the middle of the lake, as you look around with your flashlight you’re very aware that the undead could be here as well but you don’t see or hear anything.

“That… that wasn’t right.” Jade whispers.

“Sollux, I need you to throw a fireball across the lake towards the shore we came from.” Rose says as she pulls out binoculars and points them back the way you all came.

“Kay.” Sollux says and flings fire over the water.

“What about… forest… fires. Okay.” Jade sighs.

The fire rushes over the water and finally extinguishes on the other side.

“I have good news and bad news.” Rose says a moment later.

“Fuck it, bad news first.” Dave says.

“Bad news, there looked to be at least thirty zombies there and they’re marching right into the water towards us. I don’t think the lake is all that deep so I guess they’re intending on walking right towards us. There may be more that were already in the water before I looked.” Rose says and lowers her binoculars grimly.

“And the good news?” June asks hopefully.

“Sollux’s fireball extinguished on the bank, no forest fires today. Or, tonight.” Rose amends, looking up at the dark night’s sky.

You all stare at the water and what you now know lies below it, making its way towards you. It’s a decent distance and they have to go down at least somewhat first, plus the water should give some resistance. But you’re going to assume you have maybe ten minutes.

“I don’t think they are zombies.” Sollux says slowly.

“They sure LOOKED like zombies, pretty sure they’re both what happened to those worshippers and the worshipers themselves. Some of them were wearing some pretty NSFW stuff man.” Dave points out.

“No, zombies are people infected with a disease that Pestilence made and it keeps coming up every so often but humans know how to deal with it. It made her really sad because she was proud of that one, AA told me, she didn’t like it because it fucked with dead people and she’s protective of them. But that was something Famine made, Jane made dead people so hungry they move. That’s… no wonder she’s out here, she’s hiding her experiments from the others I bet.” Sollux says, still staring across the water.

“How did they die in the first place? Wouldn’t Aradia know about that?” Rose asks in a whisper.

“I’d guess they died from a hunger they couldn’t fill. Either they died or they’ve passed into something that can’t, because they still don’t ping me as something that can die. They can be destroyed probably but it’s not the same. I swear this is Jane’s work, not Pestilence’s.” Sollux insists.

“Are they still going to want to eat us, because if so I don’t care much who’s responsible. We have to tell people they’re here.” Dave insists.

“I guess.” Sollux nods.

“But if we go back we fail the test.” Rose points out.

“Fuck the test!” Dave snaps.

“Well, Sollux can teleport us if it gets to that. Even if he takes me too and it takes a minute I could do that barrier thing again, so we’d be fine.” you say, trying to reassure yourself.

“We wouldn’t be fine.” Sollux counters.

“Why not?” Jade asks.

“I teleport you in a split second, we’re still moving because that’s how this plane works. I can’t go through that shield of his, our velocity is however fast you have to go to travel that far in a split second. Momentum isn’t a problem with how my teleportation works but if it hits something like Karkat’s shield… well, we’d all hit it at however many thousands of miles an hour that’d be. If you feel like becoming a mixed species smoothie that’s fine by me but I’m not going to be the one to do it.” Sollux argues.

“Alright, but what if he just held it long enough for you to draw it out and then dropped it?” Dave suggests.

“Trusting that he did that right we’d still be surrounded by that point and I’m not taking those things back into Salem, that’s exactly the kind of chaos that Jane was probably trying to create.” Sollux says with a shake of his head.

Rose starts suggesting another alternative of escaping in an emergency but your mind is drawn elsewhere. A whisper tickles your awareness and you jump, swinging the light in your hand around but seeing nothing. Everyone looks for a moment or two and then goes back to debating on what to do, you’re all jumpy.

“If we can find somewhere to hide out or stay ahead of them until the time we have to go back then we can still pass.” June suggests.

“But they’re not going to sleep or rest, we have to.” someone else insists.

You step away from the group a little, straining your ears to hear. There’s something, it’s not the leaves rustling because there’s still no wind.

“Attacking them would be stupid, if it is infectious you’re just spreading the pathogen.” another one of your friends points out.

There is definitely something, just on the edge of hearing.

“Shut up!” you snap, looking back at them.

“You shut up.” Sollux counters.

“No, just… shh.” you say, holding your finger up to your lips.

Your friends fall silent, looking around worriedly. There’s something, a subtle hissing noise.

“I can’t feel anything here that can die, but that doesn’t rule out those things.” Sollux says after a moment, entirely ruining your ability to hear.

“I said shut up!” you hiss and step further away from your group, there’s definitely something there.

“Is that… people?” you say quietly as your friends slink closer to you.

“I don’t hear anything.” June whispers.

You creep further forward and the sibilant hiss of words that you can’t make out gets a little louder. There’s definitely something, but when you look at your friends they seem confused. An idea hits you and you cover your ears, but you can still hear it! It’s in your head!

“It’s books! I hear books!” you gasp.

“Oh, cool, Karkat’s lost his mind. Good to know.” June mutters.

“No, my boss taught me library magic, I can sense books. I think it must be a lot of them for me to still be able to hear them when I can’t even see them yet.” you say in wonder.

“Books are typically kept indoors, especially a library’s worth. That means there’s a structure of some kind close by, somewhere to hide and possibly somewhere defensible.” Rose says thoughtfully.

“Wait, I think… I think I can sense something alive. Maybe an animal hibernating? It’s really faint.” Sollux says with a frown.

“So we have some books and possibly a hibernating bear, great.” Dave grumbles.

“It’s that or go back to the university.” Jade reasons.

No one seems fantastically happy about this but you’re hardly flush with good options here, so together you walk on with you walking closer to the direction the sound seems the loudest. It’s absolutely books that you can hear, you can tell now.

The island isn’t big but it does have a peak in the middle which is where you end up leading everyone to, it’s rocky up here and you walk around for a bit before you end up at a loss.

“Oh, here.” Sollux says, just as you’re about to give up. He raises his hand and a huge stone lifts up, revealing a cave mouth. Bears don’t generally barricade themselves inside so you’re a little reassured that this isn’t a bear cave.

Distant splashing reaches your ears and you spin around along with the others, your lights just about reach the shore below where many wet, decaying and hungry bodies are clawing their way onto the sand.

“Into the cave it is!” Dave squeaks and rushes towards it.

The rest of you are keeping pace with him and in no time at all you’re all inside with Sollux dropping the giant boulder behind you. You’re glad that you’ve all got your flashlights out except for Sollux whose face is basically one and beyond that he has a handful of crackling flames. You all stick nervously together and unusually you’re in the front.

You drag the beam of light across the inside of the cave. It’s big inside and slopes down to what is easily under the water line. Solid rock makes up the walls and ceiling which must be why the water hasn’t seeped through and flooded the inside. Actually, despite the lake the place is cold and very dry indeed. The whisper of books fills your head, louder now, begging to be read. Propelled by curiosity you lead the others deeper into the cave.

There’s dust all over the floor and flashes of bright discarded fabric but they’re not books so you don’t pay any attention. A sudden squeak makes you leap a foot in the air and you hear a girlish scream behind you. You don’t know if it came from one of the girls or Dave, it certainly wasn’t Sollux because he’s floating in the air off to the side. June stands up with what looks like a soft toy in her hand, something’s ripped it apart but it still squeaks when June squeezes it.

“That’s deeply creepy.” Sollux notes and floats a little closer to Dave.

“It’s just a toy, we’re fine.” you mumble and start walking again.

The beam of your flashlight finally catches on stone shelves carved into the very rock and you gasp in delight to see them absolutely heaving with books. You rush ahead and stare at shelf after shelf of neatly organised books. They’re all in perfect order as well, clearly they’re well loved.

“They’re all books on law, or philosophy of law, history of law… it’s all law.” Rose says as she looks over them as well.

“I told you I heard books.” you say and point your flashlight at Sollux who just rolls his eyes and lands on the ground without a sound.

“Congratulations on your useless superpower.” Sollux sneers.

“We wouldn’t have found this place otherwise, so it’s not exactly useless.” Dave points out, trying to keep the peace.

“Yeah. Still, they’re in amazing condition.” you say softly as you turn back to the shelves and slide a book off of the shelves.

“Are you sure you should be touching those? What if they’re cursed?” Jade asks.

“They don’t feel like the cursed books in the library.” you tell her and flick through the pages. The book almost purrs under your attention, they’ve not been read in so long.

“Wait…” Sollux says behind you.

“Shh, reading.” you tell him and flick to the front cover.

On the inside where you’d normally find the Lalonde Library plate and the checkout information there’s a similar but different one. Salem University Memorial Library, ex-library edition. It’s from the university’s old library, sold by the looks of it.

A gust of hot air rushes past you, making the hairs on your neck stand on end.

“That wasn’t the breeze.” June whispers.

You turn slowly around, facing Sollux. He’s looking around sharply, trying to see something, anything that’s here besides you and these books. Then behind him the wall _moves,_ what had looked like dirty stone starts falling off in chunks as a big red eye opens.

Sollux whirls around but before he can do anything a huge mouth opens and bites him in half. Dave screams, Rose certainly does as well, you think you all do. The creature is massive and as it shifts and the dirt flakes off of it you can see that it’s a gigantic teal coloured dragon.

On the floor what was left of Sollux bubbles down into liquid gold and the same dribbles down this dragon’s gigantic maw. Its nostrils flare and hot, wet, air flows over you and then back again as it breathes in deeply.

WH4T 4R3 YOU DO1NG W1TH MY BOOKS comes a voice inside your head that’s distinctly not yours.

“I- oh fuck, I was just looking. I heard them from outside and I didn’t know what books would be doing in a cave so I came to have a look and I wasn’t going to take them.” you insist desperately.

Dragons are hardly common, some of them can hibernate for hundreds of years at a time, they’re big and bulky apex predators that feed on flesh as much as they do pure magic itself. People have theorised that they flit between planes where the magic is strongest. In the past they’ve demanded ritual sacrifices as a way of getting humans to channel magic to them and getting a screaming meal at the same time. They’re still so, SO rare. And here you are, zombies and dragons all in one day. Oh, and Famine as well, the whole day’s gone so sideways you almost forgot.

The dragon leans closer to you, featureless red eyes moving ever so slightly but it puts its nose up close to you. Rose clutches your arm with one hand and one of her needles in the other, you pray that she’s not about to do anything stupid.

You keep talking.

“I work in the library at the University, I’m a student. I was just admiring the collection is all. You’ve got almost all of the law books we have, I think.” you babble.

“She- she ate him June! But it’s not- he shouldn’t still be dead!” Dave hisses off to the side.

YOU H4V3 BOOKS TH4T 1 DON’T? the voice in your head asks, it sounds grating but curious and it makes you shudder.

Still, you nod and pull out your phone. You have an app for the library and with shaking fingers you pull up the law collection.

“Y-yeah, see? This is one of Herring’s books but if I look him up on ours we have the up to date edition of ‘Great Debates In Criminal Law’ and also the 2013 8th edition of Criminal Law by him as well. It’s even on the e-reader.” you say, sheer terror making you reel back into library babble.

The dragon tilts its head at you and blinks.

WH4T 1S 4N ‘3-R34D3R’?

“Oh. It’s… like an app on your phone like this one or a kindle or something. Look.” you say and open up the digital edition of the book. You scroll through it and hold it out to the dragon.

The dragon sniffs your phone and suddenly rears back. Giant clawed feet push the thing upright and its neck ripples. It opens its massive jaws and for a horrible moment you think you’re about to go up in flames, but no. The dragon makes a sound that’s like water sloshing from end to end in a half empty bottle, a sort of wet, sucking, gagging sound. Its head jerks back and forth for a moment and you have a split second to think that you’ve seen cats on TV do this before the dragon horks Sollux up over the floor. He slides a good ten feet on thick dragon spit, his legs slapping wetly to the ground the moment his momentum stops.

“Sollux!” Dave yelps and rushes to him.

The dragon shakes itself off, seemingly just as displeased by this as Sollux obviously is if the noises of disgust you’re hearing are anything to go by.

BLUH

The dragon shakes and then in a sliding shift of scales it’s suddenly no longer there, instead there’s a girl who looks about your age. She has messy jaw length black hair and sharp almost scaled horns coming out of her head, a teal scaled tail swishes behind her and she snatches your phone from your hands. Your shock prevents you from stopping her, partly at the shapeshifting but partly because this dragon is now humanoid and completely goddamn naked. She sniffs at your phone and squints at it with completely red eyes.

“This will do, I’ve decided not to eat you. Besides, I’ve seen you before and I know I couldn’t eat you yet anyway.” the dragon says and sits down on the floor cross legged and keeps reading. Which, uh, as you previously noted she’s very naked so you have to avert your eyes.

“Do you have to be naked?” June asks her a little sharply.

“It’s my cave, and besides just because YOU put clothes on to go flouncing around doesn’t mean I have to.” the dragon huffs and keeps reading.

Across the room Sollux bursts into flames and when they die down he’s now dry of dragon spit but still looks incredibly grossed out.

“Sorry, I’m-” you start.

“Karkat Vantas, I know. Terezi Pyrope.” she says and smiles widely at you with far more pointy teeth than should ever be able to fit in a mouth that size.

“Have… have we met? Do you know me?” you ask her and crouch down so you can look her in the eye.

“We’ve not met before, I’m a seer. I’ve SEEN you.” Terezi laughs, her laugh hurts your ears a little.

“Oh, wait. You’re the dragon seer, then. The one Doctor Lalonde wrote about.” you say as the puzzle pieces click together in your head.

“You know Roxy?” Terezi chirps, lowering your phone for the first time.

“She’s my mother.” Rose says from behind you.

Terezi looks past you at Rose and then across the room to where Dave and Sollux still are, her grin stretches wide.

“Oh, clever girl. Can’t avert a prophecy but you can fuck with it, always was smart. I should go see her, we were friends before I had my nap.” Terezi laughs brightly.

“How long have you been asleep?” you ask her curiously, since it seems like she’s not going to eat you now.

“Uhh.” Terezi frowns.

“If you click that button you can see the calendar.” you tell her, creeping a little closer to the naked dragon girl to point out the button to her and then show her the calendar app.

“The year on this is wrong.” she says with a frown.

“No it’s not.” you say uneasily, looking at it to see the correct date.

“It is, it’s years out. Whatever, I’ve only slept a bit. Normally I’d wake up when I’m hungry but I’m really hungry now for some reason.” Terezi sighs. You… lean away slightly. You don’t want to be the solution to her hunger.

“That was probably Jane’s doing, Famine would drain whatever’s already in your stomach. And as someone who was JUST IN THERE I can tell you there’s nothing in there.” Sollux snarls at her.

“Famine?” Terezi repeats, standing up.

“Holy fuck, just- clothes!” June hisses and looks sharply away.

“Aw, does this bother you? Or do you like what you see?” Terezi cackles in amusement, not that June seems to agree.

“Funny.” June mutters, keeping her gaze averted.

As it happens Terezi doesn’t look entirely human. She’s too pointy, every bone too sharp and angular. She doesn’t look starved or anything but it’s just that she’s pointier than she should be, like she’s trying to be human but she can’t quite remember how they look. As she walks past you towards Sollux you get a look at the way teal scales run up her spine before fading to human skin, her tail slices through the air in a movement that reminds you of when Sollux was a snake.

“What was that about famine?” she asks Sollux again.

“The horseman. She’s been fucking around out here, that’s why there’s something like zombies outside.” Sollux tells her tersely.

“Zombies? Oh, no, no. Not in MY forest. I didn’t mind Dio’s people fuckin’ about down there but not ZOMBIES.” Terezi growls. She marches up the incline of the cave and when she reaches the boulder she shoves it aside as if it was made of styrofoam and not tonnes and tonnes of solid rock.

The undead are out there, of course they are.

“Wait!” you yelp in fear, rushing towards her as the zombies fling themselves at her.

You don’t get there in time.

Terezi’s humanoid form is shorter than you, her body slightly for all that it’s too sharp. The zombie that goes for her first is at least six foot tall and he bodily throws himself at her, his jagged mouth open wide. His teeth crash into her shoulder but her skin doesn’t give. The others around her are trying to drag her, to gnaw at her but she’s unmoving.

You stand there open mouthed and watch as Terezi walks forward as if she was taking a pleasant stroll through a field of wildflowers, not dragging several zombies along. She crouches and bursts into the air, her body rippling until she’s a massive dragon again. You’re right at the cave entrance when you see the light in the back of her throat.

Sheer panic stalls you.

At your side Sollux flings his hand back and you hear your friends yelp and hear the distant sound of them being thrown back as the fire hits you. The world around you becomes scorching, roaring, white. It doesn’t hurt, just like no other fire that’s got near you has hurt before. You hold your breath and look over at Sollux who is standing at your side equally unharmed, behind him the rock is starting to melt.

The fire shifts off of you and Terezi moves to torch the rest of her island, breath after bright white breath incinerating everything it touches. Aside from Sollux there is nothing around you that’s alive.

“The fuck.” you whisper, looking at him.

“That’ll solve the zombie problem alright.” Sollux says quietly, looking up at the sky.

“The others!” you gasp, turning back to the cave.

“She enchanted the place so she’d never hurt the books, safest place for them right now. Don’t make them come out here where everything’s molten, stupid.” Sollux tuts at you.

“Don’t- look, it’s not my fault I don’t know everything!” you snap at him.

Sollux doesn’t say anything but instead he just looks away from you and guilt settles over you.

“Listen, I don’t want to hurt you and I know I’m stupid and don’t know everything I should. I know I’ve been inconsiderate and I’m-” you try.

“Don’t.” Sollux interrupts.

“Don’t what?” you ask irritably.

“Don’t say sorry when you don’t even know what you’re saying sorry for.” he tells you sharply.

“Well it’s not MY fault that I don’t know SHIT!” you shout at him, your voice echoing off of the water. You’re not even sorry for that.

“You could have told me anything about any of that, you know I don’t remember anything!” you accuse him, quieter this time.

“Yeah, well, I don’t- forget it.” Sollux mutters and looks away.

You could kill him, the thought is fucking tempting right now. You shove him in the chest instead and he looks at you furiously.

“I don’t remember, I’m not psychic, I don’t know anything about what demons are like beyond what you tell me or what I can try to read and hope is accurate. So you don’t get to bitch that I’m fucking things up without you doing anything to tell me what’s going on. I don’t understand any of this!” you argue back, right in his face now.

“Yeah, you don’t know shit, that’s clear!” Sollux hisses at you.

“SO TELL ME!” you shout.

Sollux grimaces and backs off, once more looking away from you.

“What, are you going to claim that there’s something stopping you from telling me about feelings now too?” you ask him sarcastically.

“No! I just don’t WANT to!” Sollux shouts finally and THAT has a ring of actual truth to it.

“Why.” you say flatly.

“Because I didn’t have to- you shouldn’t have- well, if you’re so damn curious why don’t you MAKE me tell you, huh?” Sollux asks, his voice shaking with emotion.

“You think I’d force you to tell me something that you look about ready to cry about even just talking around it? You clearly don’t want to tell me anything and I’m not going to force you against your will. That’s not fair, I couldn’t do that.” you say, a little hurt that he’d even say that. Although that’s probably what he was going for, lashing out at you to get you to back off.

You’re left standing there looking at him, with him staring right back at you. Suddenly you feel tired and mostly just sad. You sigh and break eye contact first, sitting down at the mouth of the cave.

“The others are probably worried about you. Dave was pretty upset when you got eaten.” you tell him flatly and stare out at the burning island.

Sollux hesitates seemingly caught between going in and staying out here.

“What? Why are you staying here? You’ve made it pretty clear that you don’t even want to be friends.” you say bitterly.

“I didn’t say that.” Sollux says, his voice quiet.

He may as well have and his actions have said enough. You know you’re at fault here but goddamnit, so is he, him and Dave “no one needs to negotiate polyamory” Lalonde. If he wants to change your mind about any of this then he knows where you are.

Sollux hesitates but eventually goes back inside the cave. You keep watch, and spend the time between now and dawn watching as Terezi circles through the air, burning the unliving shit out of anything that moves. To keep your hands busy you shuffle your tarot cards that have thankfully turned back to normal instead of being all death. You don’t draw any of them to look at them though, too worried that you’ll see the lovers in any configuration or Sollux’s two of swords.

Over the hour it takes for Terezi to come back a couple of your friends check on you but you guess you give off the impression that you want to be left alone. A few times you think you see something moving at the edge of the water, only for Terezi to swoop down low and cremate it. You kind of hope the kelpies are laying low if they’re still alive, even if they want to drown people you can’t say that any of this is their fault and that’s just how they are.

You watch as Terezi lands near you, her body shifting until she falls the last little bit to the ground in a humanoid shape.

“Are you actually shapeshifting or are you… are you doing something else?” you ask her as she saunters close.

“Like folding my body into a smaller space within myself than it could possibly exist?” Terezi grins. She rolls her shoulders and suddenly she’s clothed, seemingly if June isn’t here to be annoyed by it she doesn’t feel the need to be naked. Or maybe she’s just remembered how to make clothes, you don’t know.

You can’t say that you entirely understand what she’s wearing either. It’s some kind of teal and red robe affair that parts around her tail. It’s all incredibly brightly coloured though, as if someone’s just slid the saturation slider over to the max.

“Yeah, that, I guess.” you nod.

“It’s not like it’s hard if you don’t fully exist on this plane. I guess when I was little it was hard because I didn’t know how to do it but it’s like flying a bike.” Terezi explains as she sits next to you.

“...Riding a bike.” you say after a moment but she just shrugs.

Her tail sweeps a path through the ashes as she looks out at the burnt island and forest ahead of you both.

“So you knew doctor Lalonde then, you gave prophecies to her?” you ask curiously.

“Why, do you want to know one?” Terezi asks, turning her blank red eyes on you. They’re so very red and scorching and you feel like she can see into your soul.

You take a moment to consider her question.

“Honestly? No.” you admit, still a little wary of upsetting her in case she tries to eat you. You might be immune to fire but you’re not Sollux, you’re pretty sure that dragon digestive juices would kill you dead and you’d stay that way.

“Why’s that?” she asks, her voice is like gravel going through a woodchipper.

“Because I have enough trouble with the past and the present clearly isn’t going great, I’d honestly rather leave the future alone. It’s going to end up as the present eventually, right? I’ll deal with it then.” you say with a shrug.

“That’s a very interesting way of looking at it! Tell me though, why are you out here anyway? You nerds don’t seem like the type to go camping. Well, maybe the fae girl and your tricksy little blue friend.” Terezi says.

“We were camping, but I guess that our tent is probably melted now. It was a test for our magical self defense class. Survive a weekend outside of the normal approved human territory, only our teacher hates Roxy and her kids in there so she also insisted that we had to make our own way back too or we’d fail.” you explain with a sigh.

“Oh, she did, did she? Don’t worry, you’ll make it back.” Terezi says, her eyes narrowing slightly.

“I’m sure we will.” you agree uncertainly. You don’t know if she’s making a prediction or what. You’re pretty sure that your friends wouldn’t let Sollux leave you here. Even if he did refuse to teleport you there’s always Dave’s hellish skateboard.

“No, no, I’ll take you. Now you should get some sleep, I’ve had enough sleep for a while.” Terezi insists and ushers you into the cave.

Arguing with a dragon seems fantastically stupid, even for you so you shove your cards in your bag again and go inside the cave. Dave is already nestled up asleep with Sollux perched on his legs, neither of you make eye contact with each other. As you head in June walks past you and you can hear her start to talk to Terezi, although she looks a little fed up as she does so. Well, whatever.

You feel tired but not sure that you can sleep yet. Out of habit you go to take your phone out of the charm on your wrist but of course it’s gone, you gave it to Terezi.

“Hey.” Rose says sleepily, lifting her head from Jade’s shoulder. The two of them are slumped together against a wall.

“Hey.” you say back quietly.

“I’ll buy you a new phone, you handing it over did kind of save our lives.” Rose says.

“You don’t need to do that.” you tell her but, just like the port tickets back to Salem, Rose won’t hear any of it.

Despite feeling tired you don’t feel like you can sleep, the idea that you’d be out of it and leaving your friends vulnerable just goes against everything you are. Or as you bitterly correct yourself, your friends and Sollux. You hate how much it hurts that he’d rather the way things are than anything you could do to improve it. Like you’re not worth it.

Yeah, it hurts.

So you spend the time until morning going through Terezi’s library. You look at all of the books and feel how happy they are to be read again. An awful lot of this stuff is way over your head but the sections on how the law applies to magic is at least somewhat interesting. You lose a good hour reading over how laws on stalking and surveillance without consent apply to seers and other methods of scrying. It seems to be legally murky. Seer visions are generally regarded as more or less just something that happens to a seer and so they’re not regarded as culpable, but using a crystal ball to deliberately spy on someone is something else. It seems to be a balance between what information you’re able to glean, how much interpretation that requires and how in control of it you are. It’s actually pretty interesting and takes your mind off of things reasonably well.

When morning comes around your group heads outside the cave and sets up a fire, something that proves to be no problem with Terezi there. Thankfully your cooking equipment had been packed up in your bags before you all went to sleep so you’re all able to cook breakfast just fine. Your tent and sleeping bags however… yeah, they’re gone forever.

Naturally you offer Terezi some of your food and she eats happily, although you bet it’s nowhere near enough food for her.

“Could you eat with your mouth shut?” June asks her irritably.

“I c’n.” Terezi says through a mouthful of half chewed food and then goes through the very obvious and pointed task of continuing to eat with her mouth open.

You just politely avert your eyes, at least she’s clothed now.

“So, Terezi, what are you planning to do now that you’re awake?” Rose asks instead of commenting on Terezi’s eating habits.

“Fly around, see what’s changed. Try to find out what year it is. Maybe check in with an old friend, find something to eat.” Terezi shrugs and cracks a Red Bull open and knocks the whole thing back in one.

“If you want I could see about getting you a library card. Or if you wanted to order books online to buy you could ship them to the university library and I could hold onto them for you.” you offer.

“Aw, Karkat. Aren’t you sweet?” Terezi cackles and slaps you on the back. It’s like being smacked by a bear and if you’d been sitting on anything but the ground you’d have fallen off. As it is you just fold almost in half and get all the air knocked out of you.

She gets you right between the shoulder blades and you’re wheezing for breath for a second or two, grateful that you don’t strictly need to breathe. You wish your lungs would get the message though because they’re not happy. All of your skin tingles with angry nerves where she hit you and you must have got some wires crossed because it feels like it itches too.

You shake the feeling off and you all responsibly extinguish the campfire, for what good it’ll do now. And get your things together. Terezi steps back a little and you watch as she shifts from one form to another, it’s… the closest you can describe it is like watching a dog shake water off itself in slow motion. How all the fur and skin seems to shift as they move. Yet with her it’s a whole body unfolding out of some hidden space like terrible and giant scaled origami. In less than a second Terezi’s huge teal dragon form is standing there and she curls her long tail around to all of you.

G3T ON, N3RDS

Again, that voice is right in your head, but from how the others react you think it’s in theirs too.

June is the first one to climb up Terezi’s tail. Her back is spiked in a way that reminds you of a stegosaurus and as you follow after June you wonder about the evolutionary path of dragons. Actually, Terezi’s probably right, that was a nerdy thing to think.

There’s gaps between each of the spike plates on Terezi’s back, conveniently enough room for one person each. You all end up in a line with Jade behind you, then the twins and Sollux. You’re a little bit behind Terezi’s wings so you have a perfect view of the ground as it moves away from you. Terezi’s great wings beat and you’re certain in an instant that though she needs them to fly there’s no way she’s flying without some compromise between magic and physics, and yet it’s completely natural.

Jade gasps behind you and you hear Rose and Dave both make noises that suggest that they’re not totally comfortable with flying at great heights through the air, unsecured, on the back of a living and unpredictable dragon.

You watch as forest and road whip by below you, this feels completely different to hurtling through the air on Dave’s board. This feels… nice. You lean over to see the ground better and delight in the way the world slips by below you. It’s not as if you’re the only one who’s okay with this, June is leaning forward on her spike plate with her eyes happily shut and the wind pulling at her hair in a way that’s almost dreamlike.

Your feet slide up Terezi’s flanks and shift under you so you can stand. The air whips around you as you stand up, completely comfortable. You can see faint dirt roads on the ground below and for an insane moment you feel the compulsion to just… jump.

Isn’t there a French word to describe that feeling? Where you’re on top of something tall like a building or a bridge and the yawning emptiness below you calls you to just leap into it. With your left hand barely touching Terezi’s spiked plate you wrack your brain.

_L’Appel du Vide_ \- The call of the void.

That’s it.

Proper roads and buildings rush by below you and you’re forced to grab a tighter hold on Terezi’s spike plate when she curves to come in to land at Salem University. You’re still standing when Terezi lands on the ground outside of Mindfang’s classroom, Mindfang is actually there and was presumably summoning people back. Now she’s just staring wide eyed as Terezi turns her great head on her. The few students that were nearby have run screaming.

Behind you Rose gets up and jumps from Terezi’s back, landing in a crouch. She stands up, casually dusting herself off and looks directly at Mindfang.

“I assume we passed.” Rose says airily.


	15. Past Lives

“So you just rode a dragon back to campus, really?” Kanaya asks, her hands frozen holding several returned books.

“Yeah. She still has my phone too, although Rose is getting me a new one. Not that she has to but she’s good like that.” you nod and open up the library emails. The library has been trying to negotiate getting some rare books in exchange for different ones with a library over in Europe, Ms. Paint asked you to look out for their emails and bounce any that come in up to her ASAP.

“It’s really exciting to know that the dragon was that into books though, and that she was the one who made the prophecy on that book. Did she tell you more about it?” Kanaya asks curiously.

“No, and I didn’t ask either. Hey, can we give a library card to someone who’s not a student? She might like coming to look at our books, just as long as she doesn’t take them for her book hoard.” you wonder.

“I’m sure if you asked Ms. Paint we could arrange something, especially for a fellow bibliophile. From your description it sounds like she enchanted her cave to preserve her books.” Kanaya reasons.

“I think she did. Have you ever seen a dragon before?” you ask her.

“I’ve seen one in the distance once, I think so at least. But I’ve never met one like that.” Kanaya tells you.

“Well maybe I could… uh.” whatever you were going to say peters out as a door opens off to the side, between you and Kanaya, and swings open to reveal Spades Slick.

“Your wife is in her office.” you say casually as if this abnormal shit is completely commonplace.

“Yeh, but I’m here for you. I gotta take you to see someone.” Spades Slick says, looking right at you.

“You’re bleeding.” Kanaya says softly, her eyes locked on the psychopomp’s rib area with an expression that you wish you couldn’t read as hunger but that’s what it is.

“We’re not talking about that. You should wear this.” he says and pushes a medical mask into your hands.

You stare down at it and try to think of a good reason for him giving you this that isn’t deeply worrying. You look back up at the doorway and the room beyond it.

“This isn’t really optional, is it?” you ask and Spades Slick shakes his head.

“You had better bring him back unharmed or Ms. Paint will hear about this.” Kanaya warns him and you see the way that Spades Slick winces, he doesn’t want the displeasure of his wife.

You slide the mask over your face and adjust it, no idea if you’re doing it right.

“If you can, maybe just don’t breathe.” Spades Slick suggests and steps back through his open doorway.

“That’s actually a thing I can do.” you tell him, take a breath in and then stop breathing altogether.

“Huh, ok. Well move it then.” Spades Slick says.

You nod at Kanaya and follow the psychopomp through his door and into the waiting room that you only saw briefly when you fell through it. It’s kind of a mess with an upended game of cards and several weapons on a table. Spades Slick walks to a door on the other wall and opens it.

In the same way that Midnight City was monochromatic greyscale what you can see beyond this door is all in a sepia tone. You stand on the edge of the doorway and look at what looks like a weird hospital room. As you step through it occurs to you why the room is odd. It’s like one of those artist perspective exercises where the room just goes on forever and ever, stretching into the distance beyond sight. Yet you know that if you were to start walking you wouldn’t ever find the end of this hospital ward.

Flies buzz in the air, or at least you get the impression of flies. A rat scurries past your feet and it’s only when you look at it really hard you realise that it’s not a rat but somehow the concept of a rat. It’s almost more like a model or one of Da Vinci's detailed sketches on one.

Spades Slick’s hand touches the middle of your back and he nudges you forwards.

“If you don’t mind, Mr. Vantas.” a woman says.

For the first time you notice that the endless hospital ward has a gap in the beds off to the left and there you spy a nurse’s station where there is a woman. She’s black and shiny in a way that makes you think she’s the same species as Spades Slick. She’s wearing a trenchcoat and a wide brimmed hat, between her segmented fingers is a cigarette in a long, black cigarette holder.

“He’s not breathing, so don’t make him talk.” Spades Slick calls from behind you.

“I can work with that.” she says in a plume of smoke and gestures to the seat on the other side of the nurse’s station.

Uneasily you walk over and sit down. The metal of the chair is rusted and it has jagged edges that you have to be very careful not to cut yourself on.

“Mr. Vantas, I have some questions for you. Do you know who I am?” she asks.

You shake your head, you don’t know who she is at all.

“Perhaps it would give you a clue if I were to say that two of my compatriots were outside that club, that you’ve already been in the realm of one other of my number. And if my sources are correct you recently had contact with one of the same in the woods. Would that enlighten you?” she asks.

You’ve met Death, you’ve met Famine in the woods and Sollux told you of the others. War and Pestilence. If War was outside the club with Famine then the reason for Kurloz bursting in with a hunger for violence is suddenly crystal clear. Process of elimination and with the context clues of your medical mask as well as this ward you’re pretty sure this is Pestilence.

You nod.

“Fantastic. Now that you know who I really am, I can tell you that you may call me Snowman. I have heard that you found zombies. Needless to say this is very much my territory. If Jane has really been encroaching then I have a problem on my hands. I created the zombification virus myself, it was a side project with the permission of Aradia. Messing with death beyond what’s natural would be rude without consulting her.” she says.

You stay silent and very deliberately don’t breathe.

“Do you know what makes the perfect disease, Karkat? I’ll tell you. If you make something very deadly but not very infectious you get some very interesting results but nothing that will go very far. Left alone diseases tend to select for very transmissible but very mild, leaving people still able to spread it. A perfect disease is that middle ground between the two, very lethal and very transmissible. Now I say perfect in the sense that it is most effective, but that’s not what I want. Do you know why?” Pestilence asks and taps ash off of the end of her cigarette.

You shake your head. Snowman smiles and leans forward in her seat towards you.

“Because if everyone dies from disease I have no more mortals to infect. If I hasten the end of the world then Aradia will eventually reap my soul too. Believe it or not I like the Earth, I like humans. I like viruses and bacteria, the game of chess between me and the medical profession is wonderful and destroying it is the last thing I want.” she explains.

It’s a compassion… of a sort. More self interest but not exactly cruel either. You’re still not happy to be here and when you get out you’re going to ask Spades Slick to drop you back in your dorm and you’re going to scrub every inch of your body just in case. If she makes sickness like Jane made hunger then who knows what pathogens you could be covered in? You won’t get Rose or any of the rest of your friends sick. You won’t.

“The zombification virus was far too effective, it would have wiped out humanity. I had to intervene with its structure myself, now it’s about as hard to catch as leprosy and nothing of the original strain remains. Humanity has found a way to diagnose and treat it, they have protocols to contain it. All is well.” she explains.

Her expression turns dark and she raises her cigarette to her lips once more.

“If Famine has gone behind my back to try to recreate my sickness in some attempt to either take my position for herself and be both horsemen or as some bid to end the world I will not be happy. So, I need to ask you about what you saw. You’re not breathing now, probably sensible, but I need answers. Did you see zombies in the woods?” she asks.

You nod.

“Human?” she asks.

You nod but try your best to look only partly sure. You weren’t evaluating their species when they were running after you, but you think they were human.

“Less than ten?”

You shake your head.

“Less than twenty?” she asks.

You think it was more, so you shake your head again.

“Thirty?” she goes on.

You wave your hand uncertainly and shrug a little.

“They definitely wanted to eat you?” she goes on.

You nod emphatically at that.

“Did they look dead?” she asks.

You nod again.

“Right. Well, I have a problem on my hands. Thank you for answering my questions, you’re the only person who was there whose word isn’t suspect and I can talk to without much risk of killing them. All the same you’d better go soon. Slick will take you back.” she says, gesturing to him.

“I don’t work for YOU.” Spades Slick sneers at her.

“You barely work at all. You should look at that wound by the way, it’d be a shame if it… got infected.” Pestilence smiles meanly.

You stand up from your chair and walk back to the door, as soon as you’re through you ditch the mask.

“Take me back to my dorm.” you say with what little breath is in your lungs still.

It’s hard to fight the reflex to breathe back in but you manage it. When Slick lets you through the first door once more you’re in your dorm. It’s Monday now and Rose doesn’t have class until lunch so she sees you walk out of a door that’s suddenly in the middle of the room. She gets out only your name before you shut yourself in the bathroom.

You strip immediately and leap into the shower. You scrub every part of you with soap and wash your hair twice. When you’re done you dry off with a towel and then stare suspiciously at your probably infected clothes. You couldn’t live with yourself if you got anyone sick, so you have to destroy them.

In the test before you managed to put out fire and pick it up. Can you… can you make it? You consider that Sollux can make it and just the thought of him makes your heart sting. You stare at your hand and try to not think so much about the written spell, you’ve managed to set yourself on fire before but you have the feeling that you can just…

You clench your left hand and then with a flick you open it again to bright white flames dancing on the palm of your hand. You made fire, and not ordinary fire either. Picking up your clothes you find that they go up in flames immediately and you think you’re incredibly clever.

Until the fire alarm goes off.

You’re just wearing a towel and Rose hammers on the bathroom door, you didn’t bring other clothes in here so you have no choice but to open it and Rose doesn’t give you time to explain before she drags you out of the building. It’s all you can do not to slip on the stairs and the moment you’re among other students you really don’t want to tell her that YOU’RE the reason the alarm is going off.

“I thought you were at work until class.” Rose says over the alarm as you gather outside.

“I was. Long story.” you tell her quietly and rub one foot and then the other against the opposing calf to try to dislodge the small stones from the outside paving.

The one consolation you have is that there aren’t many students about in your dorm right now, most are in class or off elsewhere. The downside of this is that when Dave comes out he sees you right away.

“Hhhhi Rose and… nearly naked Karkat.” Dave says, coming over.

“Is Sollux not coming out? Or is he staying inside because he’s fireproof.” Rose asks.

“I’M fireproof! Why did you drag me out before I could get dressed?!” you demand, your voice picking up dangerously loud before you’re able to drag it back down.

“I didn’t consider that.” Rose admits.

“Oh. No.” Dave says, unconvincingly and you think he’s staring at you.

It’s weird to think that he’s staring at you because he’s interested but that’s absolutely the expression on his face. Even with his shades in the way you can see the way his head moves to suggest that he’s actually looking you up and down. You’re acutely aware of how there’s still water running down your chest and dripping off of your hair.

“Are you quite alright, brother dear? You look a little flushed all of a sudden.” Rose says, unconvincingly innocent.

“Oh my fuck shut up Rose. Sollux told me all about your gay disaster meeting with that vampire chick.” Dave counters.

Rose gives you a sharp look. You almost hold up both hands innocently but, no, you’re keeping one hand on this towel because you’re not letting it go anywhere.

“Don’t look at me, it turns out I did some… whatever my species’ version of a demon deal is and I literally cannot talk about it.” you insist.

“You never mentioned that before.” Rose says in surprise.

“There’s been a lot going on lately.” you point out.

“Yeah Rose, give Karkat a break. It’s not his fault he hasn’t, like, you know… uh. Yeah.” Dave nods.

“Eyes over here, Dave.” Rose snorts.

“Just- shut up.” Dave mutters, his cheeks blooming red as he talks.

The fire marshals are waving people back inside. In your haste to get back in sooner rather than later you end up going up the stairs before Dave and Rose. You’re… not going to look at Dave because based on the way Rose is snickering in amusement you think he might be staring at you.

You hurry back into your dorm room, get as dry as you can with just a towel and then scramble into some clothes before sprinting back to the library. When you burst into the office Ms. Paint, Kanaya and Spades Slick are all there. They all look around to see you.

“Sorry I’m late.” you pant. You don’t need to breathe, why are you out of breath?!

“See?! He’s FINE!” Slick says loudly, gesturing to you with a bloody hand that he goes back to holding against his side.

“Karkat, you’re all wet.” Kanaya notes.

“He probably had to wash all traces of disease off of him because SOME irresponsible man took him to see the very incarnation of it!” Ms. Paint says with an accusing look at her husband who wilts a little under her glare.

“It’s not my fault.” Spades Slick pouts.

“Oh, well, if you don’t think you did anything wrong then there’s no way that you’re actually sorry! So until you can be sorry and MEAN it and actually say it then you won’t be saying anything else either!” Ms. Paint snaps and catches Spades Slick’s face in her hand, squeezing his face between her fingers.

Glowing text rushes over his skin and you see the man open his mouth but no sound comes out. Before he can do much else Ms. Paint pushes him through his door and slams it after him.

“Honestly!” she huffs in clear irritation.

You look sidelong at Kanaya who is, just like you, frozen in place in case either of you attract your boss’ agitation.

“Now, are you quite alright sweetie? I’m so sorry that my husband is such a reckless idiot sometimes. Also, you’re dripping on the floor, do you need a towel?” Ms. Paint asks you.

“No, I’m fine. I think I’ll just go stick my head under the hand dryer in the men’s room. I’d offer to stay over my shift to cover the time I missed but I’ve got a workshop for my magical history class right after my shift. Could I come in early or stay late with my next one? I’m really sorry.” you apologise earnestly.

“No, no, don’t worry about it. I am owed time and labour that’s for sure, but the debt is not yours. My wayward husband can and will pay me back, I’m sure I can find something for him to do to even the scales.” Ms. Paint says a little sharply and you’re glad that sharpness isn’t focused on you.

Seriously though, even you know it’s a terrible idea to be indebted to the fae. As a culture they’re really not into letting debts slide. The same probably doesn't apply to Jade as she’s your friend and wasn’t raised with other fae but Ms. Paint? Yeah, not a good idea to cross her.

Ms. Paint leaves the office, muttering under her breath. You wipe moisture off of your forehead and sigh.

“You really do live the most interesting life.” Kanaya notes.

“Yeah, I know, I’m unlucky like that.” you agree unhappily.

Kanaya shoos you off to dry your hair and you go to the mens room to do so, you ignore a passing student staring at you when you’re doing it. You’re not going to explain yourself, it’d only raise more questions. As you’re under the dryer with your arms braced against the wall you find that your line of sight slips to your arm. The first thing you notice is that your sweater is on inside out and seemingly was ever since you far too hurriedly got dressed, but after that you consider the vow etched under your flesh on your arm.

You haven’t done much to get Rose and Kanaya together, maybe you could do that. But how to start?

When you return to the office Kanaya is smacking the printer with the flat of her hand, not that it seems to be helping.

“Can you fix this damned thing? If it doesn’t work I’m going to chainsaw it in half.” Kanaya threatens.

“You wouldn’t do that.” you say and shut the door after you.

“This is our fourth printer of this calendar year. I will not tolerate insubordination from my machinery.” Kanaya says, glaring at the poor printer.

“Alright, I’ll fix it, stop terrorising the poor printer.” you say and step closer to the printer to try to save its life.

“...You look like a dandelion you know.” Kanaya says after a moment and ruffles your now very out of control hair.

“Why this?” you groan.

It takes a while to get the printer working again, disconnecting it, reconnecting it and then fussing about with the computers and drivers and what have you. It’s not that you’re very technically capable, you’re just able to google the steps to troubleshoot this kind of thing and if it’s not that hard you can do it. Besides, it’s not as if you’ve ever had anyone to call for help with this stuff. No friends to speak of or adults in your life that cared. It’s kind of nice to think that you can be a friend who can help Kanaya.

Wildly controversial statement incoming: you want to help your friends and make them happy.

And on that note…

“Kanaya, do you have trollian on your phone?” you ask her as you finally take the freshly printed book labels from the printer that’s now off of death row.

“I do. I installed it before when doing research with other people, it was the easiest way to communicate, why?” Kanaya asks, taking the labels from you.

“A dragon has my phone, can I send a message to Rose from yours?” you ask.

“Again, you have the strangest life.” Kanaya says. Yeah, don’t you know it.

Still, she hands you her unlocked phone and you open up the app and quickly add Rose as a contact.

grimAuxillatrix [GA] began trolling  tentacleTherapist [TT]  
  
GA: HI ROSE IT'S KARKAT, I'M TROLLING YOU FROM KANAYA'S PHONE.  
TT: Oh, well, hello then.   
TT: Is everything alright? You appeared in the dorm and then ran out again without much explanation.  
GA: LONG STORY, TELL YOU LATER.  
GA: OR BETTER YET YOU COULD GRAB MY JACKET FOR ME FROM MY ROOM AND YOU COULD COME BY AND I COULD TELL YOU EVERYTHING.  
GA: I'M SURE KANAYA WOULDN'T MIND.   
TT: I... suppose I could do that. I'm between classes right now and I did need a book from the library.   
TT: Plus I would feel terrible if you caught a cold from being out without a jacket in this weather, especially as you had wet hair earlier.   
GA: SEE YOU IN A BIT THEN.  
TT: Yes, you will.  
  
tentacleTherapist [TT] ceased trolling  grimAuxillatrix [GA]

“Thanks, Kanaya. You know you should talk to Rose, I think you two would really get along. I know the impression she made w-” your teeth stick together and you freeze midway through handing Kanaya her phone back.

“Despite her less than tactful introduction, you mean?” Kanaya fills in for you and you nod.

“She is actually really nice and smart. Seeing as you’re nice and smart and benevolently terrifying, just like she is I think you two would have a lot in common.” you suggest innocently.

Kanaya has nothing to say to that but ‘hmm’ so you drop the matter for now and help her stick the new labels in the books that she has to the side. You’re partway through doing the library’s stationary order when Rose shows up. You’re kind of glad that you’ve been entrusted to do it because both Kanaya and Ms. Paint are both a little technologically behind so online ordering isn’t the smoothest operation for them. You’re happy to help.

“Hello Karkat, I brought your jacket.” Rose says, leaning around the office door and holding it out to you.

You hold a finger to your lips and beckon her in. Rose gives you a strange look but when she comes inside and shuts the door you talk again.

“It’s the same silencing spell that we have, we try and keep quiet in the main area.” you explain.

“Oh, very clever.” Rose nods.

You watch as she and Kanaya make eye contact. You silently urge Rose to talk.

“I wanted to say once again how embarrassed I am about Halloween and my assumptions. I’m sure I came off like quite the ass.” Rose apologises. She nervously tucks a strand of hair behind her ear.

“No, really, you don’t need to feel that way. It was quite amusing and your heart was in the right place.” Kanaya says with a smile that shows off her fangs.

You think you see Rose’s breathing stop as she stares at them, and not in the fearful way you’ve seen some students look at Kanaya. No, Rose’s response is definitely a base drive, but it’s not fear.

“Well Karkat has had nothing but good things to say about you.” Rose smiles.

“He was just singing your praises to me a moment ago as well.” Kanaya says slyly.

“Oh I think one of the noise alarms for the upper floors went off, I’ll just go get on that right now, bye!” you say in a rush and duck out of the room. The two of them can be sneaky, cunning and enamoured with each other in peace.

You don’t actually have anything much to do right now and you left without taking a reshelving cart so you just wander the shelves. You put back anything that’s out of place and with all the authority of your staff ID on your lanyard you silence people talking too loudly. You’re lucky that you’d left the thing on your desk before Spades Slick showed up because you’d have hated to burn it when you got back otherwise. That probably would have cost to replace it. As it happened you’d taken it off before you had to leave to Pestilence’s domain so you were able to pick the uncontaminated ID back up off of your desk when you returned.

Mooching past a library terminal gives you an idea and since you have time to kill you decide to do a little searching. The first thing you type in is ‘Lalonde’. Naturally this brings up a whole host of papers and books that Dave and Rose’s mother has written or co-written as well as an awful lot of video files. You’re impressed but not really sure what you’re looking for.

After a moment’s hesitation you start to search for something else. You’re not really sure of the spelling but you try anyway.

‘Morerail’ returns no search results and it’s only when you fuck around with the phonetic spelling enough to get ‘moirail’ that you get some results. You note down the book location in your mind and wander over to the demonology section.

When you find the book in question there is frustratingly no references to the word ‘moirail’ at all in the index and none of the section headings give you an idea of where you might find it. You turn the book over in your hands and run your hand over its glossy albeit faded cover.

“This talks about moirails somewhere in here, could you help me find it?” you whisper to the book.

The book does nothing so you start fanning the pages back and forth between your hands, letting your mind open in a way that’s not too different from tea leaf reading. You stop out of instinct and look at the open page in front of you.

_”-consequences for dealing with demons. In Harley’s 1982 trials in demon summoning a postgrad attempted a resummoning of the demon Asruvh Ilnuti, which Harley had experienced moderate success with earlier in that trial series. Upon realising that he was not equipped to deal with the demon alone he forcibly banished him after throwing holy water on him._

_The next day a demon appeared outside the bounds of the wards in Harley’s experimental area and ambushed the postgrad in question. The unknown demon stated that it did not tolerate harm towards its “moirail” and magically liquefied the postgrad’s ribcage. Due to the quick rescue work of a young lady on Harley’s team the postgrad was able to be rushed to surgery and saved. Further attempts to find out what a “moirail” is have met with unhelpful demonic mockery._

_Current theories is that it may be a possessive term. Given the savagery of demons there has been speculation that it may be a term to describe those in servitude to more powerful demons, but in the sense of being enslaved property rather than a simple allegiance.”_

You close the book and sigh. Sollux was right not to trust these books on demonology. Still, this is a pretty old book so you hope people have got better about it since then. After you replace the book you head back to the search terminal. This time you search for the word ‘kismesis’, although once more this takes a few spelling permutations. It doesn’t matter that you’ve read the word, you read it in a different alphabet to the one that you’re using now.

Kismesis appears in only one item in the library. Doctor Roxanne Lalonde’s video interview #42. The entry in the library has been tagged with a name that to your eyes looks demonic as well as a few related tags for other names and notes that don’t make much sense to you. It’s a video entry to the library but there’s no transcription related to the title that you can see and what’s even more frustrating is that it’s been checked out.

You scowl at the ‘out on loan’ tag on the screen and swipe your staff ID on the side of the terminal. Library users aren’t supposed to see who has checked what items out, but as a member of the library staff you can. If it’s some doctoral student who’s checked this out then it may not be back until several months from now, but if it’s someone in your year then it’ll be a shorter loan.

Okay student ID number. Huh, this person has checked out every single video in this series. You click on the ID number to bring up their profile and…

Oh.

Dave Lalonde.

Dave has checked this out and you’re pretty sure he’s not studying up on his mother’s work. He’s probably homesick, or missing her more coherent states. God, you feel awful looking this up. You’ve never seen him check anything out so he must have been coming to the library when you’re not here.

Maybe it would be worth you studying the series too, not for the same reasons as Dave but if anything you’re pretty aware that your understanding of demons could improve. You note the location down and head to the area where the video articles are kept. As far as you knew everything had been digitised and video recordings were viewed on the library’s own little knockoff youtube. The physical recordings were just so you had backups.

When you find the shelves that house Doctor Roxanne Lalonde’s video interviews you’re stunned to find that they’re actual VHS tapes, not even discs but tapes. You pull the first one off of the shelf and look at it thoughtfully. You head to your boss’ office, fielding a few questions from students about where something or the other is, but you get there.

“Hey, boss.” you say, sticking your head around the door to her office.

“Yes, employee?” she replies without looking up.

Uh, try again.

“Ms. Paint, sorry, I had a question about these.” you say, holding the tape up.

Ms. Paint turns around and looks at what you have in your hand, probably reading one of the library’s many items better than you can yet.

“What sort of question?” she asks.

“Well I went to look something up and what I was looking for only came up in one of these tapes. It’s checked out, that’s not my question. But there’s no transcripts of them and they’re not digitised, what gives?” you ask.

“Unfortunately there’s recordings of demons on that, the magic used at the time to keep the demons from influencing the world outside made it so any attempts to get it on anything but the original video scrambled it. A transcription would work but it’s never been done.” she explains.

“But that’s terrible, she did all this work and unless you can rent out this one tape you can’t experience the actual source material? I know she’s written fuckloads of books and stuff about it so it’s not like it’s all of her work but this is important!” you insist.

“I agree.” Ms. Paint nods and moves to a cupboard against one wall. She rummages around inside and then comes back with a box and a bundle of cables. She pushes the box into your arms and when you look down you see that it’s a VCR player.

“I… just signed myself up for transcribing these, didn’t I?” you say slowly.

“You did! Now, didn’t you have a tutorial to get to?” Ms. Paint smiles.

You have been soundly outmaneuvered and it would be smart to retreat before you get lumbered with anything else to do. You nod and scuttle backwards out of her room. She is right in that your tutorial for your history of magic class is going to start soon. You stow the antiquated VCR player in your bag of holding and check the first video out of the library. Through the office window you can see that Rose and Kanaya are somehow still flirting with each other so you leave them to it and head to class.

There’s a free seat next to Eridan in class so out of sheer awkwardness you go and sit next to him because he’s the only person you know in that class.

“Karkat, I heard a rumour about you.” he says as you sit down.

“I refuse to justify my choice as pirate for halloween, it was the only good costume.” you tell him and rummage through your bag for your things.

“First,” Eridan says and holds a ring covered finger up, “pirate is an excellent costume choice. Pirates are cool. Secondly, no, the rumour I heard was you showed up after your test on the back of a dragon.”

“Oh, yeah. I need to text her when I get a new phone. Her name is Terezi.” you tell Eridan.

“Is this normal for you?” Eridan asks in disbelief.

“Nothing’s normal anymore, I have given up on normal. Normal is a distant memory, a vanishing speck on the horizon. My life is now an endless ‘well this may as well happen’ as each new absurd thing smacks me in the face.” you sigh.

“W-well, okay.” Eridan stammers out in surprise.

At the front of the room Equius is politely coughing to draw the attention of the class. It seems a little like the attention he already has is making him nervous if the glistening sweat on his flanks is anything to go by. You have an idle moment of wondering if he has two ribcages or not before he starts to talk.

“Thank you. As we discussed in class the war between the fae kingdoms of Summer and Winter has been long running, it is rumoured to have begun-” Equius starts.

You hurriedly flip your notebook open and start taking notes, referring back to what you wrote in class. As this is a tutorial there’s more time for you to really ask detailed questions about some of the things that you’ve covered before now. You ask him a fair few things and to his credit Equius seems knowledgeable and when he doesn’t know something he tells you exactly that.

Equius does seem… painfully awkward though. He seems deeply uneasy with people and unsettled to just be there. He’s a little weird but not in a creepy way or anything, although sometimes he gets a little forceful with his opinions on certain topics but it seems fine.

The one thing that IS weird about all of this though is that Eridan is still not taking notes. At one point your pen runs out and you have to lean down so you can reach into your bag of holding and grab a new one, but as you’re down there with your face on the desk you realise something. You hear Eridan swallow another mouthful of the coffee that he always seems to have but after that you… you don’t hear him breathe.

You sit up sharply, unable to focus on Equius’ lecture. You should be listening but instead your senses of hearing are trained solely on Eridan. Minutes pass and he’s not breathing, you even look at him out of the corner of your eye as subtly as you can. As you look at him there’s no denying that he’s just not breathing at all.

He didn’t remember his past either and you don’t need to breathe. Is… is he whatever you are too? What if all the people with total memory loss from The Event are whatever species you are? Why would The Event wipe out your memories as a species? That’s so awful.

As you’re getting up at the end of class you’re working out how to talk to Eridan about it, you don’t really want to just blurt it out in the main room so you linger at the door and catch Eridan by the arm. You’re about to speak when you hear other voices instead.

“No, I just- I don’t want to go in there.” Sollux protests.

“Dude, I feel you but it’s the tutorial and we gotta.” Dave counters.

You slink close to the wall and hope they don’t see you, you really don’t want to deal with Sollux if he’s in a bad mood. Eridan seems to notice what you’re doing and steps back too, giving you a quizzical look.

“No, it’s not just that he’s creepy as all fuck-” Sollux hisses, he’s backing up so you can see him just around the edge of the doorway. Thankfully he’s not looking at you at all, he’s turned to the side to look at Dave. Eridan sees him and steps back closer to you.

“He is creepy.” Dave agrees.

“Right? It’s not like it’s a centaur thing because Darkleer is just weird but fine, but that guy he’s just…” Sollux shakes his head and growls.

“Yeah, I get it. It feels weird.” Dave nods.

“So let’s just not go, because as long as that guy is around I’m not going to feel good.” Sollux pleads.

“Mandatory class module, dude. Look, let’s just walk around the building again, like, build ourselves up to it.” Dave suggests. Sollux doesn’t seem pleased but he follows Dave anyway.

“That sounded like they meant Equius.” you say quietly, more to yourself than to Eridan.

“Yeah… it did. Do you know them?” Eridan asks you curiously.

“It’s complicated. Same friend group.” you say, skipping a lot of very pertinent information.

“Huh. Ok. He sounds kind of dangerous though.” Eridan says.

“Sollux? No. Listen, I’d better go. I’ll see you later.” you tell Eridan.

“Wait, we should- what’s your number?” Eridan asks, making you hesitate.

“I still don’t have my new phone yet, I don’t know what number it’ll have when I get it either. I could give you my trollian though, I have that on my laptop still. It’s carcinoGeneticist. I’ll write it down.” you say and quickly scribble your account name down.

He bids you goodbye and it’s only when you get back to your dorm that you realise you forgot to ask him about the not breathing thing. You don’t feel like you can bring it up over trollian either. How would you subtly segue into ‘hey so I noticed you weren’t breathing’ without sounding like a complete weirdo.

Instead you go into your room, turn the do not disturb sign, and take the VCR player out. It takes a while of fiddling with the cables to get the thing to display on your monitor and put sound out. You figure that it’d be sensible to have a listen to the whole thing first so you know the context of what you’re transcribing.

You start the video playing. The first thing that flashes up is the title screen, which is just a sheet of paper detailing the date and the experiment number on it. You can hear rustling behind it which was how you knew the sound was working when you were setting it up, you hadn’t watched beyond this though.

When the paper is pulled back you see Doctor Lalonde, or as you suppose was then, just Roxy Lalonde. The amount that she looks like Rose takes your breath away, but the air of nervousness about her and the way she’s trying to play it off screams Dave. You can see why Dave would want to watch these.

Roxy puts the paper off to the side and shifts back on her heels from where she’s kneeling. Beyond her you can see a blank white room much like the practice room you used before. Or the walls at least are blank, the floor is covered with elaborate script and circles that look as complex as the kind she used to summon you back.

“Roxy Lalonde, video recording first official test. There was a pre-test but I worked out that digital doesn’t play nice so analogue it is, plus the demon was able to escape on its own so I’ve fixed that. Stupid syntax error. Anyway, test begin!” Roxy chirps.

She shuffles over on her knees so she’s at the edge of the circle. You see her take a steadying breath and then press her fingers to the edge of the circle. It lights up in hot pink and chugs along for a few moments before there’s a flare of teal inside and a startled looking demon. Roxy gasps and sits up straighter, smiling at the demon. You think you might vaguely recognise the demon, actually. Maybe she was at Sollux’s party at the club.

“Nnnnope.” she says slowly. There’s a flash but nothing happens and the demon looks concerned.

“Hi, please let me explain.” Roxy says, holding up a hand. The demon narrows her eyes at Roxy.

“My name is Roxy Lalonde, I’m a witch and a researcher. I’m trying to study demons and I wanted to ask you a few questions. I want to make you an offer in exchange for information and if you don’t like it then I’ll release you, no harm no foul, just hear me out.” Roxy says hurriedly.

“Do you have a death wish?” the demon asks, seemingly as confused as she is irritated.

“No, that’s why there’s all the protections! Listen, I just want to know more about demons.” Roxy insists.

“Why, so you can try to kill us?” the demon asks.

“No, I think it would be pretty unfair to ask you that. Both because I don’t super condone killing sentient people unless it’s in self defense, so giving other witches more intel on how to hunt your kind down sorta goes against my ethics, yanno? But, like, we know almost nothing about how demons actually work and what I’ve read that we do know seems kinda bs that people have inferred rather than just asked and researched. So I wanted to do this all anthropologically, with interviews.” Roxy explains.

“And why would I want to help you with that?” the demon asks.

“Well, I think that replacing ignorance with knowledge is always a pretty valuable thing.” Roxy starts.

The demon laughs, though she sounds weary.

“Void magic users, right. Go on.” she chuckles. Roxy looks a bit thrown but does keep talking.

“Secondly I swear on anything you’d like to not hurt you when you’re in this circle and I won’t let anyone else do so either. I vow to not knowingly share any information I gather from you with other demons, it’s fully confidential. I’m making this recording for my own notes but it’ll only be in my university. If you want I can tell you things in return or if there’s something you’d like me to do that I’m willing to agree to we can do that. It’s just… you can tell me things and no one else will know but me. I get to improve our knowledge of how a whole species works and you can be part of that. I’ll release the part of the spell that stops you leaving, if you want to go you can. I don’t want to force anyone to talk.” Roxy explains. She waves a hand and a light at the edge of the circle changes colour.

The demon looks at it and then back at Roxy, blinking slowly.

“You really expect demons to just do this?” she asks.

“I’m sure plenty won’t. I mean, even when people are testing magic or psychological studies on people on this plane loads of people don’t sign up to those studies or drop out if they do. But I won’t know if I don’t ask.” Roxy says, her voice small and earnest. You want to cheer for her, being so hopeful and earnest in her quest for knowledge. She’s treating demons with respect and it’s no surprise at all that Sollux likes her.

The demon adjusts her glasses and sighs.

“This is a hopeless quest and you won’t get anywhere with it.” she says.

“Well-” Roxy starts.

“I’m in. I won’t tell you everything, I’m not stupid. But I needed a break anyway so might as well do this.” the demon shrugs and sits down opposite Roxy on the ground. She pulls a mug out of nowhere and takes a sip of whatever is inside it.

Roxy perks up immediately and, again, you see Dave in her.

“What’s your name?” Roxy asks.

“I’m not telling you the whole thing, but Tyzias is part of it. You can call me that.” the demon answers.

“Tyzias, spelt like that?” Roxy asks, scribbling the name down and showing it to her.

“If you’re going to phonetically do it in your alphabet, sure.” Tyzias shrugs.

“Okay, great. Well, what do you do?” Roxy asks.

“I’m a legislacerator. I work with legal stuff.” she answers and has another sip.

“What kind of legal stuff? Laws applying to demons or something else?” Roxy questions her, a clever question as far as you’re concerned. Probably not one you’d have thought of.

“Nnnno, well. Eh, I am trained in that too. My law applies to humans. Adjudicating on whether contracts are fair is part of it but also working on reform with Post Mortem so the right people end up in the right place when they die. In modern life humans can be shitty in ways we hadn’t imagined in the old days, I guess.” Tyzias shrugs.

“That’s really interesting. Given that demons do have something to do with the afterlife in, well, hell it’s like… people think bad people should be punished but then look down on the people doing it. You can’t have it both ways.” Roxy reasons.

“That’s one way of looking at it. I don’t deal with the punishing side of it much, or not to humans. I suppose I wasn’t entirely accurate earlier, my work is mostly reforms like I said but that process is slow as fuck. I’m also in a team doing legal advice for demons who aren’t doing their job right. Sometimes I get to reassign people to something they’d rather do, that’s nice.” Tyzias nods.

“It sounds like you do a lot of things!” Roxy remarks cheerily.

“So… so much stuff.” Tyzias nods and pinches the bridge of her nose.

“What about social things, how does that work?” Roxy asks, moving on with her topics.

“What social stuff? I’m always working. I guess I see other teals a lot-” Tyzias says but Roxy cuts in.

“Teals?” Roxy asks.

Tyzias squints at her and then points at her eyes which have unnatural, well, teal coloured irises to them.

“Demons are different colours. It used to mean something, thankfully now it doesn’t much. Everything used to be divvied up by colour but _he"_decided that doing that was ‘fucking stupid rainbow bullshit’. I mean I agree of course but…” Tyzias grimaces a little, showing fang as she does it.

“Who do you mean by ‘he’?” Roxy asks.

Tyzias raises an eyebrow and points one finger right at the ground.

“I mean HIM.” Tyzias says significantly.

“Satan? The Devil? The Prince of Darkness?” Roxy lists off quickly.

“Stop that! It’s not super likely that he’ll pay attention because he heard you using his pseudonyms but I don’t want to be here if he does! So cut it out.” Tyzias interrupts.

“Alright, but that’s who you mean?” Roxy presses on.

“Yes.” Tyzias groans.

“Do you not like him?” Roxy asks, leaning forward a little as she does so.

“I’ve never met him, that’s probably added to my life expectancy. Also, if you’re going to keep doing this you run a real risk of talking to someone who’ll tell him just what you’re doing. Not that I’m helping or anything but I’m just… saying. Or whatever.” she mumbles and looks away.

“Thank you for the tip, I’ll try to be more careful.” Roxy smiles and you think Tyzias is trying to not like Roxy and failing.

“Anyway, like I was saying, I spend time with other teals. The legal professions typically bias teal more than any other profession still does, it is what it is. I spend time with them, the difference between socialising and what… what I guess you humans would call ‘networking’ is blurry. I see my matesprit but that’s about it. If you wanted a good look at demon social life you shoulda summoned someone else.” Tyzias says with a shrug.

“What’s a matesprit?” Roxy asks.

“Right, human. Think of her like my wife. Listen, I have to get back to work so I’m going to go. But… good luck with your project I guess. It’s a noble goal, even if it’ll probably get you killed.” Tyzias says as she gets to her feet. Roxy does as well and gives the demon a warm smile.

“Maybe, but everyone’s gotta go sometime, right? Thank you very much for your help.” Roxy smiles.

Tyzias shakes her head a little fondly and then vanishes in a puff of teal. There’s a pause and then Roxy squeaks in delight and legitimately hops up and down on the spot before turning the camera off. You find that you’re smiling as well. Roxy is kind and honest about what she’s doing, she treats people with respect regardless of species. You can see why her work did as well as it did and you can see Dave and Rose in her so much.

You rewind the tape and settle in to start transcribing it.

The next morning you’re leaning against your dorm door frame as you wait for Rose to find the sweater she insists that she has to wear. You’re pretty sure that she’s planning on seeing Kanaya later and wants to look pretty or something. It’s fine, you can amuse yourself by playing tic-tac-toe against yourself on the little whiteboard on your door. Alright, it’s not that entertaining but you don’t have a phone anymore since a dragon took it and you have very little else to do.

June shoves open the door to the stairwell and rolls her eyes at you with an exaggerated sigh.

“He’s still sulking.” June announces.

“I am NOT!” Sollux shouts from further back.

June and Jade exchange a look that tell you just how little they believe him.

“Sulking about what?” you ask warily.

“Nothing, because sulking is not what I’m doing.” Sollux snaps at you as he comes through the door, as if any of this is in any way your fault.

“Well ya ain’t just talking about it, man. I told you that you can’t just drop a class no matter how creepifying you find the TA. If you keep going on about it you’re either sulking or whining.” Dave points out as he joins you.

“Is this about Equius?” you ask Sollux.

“Yes! Doesn’t he seem creepy to you?” Sollux demands, he must be desperate if he’s seeking your opinion.

“I… no? Well, he’s awkward and pretty sweaty. He’s pretty intense but I think creepy is pushing it. Mindfang is creepy, Equius not nearly as much.” you say and Sollux grumbles in irritation.

“So, alchemy. It’s purifying today apparently, I’m guessing water but the class list didn’t say and that vagueness concerns me.” Dave says as you rub the details off of your tic-tac-toe board. You’re going to leave it but suddenly a cross appears in one corner in a gently glowing red.

...Alright. You draw a circle under it.

“Maybe we’ll start with water and move onto other things, purifying metal. I’m sure they do that in industry, right?” you wonder. Sollux makes another move and you counter it.

“I doubt it, not when just getting things really hot works instead. You don’t need magic for everything.” June reasons.

“I guess being in school so much makes you think about magical uses for anything.” you admit and watch Sollux place another cross. You think you might win this actually, you make another move and he pauses.

“Hah, yeah, when all you have is a hammer everything looks like a nail, right?” June laughs.

“You’d know about hammers!” Jade snorts and punches June in the shoulder so they’re both chortling away.

“ROSE ARE YOU ACTUALLY COMING WITH US ANY TIME SOON?” Dave shouts past you into your dorm.

“JUST A SECOND!” Rose shouts back.

A second grid floats above your first one and Sollux places his cross on that.

“Motherfucker, this isn’t fourth dimensional chess, you can’t DO that.” you argue, turning around to glare at him.

“I clearly can. Your move.” Sollux says smugly.

“And I’m meant to draw on thin air how?” you ask him rather pointedly.

“Working that out is a you problem.” Sollux shrugs.

You BARELY resist throwing the marker at him. Thankfully Rose arrives at the door so you toss it at the counter and leave instead.

“I have to pick up the mail, I got an email saying the building office signed for a package for me.” Rose informs you as she pulls the door shut.

“Why must you place so many obstacles between me and waffles, Rose? Why?” Dave whines.

“You don’t have to come with. You’re perfectly welcome to go ahead to breakfast whilst I pick up my package and sign for it.” Rose points out.

“But then I’ll have to live with not knowing what’s in the box.” Dave pouts.

“You know what you could put in the box.” June grins.

You’re subjected to following Rose to pick up her package, which is indeed a box, as Dave and June catch the previously uninitiated Jade up on the ‘dick in a box’ joke. The whole time it’s going on you swear you can feel Sollux’s eyes hot on the back of your neck. He wasn’t so hostile earlier, does that mean that he’s less…

It hardly matters though, does it? Even if he isn’t angry at you, it’s still not as if you can be close to him. He’s refused to explain anything emotional to you and won’t let you any closer. Even if he isn’t actively aggravating you that’s still not changed. It still hurts and you wish it didn’t.

Rose leads you all to breakfast, refusing to do anything with the box until you’re all sat down ready to eat. Well, ou’re ready to eat, Dave is obsessing over the box.

“Here you go, Karkat.” Rose says and hands you the mysterious box that is absolutely addressed to her.

“Uh?” you say.

“It’s for you, open it.” Rose insists.

She doesn’t seem to be joking so you awkwardly have to use your dull butter knife to cut through the packing tape, not that you’re getting very far. Sollux seems highly amused by your struggle through and doesn’t stop grinning when you glare at him.

“You could help Mr. ‘I have several swords on my person at all times’!” you snap at him.

“This is going to be great. I’m just waiting for it.” Sollux says, resting his chin on his hand.

Stupid Sollux. You go back to stabbing at the packing tape with your now very sticky and still blunt knife. Sollux could magic you up one of his weapons, it’s not like you…

Sollux’s shoulders are shaking in silent laughter now, laughter that becomes the out loud kind when you hold your hand out and your sickle falls into it.

“Not a fucking word.” you hiss at him and quickly slice the packaging open with your weapon that almost certainly was not meant for this use.

Once the packing tape is defeated the top opens easily. It opens to reveal a box for the very latest iphone with what appears to be the highest specs going. Your jaw drops and you stare at Rose.

“The sim card should already be installed, I put you on our plan. And I warn you that if you dare refuse this phone or protest at all I will sneak into your room at night and put permanent marker on your face in whatever design I so choose.” Rose threatens you.

“Oh my fuck, do you remember when Dave had angry eyebrows for a straight week?” June howls.

“I still have the pictures.” Sollux snickers.

“All three of you suck, I am only friends with Karkat and Jade now.” Dave says.

“Wait, can I see these pictures?” Jade asks hopefully.

“Sure.” Sollux says and starts flicking through his phone.

Dave reaches over the table and places his hand on yours.

“You are my only friend now, Karkat.” Dave whispers and even though you know he’s joking there’s something about the way he says it and his hand brushing yours that makes your stomach flip-flop. You think the same must happen to him because he pulls back, looking a touch flustered.

“It should be more or less ready to go, though I’m sure syncing it and copying things across from whatever you had backed up pre-Terezi will be both boring and frustrating in its design but such is the way of technology.” Rose shrugs.

“Thank you Rose, you really didn’t need to. It’s… it’s really kind.” you sniff, actually getting a bit teary eyed.

“Well you did really save our butts there with that dragon. Not that I couldn’t have taken her but your way was better.” June nods.

“June, I’m not doubting your skills with your giant hammer and your improbable upper body strength but she’s an ancient, giant, fire-breathing dragon.” you tell her and June just shrugs like that’s your opinion and not an indisputable fact about how June would be instantly cremated and Terezi would be fine.

You tap at the phone and start to set it up as you eat your breakfast with just your fork, the knife still has too much packing tape residue on it to make you want to put it anywhere near your mouth.

You might be missing most of your memories from your life but you haven't forgotten your own phone number so you send 'yourself' a text.

HI TEREZI, THIS IS KARKAT. THIS IS MY NEW PHONE, SO IF YOU WANT TO TALK TO ME YOU CAN JUST MESSAGE ME BACK. I COULD HELP YOU SET UP A TROLLIAN ACCOUNT IF YOU WANT. ALSO MY BOSS SAYS WE CAN GET YOU A LIBRARY CARD IF YOU WANT TO COME AND READ OUR BOOKS.

You figure that you may not hear back from her right away, she's probably not very technologically inclined given that she's a dragon who has been sleeping in a cave for who knows how many years so when you get a message back almost immediately from your old number it catches you off guard. It's a picture message too. You squint and decide that it's almost certainly a picture of Terezi's nose up close, as if she was trying to sniff the camera. Before you can send her a message back you get another message from her, this is a picture as well and it's far clearer than the last one.

It's a picture of her in a hot tub from the shoulders up, but she's not alone. Looking around her shoulder is Roxy Lalonde in a neon pink bikini.

"UH." you say out loud, perhaps a little too loud.

"I sense shenanigans." June says, perking up.

"I messaged my old phone to contact Terezi and she sent me this picture back." you say and turn the phone around.

"Mom?!" Dave exclaims.

Sollux's eyes go wide and he vanishes immediately, you assume to go back to the Lalonde house and find out what the hell is happening.

"Wait! Take me with... you... ok." Dave trails off.

"Let me see that." Rose insists and pulls your phone around.

Her eyebrows creep up her head in clear surprise but she doesn't seem as concerned as Dave.

"She mentioned that she had a friend, and you said before about that book that was locked up because of the prophecy of a 'Dragon Seer'. She seemed to know mother so perhaps they were actually friends, maybe she was the friend that Terezi mentioned she was going to see." Rose says.

"Cool, your mom will let a literal dragon hang out with her but not let me in the house if she can help it." June says bitterly.

"It is pretty weird to think of mom as someone with friends." Dave agrees.

Sollux reappears, dripping wet and scowling.

"Did you get dragged into the hot tub?" June snorts, seemingly cheered up right away by the comedy of Sollux's misfortune. It doesn't dampen your day either.

Sollux flares fire over his skin for a second and when it dies down he's dry again, although still surly looking.

"It's cool, they're old friends apparently and your mom is happy enough. Probably shouldn't kick out someone who's making her less isolated." Sollux says and sits down again.

"Perhaps with more socialisation she might do a little better." Rose says quietly, like she's trying to restrain the hope inside her but not quite managing it.

After a moment's thought you send Terezi another text: 'HAVE FUN'.

Your days just kind of... go on from there. Sollux alternates between being distant with you and having moments where it seems like something could be changing for the better. It's frustrating to be stuck in this limbo and it's not made any easier with each new time you hang out with Dave alone after class. You can't help but notice all these things about him that it would be better if you didn't. The soft way he smiles sometimes, or even just anything about his lips in any way at all is a bad idea for you to notice. That's normal enough with pining, but when you're working on the same magical language and you're talking about how you're trying to solve the problems in your work he has ideas that are different to your own. Not better exactly, he just has a unique approach to things and it draws you in. Dave isn't just cute and funny, though he certainly is those things. He has genuine depth to him that you're catching more and more. It's there in the way he thinks through problems and the way he's clearly genuinely smart and not just gifted with raw magical power from his mother, there's an intelligent mind at play. He's subtle about it, not like Rose who wants to use how smart she is like a weapon to ward people away from underestimating her. Dave seems fine to not stand out for being smart, but the jokes he makes sometimes and the problems he solves betrays him. When he really gets talking about something and his hands move as he talks it makes you think of the artistic masters, studying details like that, gestures of the hand and Dave feels like some kind of masterpiece.

What you're saying is that you have it bad and you still can't be with him. You're pretty sure that he, for some reason, feels the same about you. At least that's the only explanation for moments like this.

"Look, look!" Dave laughs, leaning against your shoulder so he can see the video that he's made you watch.

The video in question being a youtube compilation of bird vines. The one you're currently watching has a parrot squeezing through a door and walking towards the camera as it laughs in a way more fit for an evil genius finally revealing their plan instead of a bird.

"I love the little guys too, the ones that skateboard. I know there was a few of those in here." Dave adds. He leans across you and scrubs through the video with his finger until he gets to a video with small little birds riding those tiny skateboards down miniature ramps, only the person who edited the video has superimposed the kind of on screen stuff you get on a computer game.

"You are..." you start to say as you turn your head to look at him. You don't know what you were going to say, that he's ridiculous, that he's- he's something else. It falls completely out of your brain when you look at him though. Because he's leant over to you he's a little lower so he's actually looking up at you a little. His head tilted near to yours and the two of you just ever so close. It's not as if you're touching each other all that much either, he's pressed against your shoulder a little and his knee is just against your leg ever so slightly. You're aware of all the places you're not touching because it feels like there's electricity between the two of you. Your hormone addled brain reminds you of those weird electric orbs they have in science museums where when you touch them it trails glowing light from your fingertips as it makes contact between you and its centre. It feels like that, as if all the air between you and Dave is charged and crackling.

"You're... uh." you mumble and dumbly glance down at Dave's lips and almost die at the way you see him gasp just a little bit. Maybe not a gasp, a breath of anticipation or something. You're too addled to think right.

You want to kiss him, he wants to kiss you.

And yet neither of you can do what you want.

"I mean, hah, yeah. Birds, right?" Dave babbles as he pulls away from you. His ears are pink and there's a flush creeping down the back of his neck too.

You're sick with all the things you want and can't have.

You wonder if Sollux actually does treat you worse every time you have one of those almost moments with Dave or if those moments just make you feel raw and so you act off around Sollux and he reacts to that. Either way you're stuck in this terrible tug of war that you can't win or escape from. Right now at least he seems to not be talking to you and avoiding you altogether if he can. You take halfhearted notes in your magical languages class and when the class lets out Sollux just teleports away immediately. Whether it's personal or maybe he just doesn't want to walk through the cold drizzling rain back to the dorm you don't know, it certainly feels personal though.

"Do you think we're going to get all that many assignments over the winter break? I think we have to with Magical History at least because we have so much to catch up on, they could even do online learning a little for that to even it up perhaps." Jade muses.

"Are you wishing for more classwork, Jade?" Rose laughs softly and pulls her umbrella a little closer to fend off a gust of cold wind.

"Well it's not as if I have anything else to do over the break." Jade says with a shrug.

"I'm not going back, I don't care how cold it is here. Fuck Georgia. Well, fuck this weather too. Fuck everything." you grumble and tug a little on the strings that go through the hood of your anorak that's doing little for the cold and not enough against the rain either.

"Yeah, cats don't like water." Dave grins, you know he's trying to goad you into bickering with him instead of complaining about the cold but you're actually ironically too cold to be bothered with that.

You shake your head as he holds the door to your dorm building open. Rose goes in last, lingering in the doorway to flick the water off of her umbrella with one sharp open and close of it.

"That didn't do much." Rose sighs as she walks into the building and holds up her dripping umbrella.

"Well, whatever. The worst will probably drip off on the way back to the dorm and if it doesn't then who cares? By the time we're done with first year and have to move out to somewhere off campus I'm sure we'll have worked out a way to get a water stain out of the carpet." you point out.

"True." Rose concedes but shakes her umbrella all the same as you climb the stairs together. June is still teasing Jade for wanting more work from her classes and you're about ready to leap in and say something smart about June not wanting to share notes anymore then if she thinks that studying is so dweeby. Something like that.

You don't get the chance.

Something sharp and terrible lances through your chest, bursting right through your heart. You clutch your hand to your chest and stagger back, thankfully across the same stair and not down several. You stumble back into the wall as you gasp for breath. Everything is wrong, you shouldn't be here. You KNOW instinctively that you should be somewhere else.

"Karkat!" Rose exclaims and grabs your shoulders to steady you and stop you falling down.

She's keeping you in place. She's keeping you here and YOU SHOULDN'T BE HERE. Your whole body explodes in a horrible under the skin static like when you move a limb that's gone to sleep. A burst of knowledge sears through you, you shouldn't be HERE you should be THERE.

NOW.

NOW!!!!

You scramble down the stairs, tripping a little. You haul yourself up on the ground floor and sprint through the doors that you only just recently walked through. You're late, you're LATE!

Desperately you run in the direction you need to go, pushing people aside as you sprint through. There's a flare of lights and something crashes into you. You tumble to the floor and hear a screech of tyres as you skid on the wet tarmac.

"The fuck are you- oh no." Sollux says, an inch from your face.

"What the HELL do you think you two are doing?! I could have hit-" a man is shouting.

Sollux's appearance flickers, he's suddenly bigger and snarling, his back covered in hellfire. The man screams and runs but you don't care where to or who he is, you have to move. You have to get away. You have to get there.

"Where do you have to go?" Sollux asks and that at least penetrates your brain and the haze of obsessive direction. But all you can do is vaguely screech and point your finger.

"Fuck, okay, that's not helpful. Karkat, I need your permission to find out where you need to go and to get you there, do you give me that?" Sollux asks clearly.

"Anything! You can do anything!" you insist desperately.

Sollux freezes, eyes wide, and then his face shifts into an almost pained expression.

"You are lucky this is me and not someone else. Hold still." he says.

Sollux sits up on your stomach and unzips your coat, he shoves his hand up your sweater underneath until his hand is over your heart and the glowing mark you know is there. He frowns slightly and focuses and you feel a weird disconnect of him occupying the same space that you're in. It's not like he's put his hand inside your chest or anything, it's like he's slightly out of synch with your atoms or something, so he's existing in all the spaces that your atoms currently aren't in. It shouldn't be possible, it can't be, but it's happening.

"Got it." Sollux says and snatches his hand back.

Abruptly there's a puff of smoke and a rush of movement, then all at once you're elsewhere and you can feel that you're so much closer to where you're meant to be. You stagger to your feet as Sollux hops off of you. Like a compass needle to the north pole you can feel where you're supposed to be, where you're being called to and you take off running. It's down an alleyway and right.

As you skid around the corner you see two demons and a man. A man with your face or close enough. It's bloodied and clearly he's been smacked around a lot already. Something deep inside of you screeches about the fact that he's only this hurt because you didn't get here right away. One of the demons sees you, stares, and then looks between you and the man who looks just like you. He raises a wicked looking knife in one hand and before you can even throw your hand out to stop him he plunges it into the man's chest.

His face that's so much like yours contorts in pain, his eyes screwed tight in agony from the knife buried in his heart.

The demon lets him go and the man falls forward onto his knees and then his hands as well. The knife is still buried in his chest, pierced through his red sweater on one side and out the other.

"What the fuck..." Sollux whispers as the man...

It's hard to say what you're looking at. Shock has frozen you in place and you can hardly process what you're seeing. The man almost disassembles. He doesn't fall apart into meat chunks like some video game character. It's more that his skin burns away in light and underneath is some impossible sight. Rings in rings spinning around intertwined in ways that defy physics, only they shatter and vanish as soon as you can get even the slightest look at them. In bright white and red light the man fizzles into nothing.

The burning need in your chest to be here fades and what is left is something hollow and awful.

One of the demons moves towards the knife that's protruding from the dead man's clothes, that's all that's left of him now. Clothes on the floor with no one in them. As he reaches for the blade Sollux flings himself forward with a snarl and a curse on his lips, not swearing but an actual curse. You can feel the malicious intent in it as Sollux stands hulking and huge above where the man fell. He's easily twelve feet tall right now and on fire with red and blue light.

The two demons turn tail and run, when they're gone Sollux shrinks back down to normal. He's stood over the sweater with the knife in it and with a sigh he reaches down and pulls the knife free.

"What is- what was- just... what?" you choke out.

Sollux inspects the inky black blade with a frown and then looks at you. He waves a hand and you find yourself picked up from the ground and leant against the nearest brick wall, although it's not the same spot where the man was stabbed.

"Just try and keep calm, I'm sure this feels like shit if you're anything like us." Sollux says quietly. He crouches on the ground near you and stares at the knife, turning it over in his hands.

"What is that thing?" you ask him shakily.

"It is something I didn't think people could get anymore. I thought that whole part was blocked off and impossible to get to. Maybe someone had one on them when everything went to shit but how those nobodies got this I don't know. It's just a knife but it's designed specifically to kill what you are." Sollux says and then makes it vanish.

A knife to kill your kind?

"So he was- obviously he's whatever I am. He looked just like me. Who was he? Why did he look like me? How did I know where to come? What made me need to be here?" you ask in a rush, words flowing out of you in desperation.

"He's... ah..." Sollux frowns and looks away. He pauses for a few long seconds and then looks at you again with a very significant expression on his face.

"Remember I gave you that lesson about demons before? I realise I didn't mention a few things and I should give you that unrelated lesson now." Sollux says.

Unrelated your ass, this is absolutely a related fact. He just can’t tell you it is because of this stupid spell that’s to do with whatever is on your skin and whatever happened during The Event!

“So I have a maker, I mentioned it before. I technically have to do whatever my maker says, but it’s not literally every word and I can negotiate it a little. I guess you have to put some kind of magic into a command to make it a thing I HAVE to do instead of just words said out loud.” Sollux explains.

“It would make sarcasm and figures of speech hard otherwise I guess.” you agree a little weakly.

You press your hands to your knees to steady them, they’re still shaking like crazy. But as you do you suddenly realise that your knees really fucking hurt, your jeans are ripped and soaked and you’re bleeding. When did that happen? With a hiss of pain you pull your hand back and stare at your battered knees.

“You fell down a bunch of stairs trying to run off, then you nearly got hit by that car. Nothing’s broken, is it?” Sollux asks softly and touches your knee ever so gently.

“I don’t know. I barely remember any of that.” you admit.

“Yeah.” Sollux says quietly as he inspects your knees. He’s got all his eyes open, even though his top set is just ever so slightly and each of your knees is highlighted in a different colour from his eyes.

“Anyone can summon me if they know how, you’d need a circle and the right kind of spell. It’s easier if you’ve got my name or something on me. My maker doesn’t need a circle or any of that, just words with intent. A command to come here right now. When that happens I have to go. Not being where I’m supposed to be feels wrong, it’s not painful but it’s not pleasant.” Sollux explains.

“Like full body static. Everything is wrong and you have to go, you have to get to… to wherever. I had to go.” you say.

“Yes, that’s exactly what it’s like for me. When I’m summoned. By my maker. I’m so glad we’re talking about me.” Sollux says pointedly, looking up at you. He’s not just talking about himself, obviously.

You look over at the empty clothes on the ground, the place where that man who had looked just like you was. Where he died.

“He… he was my maker. He made me, he summoned me here somehow and-” you swallow thickly and stare at the rip in that bright red sweater on the ground, right where the knife went through him.

“And now he’s dead.” you whisper.

Sollux moves around so he’s leant against the wall by your side, pressed up tight against you from hip to shoulder.

“I know that you don’t really remember him but my maker is ground into my soul, even with complete amnesia that’d still hurt. You don’t even understand what you’re supposed to be feeling. So… I’m sorry.” Sollux tells you quietly and his tails lift off of the dry tarmac and curl around your thigh.

You don’t know what to think so you just end up noticing that wherever you are it’s not raining, you don’t know where this place is despite how desperate you were to get to it.

“Where are we?” you ask him numbly.

“You’re not going to like it.” Sollux warns you.

You think about that for a moment.

“Are we in fucking Georgia again?!” you demand and Sollux nods.

Wait, that means that your maker was here this whole time. He’s the only family you have and he was this close all along?!

You scrabble forward, wincing when you put pressure on your battered knees, and reach for the man’s clothes. Sollux’s tails slide off of your leg easily and he watches you as you search through the back pockets of the dead man’s high waisted jeans.

He has a wallet, soft grey leather that’s still warm from the heat of a body that’s no longer there. Flicking it open you see the same kind of ID that you have, the one that you get because you don’t know who you are. It has his photo, an address in Georgia. His assumed age is in his mid twenties and it lists his name as Kankri Vantas.

“How- how did they register him and me and not work out that we were connected? It’s the same state!” you hiss furiously as Sollux leans over to look at it.

“From what I remember the time right after the event was a shitshow, people trying to make up procedures and records for something that’d never happened before. It’s a dumb mistake though, they should have caught it.” Sollux agrees.

You sit down on your butt instead of your sore knees as Sollux walks over and pops the guy’s keys out of his ring and his phone out of its charm, he starts tapping through it curiously. Probably trying to hack into it or something. You sniff and hate yourself for being angry about this, you can’t change the past. Besides the few memories you’ve got back haven’t exactly indicated that living with him would have been a fun time. It still would have been nice to know he was out there instead of feeling that you were all on your own for all these years.

Who was Kankri anyway? You can’t talk to him so you look through his wallet, you have no other choice. There’s his bank card which tells you nothing, a library card that you approve of but it doesn’t tell you much either. You freeze when you find the third card in his wallet.

The stark black HDL logo in the middle tells you what it is without you even having to read the words below, the Human Defense League. You know the logo because they protested outside of your apartment building in Georgia before you went to Salem. They’re a group of extremists who believe that nonhumans are invading the spaces that belong to humans and trying to exploit humans for their nefarious ends. Whenever any crime is committed by anyone who isn’t human these fuckers always pop up spouting off how it’s proof how non humans are savage. They’ve killed people before, even though the movement has always denied any involvement with that.

It makes no fucking sense though, you’re not human, he’s your maker and he died on some supernatural knife that killed him because he’s the same non-human thing you are!

“What the fuck?!” you hiss.

“Oh, he had a card too, huh?” Sollux says with a grimace.

“What do you mean by ‘too’? Why would he join this? Was he undercover or something? He had to have been, I know I’m not human, he wasn’t, how could he not know?” you ask in shock.

“How did you know that you weren’t human?” Sollux asks, looking up from the phone.

“Because my voice does that thing it does and I- I always felt like I wasn’t part of the rest of humanity.” you mumble.

“Maybe he’s not the shouting type so he didn’t find it out. I guess he took that discomfort with human society and decided that other people were the problem. He has a youtube channel by the way, I’ve been watching it with the subtitles on. If he was undercover he was REALLY convincing.” Sollux sighs. He offers the phone to you but you shake your head, you don’t think you can deal with that right now.

“Is that why those two demons killed him?” you wonder, not that you can entirely blame them. The HDL are AWFUL.

“Eh… it probably didn’t help. But they knew what he was, if he was just some human they’d have killed him with their bare hands or anything else. That knife was specific and I don’t know how they knew what he was. If it wasn’t for him looking just like you I don’t think I’d have known what he was.” Sollux says with a frown and takes that knife out again, although he’s careful to keep it far away from you.

“Why?” you ask.

“Unless your kind are actively doing shit that gives you away you’re good at hiding. That little vanishing stunt you pulled before is part of it, only now it looks like you guys don’t even know what you are. That’s some stealth, so secret even you don’t know. I mean, maybe if you’re someone who’s seen a lot you get better at clocking them but…” Sollux shrugs and holds the knife up to the light.

“And that’s made to kill us?” you ask.

“Mmm, I’ve only seen one other like this up close. It was a sword not a knife so it’s not the same weapon, obviously. Crazy rare and I doubt they have another. I’ve got to look into this though.” Sollux says in clear displeasure and vanishes the weapon again.

You feel awful. The only person you’re related to was just murdered in front of you, he was close to you this whole time and you never knew and it turns out he was a complete bastard. There’s a sick and awful feeling churning in you that feels like it wants to infect everything the the same awfulness. You look over at Sollux who is looking right back at you and your mouth moves before your brain gets involved.

“Why’d you put it away?” you ask him.

“Because if it breaks your skin you’re dead, I don’t need to be waving it around and risking that.” Sollux answers.

“Don’t you hate me though? Even if you don’t want to kill me don’t you want to stab me anyway, I know you’ve got other swords. Or maybe you do want to kill me. Fitting that it’d be fucking Georgia of all goddamn places.” you say bitterly.

Sollux stares at you and it’s a second or two before he answers. Probably exactly two.

“I’m sure this hurts and you’re upset but you don’t get to say shit like that.” Sollux says, his voice stiff and measured.

“What, am I wrong? Isn’t that how it’s SUPPOSED to go? Because I can’t do that!” you insist as tears threaten to spill down your face.

“What are you talking a- have you been reading human books on demons or something? Because I thought I made it clear that the only humans who know shit about demons are Lalondes!” Sollux snaps at you.

“No! I’m not an idiot! I wouldn’t read a book by humans and think it’s legitimate!” you argue back.

“...So it was a book.” Sollux says after a moment.

You do not want him reading what you read.

“Just forget it. Can we just go back?” you mumble, looking away from him.

“Yeah… back. Back to your dorm. Where you keep your books.” Sollux says slowly.

You just catch sight of him as he teleports away but there’s nothing you can do to stop him. He’s abandoned you in FUCKING GEORGIA of all places. You suppose at least that you more or less know where you are and you can get back to Salem from here. You stand up and try not to cry, instead comforting yourself with the thought that though you don’t want to stab Sollux or kill him that you’re going to fucking strangle him at least a bit. No, worse than that.

You’re going to tell ROSE that he abandoned you here.

“Fucking Georgia. Fucking Sollux. Fucking Kankri.” you hiss and find that cursing his name feels familiar on your tongue.

Looking down at his clothes you figure that you can’t just leave all of this here or else people are going to start to raise weird questions. Questions that if anyone has even the slightest amount of detective skill, could lead back to you. You sigh and scoop his clothes into your bag, making sure to wrap the keys that Sollux left on the floor into his sweater so they all stay together.

You’re wondering if you should maybe try to track down Kankri’s apartment and investigate that before going back to Salem when Sollux reappears with your book in hand.

“KARKAT THIS IS PORN.” Sollux says loudly.

“Keep your voice down!” you hiss at him. It’s a little weird to be on this end of this request.

“You shut up, don’t tell me what to do. How did you get a book of demon porn and how did you even read it anyway?!” Sollux demands.

“Well, what do you want me to do? Shut up or answer you?” you say petulantly.

“Answer me!” Sollux insists.

You don’t want to. You’re done with this conversation, you never should have brought this up in the first place. You start walking out of the alleyway but Sollux starts following you.

“Ok, cool, you can just not answer me and I can follow you. Reading this. ALOUD.” Sollux calls after you.

That sure makes you stop.

“Give me that!” you snarl and try to snatch it from him but Sollux can teleport so that’s a fool’s game.

“Where did you get this? Like, you know this is just absolutely shameless porn from cover to cover, right?” Sollux asks, floating in the air and opening the book.

“I know that it’s- that it’s somewhat pornographic, yes. That wasn’t why I was reading it!” you insist and Sollux grins and looks at you like he doesn’t believe your motives at ALL.

“I happened to get hold of it through an… anonymous source who also gave me a temporary spell that let me read demonic. I’m AWARE that it’s porn but it’s still about relationships and theatrical and over the top as it may be the red stuff still pretty accurately described regular romance even if it was a bit-” you try to think of the word.

“Completely unrealistic?” Sollux suggests.

“Clearly an overdramatic fantasy. Just because the plot and dialogue in those ones was as ridiculous as any other smutty romance-” you start.

“What have you been doing all this time by yourself? Is it just reading porn? Is that what you’ve been doing the last five years?” Sollux interrupts you. You jam your hand in your bag of holding and grab Kankri’s shoe so you can throw it at Sollux. The worst thing is that Kankri would probably be fine with that. Sollux dodges it anyway.

“Shut up, no. I just mean that it’s still recognisable as a relationship, the feeling is still there. No I don’t expect someone I’m romantically interested in to- to- I don’t know, save me from being eaten by a bear as they stand there shirtless and heroic or something. It still means that someone I love should be prepared to help me when I really need it and I should be willing to do the same. And, yeah, the porn parts are dumb and unrealistic and I’m going to admit a little confusing.” you concede.

“We talked about demon anatomy, remember?” Sollux prompts you.

“I do remember, no repeats needed, thanks. But unrealistic sex is still sex. I don’t want to stab a knife through your shoulder so you’re stuck there in agony because seeing you suffer is supposed to make me happy. I don’t want to hurt you like that, or humiliate you, or make you feel like you’re going to die. It says about hate but I don’t hate you.” you say in a rush.

Sollux doesn’t say anything but you hear his feet touch the floor again.

“I don’t hate you. Yeah, you drive me crazy. And, yes, when you’re not being cold to me I do like bickering with you and I have to admit that proving you wrong or outdoing you feels good. But hurting you? I can’t. Well, not that I don’t want to punch you a little for stealing my stuff and whatever but I’d feel awful if I actually hurt you. I don’t want that, and the idea that YOU want that is honestly terrifying.” you admit.

“I don’t want that.” Sollux says quietly.

You look around at him in shock and see that he’s standing there holding the book to his chest and not looking at you.

“A lot of that is exaggerated, you’re right. But you don’t remember what this is meant to be like so you don’t know which bits are. And even with that I’m not… not entirely like other demons.” Sollux mutters.

“What do you mean?” you ask.

“I don’t talk about this, I don’t want to talk about it either. But unlike YOU I’m going to. I don’t want any questions and we’re not talking about it again, got it?” Sollux says sharply.

What can you do to that but agree? You nod. Sollux’s claws dig into the book a little and instead of looking at you he stares a hole in the wall.

“When demons are made we’re basically adults, none of this spawning your own young like mammals do. Gross. Sure there’s a while where there’s shit you don’t know but after a year at most you’re basically like anyone else. I… wasn’t like that.” Sollux says to the wall.

“If we’re going to act like I was human you could probably say I was about five when I was made and I grew up from there at human speed. The point is that when I was younger I wasn’t as strong as I am now, my power source wasn’t as- anyway. I was smaller, weaker and… vulnerable.” Sollux shakes his head.

You open your mouth and Sollux looks at you sharply, he did say no questions.

“Point is that even if you tried to recreate this shit and put a blade to me I wouldn’t be all for it. At all. I don’t want that and I couldn’t do it to you either. We’re not talking about why.” Sollux says.

So maybe your book was unrealistic but Sollux isn’t a typical demon, at least for the spades stuff. You have a lot of questions about what made him feel that way or why he was created the way he was but he’s not going to answer and you think that you’d be crossing a line to ask.

“When you say you hate me then…?” you ask slowly.

“That I like being better than you, that I like seeing you work to TRY to be better than me. I like getting under your skin because you sure as hell get under mine. Yes, it’s antagonistic, because I fucking HATE you but that doesn’t mean I don’t like you.” Sollux says. It feels like a confession.

“I like you too. It’s sucked lately.” you admit.

“Yeah.” Sollux agrees.

“So…” you aren’t really sure what happens now.

“I’m keeping the book.” Sollux tells you.

“Fine, fucking theif. I can’t read it anymore anyway. I swear if you touched my other books though…” you warn him and the way that Sollux grins makes you certain that you’re going to have to check all of your books to see they’re in the right place and he’s not done anything to them.

You look down at the glowing blue and red around your arm and your head swims from information overload. Everything is so overwhelming right now, this information about Kankri, the implications about what you might be and then all of this with Sollux…

“I’m going to get something to drink, it’s supposed to stop raining in about an hour back in Salem and I hate the rain. You may as well come with.” Sollux says in what is blatantly an invitation. He’s not demanding that you talk about whatever weird demonic feelings the two of you have, or your maker or anything. Which is good, you don’t think you could deal with talking about any of that right now.

“Yeah, that sounds good.” you agree weakly and follow him out of the alleyway.


	16. Control

You have a maker. Had. Because you’re not even close to human, you’re like Sollux. But your maker was just stabbed, you saw it. It doesn’t… how…

Sollux snaps his fingers in front of your face and startles you out of your thoughts, you’ve just been absently following him for a while.

“Here?” Sollux sighs irritatedly and jerks his head in the direction of the building you’re next to.

It looks like a sandwich and coffee place, basically a Starbucks that isn’t one yet.

“Sure, yeah.” you say, still feeling hazy.

Sollux leads you in and pushes you into a booth, the place is hardly busy in the afternoon of a weekday. Without the dark rainclouds that were over you in Salem it’s not looking nearly so close to sundown. Sollux walks off to get food, he doesn’t ask what you want which is kind of rude but you don’t really have the brains to think of it right now. It’s probably for the best.

As your mind starts circling back around to Kankri your phone pings with a message from Rose.

tentacleTherapist [TT] began trolling  carcinoGeneticist [CG]  
  
TT: Karkat are you alright? We saw Sollux take you somewhere but you've not come back and we've not heard anything.   
CG: I DON'T KNOW  
TT: That's... concerning. Where are you?  
CG: GEORGIA  
TT: What? Why did Sollux take you there and why did you run off like that? You were nearly hit by a car!  
TT: We're all very worried.  
CG: I CAN'T REALLY TALK RIGHT NOW, I'M NOT IN DANGER, DON'T WORRY.  
  
carcinoGeneticist [CG] ceased trolling  tentacleTherapist [TT]

You put your phone face down on the table, you can’t deal with that right now. You don’t know how to explain what just happened to yourself, let alone anyone else. Your phone buzzes but you leave it alone. Instead it makes you think of a different phone. Sollux had been looking through Kankri’s phone but you don’t think he took it with him.

You set your bag on the seat of the booth and will the bundle of clothes and everything in them to you. They nudge your hand and you pull them out. Unfurling the punctured sweater you find the phone in there with Kankri’s keys and wallet. When you lift the phone up you see that it’s still unlocked. It’s an apple phone just like the one Rose bought you so you’re able to plug your own headphones into it.

With one hand you put the earphones in your ears and with the other you navigate to youtube and see that it’s already open on Kankri’s channel ‘KVDiscourse’. His video titles are all so long that they trail out of the preview window so you select the newest one.

It opens up with a shot of Kankri sat in a desk chair facing the camera. You have to pause it before he’s even said a word just to stare at him. He looks so much like you.

His skin is just like yours, his eyes are just like yours. His eyebrows and hair are way neater and in fact his hair is smooth and well behaved unlike the mess you’ve been stuck with your whole life. It’s not through lack of trying on your part either, it’s not as if you always dry your hair under a hand dryer in the men’s room, that was one time. As you stare at the small image of Kankri you feel like he looks odder and odder by the moment, it’s like someone pretending to be you when they don’t know you at all. His body language seems entirely different, his expressions are different but he’s making them with your body and your face. He looks a little older but enough that he could still reasonably be you.

Finally you hit play. When he speaks his voice doesn’t sound like yours, you really don’t like your voice at all, his sounds practiced and methodical. The word lecturing comes to mind.

“I am aware that my long time watchers will be familiar with the process of the beginning of my videos but for the first time watcher I would like to preface this discussions with a few warnings, as we are discussing very real subject matter and subjects of great import to human life, this discussion will naturally be very intense, as such I would like to warn everyone for themes of human oppression, violence done to humans in both historical cases and in present day, potentially upsetting-”

You disconnect a little as you stare in disbelief. The HDL are furious, violent, hateful people and yet this guy is rambling on in a self important list of warnings for his speech that in any other context you would assume to be a caricature of certain people on the internet on the other side of the political spectrum. As he goes on listing all the ways that what he’s about to say could offend, you find yourself amazed at how he can talk for so goddamn long without any kind of pause.

“Now the topic of this video is one I’ve covered in passing before but I would like to take a deeper look at the subject matter, in this case it is of human society and its cultural traditions and way of life in contrast to the claimed societies, traditions and such fourth of nonhumans, now naturally each nonhuman species is different in its own way and I do not in any way wish to claim that they are not.” At this Kankri finally pauses for an insincere little laugh and you feel the urge to punch him in the face, yet you know there’s no way you ever could. You feel like you’re rooted to the spot having to silently listen to him lecture.

It feels… familiar.

“None among us would claim that a banshee and a fairy are the same thing but in contrast to humans in this topic we can group them together by the simple fact that they are other to us humans, anyone could concede that they at least meet that measure of commonality, so human culture is broad, colourful, vibrant, and well worth protecting and we have studied our own cultures, developed museums to house the relics of our own histories, we have cultural traditions that stretch back through time, this is what we are defending.”

Kankri waves his hands as he speaks and every word is delivered with such certainty. You hate it, you hate him.

“Nonhuman species however do not have these things, they don’t build museums to talk about their history even if they hold onto their grandfather’s axe or what have you it is simply not the same and yet the defenders of these nonhumans speak as if sending nonhumans back to their own spaces is in some way oppressing their culture, when in actual fact it is our culture and our history that is under threat. Even if we take the basest form of human culture, let’s say reality TV, even that has started to be invaded by nonhumans who are forcing their presence into the fabric of our human created culture and thus altering our culture, for example in the latest season of the quite intellectually vapid ‘American Idol’ there were demons competing, as well as fae, a mermaid and a selkie duo, as well as numerous other nonhumans, who in the context of this conversation I will add were by definition taking up places that should have been taken by humans.” Kankri goes on.

You’re so fucking angry you want to bite this phone in half. Everything he’s said is such shit that you don’t even know where to START. For one thing if the humans showing up to that contest were so good then they would have beaten out the supposedly inferior nonhuman contestants and yet they didn’t. So which is it? Are humans better or are they lesser and in need of protection? He’s just switching out the superiority for a species HE ISN’T FUCKING EVEN A MEMBER OF in and out for ‘oh no poor us we’re under attack’ like what the FUCK?! On top of that, who died and made him the arbiter of what is and isn’t allowed to be part of human culture? Even if he was human, which he wasn’t, why does his opinion on that count for more than the human producers of that show making rules for their own stuff? He’s just some asshole ranting in a fucking desk chair in his room, he’s not making shit that contributes to human culture!

You know what? Fuck it, you’re going to stop watching this, you’re going to cut him off. Your thumb moves over the button and then locks up. You can’t press it and Kankri keeps talking.

You’re not allowed to interrupt.

You don’t know how you know that but you know it and you’re staring in horror at the screen unable to do anything. How long is this goddamn video anyway? Oh fuck, it’s an HOUR long!

“If they had anything worth bringing to our culture we would see evidence of it in their areas and yet we don’t, there are no museums, no galleries, and yet some claim that the few ramshackle stone circles that pass for temples to their gods and spirits and what have you count and measure up to the majesty of something like Notre Dame or the Sistine Chapel, that their folk songs that aren’t even written down for the most part hold a candle to Beethoven’s-”

“Here.” Sollux says and floats a coffee cup and a plate with food on it.

You can’t make a noise of distress but as Sollux sits down opposite you there’s a chance for you to kind of grab his leg with yours. You even manage to push the phone towards him in your hands though you still have to keep your eyes on it.

“Karkat?” Sollux asks but your mind is still filled with Kankri’s speciest rambling and your voice is frozen in your throat.

“Oh, shit.” Sollux says and snatches the phone off of you.

You slump over the table a little, narrowly missing smacking your face into a grilled cheese sandwich on a plate.

“I couldn’t interrupt him, I was just stuck. That’s fucking HORRIBLE.” you hiss.

“Shit, sorry. What is he even saying in this one?” Sollux asks and takes the earphones from you and listens instead. His expression sours as he listens longer but he at least has the luxury of being able to turn the damn thing off.

“You’re right he doesn’t ever shut up, what a prick.” Sollux snorts. You don’t think you’ve ever said that he doesn’t shut up. It’s true but you don’t remember saying it.

“Could I just not interrupt him because he was my maker or something? What WAS that?” you ask as quietly as you can, you can feel the nerves in you threating to make your voice go LOUD.

“Oh, no. I interrupt mine all the time when we talk. But like I said, you can’t refuse a proper order so if you were ordered to not interrupt then you can’t. Which is a massive abuse of power and really fucked up even by demon standards, just so you know.” Sollux says, which confirms what you’d already more or less felt was true.

You stare down at the table and fight to unclench your jaw, not because you’re being made to stay quiet but just because you’re so angry. How did that guy make you? You might not have the highest opinion of yourself but you have no idea how a person _t__hat_ self entitled and speciest could have made you. You’re so mad that he left you alone, even though he probably had no more idea of your existence about you than you did about him.

“Is he going to come back?” you ask, digging your nails into the table a little to stop your hands shaking so much.

“Karkat, he’s dead.” Sollux says gently.

“So what? You die all the time!” you say a little loudly, grabbing the attention of a man with a takeaway cup who was just walking past your table at the time. He stares at you in surprise.

“What?!” you snap at him and the man scurries off. You hear Sollux stifle a laugh.

“No, he’s not coming back. I don’t know whether to tell you to be pleased or relieved about that or if I should say that I’m sorry for you.” Sollux says.

“I’m so- I’m livid. I’ve wanted for so long to know who I am, where I come from and meet the other people who are what I am and THIS is what I get? I’m so angry I could just break things.” you tell Sollux. You grab up your grilled cheese and take an angry bite out of it as if that’ll help anything.

Sollux rests his chin on his folded hands and smiles slowly, you would say it’s a devious smile.

“We have his keys. We could go smash everything in his home and burn it down.” Sollux offers you quietly, almost smoothly.

“I bet you make that offer to all the guys.” you say sarcastically.

“No, just you.” Sollux answers.

You pause, mouth full of grilled cheese, and stare at Sollux. He’s watching you calmly but the slow smile on his mouth has a hint of something that’s either mischief or flirtation to it and you really don’t know which it is. Hastily you choke down your food so you can talk.

“Uh.” is all you manage. Good job.

Sollux just blinks slowly at you, patient. The effect is stronger given how many more eyes he has than you.

“Should… we talk about that other thing?” you ask him, your voice going higher with nerves.

“If you want to talk about all that porn of yours in this public place then I’m- AH! You missed!” Sollux sneers at you as you try to kick him in the leg and he dodges.

“You KNOW what I mean.” you hiss.

Sollux’s shoulders shake as he laughs, a little quiet, slightly nasally exhale of amusement that should sound dorky but mostly just sounds… endearing. This isn’t what you feel when Dave is being dorky in a way that makes your heart race but it’s also not… not like it?

“I mean you and me.” you say seriously. Sollux sighs a little and leans back in his chair to look at you.

“I don’t think we should specifically talk about you and me, no.” Sollux answers you after a second.

“Why?” you ask immediately.

“Because you’re pissed off right now and you’ve just been through a lot. Plus, you’re a chronic people-pleaser. Emotional and driven to make things better for other people is a dangerous mix that could lead to you later saying that you didn’t mean something, so let’s not do that today.” Sollux grins.

“I am not- you know what? Fuck you.” you grumble. You don’t really want to argue about you not being eager to please people because you know that it is kind of true and you don’t feel like having the examples of that slapped in your face at the moment. So yeah, fuck him for saying it anyway.

“Also off the table for now.” Sollux snickers.

You’re going to strangle him.

“But,” Sollux starts, “if you want to talk more generally then we can. Like whether or not that feeling of overwhelming irritation with another person is pitch or not. Spoilers: it is.”

“I think my soul is allergic to you. That’s how irritating you are.” you retort.

You’re expecting a smartassed retort, not for Sollux to flush bright yellow and have to look away. He tries to pass it off as suddenly needing a drink of his coffee but you’re not buying that at all. A large part of you wants to throw that moment in his face but information is probably more useful here.

“You know what, fine. How about some actual information? First question, why didn’t you explain any of this earlier?” you ask him. Perhaps a little sharply, maybe with an air of accusation, perchance the implication that if you HAD been privy to some information before that a lot of hurt feelings and drama could have been spared.

Sollux sinks a little lower in his seat and scowls at you a bit, an interesting look on someone with four eyes.

“Well you’re supposed to know how this goes. I know your kind does this and you kept responding back like any demon would.” Sollux mutters.

“Alright, so I’m capable of being whatever the sexy kind of pissed at you is-” you say.

“That isn’t even close to an accurate description.” Sollux interrupts, you go on talking anyway.

“-but I don’t even know what species I am. I sure as shit don’t have any cultural understanding of what my species does with those feelings, let alone yours. So I was supposed to just work that out myself was I?” you demand.

“Hey, YOU kissed ME!” Sollux accuses you, leaning over the table a little to do it.

“I thought we weren’t talking about that.” you retort.

Sollux snarls at you and you’re filled with a flare of righteous vindication. You like it, you really do.

“See? See I don’t have any context for what I’m feeling now. I don’t understand any of it!” you insist.

Sollux leans back a little again and looks away.

“This is so fucked up, I wish you could just remember.” he says quietly.

“Normally I’d agree but I’ve yet to uncover anything from my past that doesn’t suck.” you complain.

Sollux grimaces at your words and looks down at the table instead.

“If you can think of a question about pitch stuff that’d be more helpful. It’s hard to sum up something big about your species’ psyche all at once without any prompting.” Sollux says after a moment, he seems down all of a sudden.

You rub at your face in frustration and try to gather your thoughts.

“You say that my species does this too, tell me what it’s like for my species. That way you’re not telling me about you.” you suggest to him.

Sollux chews at his lip, seeming to hesitate on whether to answer or not. You’re not going to interrupt and get him out of this so you go back to eating the food he brought you and waiting him out.

“If you want to be technical about it I can’t give you a first hand answer about what other people of your species do because as far as I know you’re pretty much, uh, the only person of your species that I’ve met.” Sollux mutters.

“You’re shitting me.” you say through a mouthful of grilled cheese.

“I might have met more, like I said you’re good at hiding what you are and just seeming weirdly supernatural or even human. But it’s not like I know a lot about your culture. I just know that other people who are your species have been pitch with demons and a few other species too, psychopomps and stuff usually.” Sollux explains.

“But you don’t know if we do it with each other? Is it common or just some weird outlier thing?” you press him. Sollux just shrugs helplessly.

“Yet you didn’t think that was _important_ to mention?! Whenever I think about when we- about Halloween I feel this sick shame and guilt about what I did because I’m not _supposed_ to feel that way and it’s wrong and abnormal. Having seen what Kankri was like, you don’t think that might represent what I had to deal with and why I feel ashamed about something that I barely understand anyway?!” you hiss at him.

“But your species does-” Sollux begins to protest.

“Humans do all sorts of weird, fucked up, deviant shit because it gets them off sexually. That doesn’t mean that human society as a whole is cool with all of it! Didn’t it occur to you that even if some of my species does have this demon relationship feeling, whatever you call it-” you go on.

“Kismesitude.” Sollux cuts in.

“Kismesitude, sorry. I’m not trying to be dismissive, it's just a lot of new words and I’ve only really read that one in a totally different language.” you apologise quickly.

“You got sidetracked chewing me out to _apologise_.” Sollux groans despairingly.

“Shut your noise hole. What I’m saying is that maybe it should have occurred to you that my sudden kneejerk rejection of feelings I obviously felt, because I kissed you first, should have indicated that I at least subconsciously remembered that I’m not supposed to feel that? Because maybe my species isn’t cool with that? That didn’t occur to you at _all_?” you demand.

“No! Because- because you should have got it. I don’t know why you didn’t!” Sollux insists.

“Why would you think that?” you argue back.

“Because-” Sollux cuts off, his teeth clenched tightly together.

...Just like yours did when you tried to talk about something you vowed not to.

You lean back in your chair a little as you try to put the idea together. If he can’t tell you something then it has to be about something you don’t remember. If you’re the only member of your species that he knows then the only reason for assuming that you’d react a certain way and continuing to be that certain despite all evidence is if he remembers that you CAN have those feelings. He’d only not be allowed to confirm it if that’s attached to something you’ve forgotten.

But, wait, you need more information.

“I have a different question.” you say quietly.

“What?” Sollux asks.

“You mentioned that your species doesn’t really age, that you were weird for aging from a kid to an adult. From what I can tell our species have at least some degree of similarity, we both have makers instead of parents, there’s the fire thing, stuff like that. Does my species age? Was I an adult when I was made?” you ask him carefully.

“I didn’t know you when you were first made and I can’t say but as far as I know it’s the same deal as with demons. You could have been made like me but I don’t see why.” Sollux tells you.

He’s watching you from across the table, his hands wrapped around the coffee cup that he’s barely drunk from. You’re seemingly far more interesting.

“You said you can shapeshift to any version of yourself, right? You can do older and younger as well as bigger and smaller? And also sometimes a snake?” you add that last part with a frown, it doesn’t really fit the pattern unless that’s just a demon basic low energy form.

Instead of answering you just watch as Sollux’s face shifts into a softer featured pre-teen range, then older to his current age and beyond it until you’d have thought he was in his forties. Finally he settles back as himself as you know him.

“I looked thirteen after the event.” you tell him.

Sollux says nothing.

“I’ve seen a picture of you from years ago where you look younger, was that the age you actually were then?” you ask him.

“Damnit, was that June? Ugh. Also your question is too complicated to answer, try something else similar.” Sollux suggests. So you are onto something

“Am- I was always prepared for my assumed age to not be quite right. It’s hard to pinpoint kids that age exactly. But I’m… not a teenager, am I?” you ask him slowly.

“No, you’re not.” Sollux answers, his eyes sparkling.

“The reason you were so sure that I could do kismesitude wasn’t because of my species it was because of me, I’ve done it before. You knew me when we met in the library, you expected me to remember you and you showed up right away trying to get under my skin.” you go on.

Sollux is staring at you without blinking, all of his eyes focused on you as if he’s willing you to just keep talking. His claws are digging into his coffee cup and you’re almost worried that it’ll splinter under them. You stare at him and remember how easy it was to kiss him that time, how he just went with it so easily. Your mind flashes up the hurt and panicked look on his face when it became apparent in the library that first time that you had no idea who he was.

“We were like that. Weren’t we? Before all of this we were kism- uh.” you stumble over the word.

“Kismesis. You have a kismesis you’re in a-” Sollux is getting into a grammar lesson, now of all times.

“I was your kismesis, wasn’t I?” you interrupt him.

You can see the muscles in Sollux’s jaw tense but he nods, just once and sharply. All of the air rushes out of your lungs like you’ve been punched and you slump in your chair. Sollux’s mouth twists as little, you’re not sure if he’s bitter or sad. Instead of looking at you he looks down at his coffee that’s probably going cold by now, you’ve not even touched yours.

“Technically, you never broke up with me. You just…” he shrugs.

“Forgot you.” you whisper in horror.

Sollux nods.

“Sollux, shit, I’m- I’m so sorry.” you insist, reaching out across the table and touching the back of his hand around his coffee cup.

“It’s not your fault at all. You lost everything you knew about yourself so it’s not like you got off light either.” Sollux says quietly.

Someone walks too close to your table and the bubble that the moment was contained in seems to burst and at once you’re acutely aware of the fact that the two of you aren’t alone here. You pull your hand back.

“Look, maybe we should do this somewhere else. Do you want to go find out where Kankri lived and go there?” you suggest.

Sollux nods and so the two of you get up without even bothering to finish your drinks, you’ve still got a third of a grilled cheese left. You can hardly think about things like that because the inside of your head is just an endless screech about how you’re apparently dating Sollux AND HAVE BEEN FOR FUCKING AGES. YEARS!!! LITERAL YEARS!!!

The two of you find Kankri’s address from his phone and his email inbox, delivery receipts are so useful, and the two of you go there in silence. It’s not as if it’s that far at all, maybe a five minute walk from the place you just left. Seemingly the two demons ambushed Kankri close to his house.

It’s only when you’re outside his apartment door that a thought occurs to you.

“Wait, maybe you shouldn’t come in here.” you say.

“This was your idea.” Sollux points out.

“Right, but two demons decide to jump this guy outside of his home and not in it. Maybe there’s a reason for that. I’ll go in first and maybe I’ll try and…” you trail off as you try to concentrate on becoming invisible like you did with Jade. You only know you’ve done it when Sollux startles and doesn’t track the direction you move in or react when you wave your hand near his face.

You have to try a few keys before you let yourself in and Sollux looks right through you, it’s really odd.

You step inside the apartment, it’s neat in a fastidious kind of way. It’s not like there’s banners hanging on the wall that demand ‘death to all nonhumans’ or anything. Turning around to look at the doorway you don’t see any spells around the doorway so you lean closer to where Sollux is standing, trying to keep your voice low.

“Hey, how do I check if there’s any spells here that’d hurt you?” you whisper to him but Sollux doesn’t react at all.

Well, fuck.

Thankfully you still have a phone.

carcinoGeneticist [CG] began trolling twinArmageddons [TA]  
  
CG: APPARENTLY YOU CAN'T HEAR ME EITHER.  
You see Sollux react to his phone pinging him and watch as he takes it out and reads. He huffs and starts typing back. TA: yeah no 2hiit, iidiiot.  
CG: SHUT UP. HOW DO I CHECK THIS PLACE TO SEE IF THERE'S SOME KIND OF SPELL THAT MIGHT HURT A DEMON?

“You’re trying to see if it could hurt me?” Sollux says in surprise.

CG: OF COURSE I AM.

Sollux has seemingly realised that you can hear him so he just smiles ever so slightly at his phone before looking up in the direction he’s assuming you’re in.

“Just look around for any script on the walls, around doors or windows. I’m pretty used to detecting traps for me though. Like, you go through this door and suddenly horrifying things fall on you from above, summoned out of nothing.” Sollux says and shudders slightly.

CG: THAT RAISES QUESTIONS BUT OKAY, I'LL LOOK.

You leave Sollux at the doorway and studiously check everywhere you can see for magical script. You even check out the rest of the apartment to see if anyone else lives there, you don’t want a surprise visitor. There’s just one lone bedroom that is also sterile in its decoration, no sign that anyone else lives here at all.

When you return to Sollux at the door it takes a moment to work out how to drop the invisibility and when you do it comes with the delightful perk of startling Sollux.

“It seems clear.” you tell him.

He walks in like he owns the place and shoves the door shut behind him. He prowls past you and investigates the apartment in a way that puts you in mind of when cats get into somewhere new and also when they’re pretending like they didn’t just do anything dumb.

“So… I’m guessing things with us went smoother the first time around. Since you didn’t anticipate what happened this time.” you say slowly.

“Not only do you not need me to answer that but I also can’t really answer that anyway, so it works out.” Sollux tells you and disappears into the kitchen.

“God, what am I going to tell Dave?” you whisper to yourself.

That can be a problem for later. You shake your head and return to snooping around your maker’s apartment, it sounds so weird to think those words but that’s what he was.

Heading into his bedroom once again you open his wardrobe and look around. Outside of a penchant for red sweaters it’s a singularly boring wardrobe. After a while of rummaging through it you see a few T-shirts that look like they were from dubiously named conventions but they don’t really look well worn. Or maybe the guy presses his T-shirts as well, it wouldn’t surprise you.

You sit down on his bed and take Kankri’s things out of your bag, you’re keeping the wallet in case it proves useful but you’ve no desire to hold onto the man’s clothes. As you’re moving his stabbed through sweater onto the bed beside you, there’s a rustling sound from within it that makes you pause. Pulling the sweater open reveals a slip of paper inside that instantly puts you in mind of when Kurloz died. This is what he’s made of.

“Sollux!” you call out.

Sollux is at the doorway to the bedroom almost immediately and he looks when you point at the paper.

“Is this going to melt my brain if I read it? You said not to read Kurloz’ one.” you ask.

“You’re probably fine.” Sollux answers.

“Very reassuring.” you say flatly but nonetheless you read in and pick the paper up. It’s the same strange script that you saw in that book that you were somehow able to read.

Educate. Preach. Discourse.

“I have no idea what this means and yet I’m somehow not surprised.” you sigh.

“What does it say? And don’t show it to me or you might melt my brain.” Sollux adds that last part quickly.

“Educate. Preach. Discourse.” you repeat.

“Yeah, that checks out.” Sollux snorts.

You crumple the paper up and toss it at the trash can. Actually you think you’re going to throw his clothes that way too. Evidently Sollux thought you were clearing a space for him because he comes and sits beside you even as you slouch back on the bed and glare at the ceiling.

“So that’s what he was made of then, or made for. Whichever.” you say. Sollux doesn’t add anything more than an affirmative noise.

“What did he make me from then?” you wonder.

“I could check but you’d die in the process. You could have asked him maybe but he wouldn’t have remembered by the looks of things and also he was too busy being stabbed at the time, so, you know.” Sollux shrugs.

That’s a mystery that’s not getting solved then.

“What are you made of? Actually, can you tell me in more detail how the whole making a person thing goes because it’s suddenly really relevant to me.” you ask as you look over at him.

Sollux shuffles back so he’s got his back to the wall and you watch as he takes a steadying breath.

“This is for demons, I know you guys work about the same but I can’t say for sure because you’re the only one I know.” Sollux says.

“I accept your disclaimer, so go on.” you prompt him.

“You need to give something to create life. It can either be a permanent thing you give up or- well I guess it’s always permanent. Alright, an example would work better. You know Redglare, right?” Sollux asks you.

“Yeah.” you nod.

“She’s Latula’s maker. Redglare supposedly was always really good at getting what she wanted out of people and she channeled a lot of that into the legal stuff she does but she felt she had more to offer. So she spent a whole month meditating on all of the things she could do with those skills in a different calling and more or less mentally built up the ideas that Latula’s whole being is made from. She gave up thoughts and time to make her and now Latula’s a succubus and she’s also really good at outthinking people and all of that stuff.” Sollux explains.

“But it’s not like Latula is Redglare’s daughter?” you check.

“No, it’s not a family thing. They’re associated and you often give a demon you make your name or your face but not always. It’s really not that kind of relationship.” Sollux tells you.

“So there are other ways then? Or do you think that’s what Kankri’s thing was? Someone thinking about him doing that stuff?” you ask.

“That’s probably what he was made from, yeah. But there’s other things you can do. You can cut part of yourself out and make that a person. A lot of demons do that if they’ve got a part of them that’s not bad but it doesn’t work with the rest of what they want to be. You’ve got to be careful not to get rid of a whole trait of yourself though because you don’t get it back. If you’re a legislacerator and you give up your ability to empathise with people then you’re probably going to be an asshole and it’ll get you killed. Demons can be dicks to each other but it does balance out because we’re not ok with people being shitty to us for no reason.” Sollux goes on.

“But you can do it with something less metaphorical too. People give up body parts permanently. There’s benefits to that because it does tend to make stronger demons but then you’ve lost that part for good, it never heals back.” he says.

That’s all really interesting, you wonder if that’s the case with whatever you are too.

“So what are you made of?” you ask him curiously.

“I…” Sollux hesitates and he wraps his arms around himself a little.

“I was made from something physical.” he admits very quietly and you get the feeling that this is probably very private information.

Sollux gets up on his knees on the bed and pulls his shirt up on one side. When he was a snake you saw a line of colour on his side and Dave mentioned something about him always having it. It’s true, right where his ribs are at the very lowest one there is a soft red glow coming through his skin in a stripe.

“A rib?” you whisper and reach out to touch it, it’s warm. Maybe that’s just Sollux’s skin radiating warmth through your fingertips and not the rib underneath.

“Yeah.” Sollux says.

“That’s a little… biblical, isn’t it?” you say as you look up at him.

“A little, yeah. I was made from that and a purpose but I can’t tell you about that.” he says and pulls his shirt back down, you take your hand away of course.

“You like your maker though, right?” you ask and Sollux nods happily as he sits back down, though your eyes linger on his side where that gently glowing rib hides under his shirt.

“Why do I have to look like mine? Do you-” you begin and Sollux cuts you off.

“Mituna isn’t my maker, I know I look like him and have the same last name but he’s not. My maker just liked him so I just got partly designed after him is all.” Sollux interrupts you.

“That wasn’t what I was going to say, but ok.” you laugh, you wonder if people pull him up on the resemblance a lot.

“Oh, well, ok.” Sollux says awkwardly and scratches the hair close to his horns.

“I was just complaining that I have to look like that fucker. What if people see his videos and think that _I_ made them? That’s mortifying.” you say miserably.

“Hey, you don’t look as bad as that. Besides, I can take those videos down for you.” Sollux offers and gets up.

“Thanks for the backhanded compliment I guess?” you say slowly.

“Don’t mention it.” Sollux says and then looks at you, “No, really. Don’t.”

At the very least that makes you laugh and you not being so outwardly despairing seems to make Sollux relax a little more.

“Hey, give me his phone and his wallet. Between all of that I should be able to get into anything of his and erase his online presence.” Sollux says. Obligingly you hand the stuff over and Sollux disappears into the other room.

You peek through Kankri’s stuff some more but it’s not all that interesting. He does have a substantial bookshelf of books that are at least well read and full of slips of notepaper in. He clearly took his bullshit views seriously and at the very least you can tell as you flick through one book that he’s never written on the actual pages, just slipped in sheets of notes and paper bookmarks. Maybe you could pass these books onto someone else, a few of them aren’t exactly bad. There’s several books here from Hobbes, Nietzche and John Stuart Mill that you know your library already has copies of. They’re useful in a historical sense and not all of their ideas are bad even if off of the top of your head you know that Mill had theories about maximising happiness for people but had very select and discriminating ideas on what counts as ‘people’. But taking ideas and cutting out the bits that aren’t good and commenting on them is part of academia.

Except when you get someone like Kankri and they take it in a far different direction.

You should take the books, maybe give them away and sell the ones you have left. Give the money to a charity that helps non-humans. That would piss Kankri off. Actually if you’re going to just take this guy’s stuff and sell it then maybe you should see if he has anything resellable in his kitchen, then you could give even more money away. Actually, you could perhaps give some of the stuff away without selling it, there’s always shelters that need things. His clothes are perfectly fine.

You swing your bag off of your shoulder and open it up wide, you start picking stuff up as you pass it. If you think it’s worth it you… hm, actually no you’ll forget what all of this stuff is. You put your bag on the table and yank the seat cushion off of the sofa and unzip the back, you spend a minute wrestling the inside out and then you finally have a giant bag. Now the things you put in here won’t get lost when you put them in your bag of holding!

With your new bag in hand you sweep the stuff you’d already grabbed into it and move on. You throw his blu-ray player in there as well as what seems to just be nature and science documentaries, nothing fictional at all. You go into his kitchen and take anything that looks like a complete set or any non-perishable food that’s not open and put that in the sofa cushion bag.

“Are you just robbing the place now?” Sollux asks, leaning back in the computer chair and watching you when you come back in the room.

“No. Or, yes, I guess. I’m going to either sell all this stuff and donate the money to decent charities or give his things to shelters. This guy sucked and I refuse to let him keep making the world worse, I’m going to salvage something good from this mess or die trying!” you snarl as you snag the other sofa seat cushion off and rip its insides out.

“And for the record I’m going to pick things that go against everything he seemingly stood for, even the fucking scales out a bit!” you add angrily and march over to Sollux. You eye up the table the computer stuff is on, he’s got a decent camera on there and you’re absolutely taking THAT. It’s only when you look at Sollux to ask him what you can unplug without disturbing what he’s doing that you see he’s staring at you.

His expression is intense and it freezes you to the spot.

“What?” you ask, your voice coming out a little weak.

“No, nothing. That’s… that’s a good idea. Fuck that guy. I was going to suggest taking a baseball bat to his stuff and starting a fire but you’re doing something actually good and…” Sollux seems to shiver slightly and you notice that his tails are doing that quick back and forth flick that you’ve seen in videos of cats before they pounce on something.

“And?” you say, encouraging him to finish whatever that thought was.

“And I…” Sollux leans forward slightly, putting him closer to you.

The air between the two of you feels electric and it finally clicks what this feeling is. He likes this part of you, pissed off and doing the right thing. You like that he’s helping, that you’re having a shit time and Sollux has been there to back you up when you need it even if it does come with a casual offer of arson in the mix.

Somehow you’ve also got closer to Sollux since you’ve been thinking this. Sollux’s fangs dig into his bottom lip and if you weren’t already thinking about kissing him then OH BOY YOU ARE NOW.

“I did say we shouldn’t do this when you’re all… you know.” Sollux says quietly, he’s still looking up at you and he’s not making any move to do anything else.

“Right, yeah, you did. And I still don’t get this whole thing yet.” you agree.

Sollux’s little forked tongue swipes his bottom lip for a second before he speaks again and you’re pretty sure the higher reasoning areas of your brain just went offline.

“Sure, you need to think and maybe get some sources that aren’t porn.” Sollux grins deviously.

You kind of both want to bop him in the head for that comment but you ALSO really want to kiss him too and the only reasoning that you can dredge up for that is that it’d shut him up. Which is dumb and stupid.

And yet.

“Yeah I really need to think.” you agree instead of doing any of that.

“It’d be a first.” Sollux teases, he slides a little lower in the chair and his leg brushes against yours. You’re somehow standing right up against the chair he’s in and if it wasn’t for the fact that he’s got one foot up on the chair with him, his knee tucked to his chest, then you’d be standing between his legs. That’s how close you have somehow got.

“And then I need to talk to Dave.” you remind yourself and close your eyes because that’s easier.

You hear the chair creak as Sollux leans closer to you and open your eyes when you feel him poke you in the middle with his index finger.

“You’re overthinking that conversation. Dave has no problem with this and if you actually start dating him then I don’t have to hear him pining about how ‘oh shit Karkat was outside today in just a towel and dripping water like some baywatch shit I nearly died’.” Sollux scoffs.

“He didn’t say that.” you mutter.

“Oh really? Then how’d I know about it?” Sollux argues.

He raises a good point. Sollux’s hand goes from just lightly poking you to smoothing against your side, he looks up at you again and you can see the struggle on his face.

“I. I should get back to deleting these. You should go be not… here.” Sollux says, slightly garbled as he turns away from you. The tips of his ears are gold and you’re pretty sure your face is red.

You sure as shit need to figure out what these feelings mean and how they work, especially as it’s to do with someone you’re apparently still dating. Maybe you could ask Slick for a more accurate book, or even just some verbal advice given that he has a kismesis. Well, assuming he’s got the power of speech back by then.

It takes you about fifteen minutes for you to pack up everything of Kankri’s that’s of any value and can also fit in your bag of holding. That thing opens up pretty wide but even it has limits. By the time you’re done, Sollux has bundled up all of the computer stuff and he helps you put that in your bag of holding.

“Right, do you want to go?” Sollux asks you as he holds out his hand.

For a dumb moment it looks like he’s asking you to dance, only of course he’s offering contact so teleporting you will be easier.

“You don’t need my permission now, right?” you ask as you take his hand.

“Not right now, but you should probably revoke that at some point. It could be used against you.” Sollux warns you.

“By you? It’s fine, I trust you.” you tell him.

Sollux pulls you close and presses his face into your hair, you hear a vaguely pained noise coming from him.

“Alright, okay, we’re going back and I’m going to go back to my dorm and congratulate myself on my self control. Or possibly scream, or both. Actually, both, both is always better.” Sollux mutters.

Sollux holds a hand out and with a rush of magic you go from being in Kankri’s apartment to yours and Rose’s dorm. By some luck Rose isn’t there, so she doesn’t get to see the way Sollux’s hand slowly slips from yours as he steps back again. Or the way that he looks at you as he leaves, like he really doesn’t want to be going. Like he’d rather be doing something else. Nor does Rose get to see that after Sollux vanishes in red, blue and synthetic apple you stand there silent and pining for him.

Rose does show up about half an hour after you get back and the moment she sees that your bedroom door is open she drags you out to the sofa to tell her everything. Rose always manages that right balance between listening in silence so you feel compelled to fill the void with words and asking surgically precise questions at exactly the moment to set off another flood of words. You even end up filling her in on the dreams and feelings that you’ve had about the person you now know to be Kankri. Not to mention admitting to the bags of stolen stuff in your room.

“I’m sorry, the two of you were _dating_ before all of this? Well, that… does explain his reaction to you. I imagine he’d be quite hurt and frustrated with you, not that it’s your fault that you don’t remember. Still, I wonder how old you really are.” Rose wonders.

“Fuck if I know. Cut me in half and count the rings maybe.” you groan, slouching back on the sofa.

“It seems like all of this has hit you pretty hard.” Rose observes.

“It feels like it’s all some twisted joke. Like, oh, you want to meet people who are your species? Well here you go, asshole!” you say in dismay.

“That is pretty cruel, I can’t deny that. But at least you didn’t have to spend the last five years with him as well, that’s something at least.” Rose offers by way of consolation.

“I guess, but that came at the expense of losing my memories. I’m almost worried that if I wish too hard to know what I am then it’ll turn out that I’m the actual devil or something.” you groan.

“That’d make you Sollux’s boss.” Rose snickers.

“He’s the worst employee, I’d fire him if he wasn’t resistant to it.” you grin.

“You did kiss him though, that’s got to get you reported to HR.” she tells you with a straight face, she’s far better at pulling off a poker face than you are.

“I doubt hell has HR.” you say.

“I think if anywhere is going to have bureaucracy it’d be hell, plus you can have literal Human Resources.” Rose reasons.

“Well, damn.” you say, having no counter to that kind of logic.

“Quite!” Rose smirks.

The whole exchange has made you laugh at least a little, which no doubt was the reason for Rose leading you into it in the first place. The more you think about Kankri though the more the smile fades.

“God, what if I used to be like him though? The things he was saying in those videos… if anything like that came out of my mouth I’d be horrified. What if without living in a building of nonhumans I didn’t have the experience to relate to people who aren’t human? What if I was a speciest fuck?!” you say in mounting horror.

“For a start I don’t think that your whole temperment would have changed just from that. As prone to insults and shouting as you are, your base personality is incredibly soft. You relate to people easily and you’re quick to critique yourself and examine your own actions, you own up to your mistakes and admit when you’re wrong. You just don’t have the makings of a flagrant speciest.” Rose tells you.

You’re about to press on that you could have been different then but Rose doesn’t give you room to get a word in.

“Secondly, you already told me that you and Sollux were seemingly involved in the past. Sollux would not have dated anyone like that in any capacity, and even IF he had done so I’m sure he would have made a large number of jabs about you being different now and he hasn’t. As it stands Sollux is quite a good judge of character and it seems that this kismesitude relies on a certain amount of respect, something he wouldn’t have for someone that terrible. You said he was disgusted by the things Kankri said, why would he tolerate it from you?” Rose points out.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. I just hate the idea of being anything like him, but he made me. How did that even happen?” you groan.

“I doubt that wondering on the hows and whys of this topic will do much for you, Karkat. You can’t ask the man now and as far as we know he’s the only other of your species around. Sollux seems very limited on what he can tell you and it doesn’t sound as if he knows all that much anyway, it seems to me like your species are just similar. It sounds as if you both come from other planes of reality and he’s likely just drawing from what he’s heard and what that plane or planes are like. Perhaps you would get a similar experience if you asked a fish to describe another kind of fish, they’re different animals but large amounts of how they work would be similar due to being creatures in alike environments. Even if you were dealing with tropical fish and those in lakes you’d still find common areas like breathing water.” Rose says.

She’s lost you a little there but you think that you get her point. Sollux is bound to not help you unless you get really close to the information and guess it or know how to ask the right question because of something you’ve learnt. He also may not be that reliable of a source but he still does know more than you right now.

“You’re right, I just… hate this whole thing.” you sigh and pick at the edge of one of the scabs on your knee. It’s gross but you’ve been picking at your metaphorical wounds this whole time, you may as well make it even and do the physical ones as well, right?

“You should really clean your knees up, Karkat. They’re a mess.” Rose adds. She’s right, they’re scabbed up and crusted with blood and probably alleyway dirt.

You nod in agreement and get up to go to the bathroom. Underneath the sink there’s basic first aid supplies in a pre-prepared kit from some department store, Rose brought it with her. The survival one that you brought for camping is probably still in your bag, you could have used that before you got home if you’d had the forethought but you didn’t. You sit on the edge of the bathtub and clean your knees up with stinging antiseptic, Rose leans in the doorway and watches you.

“For what it’s worth, I still intend on helping you find out what you are. I don’t care what you turn out to be, or how old you are. I don’t care about the terrible views of someone related to you. We’re still friends.” Rose reminds you.

“Rose, don’t.” you whine, already sniffling. You’ve had QUITE the day and if she keeps being nice to you then you’re actually going to cry.

“Alright, alright. I’ll make tea.” Rose laughs quietly and leaves you be.

“THANK YOU.” you shout after her, not wanting her to think that you’re ungrateful. The mirror on the wall buzzes threateningly against its frame but thankfully doesn’t shatter at your voice. The laugh you hear from the kitchenette is a lot less quiet this time around.

You drink tea and Rose bullies you into sleeping earlier than you normally would. This, presumably, is friendship.

_”I can’t believe that you would embarrass me like that, Karkat. Sneaking out, honestly, as if I haven’t repeatedly educated you on proper behaviour. Everyone will think that I am incapable of guiding you or that I’m terrible at it. How can you be alright with allowing people to think such terrible things of me? Everything you do reflects upon me, Karkat!” Kankri scolds you._

_“But-” you start._

_“Do not interrupt me, Karkat, how many times must I tell you this? It is highly disrespectful and does not allow you to fully grasp the full reasons why your actions were wrong. If you only listened properly and did as I instructed we would not be in this mess, now would we?” Kankri goes on._

_You try to debate on whether or not to answer that. If you speak you know he’ll tell you it was a rhetorical question again and then who knows what he’ll do. But if-_

_“I asked you a question, Karkat.” Kankri says sharply._

_Yeah, if you don’t answer he’ll reprimand you for ignoring him._

_“I didn’t sneak out to make you look bad. I just-” you try._

_“No, see, you starting a sentence with ‘I just’ shows me that you’re still trying to excuse your behaviour which means that you are still under the impression that you did nothing wrong. You need to go to your room and think on your actions and how they reflect on people who aren’t you.” Kankri says sternly._

_You open your mouth to tell him not to but he’s already snapped his fingers and you’re elsewhere. Stuck in the doorless confines of your room. Plain pure white walls, a bed and a bookshelf full of your maker’s speeches that you’ve had to transcribe. You hate him SO much and you’d scream this place down if you weren’t still banned from shouting on this plane at all._

_Fuck this whole plane. You sit down on the floor and press your hand to the ground, the floor shimmers and you can see through your plane and into the prime material plane. You pull the view over the city and watch as the fire rages, you keep looking and sigh in relief as you see that Sam actually sent his diaries away like you told him to. Not that you were allowed to be there or interfere with humans, you’re not supposed to do that. Thankfully Kankri thinks that you’re stupid and selfish, wandering around down on the prime material plane just to amuse yourself instead of what you’ve actually been doing._

_That fire is awful though, you wish you could help but you think if you did without the right permissions then Death herself might come and kick your teeth in and THEN Kankri would surely know about it. Or you assume so, you’ve never met her._

_You roll over onto your back and sigh. How long are you going to be stuck in here this time?_

You flail awake in bed and immediately you’re struck with a wave of claustrophobia that makes you run out into the main room of your dorm. That… that was a memory. That was a memory of Kankri locking you up because you did something that pissed him off. In the dream you weren’t that terrified but right now you’re shaking. You just have to picture that small, bare, blindingly white room before the fear of being locked in rises up in you like the incoming tide. That wasn’t the first time, or the last, was it?

“Fuck Kankri.” you hiss and feel a vicious little thrill go through you at being able to say it, you probably weren’t always so free.

Heedless of the pyjama shorts and simple t-shirt that you’re wearing you march barefoot up to Dave and Sollux’s door and knock, you try to be quiet so you don’t wake Dave up. In moments the door swings open to reveal a surprised looking Sollux.

“You said about a baseball bat and arson.” you say quietly.

“What happened?” Sollux asks and pulls you into their dorm. He shuts the door after you and looks you over, you’ve very clearly only just woken up.

“I had a dream, or a memory I guess.” you tell him.

“That’s concerning.” Sollux says.

“What, I thought you’d be happy that I’m remembering things.” you mutter. That was probably a little mean, actually. You’re about to apologise but Sollux speaks before you can.

“Oh, well, yeah. On a personal level I’m all for you remembering anything and everything. It’s just concerning for reasons I literally cannot talk about.” Sollux tells you.

Well, that’s ominous.

“What did you remember?” Sollux asks. He’s keeping his voice quiet, probably to avoid waking Dave who is likely sleeping like normal people do.

“Him locking me up in a room I couldn’t get out of. He was mad that I went somewhere on a different plane and… I don’t know. It was just a tiny bit of what was obviously a big history of him shutting me up and telling me I was wrong in every possible way. I hated him then and I hate him now. So, yeah, can we go destroy what’s left of his place now?” you ask.

Sollux presses a hand to his own chest and when he brings it back out he’s pulling a baseball bat with him. He takes a step to you and presses the bat into your hand.

“Let’s fuck his shit up.” Sollux grins.

He slides his arm around you and all at once you’re in Kankri’s apartment again. Sollux waves a hand at the door and the same silencing spell that you’ve seen in your own dorm appears, as well as another one that you don’t know.

“What’s that one?” you ask, pointing to it with the bat.

“Stops damage from this apartment spreading to the rest of the building, I’m guessing you don’t want to burn this whole building down.” Sollux says.

You’re pretty sure the look of horror on your face tells him that his call was exactly right.

Kankri’s TV was too big to get in your bag of holding and it was a little old anyway. It’s perfectly satisfying to destroy though. You and Sollux hold onto each others shoulders and jump up and down on the coffee table until it snaps in half.

“He clearly didn’t like me either, that’s the thing. Why not just let me go do my own thing?” you say with a sigh as you lean on the bat.

“Some people think they own the people they make, or they act like it. They decide what you’re supposed to do, even if you don’t want to do it. It doesn’t tend to turn out well.” Sollux says. He’s pulling out all the glasses and mugs that you’d deemed either too scruffy to donate to people or ones that had organisations you don’t approve of stamped onto them.

Sollux tosses a mug up and down in the air, you can see the ‘louder with Crowder’ slogan on it and you raise the bat in anticipation. As if this is your own personal baseball match Sollux pitches the mug at you. You swing and it smashes into a hundred bits.

“Ohh, oh that felt good.” you grin.

“Hell yeah.” Sollux beams and grabs another.

“So, with humans you generally get old enough and can move out and cut shitty parents out of your life. In theory at least. How does that work if it’s your maker and at least if you’re a demon you don’t die of old age?” you ask and smash another mug.

“They give up sometimes, or you make friends and quadrants who get between the two of you. There’s always the option that you kill them or lock them away in another dimension where they can’t get to you.” Sollux says and pulls out a plate that you’d decided was too chipped around the edges. He throws it, you smash it.

“That’s what HE kept doing to ME!” you snarl and slam your baseball bat into the now empty bookshelf, splitting one of the shelves.

“I remember him shoving me in this small room of mine and leaving me in there until I’d ‘behave’, which I know means do whatever he said!” you add and smash another.

“I don’t know how I remember it but I’m pissed enough when I think about it that I know it wasn’t ONCE! Not that ONCE WOULD BE OKAY!” you shout and shove the shelf over. Good, his stupid stuff is trashed and there’s nothing he can do about it!

“And I don’t… what could I have done to deserve that?” you sniff.

Sollux’s hand touches your bare arm, you look around and see the understanding way that he’s looking at you.

“It doesn’t matter what you did or didn’t do, Karkat. With people like that it’s about them being in control.” he tells you gently.

“You sound like you know what that feels like.” you say.

Sollux looks away but you guess he did say that he didn’t want to talk about it before.

“I don’t know if I should be thankful that I don’t remember everything or not. But right now I still feel really conflicted about this and I don’t understand why. I’m angry at him for stuff I don’t remember, I’m angry that I had to be on my own when he was so close to where I lived, I’m infuriated by the things he put out into the world. But I…” you wave your bat around a little helplessly.

“I’m sad that he’s dead. Maybe I could have changed his mind this time, maybe I could have at least got some answers out of him or… or something. Now I won’t ever know.” you finish unhappily.

Sollux seems to consider your words, or perhaps he’s just giving you time to process the mess of things that you’re feeling.

“You want to burn this place down and leave? It won’t spread to the other apartments, I swear.” Sollux promises.

You sigh and lower your baseball bat.

“Yeah, fuck it. Fuck this guy. Here’s your bat.” you say wearily and hand it back. Sollux takes it and vanishes it away, he slides his hand down your arm and into yours. Without another word he pulls you into the kitchen with him. He tosses a dishrag on the stove and telekinetically turns it on.

The two of you stand there, hand in hand on the other side of the kitchen as the dishrag starts to catch alight. Sure he could use hellfire but it seems like that can’t be so easily contained. The flames from the dishrag leap up and start to scorch the edge of the cabinet. The vinyl siding starts to peel away and by the time the dishrag has been burnt up the edge of the cabinet is on fire. The vinyl starts to melt and drip, still burning onto the counter which splashes fire across more of the kitchen, all the while the fire up the side of the cabinet has spread up to the ceiling and the roof of the kitchen is thick with black smoke.

“Shouldn’t the fire alarm have gone off?” you wonder.

“I broke it earlier, c’mon.” Sollux says and pulls you out of the room.

He takes you into the main room and sits down on the floor which pulls you down with him. The two of you sit together as fire flashes over the ceiling of the kitchen and creeps out into the room you’re in. The paint on the ceiling bubbles as the fire races across. You don’t want any of it landing on you or Sollux so until it’s stopped doing it you shield you both.

Kankri’s remaining possessions burn as the fire spreads through his home and eats everything. His table becomes firewood, the plastic in his carpets melts and burns. It takes only minutes before the room is an inferno. You don’t know if this is making you feel better exactly but it is cathartic in a way.

“Fuck that guy.” you say quietly.

“Good riddance.” Sollux agrees.

The ceiling has stopped dripping boiling paint so you let the shield you had drop and just sit there. You wish that you’d known about Kankri before now, that he hadn’t been shitty, that you could have a good relationship with him. You’re so alone, you don’t know what you are and even Sollux who does know can’t tell you. He can’t tell you about your past together, even with him you’re isolated. You feel yourself choking up and miserable tears spill down your cheeks. You don’t want Kankri dead, you just want him alive and not terrible, you didn’t deserve this.

Sollux’s tails wrap around you and he leans his body against your side. You tuck your face into his shoulder and you don’t know if this is something that’s allowed. From everything you read before it doesn’t seem like this level of empathy and kindness should be acceptable in the relationship you have had with him for apparent years. But you’re hurt, you’re ripped up inside from this and when you needed it Sollux took you here with a baseball bat and burnt down the home of the person who hurt you.

It helped, but you should go.

You reach your hand out into the still roaring fire and feel the essence of it, that spark that’s always there and you grab it. At once the whole fire snuffs out, leaving only glowing metal and cinders around you. The smoke is so thick in the air that when Sollux stands up and pulls you with him his head seems to vanish in it, leaving the glow of his eyes like the shining lights of a lighthouse in the night. He steps closer to you and you go from that room back to your own dorm.

“You should probably shower.” Sollux advises you.

“Because I smell like a burning building or is that insulting general advice about how I usually smell?” you joke weakly.

“Both.” Sollux answers, because of course.

He takes a half step back and your hand starts to slide from his arm when he leans closer to you and narrows his eyes at you.

“This didn’t happen, okay?” Sollux tells you sternly.

“Oh, yeah arson is-” you start to say.

You don’t get to finish because Sollux leans in really quickly and kisses you. Maybe it’s everything he’s said in the last twenty four hours, or that he helped you out so much today, that he was there for you. Either way if he intended on pulling away from you after a really quick kiss he’s probably thwarted by the pathetic way you’re clinging onto him and kissing him back just as intently.

Okay, no, he doesn’t seem intent on leaving. Or maybe he’s just really misguided and thinks that you have the key to get out of your dorm room hidden up your shirt or… on the back of your neck? That’s where his hands are at least.

“Yeah, didn’t… didn’t happen. Didn’t do that.” Sollux mumbles when he finally does pull away.

“Definitely don’t know what you mean.” you agree.

“Good, because you’re all over the place and this would be really dumb of me. And you said you were still going to talk to Dave and I’m nowhere near optimistic enough to believe that everything’s going to go right for a change so this would be very stupid of me. Getting all overinvested.” Sollux explains.

“Right, and shit’s always going wrong around here.” you agree. You still have his shirt in your hands, it’s soft, even if it does smell like a house fire right now.

“Alright then.” he nods.

“Okay.” you agree.

Neither of you move.

You don’t know if you’d say he’s pretty exactly. He’s a different species from you and definitely different from humans and that’s been your experience in the culture you’ve been in for the entirety of your memory. So, your societally conditioned understanding of attractiveness doesn’t really gel with his very not human features. Sure, there’s some humanlike stuff that you can admire. He has nice lips that certainly feel nice, his jawline would be nice even on a human. When you get to his very demon eyes though there’s no marker for whether he’s pretty or not. But you like looking at him, your breath catches a little when you do and right now you’d really like to kiss him again.

Sollux seems to be hesitating and it’s clear why when he kisses you again, although this time is fleeting.

“That was just because it had to be twice.” Sollux informs you, as if to stop you getting smug about it or something.

“But the last time didn’t happen, remember? So-” you tease him.

“Ah, nope. No, that sort of logic is how I get stuck here and that REALLY can’t happen.” Sollux tells you.

“Oh, as opposed to the not happening that just happened earlier.” you say with a grin.

“No, because it _didn’t happen_. Now go shower, you smell.” Sollux hisses at you.

He turns to leave for real and you catch his wrist to stop him. He looks at you sharply, clearly trying to convey that he actually is going now and doesn’t appreciate you stopping him. You let go just to appease him.

“Hey, I… thanks. For all of this.” you say earnestly.

“Yeah, well. You can owe me if I’m ever in a similar kind of situation.” Sollux mumbles.

“Sure.” you nod.

Sollux vanishes in a puff of smoke and you figure you’ll take his advice and go have that shower now. When you do go back to sleep again you sleep undisturbed. Yet when you wake up you feel… disturbed. Not in the sense that you’re freaked out or panicking but you feel like a drink that’s been shaken up, there’s a pressure inside of you and it’s not exactly pleasant. You’re okay with your early shift in the library that morning, especially as you’ll probably just be transcribing in between checking books in and out. Too early to see Rose, eating breakfast alone, and an excuse not to be too chatty.

Unusually when you open the office door in the library you find that Kanaya is playing music so you have to quickly dart in and shut the door behind you to keep the sound in. It’s a man singing over a piano and it sounds like a reasonably old recording, it’s the lyrics that make you pause though.

_”Fuck Christmas!_   
_It's a waste of fucking time_   
_Fuck Santa_   
_He's just out to get your dime”_

“Feeling… festive?” you ask slowly as you hang your jacket up. It’s only just edging into December now, even though all the drama with Sollux since Halloween makes it feel like it’s been six months since then. Naturally all of the religions with winter holidays have been ramping up to them and given that you’re in America it tends to be Christmas that dominates.

“I absolutely, unequivocally hate this time of year.” Kanaya growls and glares through the window as a student with a santa hat walks past oblivious to Kanaya’s ire.

_”Fuck Holly and fuck Ivy_   
_And fuck all that mistletoe_   
_White-bearded big fat bastards_   
_Ringing bells where e'er you go”_

“Yeah, I was getting that impression. The rampant commercialism of religion to gods that don’t answer anymore rub you the wrong way?” you ask and drop your bag on your desk.

“No.” Kanaya says with a shake of her head. She pulls a face and seems to reconsider.

“Well, that too but that’s not why. This time of year just reminds me of my brother.” Kanaya continues.

_”And bloated men in shopping malls_   
_All going Ho-Ho-Ho_   
_It's Christmas fucking time again!”_

You glance at the speakers and Kanaya’s irritated, unhappy and obviously frustrated expression.

“Oh?” you say, somewhat fearing that any guess as to why that’s a bad thing would be a disaster.

“He died. A long time ago but…” Kanaya shrugs slightly.

“There doesn’t have to be a time limit on that kind of thing hurting, you know.” you point out.

“You know the man who wrote that song, Eric Idle, his father was killed on his way home for Christmas.” Kanaya tells you.

The lyrics of the song are pretty plain about the man’s feelings for the season, and you can only imagine that having that memory rubbed in your face each year would be really rough. You open your mouth and start talking before you can think not to.

“I found someone. He’s… related to me.” you say.

“Really? You’ve been trying to work out what you are, does he know?” Kanaya gasps.

“I didn’t really get to talk to him. He got stabbed. Died. I saw it.” you answer, your words are coming out all disjointed for some reason.

“Karkat. What are… why are you in today?” she says in horror.

“No, don’t. It’s fine. I didn’t know him and- oh.” you stop what you’re saying and stare over Kanaya’s shoulder. On the other side of the glass door behind her is Terezi who appears to be licking the glass as she stares at you.

“Uh.” you say and point.

“What on Earth?” Kanaya says as she turns around and looks.

“That’s my dragon friend, hold on.” you say quickly and get to your feet.

“Karkat, I really don’t think-” Kanaya tries to say but you hurry past her to the door, eager to not have this conversation.

You pull the door open and let Terezi in. She does so, with all the confidence in the world, seriously if you could bottle that stuff you’d make millions.

“Hey, Karkat. Thanks for the phone. I came to get my ‘library card’ to ‘borrow’ books.” Terezi says, making air quotes as she says the word.

“If you imply that you’re going to steal the books then I can’t really in good conscience let you borrow them, can I?” you say with a sigh.

“Don’t worry, I don’t commit crimes. Also when you need legal representation, gimme a call.” Terezi tells you cheerfully.

You pale and wonder if she knows about all that theft and arson you did last night. She probably does, right? She’s a seer.

“So, ah… library card! Let me just get that for you.” you say hastily and hurry off to one of the cabinets.

“Hello, I’m Kanaya.” Kanaya introduces herself.

“Hello, vampire!” Terezi trills brightly.

“And to you, giant scaly dragon.” Kanaya says flatly. Terezi snorts in laughter and a little flame shoots out of her nose.

“I like you. Oh, I wanted to give you a book.” Terezi says and hops her skinny butt up onto one of the book counters. Her stubby dragon tail completely messes up the stack of paperwork that had been neatly ordered nearby.

“You want to return a book? From the last library, I assume?” Kanaya says in surprise.

You fish a card out of the bottom of the drawer and check it over to see that it’s fine. It’s not the student ID card that you have but just a plain lending card that you have supposedly for visiting academics, you’ve never used one but you know of them.

“No, this is a book I had that I thought the library would want. I just knew that I couldn’t give it to you until now, I kept it safe. It’s mildly cursed.” Terezi says and holds her hand out. A book appears out of nowhere and falls into her open palm.

“Oh, we do deal in cursed books. Let me get the head librarian down here.” Kanaya says agreeably and picks up the phone.

“Alright Terezi, let’s get this card filled in for you.” you say as you return with the card. You peel back the plastic coating, currently its stickiness is preserved with plain tape on the other side. With a narrow permanent pen you start to write out the details, the issue date and issuer is easy enough and you get Terezi to spell her name out for you and indicate where she should sign to say that she agrees to the lending policy.

With that done you peel the paper off and stick the plastic down, you just have to do the photo now and you’re not totally sure how. After all Kanaya did yours. She seems to spot your hesitation and now that she’s off of the phone she stands up, takes the card from you and does the same magic she did to put your picture on your card.

“There you go, you may now borrow books from the library.” Kanaya says and hands Terezi her card.

“Excellent!” Terezi beams.

Ms. Paint glides down the hallway and raises her eyebrows at the sight of Terezi but comes into the room without a fuss.

“Karkat, dear, I see this is your friend that you mentioned. Ah, wonderful, you’ve set her up with a card. I hear you have a book for us.” Ms. Paint says pleasantly as she takes Terezi’s appearance in. You wonder if she can see past her humanoid form, given how the fae are you wouldn’t be surprised.

“Here you go, mildly cursed.” Terezi nods and gently tosses the book to Ms. Paint.

The book seems old. Not old in the sense that it ought to be in a museum or handled especially delicately, it doesn’t look like it’s a first edition of some eighteenth century script or anything. Rather it’s a paperback that looks like it’s from the sixties. The once white cover seems dulled into a creamy shade and the spine is marked with decades of use and being opened too far. If you tilt your head you can just make out the title in blue print ‘Impossible Geometry: A Study’.

“Oh, I see what you mean. Not fully a curse, more a spell gone a little awry. Very interesting though.” Ms. Paint says thoughtfully.

“What is it?” you ask.

“Well, how about you tell me, Karkat? I’m going to let you hold onto this book as part of your training. It won’t hurt you, it’s quite mild. Your task is to work out what’s amiss with this book and how to work around it’s peculiarities so it can be safely handled by other students. If you can do that then we can move you onto more risky volumes in our collection. Consider it a little homework for over the winter break.” Ms. Paint smiles and presses the book into your hand.

The book sits in your hands perfectly harmlessly, no matter how much you look at it like it might bite your face off it does nothing.

“Well I’M going to go look at the law books!” Terezi says and hops off of the desk and saunters out of the office.

You see her pause outside and then she backtracks to open the door again.

“Hey, Karkat. You know that nerd you were with?” Terezi asks, a little quieter this time.

“You’re really going to have to narrow it down.” you tell her. Really. That’s all of your friends.

“The blue one that smells like storms and lies.” Terezi says like that’s helpful.

The only one of your friends with a penchant for blue is June. Well, you suppose Sollux too but he’s equally fond of red. Plus Roxy also calls June a liar for some reasons so you assume that’s who she means.

“June? The one with square glasses who kept going on about you not wearing clothes?” you guess.

“That’s her. Is she around?” Terezi asks.

“I would guess she’s probably still in her dorm. You need a card to get into the building though and she’s on the sixth floor so it might be hard to get to her. Then again you have her number on my phone I think.” you say thoughtfully. Perhaps Terezi just couldn’t remember June’s name so didn’t know who to call.

“Ah, that’s fine. I’ll just look in through the window. Later!” Terezi says cheerfully and walks off.

June lives on the sixth floor, no way can Terezi just look through the window. That’s dumb. Oh well, she’ll work it out.

You just go to step back into the office when the thought occurs that at her full dragon height Terezi is probably easily able to get that high up and will no doubt scare the shit out of anyone nearby. Oh boy. That… is not a problem that you’re dealing with. That can firmly be someone else’s problem, you’re just going to pretend that you didn’t realise that or tell Terezi where June lives. Not touching that one. Nope.

When you step back in the office again you find that the music Kanaya had been playing is now off and both Kanaya and Ms. Paint are looking at you.

“What?” you say, they’re still staring.

“Sweetheart, could you have a seat, please?” Ms. Paint says gently.

You feel vaguely like you’re being fired. Warily you have a seat.

“What’s this about someone dying? Someone you’re related to?” Ms. Paint asks. You shoot Kanaya a reproachful look for tattling on you but Kanaya has no remorse on the subject.

You fill her in briefly on what you found out about your species and that Kankri was your maker, that you saw him die because some demons killed him. You leave out the details but you mention that you found out he was a less than savoury person so you both don’t remember him and don’t especially like him.

“So I’m fine.” you insist when you reach the end.

Ms. Paint and Kanaya share a look.

“Even if you didn’t think he was a good person it’s still traumatic to see someone die, especially when you’ve never seen that sort of thing before. I think you should have the rest of the day off at least, and I’m going to contact your professors to let them know what’s happened. That way if you have to miss any classes they’ll understand.” Ms. Paint says firmly.

“What? No! It’s not like I lost someone I knew and he sucked so it didn’t matter that I never got to know him and was alone for years without anyone. It doesn’t matter. I’m fine! You don’t- don’t need to tell anyone. I’m fine.” you insist but your voice goes wobbly on that last ‘fine’ and it makes Kanaya and Ms. Paint give you ‘oh, honey’ looks in stereo.

“I’m FINE!” you snap, your voice bouncing around the confined room.

Your lip wobbles and you’re sure it’s from the shame of shouting when you didn’t mean to.

“Then if you’re fine you can work on that book back in your dorm. Okay?” Ms. Paint says gently.

It hurts that she’s treating you this softly. At least with Sollux he was just quietly sympathetic or dealt with your upset by handing you a baseball bat and letting you smash things, he didn’t act like you might break down completely at any moment. Kanaya and Ms. Paint acting like this is so wrong. Wasn’t Kanaya just telling you about her dead brother? She has a right to be sad, you’re- you don’t- you’re GLAD that fucker is dead. He was shitty to you from what you remember and he was absent this whole time! Besides, you burnt his place down so you have no right to be upset about this and- so you’re FINE!

You can’t do this. You stand up, snatch your bag and coat and march out of there. You hurry back to your dorm and you tell yourself it’s because it’s cold out and not because you’re running away or anything like that. You’re almost sprinting when you get through your front door. You burst inside and slam the door shut after you.

“GOD! AUGH!” Rose yelps.

You turn and see that she’s skittering back from the edge of the kitchen counter with the kettle in hand.

“Sorry.” you say in a rush.

“No, it’s fine. You just startled me, nearly poured boiling water on myself. Wow, that woke me up.” Rose laughs weakly. She sets the kettle down and you toss her a dishrag which she uses to wipe up the water.

“Any particular reason you burst in here like that? I thought you were at work.” Rose asks.

“No, and I’m fine and I don’t want to talk about it.” you say stiffly.

Rose looks at you, her purple eyes assessing you.

“I will say upfront that this is unrelated to any speculation on how fine you are or aren’t. We also don’t need to talk about this or mention it.” Rose states, her voice calm and even as if she was reading out lines at a legal deposition. She walks over to you and then without any fuss at all she wraps her arms around you in a hug.

“Rose, you don’t have to… I’m fine.” you say quietly.

“Shh. Plausibly deniable hugs now.” Rose says against your shoulder.

“You’re saying this hug didn’t happen?” you ask a little weakly.

“Now you’re catching on. I mean, what hug?” you can feel her smile against your shoulder.

You suppose that if this hug isn’t happening then it’s okay for you to stay in it for a little bit. You’re spared having to work out how long is the right length of time to hug because you’re both startled apart by a lot of screaming from upstairs.

“Oh, that’s probably Terezi. I mentioned vaguely where June lived when she asked.” you say.

“Well, that’ll be interesting for everyone else.” Rose smirks and goes back to making her drink.

Your phone pings so you take it out and have a look.

turntechGodhead [TG] began trolling  carcinoGeneticist [CG]  
  
TG: fun fact nothing will both wake you up and nearly make you piss yourself more than a giant dragon eyeball up against your window  
TG: like jesus fuck that freaked me out  
TG: hi terezi great to see you too and all but why the sweet fuck are you outside my window scaring the literal piss out of me?  
CG: SORRY, THAT'S SORT OF MY BAD. I TOLD HER WHAT FLOOR JUNE LIVED ON SO I GUESS SHE WENT LOOKING.  
CG: WAS THAT GIRLISH SCREAMING I JUST HEARD FROM YOU THEN?

Actually, how did you hear that? Your dorm is supposed to be soundproof. You look up at the doorway and see that part of the wood has chipped off on the door itself, thus breaking the spell there. Pulling a marker out of your bag you fill that part in and the room goes abruptly silent again.

TG: no   
TG: also can we disregard that i mentioned piss twice there because i didnt piss myself thanks   
TG: it was a figure of speech   
TG: no matter how much sollux is laughing at me   
CG: I'M ONLY AGREEING TO DISREGARD IT SO YOU STOP TALKING ABOUT IT.   
TG: i will take that as a win   
TG: so   
TG: i hear you and sollux are cool now   
CG: WHAT EXACTLY DID HE TELL YOU?   
TG: enough for me to know that youre at least cool enough with each other for you two to make out

So much for that not being a thing that happened, Sollux. Whatever, it’s fine, not lying to Dave is both simpler and better.

TG: sooooo?   
CG: CAN WE MAYBE NOT TALK ABOUT THIS OVER TEXT? WE HAVE ENOUGH DUMBASS MISUNDERSTANDINGS AND LACK OF INFORMATION BETWEEN THE THREE OF US WHEN WE DO THIS STUFF IN PERSON. TEXT JUST SEEMS BEGGING FOR MISUNDERSTANDINGS.    
CG: ALTHOUGH I'M LAYING A LOT OF THAT BLAME AT THE FEET OF SOLLUX "EXPLANATIONS OF CONTEXT ARE FOR LOSERS" CAPTOR.   
TG: ooh burn   
TG: but yeah thats probably smart

Another window flashes up.

twinArmageddons [TA] began trolling  carcinoGeneticist [CG]  
  
TA: hey. fuck you iin partiicular  
CG: IT'S SO NICE THAT YOU'RE AT LEAST BEING SPECIFIC WITH YOUR MALICE. I'D HATE TO THINK THIS WAS JUST GENERAL MISANTHROPY, AT LEAST NOW I FEEL SPECIAL.  
TA: 2ee, 2hiit liike thii2 ii2 why ii diidn't thiink ii had two explaiin the concept of blackrom two you.  
TA: becau2e you're fliirtiing black ju2t fiine.  
CG: MAYBE YOU'RE IRRITATING ENOUGH THAT YOU TRANCEND THE SPECIES BARRIER. IT COULD JUST BE A YOU THING AND NOT A ME THING.  
TA: 2hut up  
  
twinArmageddons [TA] ceased trolling  carcinoGeneticist [CG]

Wait, Dave is still messaging you. Go back to that chat.

TG: besides i literally just woke up ive not even put clothes on   
TG: and we have class in uh   
TG: what did you just say to sollux   
CG: WHY?   
TG: i think you broke him   
TG: he seems somehow annoyed and absolutely thrilled and flustered about it   
TG: kind of adorable tbh   
CG: HAH. BUT STILL, WE SHOULD DO THIS LATER.   
CG: ACTUALLY, I HAVE A QUESTION   
TG: oh   
CG: YOU SAID GODDAMN EARLIER   
TG: yeah? are you gonna call me out for my pg cursing now   
TG: actually dont tell my mom shed probably be sad at such weaksauce words   
CG: I CAN BELIEVE THAT. NOT WHAT I WAS GETTING AT THOUGH. WHENEVER I SAY ANYTHING LIKE THAT, ANY CURSE THAT I GUESS IS BLASPHEMOUS OR WHAT HAVE YOU HE FLINCHES AND TELLS ME OFF.   
CG: DOES HE NOT DO THAT WITH YOU?   
TG: nah and i noticed that too but i figured it was just his hatemance thing and that it was especially annoying from you or something   
TG: its not like holy words work on anything since the event   
TG: ive heard of priests getting ganked by demons when they try that the power of christ compels you shit on them now   
CG: SO HE'S JUST BEING DIFFICULT OR SOMETHING. GREAT.    
CG: ANYWAY, I'LL LET YOU FINISH GETTING READY.    
TG: yeah i should put clothes on   
CG: ...DAVE HAVE YOU HAD THIS ENTIRE CONVERSATION NAKED?   
TG: yes/no   
TG: please delete whichever answer you dont want   
CG: I... OKAY. I WILL SEE YOU LATER. CLOTHED.

carcinoGeneticist [CG] ceased trolling  turntechGodhead [TG]

“Sometimes I don’t think my brain is prepared enough to talk to Dave.” you sigh and lean on the counter.

“Mmm. I feel that sometimes too.” Rose agrees mildly.

“Ms. Paint and Kanaya kicked me out of the library. She said she’s going to talk to my professors.” you say miserably. Without her or anyone else needling at you to talk you’re much more willing to say what’s on your mind.

“Compassionate leave, I assume. I can’t imagine you’d be fired.” Rose says and sips her coffee, careful of the heat in the freshly poured cup.

“Pretty much. I don’t need compassionate leave, I didn’t know the guy! I don’t deserve it!” you insist.

“I’m going to leave the very self-judgemental statement there alone as well as the topic of what you ‘ought’ to be feeling about the discovery of your maker and his subsequent demise. I will however say that you nearly were hit by a car yesterday because you were possessed by a spell tied to your biological nature, you didn’t know about it and that was surely frightening. You uncovered information about your species that was quite groundbreaking for you and the whole affair seemed very emotional. Not to mention you watched another person die, a person with your exact face. Regardless of what you ought to feel about him I would say all of that is pretty traumatising on its own.” Rose reasons.

“You’re saying think about it as compassion for that other stuff and nothing to do with WHO it was who died?” you say.

“If that helps you, yes. I’m sure that as term is winding down there will be less call for the library anyway and it’s not actually just the three of you working there. Staffing concerns are your boss’ problem. You don’t have to stay away from classes but it’s nice to know that they should be understanding if you have to step away for any reason, don’t you think?” she goes on.

Instinctively you want to deny all of this. You shouldn’t be entitled to any of this, it feels like you don’t deserve it. That you’re bad somehow or a fraud, not good enough in some way, not deserving. You have two choices here, you can either argue with Rose on these shaky grounds and have her pick that apart in front of you or you can just give in to her logic. Rationally you can see that she’s right, even if it doesn’t feel that way.

“I guess.” you concede.

“Good. In that case I have an excuse to message Kanaya for you to say that you’re agreeing to the leave.” Rose says brightly.

“Was this just a ploy so you could message her?” you ask teasingly.

“Certainly not, I am just a master of multitasking.” Rose says slyly.

You’re not going to stand in her way and as Dave alluded to, you do have class soon. Magical languages, you think. God, your brain is fried.

Dave and Sollux do arrive at the door, both thankfully(?) clothed. Jade is also behind them but curiously June is nowhere to be seen.

“June?” Rose asks.

“She jumped out of the window at Terezi and she flew off. I… I think she’s fine.” Jade says uneasily.

“She’s fine, I know.” Sollux says and heads down the stairs.

“I guess she messaged him when I was in the shower.” Dave guesses and follows after with Jade.

You linger as Rose pulls your front door shut and then follows after. You more or less space out the whole way to class and when you pass the corner of your building some part of you recoils as if you were going into that alleyway again. Which is… stupid. You know where you are, this is where you live, you’re nowhere near that alleyway in Georgia.

Get a grip, Karkat.

When you all arrive in class, although still missing June, you unpack your notebook as always. You find it harder than usual to take notes. The lecture is on using multiple power sources for spells, especially useful for long term spells.

Spells powered by the sun will wane at night, spells powered by the moon will be stronger on the full moon and weaker on the new moon. Something, something, volcanos.

No, you literally wrote that last part. You squint at your mostly blank page and try to remember what the hell your teacher was talking about at the time. At one point in the lecture you end up accidentally dragging your teacher’s attention to you, not that it’s your fault. You were zoning out and one of Sollux’s tails suddenly wrapping around your leg startled you so much you slammed your knee into the desk.

“Uh, sorry, leg cramp.” you lie, red faced and the lecture goes on.

“Smooth.” Sollux says under his breath.

You have the impulse to pull on the tail you have around your leg just to teach him a lesson but you’re a little worried that it might actually hurt him. It probably would, right? It’s connected to his spine, surely. You reach out and touch it anyway, thinking that maybe you’ll flick the end of it just to show him you’re annoyed. When you get your hand on the spade tip of his tail though you end up pausing.

You’ve touched his tails before but only brushing them or that one time you grabbed them to stop him leaving, but either it’s been too fleeting to really take it in or you weren’t paying attention. You are now though. The spade shape at the end of the tail wrapped around your leg has a texture to it, it’s not scaley or anything but it’s more like how fingerprints feel. It’s warmer than you would have expected from part of his body so far away from his core. The room isn’t super warm after all so you’re a little surprised. You think it must be cartilage or something instead of bone at the very end, but maybe his body doesn’t work like that. He did say that he came from a different plane so maybe his form plays a little looser with how biology ought to work. You guess yours does too with the invisibility and fire invulnerability.

This would be so much easier if he could tell you more.

You drag your fingernail lightly over the edge of the spade shape of his tail and watch as it shivers slightly like you’ve seen cats' tails do when they’re excited. Look, you’ve spent a lot of time watching youtube when you didn’t have friends. The length of Sollux’s tail around your leg tightens a little which makes you look up, that lets you see that you’re being observed.

Showing the same disregard to his studies that you’re displaying Dave is leaning on his notes and watching you and Sollux with a self satisfied little smile on his face. Flustered you stop touching Sollux’s tail, which now that you think about it is probably a weird thing to be doing anyway and it’s an even weirder thing to be caught doing. Sollux is staring unblinkingly ahead, his whole body frozen. The tips of his ears are a little bit yellow though.

“Um.” you say quietly, looking at Dave.

“Let’s go get lunch after this.” Dave grins.

Oh boy, if you had trouble concentrating before then it’s totally destroyed after that.

Part of you is convinced that Dave is going to tell you that the way you’ve acted around Sollux is terrible, how could you when you said you liked him? And, for that matter, Dave doesn’t like you anyway despite the fact that he told you that he did. Besides which you don’t deserve to have anyone like you because you’re terrible!

Yeah, these aren’t rational thoughts. Maybe it is best that your teachers know that something is up with you and you’re not dealing with other students at work.

“Terezi is terrifying so many people. There’s a website set up to track her now and her stunt earlier got her on the local news.” Sollux says as you all walk along after class to that cafe that you seem to have claimed.

“Somehow I think the attention is only gonna make her worse.” Dave says as he strolls inside the cafe.

“For sure. I’ll get this.” Sollux says and heads to the counter.

“But…” you protest weakly. It’s your turn to buy for Dave and Sollux took you out yesterday, you definitely owe both of them but apparently you’re not going to get to do anything about it now.

The tables are mostly taken but there’s a distressed leather sofa by the window with one of those low coffee tables that is just the right height to bang your knees on. Seeing that it’s free, Dave herds you towards it and falls into the sofa with a sigh. You follow him and as you sit down the sun warmed leather sinks in, almost swallowing you up.

“So, Sol said yesterday was pretty rough.” Dave says diplomatically.

“You can say that again. It would have been way worse without Sollux’s help though, I’d thank him more but I think he might smack me in the head.” you mutter, eyeing him up where he’s currently stood in line. The person in front of him moves and he starts to give his order.

“He can be like that. He’s all sweet but gets funny about people pointing it out, or he says mean shit and doesn’t mean it. Duality’s his thing, you know.” Dave shrugs.

“Seems like it.” you nod.

“Also, what’s that book you gave him because he’s been reading it nonstop since he got back. He just said he took it from you.” Dave asks curiously.

“Oh, he has been, has he?” you grin, entirely ready to tease Sollux about that later.

“There’s more to that, I’m sure. But weird books aside he did say you worked some stuff out about your species, about how yours is like his. Apparently that was the basis of his whole hurt feelings thing with you, him thinking you worked like him.” Dave says as he gets the two of you back on track.

“Yeah. It was something. I guess I learnt more about myself, not sure if that’s a good thing.” you admit quietly.

“He said that it seemed… not great. I know you wanted answers and I know Rose would say that even if it’s uncomfortable that knowledge is power and all that. I’m sure she’s right but, I don’t know, I can see the whole ignorance is bliss argument. The fact of what you are didn’t change but it seems like you just got fucked over by learning all that.” Dave says.

“I can certainly see the appeal in suddenly waking up and it all being a weird dream but I can’t run from any of this. I don’t know what any of it really means about me or him or… or anything.” you say unhappily.

“Nothing means anything, life is meaningless. Move over.” Sollux says suddenly from behind you.

Sollux is looming over you at the edge of the sofa, floating several cups and plates around him in the air. He kicks you in the ankle and so you shuffle out of the way, leading to him setting everything down and then sitting down too.

You are acutely aware that you’re right between the two of them now.

“Are you interrogating him?” Sollux asks, leaning over your shoulder a little to look at Dave.

“No!” Dave protests.

“Kind of.” you say instead.

“Great. Dave has an idea.” Sollux tells you.

“Okay but… Rose told me once that Dave and June decided to lick lampposts in a snowstorm a few years ago and got stuck to it so I’m dubious.” you say slowly.

“That- ohhh I’m going to get her back for that.” Dave says indignantly, not helped by Sollux’s obvious amusement.

“You did do it though, right?” you ask Dave.

“It was a double dog dare, also not the point. I had a plan. So you two are cool with each other now, right? No more misunderstandings and hurt feelings?” Dave asks, looking between you and Sollux.

“We talked, stuff was explained. I can keep explaining, not that I think I need to with how he’s been.” Sollux says in a way that’s faintly accusatory and shoots a look at you.

You want to protest, but it dies on your lips when you remember the message you sent him this morning or the way you were just touching one of his tails earlier.

“And we’re cool?” Dave checks, gesturing between you and him.

“What? I mean… surely that’s up to you? I’m the one who messed everything up and pretty much the first opportunity, not you.” you point out.

“Then we’re cool. Like I said I thought this was gonna happen.” Dave shrugs.

“Thiiiis?” your voice pitches up a little as you look between him and Sollux.

“You. You know, dating me and also him.” Dave says as if that’s in any way simple.

“Why? But- what? After everything and-” you can’t manage the words right now.

Sollux’s knuckles rap on the side of your head, not hard but enough to stall you from sheer surprise.

“Why are you so bad at this now? KK, he’s not saying let’s all make out on this couch in the coffee shop right now.” Sollux says wearily.

“Well… I’m not _not_\- I mean no.” Dave quickly amends his sentence when Sollux shoots him a look.

“Karkat, you complained before that Dave just assumed it’d all be okay without talking about it and demons have different relationships at the same time anyway so it’s not a thing for me either. He’s just trying to check that you get that we’re all on the same page here. You don’t HAVE to do anything.” Sollux explains.

“And given everything that just happened to you I’d get if this isn’t the time but Sollux told me about you and him last night and I didn’t want you thinking I wasn’t ok. I’m still completely okay, I’m happy actually because he was disgustingly happy about it.” Dave tells you brightly.

“Dave!” Sollux protests, seemingly scandalised that he let such top secret information out.

“The point IS that this is like us checking that you’re still interested in either of us and that we both feel the same. Like how you’re meant to ask for permission before you send a dick pick.” Dave explains.

“What?” Sollux whispers in horror from somewhere near your shoulder.

“Not that I was going to do that. Send you one, I mean. That’d be weird. Haha, unless? No, joking, that was just the meme. I had to. What I mean is that we’re all cool here and we’re, uh, issuing a statement of intent to flirt with you. Like a declaration of war. Sexy war.” Dave says in a panicked rush.

“The words just don’t stop.” Sollux groans and his forehead falls onto your shoulder. You can practically feel the despair radiating from him.

“Dude, help me out here!” Dave says desperately.

“Just stop talking, he gets it already.” Sollux insists.

“Okay, right. Sorry.” Dave mumbles, pink cheeked and embarrassed.

“Karkat, are you okay with all of this? Us being interested in you?” Sollux asks you plainly, without any weird metaphors that take a turn for the very odd.

You look between Dave, desperately pretty and flushed with embarrassment, and then Sollux on your other side who is both deeply irritating and irresistable in his own way. You’re pretty stupid for the both of them and for some reason they’re both interested in being with you.

“I’m okay. You both have terrible taste in people to be romantically interested in but I’m not going to say no. I’m not really sure I can think about all that right now but… yeah, I’m all for whatever this is.” you tell them slowly.

Dave beams and you feel Sollux relax next to you.

“Shit, that’s awesome. Aw man, this is the best birthday ever.” Dave says gleefully.

“IT’S YOUR WHAT?” you yell in surprise. The window next to you shatters with your voice raining smashed glass down on your pseudo-date.

Good job, Karkat.


	17. Miracle

It costs two hundred bucks to replace that window and ensure that the cafe will ever let you back in there again. Good thing you have a job and don’t have to pay for food in the canteen. Still, though, your wallet hurts from that for sure.

“What do you mean it’s your birthday?” you ask when you’re finally out of the store.

“Humans do this weird sexual reproduction thing, they have live young and everything. They celebrate the anniversary of it every year. Very gross.” Sollux says casually and flicks a little chunk of shattered glass off of your shoulder.

“You,” you say slowly as you look at him over your shoulder, “are the worst person I know.”

“Aw.” Sollux says. His expression is infuriatingly smug.

You turn your ire back to its rightful recipient, Dave.

“You should have said it’s your birthday! I would have got you something! Are you two doing something for it or what?” you question him. Oh, fuck, that means you didn’t get Rose anything for her birthday either.

“I didn’t say because I didn’t really think about it. We don’t celebrate birthdays, it always made mom twitchy so we just didn’t. We tend to trade presents at New Years instead in our house, I was just making a joke about it is all. It’s no big deal.” Dave insists.

“Right, but your mom isn’t here so I can get you something. Especially if you’re- I mean, if we’re…” you fumble for the words.

“Dating?” Dave asks hopefully. Oh no, he’s so cute you think you might die from it.

“Yes. That. I’m going now, on present related activities.” you say backing off.

You pause when you pass Sollux and, on impulse, reach up and yank his horns off to one side in a quick motion. He yelps and staggers slightly but you run away before he can catch you. Well, he can teleport but that’s cheating.

Now that you’re on your own you scour the shops that you can find in order to search out the perfect present for Dave and Rose. Rose is easy enough, you find a skull mug with a little bag of skull sugar cookies in it and pick up some fresh ground coffee. The blend name for it is ‘The Abyss’ and it comes in a black bag too so it seems suitably gothy.

Dave is a little harder until you remember that he loves dumb shit. You seek out the tackiest tourist shop in all of Salem. After some careful digging you find a shirt with ‘I’m a bad witch’ written on it in glitter with the iconic pointy hat over it, naturally you get this in hot pink to be as tacky as possible. Searching the candy section of the same store you find some spooky spider chocolates that look like they were decorated by a blind man in an earthquake. They’re _perfect_.

It’s only when you’re done that a thought occurs to you.

carcinoGeneticist [CG] began trolling  twinArmageddons [TA]  
  
CG: HEY, I'VE NEVER HAD A BIRTHDAY BECAUSE I DIDN'T REMEMBER ANYTHING. ALSO I HAD NO ONE TO CELEBRATE ONE WITH ANYWAY.  
CG: BUT DO OUR SPECIES CELEBRATE THAT KIND OF THING?  
TA: we're not born, you can't have a biirthday when you were never born.  
CG: NO, OBVIOUSLY IT WOULDN'T BE CALLED A BIRTHDAY. BUT IS THERE LIKE... SOME CELEBRATION OF BEING CREATED?  
TA: not really  
TA: ii mean my maker know2 when ii wa2 made but iit'2 not really a thiing you do pre2ent2 for  
TA: ii don't know how iit ii2 wiith your people  
CG: DID YOU CELEBRATE OTHER THINGS?  
TA: halloween mo2tly  
TA: and an annual mandatory party about HIIM  
CG: HIM?  
TA: you know how diictator2 have day2 dediicated to goiing on about how great they are? theiir biirthday2 are natiional holiiday2 and all that 2hiit?  
CG: YEAH...  
TA: liike that. but iin hell.  
CG: OH. WAS IT FUN AT LEAST?  
TA: no  
CG: OH.  
TA: don't worry about iit. haven't had two do iit 2iince the event 2o that'2 been one up2iide.  
CG: WHAT ABOUT NEW YEARS?  
TA: oh yeah we diid that. that was alway2 fun actually. even at the lalonde hou2e iit'2 awe2ome. roxy makes kiiller iillegal fiirework2!  
CG: YOU KNOW, SOMEHOW THAT DOESN'T SURPRISE ME.  
TA: eheheheheh  
CG: ALRIGHT, SEE YOU SOON. ARE YOU AND DAVE BACK AT YOUR DORM?  
TA: yup  
CG: GREAT.  
  
carcinoGeneticist [CG] ceased trolling  twinArmageddons [TA]

You hustle your way back to your dorm building. Sticking your head in your own dorm room you find that Rose doesn’t seem to be there so you close the door again and go up more stairs to Dave and Sollux’s dorm room. To- well, you suppose to your boyfriend’s dorm. Plural. Boyfriends’? Actually did they technically ask you out or was it just an agreement that dumbass flirting can commence without hurt feelings? You really should have learnt about getting clarity with this kind of thing from your angst about whether or not you were dating Dave last time, but you didn’t.

God, you’re stupid sometimes.

Pushing these thoughts out of your mind you knock on their door, but when Rose answers you wonder if you’re on the right floor for a moment.

“You’re right, it is Karkat.” Rose says, looking over her shoulder.

“Told you.” Dave says from within.

“You didn’t tell me it was your birthday.” you say accusingly, pointing your finger in her face and walking into Dave and Sollux’s dorm when she steps aside slightly.

“And I’m sure Dave told you that we don’t really celebrate them. It wasn’t a slight on you, I promise.” Rose says reassuringly.

“Well, too bad. I didn’t have time to gift wrap so you two had better close your eyes and hold out your hands.” you insist and shoot a look at Dave.

“If this was June I’d think this was a trick.” Dave snorts.

“Maybe she’s roped him into it.” Sollux says with a sleepy yawn from up in his hammock. Dave and Rose obligingly close their eyes but you still have two sets watching you, courtesy of Sollux, as you take their presents out and carefully hand them over.

Rose opens her eyes first and she actually seems a little taken aback at what you got her, carefully turning over the bag of coffee grounds in her hand and staring wide eyed at the mug.

“Karkat… thank you.” she whispers. Rose looks up from the mug and quickly steps in to pull you in for a quick hug, she even kisses you briefly on the cheek.

“It’s not that great, I just wanted to give you something. It wasn’t right for nothing to happen on your birthday.” you insist.

The smile Rose gives you is soft and affectionate but it sharpens into something deeply amused when she looks behind you. Turning around you see Dave hurriedly ripping his shirt off. You get a flash of bare skin before he shoves his new t-shirt over his head, messing up his hair so it’s a white cloud of chaos afterwards. He tugs the hot pink shirt down and stares down at it in awe.

“It’s _hideous_! I love it!” Dave says in glee.

“The glitter’s even slightly misaligned.” Sollux notes from above.

“I know, right?! And look at these, they look like they were decorated by someone having a seizure!” Dave says and holds the sweets up for Sollux to see.

“That was very thoughtful, Karkat.” Rose says.

“I gotta show June!” Dave gasps and hurries out of the door.

“Is… is she even back yet?” you wonder.

“I’ll go see. I need to talk to Jade about Alchemy anyway. Thank you again.” Rose nods and leaves as well.

“I didn’t think he’d be that excitAGH!” you yelp when you turn around, having expected Sollux to still be up near the ceiling and instead find him an inch from your face.

“Dave is enthusiastic when he really likes something.” Sollux says in a way that seems… meaningful somehow.

“Was that necessary?” you grumble and step back a little.

“Nah. Fun though.” Sollux snickers.

You shake your head in mild despair, to be honest you’re pretty used to this by now. Sollux takes annoying you as seriously as some people take their sporting pursuits.

“She’s worried about you, you know.” Sollux says, his voice a little more subdued.

“Rose?” you guess, glancing at the now shut door.

“Mhm. She’s trying to arrange something to make you feel better.” Sollux adds.

“That seems like the kind of thing she wouldn’t want you telling me.” you say slowly. You knew Rose was concerned for you of course but… it’s nothing. You’re _fine_.

“Probably, but if she was that serious about it she’d have made it so I couldn’t say. And here we are anyway. I think she’s worried that you’re having some emotional breakdown or something from losing your maker.” Sollux shrugs and sits on the arm of the sofa.

“I’m not. I’m fine.” you insist.

“You’re not having a breakdown but you’re not fine either. But you will be, it’s fine even if you’re not.” Sollux tells you casually.

You hesitate, wanting to insist that you are fine but Sollux is probably right on this. You don’t need fuss, nothing anyone can do will fix what’s happened and what you’ve found out. But it’s also true that time is a great healer of pain.

“So you’re telling me this, why?” you ask instead.

“I’m not in favour of lying to you about things unless I really have to, or unless it’s very funny. Besides, I don’t think what Rose is planning is bad and it’d probably suck if you flipped out, loudly insisting that you were fine when she suggests it.” he tells you.

“Well… thanks. And also you’re a jerk.” you inform him.

Sollux doesn’t have anything to say to that but he does seem pleased at your insult. Maybe it’s proof that you got under his skin, or he got under yours? One of those. Probably both.

“Can you tell me how this is supposed to work?” you ask him.

“Very specific, good job.” Sollux snorts.

“This. Us. You hate me, right? But you’re concerned, and you helped me at Kankri’s place. That was nice of you, caring. Is that allowed?” you ask.

“Even if it wasn’t, who are you going to tell on me to? The relationship police?” Sollux scoffs, very unhelpfully.

“Sollux.” you say tersely.

“Karkat. But, fine, you’re acting like me hating you means I don’t care. You’re thinking of hate being the exact opposite to love or whatever, which would be indifference. We both care about Dave and if hate is the opposite of that then why do I care about you? That kind of shit. But hate isn’t like that, it’s… I don’t know, like a mirror to what you’re thinking of love being. Of course I care, I just know you enough to know that you’re not going to break under this and if you need a little therapeutic arson and vandalism to make you feel better then I’m there.” Sollux explains.

“I guess I get that. When I was stuck on Everest and trying to get you to come to me to help I thought it might not work but I didn’t even consider that you would ignore me and let me die.” you admit quietly.

“I don’t know if that would have killed you or not but even if you’d given me a choice I wouldn’t have left you there just to see. I could have used a little more warning or a couple of minutes more because what I was doing was- rrgh.” Sollux cuts himself off with a frustrated little growl.

“That shard or whatever you called it that you were looking for? Can I help with that at all?” you ask him and that seems to take the demon aback a little.

“You don’t really know what you’d be looking for. I don’t even know fully what I’m looking for, I just know it when I see it. I think.” he says with a frown.

“Could you tell me?” you ask and carefully make your way around the sofa to sit on it, Sollux turns to watch you with a troubled expression on his face.

“It’s… bits of. Uh.” Sollux grimaces as he speaks.

“Slick said about your ‘uncle’s body’, so I’m going to assume that what you’re looking for are like whatever was left behind from Kankri. Since you’re a demon, demons don’t leave bodies and if you had an uncle it’d be like your maker’s maker’s other… creation? Is that about right?” you ask.

“Not exactly. If it was just what was left when someone died I wouldn’t care so much.” Sollux answers. So you were right about the rest of it.

“So something bad would happen if you lost the bits of whatever this is?” you ask.

Sollux nods. Emphatically.

“Well how do you know what you’re looking for? I assume you can’t always rely on your kismesis showing up with pictures of tea and messages from psychopomps.” you say.

“So far that’s been exactly how it’s worked. But I guess it’s seeing what it does to other people. For me when I was there I could feel… you know how you felt incredibly shit when you had that dream about Kankri? Something like that.” Sollux explains.

“Cannibalism and insanity in humans and the creeps when you get too close. Right. I guess I see what you mean about it being hard for me to help.” you agree unhappily.

“Yeah, it’s pretty shit.” Sollux says.

A silence falls between you, a frown marring Sollux’s brow as he stares unseeingly at the coffee table as if it knows where anything might be. You gently reach out and put your hand on his shoulder and give it a careful squeeze.

“Well, hey, if you find anything and need any arson and vandalism I’m here.” you offer.

Sollux’s face breaks into a smile and he laughs. He’s looking at you with all of his eyes shining with amusement and despite how alien his features are you’re sure that you can definitively say that he’s pretty.

“I might take you up on that very sweet offer.” Sollux says with a grin still on his face.

“You’ve got me into a life of crime now, you’re a terrible influence. Why did you have a baseball bat on you anyway?” you ask, the thought suddenly occurring to you.

“Sports.” Sollux says simply.

He leans a little closer to you, still smiling and the thought settles over you that you are actually dating him. You were before you lost your memories and you didn’t break up so… so you could just…

You lean closer and you’re not sure if you’d be able to say that you kissed him or if he kissed you but you’ve got no complaints either way. Sollux’s hand traces your jaw in a gesture that’s awfully tender in comparison to what you read in that book, but he did say that you two weren’t quite like that.

The door opening makes you jump a little but as you look around at Dave you remember that you’ve not actually done anything wrong, you’re all on the same page. Remember?

“June agrees, it’s the best and most tacky piece of shit shirt ever!” Dave announces as he walks in.

“Did she just get back?” Sollux asks, leaning around you to look at Dave.

“Yeah, apparently she and Terezi were just flying around together. Actually I guess Terezi was doing the flying, what with her being a dragon and all.” Dave says as he ambles over to you both.

“I don’t really get why Terezi wanted to see June in the first place. The two of them seemed to do nothing but fight when we were together before and…” you trail off as you look at Sollux.

The grin he gives you is knowing and it suddenly clicks that maybe demons and whatever you happen to be aren’t the only species that have these kind of feelings.

“You think they hate each other?” you ask him.

“What, like, romance-ways?” Dave asks and Sollux nods in answer to you both.

“Aw, that’s cute. I didn’t know humans did that too.” Dave says.

Sollux doesn’t say anything about that but you suppose that humans have a reputation of being compatible with lots of species, maybe the same goes for romantic compatibility too? But it’s not as if you’ve ever seen hate portrayed romantically in human culture. Interesting.

“Hey, thanks for the shirt and these awesome things. They’re so terrible, I love them. It was really cool of you and you didn’t have to.” Dave says and holds out the terribly decorated treats that you got him along with the shirt.

“I wanted to.” you say.

“Uh, so… are you uh… doing anything over Christmas? Or, winter break, whatever? Mom usually throws a party on the solstice and New Years. Well, I say party, more like food and reckless magic with just us.” Dave asks. His voice is a little awkward and strained and he’s fiddling with the cellophane in his hands. You can’t help but remember what Sollux told you before, about how Rose is worried about you. If she’s worried she’s probably talked to Dave about it.

“I’m not going back to fucking Georgia if that’s what you’re asking.” you tell him.

“I figured you might not. We were gonna go back and see mom, save Sollux having to pop back all the time. Jade’s going back to her island too and June has to go back and spend time with her dad.” Dave goes on.

So you’ll be all on your own. That’s fine, you should be able to get back to work at the library for at least part of that and it’s not as if you’re not used to being on your own. You spent five years alone.

“Apparently Jade has some dog on her island that wouldn’t leave with her, some feral thing from what she said. I think she wants to go back to see it but there’s no one else there and Rose thinks she’s going to be lonely. Plus we all get paid ports to go somewhere on the holidays, usually you go back home. You could go with Jade, all four of us could at least for a bit. I know mom would want us back before the solstice itself but it’d be cool to see Jade’s island a little bit. I don’t think June can go but it’d be fun, right?” Dave asks hopefully.

You can all but see Rose getting Dave to suggest this, her words going through his mouth. As if you’re more likely to accept because the guy you’re stupid for asks. Sollux had a point, if he hadn’t warned you about this you might have taken it pretty personally. As it is you think there’s probably some truth to it, Jade likely doesn’t want to be on her own any more than you do and there’s worse places to spend a break than on a desert island, even if there’s enough people on it that it won’t be deserted. Actually, you don’t know if it is a desert or a jungle or what. You think Jade mentioned plants before.

The point is, Dave is likely only agreeing to ask you because he’s concerned for you too, because he cares. He probably just thinks you have too much pride or you’re too stubborn to ask for some company yourself.

“It’d beat Salem in December.” you concede.

“Really?!” Dave asks, painfully obviously pleased. He seems to catch himself and looks away for a moment.

“I mean, it’s cool that you’d do that for Jade.” he amends.

Oh, he’s lucky that he’s got you so smitten for him.

“In fairness it’s way too cold outside and I don’t like it either.” Sollux points out.

“He complains all winter.” Dave groans and flops backwards over the sofa into the gap between you and Sollux, not that there’s a lot of room there so he’s partly on the hand that you have on the sofa cushion.

“I do not.” Sollux grumbles and smacks Dave in the forehead with the ends of his tails.

“He does.” Dave snickers.

“In fairness to him I would assume that hell is a lot warmer, so he’s probably used to things being warmer.” you reason.

“Used to be.” Sollux mutters and looks away.

“...Wanna play smash?” Dave asks after a moment.

“I have no idea how, but ok.” you agree.

You are convinced that Sollux cheats at whatever version of super smash bros this. You have no proof for this and you won’t voice your theory because if Sollux’s response is that he’s just that good then he’ll be even more smug and he’s insufferable already. Your lack of skill might also be down to how close Dave is to you, especially in that terrible t-shirt that fits a little too tightly…

You watch as your little character flies off of the screen again. Yeah, that’s probably the reason.

The last week of term leaves you still pretty spaced in class, no matter your intentions you still can’t seem to fully concentrate. It’s not helped by your sleep being disturbed, even when you don’t dream of Kankri you wake up exhausted. Needless to say Kanaya and Ms. Paint are adamant on keeping you out on compassionate leave and in all honesty you don’t have the energy to fight that.

The plan is going to be that everyone but June will go to Jade’s island first and you’ll all stay there until just before the solstice, at which point Dave, Rose and Sollux will go and it’ll just be you and Jade. It sounds peaceful to you, the prospect of weeks on a beach getting to relax and read.

On the day you’re set to go all of you head to the university’s port. You all wave June off as she goes back home to see her dad and when she’s done the rest of you head in. Though you bundled up with a sweater and coat to get there you’re aware that when you get to Jade’s island you’ll likely want to take those off right away. Even so you’re not prepared for the heat hitting you.

You guess it must be early morning local time, with the sun just peeking over the horizon, but it’s pleasantly warm. You shuck off your coat and stare around.

Jade’s island is filled with lush greenery, tall tropical trees and the sound of wildlife in the trees that you thought you’d only hear on a nature documentary. The circle itself has been carved into rock and the carvings look fresh, you wonder who put this here because as far as you’re aware details on the circle have to change with the people going through it. Maybe this one only goes to Salem?

“Oh that’s so much better.” Sollux groans happily, tipping his head back and enjoying the break from the cold.

Jade steps past the edge of the circle, puts two fingers into her mouth and whistles at a volume that’d almost rival your shouting. There’s a pause and then a flash of green in the air as a huge white dog appears out of nowhere and tackles Jade to the ground. It licks her face with a glowing green tongue and as Jade laughs and pushes it away so she can sit up you realise that it doesn’t have any eyes.

“Fucking HELL! Jade! That’s a HELLHOUND!” Sollux gasps.

“Is he? I always thought he was some kind of faewilds dog, or part that and part samoyed? Grandpa got him before I was born so I don’t know.” Jade says as she scratches behind the ear of what is seemingly a hellhound. Said hellhound’s tail thumps happily on the floor as that glowing tongue lolls out of the corner of its mouth.

“No, he’s definitely a hellhound. Mituna used to breed them, they’re native to my plane. I’ve seen loads, this one’s really young for a hellhound. He’s still only got the one head.” Sollux says in awe and kneels down.

The hellhound sniffs in Sollux’s direction and pads a little closer to where Sollux is kneeling.

“Hey boy. Who’s a bad dog? Yes you are.” Sollux says affectionately.

“Surely he’s a good dog.” Rose protests.

“Hell, Rose. Bad dog.” Sollux snorts and pets the hellhound.

“His name is Bec. Or Becquerel if you want to use his long name, which I don’t unless he’s been really bad.” Jade explains and pets Bec’s back. The hellhound flops over onto his side and proceeds to get tummy rubs from both Sollux and Jade together. You don’t know who has the more obviously excited and delighted tail, Bec or Sollux.

When you turn to point that out to Dave you find he’s already filming the whole thing. Sollux is even rubbing the dog’s face and telling him what a very bad boy he is like the most over the top dog owner you’ve ever seen. After a bit Bec decides that he’s had enough fuss and trots off.

“I’m going to have to troll Mituna about this! I don’t know how your grandpa got a hellhound but I’m sure he’d know something about it.” Sollux says delightedly.

“You are completely covered in fur.” you point out. Sollux’s black t-shirt is absolutely plastered in long white fur. It’s not as if Sollux seems to care much at all, he’s very plainly delighted to have been able to play with a hellhound at all. Maybe it’s nostalgic for him.

“Is he safe?” Rose asks warily, her eyes on the distant Bec who has wandered off into the distance and is now sniffing a leaf. He looks around at your group, as much as a creature with no eyes can look.

“Oh, he’s fine. If he was going to attack he would have done it already, he seems tame and well trained to me. I just don’t know how he got here. I have to ask Tuna.” Sollux assures her. He’s already typing away on his phone.

“Well then, follow me!” Jade says cheerily.

Jade strides off towards the treeline and the rest of you follow. As you saw from the circle the island is lush and verdant, tropical plants surround you and the air is heavy with the perfume of exotic flowers. Small insects and even hummingbirds flit around the blooms, giving the whole place an air of paradise to it.

A wet nose nudges your hand and Bec makes a determined attempt to sniff up the inside of your sleeve.

“I haven’t got anything for you, boy.” you tell the hellhound.

Bec cocks his head at you a little, one pointy white ear flopping slightly with the movement. Then, after what seems to be a moment of consideration, he licks your hand from fingertip to wrist in one slobbery swipe with his glowing tongue. With that done he barks at you and scampers off into the forest.

“Eugh!” you grimace and try to flick as much of the slobber away as you can before giving up and wiping what remains on your jeans. Gross.

“The house isn’t that much further from here, you’ll know it right away when you see it. We can get you all set up when we get there. I’m so excited, I’ve never had guests before! I- oh, Bec I can’t play fetch with you here, there’s no room!” Jade says and you crane your neck around the group to see Bec stood with a big stick in his mouth. Jade is right, with all these trees in the way anything she threw wouldn’t go far at all.

“Oh, I’ve got this.” Sollux says eagerly. He psionically plucks the large branch from Bec’s mouth and floats it high up in the air above the treeline and then flings it away hard and fast. Bec tenses and then jumps, in a flash of light he’s gone.

“Whoa!” Dave gasps.

“A lot of ‘em can do stuff like that, teleportation’s pretty common. It makes them really great trackers and guards.” Sollux says happily.

Another flash of green light appears and Bec is back with the same branch in his mouth and an eagerly wagging tail. The rest of the journey up to Jade’s giant and strange house is spent with Sollux playing fetch with the hellhound.

Jade’s home is huge but it’s so strangely designed. It has a huge square base that seems to encompass several floors but it narrows into a comparatively smaller column upwards that’s topped with two orblike structures. This was either built with magic or is maintained with it because to your eyes this architecture doesn’t seem within the bounds that someone on an island alone could build by normal means.

Jade pushes the front door open and invites you all inside. The foyer is large and just as white as the stone on the outside of the building. Despite the colour the room is dark and full. Elaborate and exotic rugs haphazardly cover the floor and the wall is full of paintings and photographs, some depicting mythological animals both dead and alive and some have Jade’s grandpa in them as well. Even more unsettling is the vast array of taxidermy in the room. Over there is a hippocampus that you might have mistaken for a statue if it wasn’t for the glassy eyes and the far too realistic horse hair on parts of its body. Other mounted animals and creatures on plinths fill the room and your eyes skip from one to another.

You don’t know enough about magical animals to identify all of them but one over there looks to be some kind of primate with terrible needle teeth and right over there is one dressed like a man! Dressed… very much like a man. A... human… man.

You stop and Rose bumps into you, her eyes had been stuck on the tapestry off to your right but you don’t even have the headspace to apologise to her.

“Uh.” you say tightly and point at the man.

Sollux glances over and then back to you.

“He’s dead, what are you looking like that for?” Sollux asks.

“Who’s-” Dave cuts off when he spots the dead man and jumps.

Somewhat ahead of your now stalled group Jade turns around and looks between you and what you’re coming to realise is a taxidermied human man standing by the fireplace with a gun in his stitched up hands. Behind square frames fake glass eyes stare out unblinkingly at you.

“Oh! That’s my grandpa! He was big on preserving all of these animals and I know he’d have wanted the same thing, don’t mind him. This way!” Jade says like she’s not just talked about taxiderming her adopted grandfather.

At least Dave and Rose look as unsettled as you feel but Sollux doesn’t seem bothered at all, you wonder if it’s part of his whole doom thing.

“Humans are weird about dead things, other species don’t think the same way.” Sollux reminds you and follows after Jade.

You suppose he has a point, it’s not as if Jade expressed a cruel opinion or anything. It was just unsettlingly casual. Maybe it is weird to put so much importance on how a body is treated after the person living there has passed on, but given how basic blood magic works and how powerful death is, it doesn’t seem unreasonable. Besides which, humans have a pretty universal importance on treatment of the dead, of course it varies from culture to culture but everyone agrees that it matters.

You should try to be culturally sensitive. But even so you’re not happy with being so close to a dead human body this soon after the whole zombie incident. You hurry on after Jade.

Jade leads you on a tour of the rest of her home, although you notice there’s more than a few rooms she doesn’t take you into. You slow down as she goes past one that whispers strongly to you in the papery way that large volumes of books tend to now.

“Jade, what’s in here?” you ask, pointing at the door.

Jade hesitates on the stairs and something sad flickers across her face before she quickly hides it.

“That’s my grandpa’s study and library, he has a lab above it too but… I can’t go in there.” Jade answers softly, which makes you feel like utter crap for even asking. You sure as shit don’t push the issue.

Jade takes you into the other dome that you saw from afar which turns out to be her room. Her room is massive, absolutely filled with science equipment, posters, stuffed toys, a huge bed and an absolutely stunning view of the rest of the island. There’s more than enough room for all of you in here, even if you’d been a bit dubious before about the suggestion of you all sharing the same room you can see now that it’ll be no problem.

You head to one of the windows and lean against the frame, the view over the island is breathtaking and you don’t even need to breathe! Brilliant greenery rolls out over the island, trees and meadows stretching out that eventually give way to a long strip of perfect white beach which runs the whole edge of the island. Crystal clear blue water laps at the shore and when you open the window you can just hear the sound of the ocean and smell the salt drifting in on the air over the flowers in the jungle.

“This place is amazing.” you say, completely enraptured by just how perfect it all seems.

“It is pretty, but it gets a bit boring after being here your whole life. I’m sure you feel the same about where you came from.” Jade smiles.

“No, don’t, why would you bring up Georgia he’s-” Sollux groans.

“I don’t, because no one has ever thought Georgia was paradise and this place is amazing!” you insist.

“Let me know when he’s stopped.” Sollux says not so quietly to Dave and turns his attention back to Bec again. He’s trying to get a good photograph of the hellhound and Bec isn’t cooperating at all.

“Oh, shut up. My point is this place is beautiful and your home is amazing! I’m so excited that you’re letting us stay here.” you tell her, directing the no doubt pointless demand to shut up at Sollux first.

“Well I’m really glad you like it. It’s great to have company and see Bec again, even if it seems like he’s made a whole new friend.” Jade giggles.

Bec teleports away in a flash just as Sollux was lining up a perfect shot. The demon growls and chases the hellhound down, trying to take another picture. Unfortunately Bec seems to have decided that this is some kind of game and Sollux is now going to play whether he wants to or not.

“Oh, we should go down to the greenhouse for lunch! It’s always great this time of day. Although I guess it’s breakfast time here now, the time lag is going to be a little odd but nevermind.” Jade says.

The rest of you take a moment to ditch your coats and what have you so you’re in more appropriate clothing for the setting and when that’s done you head down with Jade. Her greenhouse is on the top floor of the wide square lower levels of the building. The walls and roof are glass in this part and when she opens the door you can smell the scent of wet earth and living things.

The greenhouse itself is a little humid and there are rows upon rows of tables with beautiful and peculiar plants set out as well as giant pumpkins growing on a heavy bench. The sound of soft rain reaches your ears and when you turn your head you see that there’s a small cloud drifting about up near the ceiling gently watering the plants.

“You have weather in here?” you say in awe.

“That’s very advanced magic. I think it might also be illegal to mess with weather like that.” Rose adds the second part with a thoughtful little frown.

“It’s only illegal if you get caught!” Dave says cheerfully.

“That’s not how that works.” you point out.

“It’s nothing really. Grandpa dug up an old spell for it and fae magic works really well with that kind of thing so it wasn’t too hard. If I didn’t have it watering everything I’m sure this would have all been dead by now. Although nothing can save my pumpkins.” Jade sighs.

“What do you mean? Your pumpkins looked… where did they go?” you ask in shock. Where there had previously absolutely been pumpkins there is now a total absence of pumpkins.

“It’s a recurring pest problem I’m having and it only happens with pumpkins. Some force just takes them right when they’re lovely and ripe which is incredibly annoying, let me tell you.” Jade says, her eyes narrowing behind her large round glasses.

“Why don’t you just not grow the pumpkins?” Dave asks.

“That’s just quitting talk, Dave.” Jade snorts and walks off.

Jade and Rose unstack a load of gardening supplies from a table, the table itself is clean it’s just no longer got empty plant pots, blank label sticks, skinny growing poles and the like on it. You try to help but the two of them just shoo you away, it seems to be a job where more people doing it would just get in each other’s way.

Instead you mooch over to some of the flowers which seem to have rows and rows of little smaller flower heads inside them, like a fractal or something.

“I’ve never seen anything like this.” Dave says quietly from the other side of the bench.

“Incredible, right?” you agree.

Dave gently runs a finger over a petal in awe and then looks up at you.

“Imagine if we’d never come here and got to see this.” he says in wonder. You suppose he has a point, the island and Jade’s home are both beautiful even with the occasional stuffed old man corpse. It would have been a shame to miss it but there’s so much of the world that you’ve never seen as well, it’s probably a shame that you haven’t seen that too. Or maybe you have seen a lot of it before and forgotten, that’s probably sadder, isn’t it?

“What’s that?” Sollux asks slowly, he’s leaning out of one of the greenhouse windows looking at something out of your line of sight. Jade looks around to see what he means.

“Oh, the frog temple?” she asks.

“It looks kind of like a frog, yeah. What is that?” Sollux asks, still hanging out of the window to stare at it.

“No idea. I don’t even think it’s called that, grandpa never let me in it and even after he died Bec would just zap me right back here if I tried to go in. I know nothing about it.” Jade answers him.

“Is it bad?” you question Sollux, wary of what he said before about these shards giving him the creeps.

“I don’t know. If Bec’s guarding it that makes me wonder. Be right back.” Sollux says.

He vanishes in a puff of smoke and as soon as he does Bec’s head snaps around. He barks once, loudly, and vanishes too. All at once he’s back with Sollux. His teeth are sunk into the hem of Sollux’s jeans and you watch as the demon scowls and gently pries the hellhound off. Now that he’s back Bec seems happy enough to let him go.

“Sit. Stay.” Sollux commands Bec. Obediently Bec sits, his head pointed at Sollux in rapt attention.

Sollux vanishes, Bec follows and brings them both back.

“I’m going to need reinforcements.” Sollux groans and pulls his phone out once more.

As it happens Sollux just has to sulk through lunch/breakfast but as you’re just finishing up Mituna appears in a similar puff of smoke. Bec, who had started dozing under the table over lunch, startles awake and stares at Mituna. Or stares as much as something without eyes can.

“Becquerel?!” he gasps.

The hellhound barks and launches himself at Mituna, knocking him to the ground. You get to see version two of demons fussing over hellhounds, except this time it’s both of them and Bec looks like he’s in doggy heaven. Or… hell? Whichever he’d prefer.

“He’s one of yours, right?” Sollux asks, rubbing the underside of Bec’s jaw.

“Yeah! I bred this little guy, he was rad!” Mituna says gleefully and rubs Bec’s fluffy tummy.

“Does he have brothers and sisters?” Jade asks excitedly.

“For sure, a few personal guards, a couple assigned to the palace. He was the best one of the litter though, I never knew where he ended up. How’d he get here?” Mituna says in wonder.

“He was my grandpa’s dog.” Jade explains.

Mituna’s mouth twists into something uncertain.

“A fae? Hell never really dealt with fae, that’s kinda out of our jurisdiction.” he says.

“Not always but almost always.” Sollux agrees.

“Oh, no. I was adopted, I guess? He was human.” Jade explains.

Mituna balks at that and shakes his head vehemently.

“No way. You’d never- if you were gonna put a hellhound anywhere near a human it’d be to kill them or drag them down to hell. You don’t assign them to humans. _He_ wouldn’t have…” he trails off and looks down at Bec who is lying on his back with his glowing tongue lolling out.

“_He_ asked for Bec specifically.” Mituna says softly.

“Could someone have made a deal to get a hellhound?” you suggest.

“Psh, not with me. I don’t do that shit.” Mituna says with a shake of his head.

“Would _he_ have made a deal like that? Why go that small? Besides, I saw the guy’s corpse downstairs, he was old and very much not mauled by a hellhound.” Sollux points out.

“Sorry, who is _he_ exactly?” Jade asks.

Sollux and Mituna trade an uneasy look and in unison gesture down to the ground. You’re pretty sure you all know who they mean but it seems like both demons are unwilling to invoke the name.

“Also why is he glowing this much? He didn’t used to glow green.” Mituna asks in a quick change of subject.

“Grandpa got him into irradiated steaks.” Jade answers, although she doesn’t seem satisfied with Mituna and Sollux’s dodge of the question.

“He’s also not willing to let Sollux go in the frog temple over there.” Dave chips in.

“He won’t let me pass, he’s obviously guarding it but he just takes me back here. Jade said the same happened to her. But if I’d tried to get past a regular hellhound guarding something for real…” Sollux trails off.

“You’d have lost a limb at least, yeah. Hm.” Mituna gets to his feet and leans out of the same window. He leans back in again and looks back at Sollux.

“What happens when you just walk there?” Mituna asks.

“Uh.” Sollux hesitates.

“He didn’t try that.” you fill in for him and Sollux shoots you an acidic glare.

“HAH! Tell me you’re not still stuck on the same problem there, baby.” Mituna snickers, glancing between you and Sollux.

“Don’t call- ugh. We’re fine, it’s fine. I just wanted to know about the dog stopping me from going over there. It was too much effort to walk over.” Sollux huffs.

“Wait, I thought you said that teleporting was more effort or something?” you say with a frown, didn’t he get on your case once about that?

“I also said that I’m more than happy to lie to you when I personally find it funny.” Sollux replies and sticks out his forked tongue at you.

Mituna cackles and walks towards you both and, also, the doorway.

“Thought you’d be in a better mood with you getting laid again.” Mituna snickers. Whatever looks flashes across Sollux’s face makes Mituna howl with laughter, clutching his stomach with it as he passes him.

“Oh, oh man, that’s so fucking funny. Come on, let’s go see this temple. Eheheheh.” Mituna laughs and walks through the door. He snaps his fingers as he goes and Bec immediately heels.

“I suppose we’re going with.” Rose notes and delicately stands up, brushing crumbs from her skirt.

“Sounds fun.” Dave agrees.

The others pass you but you’re frozen in your seat. Sollux is pointedly not looking at you, his face almost glowing yellow.

“...again?” you ask him slowly.

“Let’s- just… temple.” Sollux mumbles and darts out of the room.

...Interesting.

You’re at the back of the group as you all head outside once more. You all have to curve around the huge building that is Jade’s home before the distant peak with a frog temple comes into view. It looks incredibly far away to you and a big part of you really doesn’t want to go there.

“It’ll take a few hours to get there.” Jade explains and you wilt a little at her words.

“Couldn’t we teleport most of the way?” Dave asks hopefully, casting a look over at Sollux.

“Then he’s a problem.” Mituna says, jerking his thumb at you.

“I’m not, actually.” you correct him.

Mituna looks at you, it’s hard to tell with that much hair in his face but you think he’s skeptical.

“You don’t know the kind of magic it’d take to specifically allow him to do that and all the conditions that’d- if you don’t remember shit you don’t know how it works. He’d have to draw out a big formal deal and have you agree to THAT to take you somewhere.” Mituna says and you guess he means like what Sollux drew out on the floor in the club.

“Yeah but it’s fine, I’ve given him permission for whatever and it works now.” you explain with a shrug.

Sollux has both hands over his own face now and Mituna’s expression warps into a kind of shocked horror.

“You gave him permission for ANYTHING?!” Mituna shrieks, his head whipping back and forth between you and Sollux. Sollux seems determined to try and will himself out of existence.

“Is that bad?” Dave asks.

“Is that- are you kidding me?! You can’t just GIVE someone complete power over you like that, are you crazy? You can’t- kid, how could you let him do that?” Mituna demands, turning his ire on Sollux.

“Can we not do this? I told him to take it back and he didn’t.” Sollux protests.

“Oh, God in heaven you two are… ugh.” Mituna groans, shaking his head.

You’re about to comment in surprise that a demon would say that of all things but instead Sollux psionically pulls you all together and teleports you all across the island. Instead of being a distant feature you’re now right up close to the lake. Or… is it a lake? In the distance you think you can see the water just merging out into the ocean in a way that makes you wonder if this is some kind of atoll, a sunken volcano. Except it looks like there’s a volcano on the ridge off to the side, can you get a volcano on a volcano?

In the middle of the water the frog temple rises up as a massive pillar of stone. It surely must be older than Jade’s house but you also don’t know who could have made this. The stone doesn’t even look like it matches the surrounding rock on the sides of the volcano. Crouched on the top of the temple is a giant stone frog, its blank eyes staring out unseeing across the water.

Something about it seems unnatural to you but it’s hard to say exactly what. It’s not as if it’s radiating malice or anything. Obviously someone built this, it’s not a natural feature of the island, but it also feels out of place for being put there. Like a walmart in the middle of the grand canyon, obviously artificial, shouldn’t be there and you question the motives of whoever put it there.

“Karkat?” Rose says, snapping you out of it.

“Sorry, it’s just weird.” you apologise.

“Yeah, weird, but it doesn’t feel… you know?” Sollux glances at Mituna who nods in agreement. The place evidently doesn’t give them the creeps in a way whatever it was in Japan did.

“How are we going to get across the water?” Dave asks.

“Oh, like this! Watch!” Jade says and scampers to the water’s edge.

Jade takes a step over the water and just before her white sneaker touches water a lily pad floats up to the surface, somehow strong enough to bear her weight. She takes another step and another one shows up. Huge lily pads bob on the surface of the water between you and the temple and it looks as if Jade is taking a path to the closest one.

A little wary, Rose takes a step onto the first lilly pad and finds that it holds her up too. She looks back at you and then starts to follow Jade. Sollux goes next, you follow after him with Dave behind you. By the time you’re out far enough for there to be room for Mituna to join you can hear Bec whining and starting to growl.

“No. Heel.” Mituna says firmly, it’s not unkind but he’s talking to Bec with authority. Bec whines and follows Mituna.

“I feel like I could just take my skateboard there.” Dave says after a few more lilly pads.

“I don’t want to go anywhere _near_ that thing again.” you grumble.

“Skateboard?” Mituna asks.

You sigh as Dave excitedly starts explaining about his cursed skateboard and pulls it out to show Mituna, what’s worse is that Mituna is every bit as thrilled about it as Dave is and the two of them immediately launch into conversation about it. As they start talking about skateboard themed video games you tune out and focus on Sollux.

“Hey,” you say softly and nudge his tails as they come within range, “what was that before?”

“What was what?” Sollux says, you know he’s playing dumb.

“Mituna losing his shit about me giving you permission for whatever.” you tell him, even though he already knows.

“It doesn’t matter.” Sollux says evasively.

“Oh, really? Then I must have been imagining you getting all embarrassed about it earlier, and if it’s nothing then I can just ask you again _louder_.” you say innocently.

Sollux looks over his shoulder at you and, oh boy, if looks could kill…

“Fine. It’s not something you just DO. You gave me total permission and control over you, that’s a huge thing. I also shouldn’t have accepted it really.” Sollux mumbles as he hops from one lily pad to another.

“Why not? I can see why I probably shouldn’t have signed over everything to a demon, but you’re not just anyone and I trust you. But wouldn’t getting that much power over someone be a big win for you? If it was just that I would have thought Mituna would have laughed at me for being dumb, not acted the way he did.” you point out.

Sollux seems to hesitate and your attention drifts back for a moment to Dave and Mituna. Mituna’s talking about how his current job is all about working in the games industry and encouraging wrath and other sins, he’s bragging that he invented the concept of ‘freemium games’ and microtransactions in games. Dave is all but talking Mituna’s ear off about the subject, they’re getting on like a house on fire.

That makes you remember Kankri for a moment, a poor choice of mental wording there.

“Total exchanges of power like that aren’t ever unilateral. Even the most devoted servant of a god can’t give everything, or they won’t be allowed to anyway. When you give up everything you become part of the thing you give it to. I accepted your permission so it’s a kind of… tether between us.” Sollux finally explains.

That makes a kind of sense. But even then is that really such a bad thing? What would that mean culturally for demons, though?

“Did I just demon marry you?” you ask him.

“That’s not a thing.” Sollux groans.

“Fine, but is it that level of importance? Work with me on shit I understand here, four eyes.” you say impatiently.

“Ugh. Human marriage isn’t even that big of a deal, they break that contract all the time. This is more important. It’s a dangerous thing to do, for both of us. Maybe not so much for me because you don’t know shit about anything.” Sollux says testily.

So it’s very important indeed. Probably something demons almost never do, a kind of trust that’s beyond what’s appropriate perhaps.

“I said you could take it back. You can. You probably should.” Sollux adds quickly. He’s stopped bothering with jumping from lily pad to lily pad and is now just floating by you.

“I’m good.” you say instead. Sollux being capable of transporting you is useful and you trust him not to kill you. You feel bad enough for forgetting everything that happened between the two of you but your relationship then was clearly important, that much is obvious from how much you forgetting hurt Sollux. The least you can do is to prove that things between you are okay by not jerking that trust away on the basis that it could hypothetically go badly for you.

Sollux nods and stays by your side, his face actually glowing a little from how yellow it is.

“Tell me what you used to do in hell.” Dave asks Mituna eagerly.

“Oh. It’s nothing like up here. Uh… there was the hellhound stuff of course, right Bec?” Mituna says hesitantly.

“So it was, like, chief hellhound breeder and trainer or something?” Dave guesses.

“No… I was a guard. Technically. Furthest and most desolate part of hell, the only things on the other side of the border were hellhounds so that’s how I got started with them. Nothing to do there at all. I’d see my quadrants and sometimes I’d get visitors but I had to stay there forever.” Mituna answers. He sounds uncomfortable, as if he didn’t really want to admit any of that. His voice was way more enthusiastic when he was talking about what he does now.

“That sounds pretty rough.” Dave says in surprise and you see Sollux wince.

“Dave, he was basically exiled. It was an eternity of punishment, or it was until we all had to leave.” Sollux tells Dave in a tone that suggests he should maybe stop asking tactless questions.

“A punishment for what?” Dave asks in surprise.

Mituna hesitates but seems to steel himself before answering.

“I was ordered to do something very important. I decided it was fucked up and just because I’m a demon didn’t mean I had to start doing shit like that. So I didn’t do what I was told. I… kind of did the opposite. _He_ was not pleased. Killing me was too kind so I got stuck on my own forever.” Mituna says and you can tell that even now Mituna doesn’t think he was wrong. You don’t know how long he was stuck in an apparently shitty isolated situation but he’s not bent or given in.

You’ve watched a lot of movies since The Event and seeing Mituna’s resolve makes you think of The Great Escape, only now you’re picturing Mituna locked up in solitary confinement, too stubborn and strong to break to it. For a species that doesn’t die of old age, eternity is a long ass time. Even with visitors that’s one hell of a punishment.

You step onto the last large lily pad before the frog temple and look up at it.

“I’ve never got this close before.” Jade says in wonder.

Looking at Bec you can see that he’s very clearly unhappy that you’re all here but he’s obviously obeying Mituna’s commands and you guess that as long as you don’t teleport there then he’ll resist the temptation to snatch you back. The five of you and Bec cross the last line of lilly pads to the base of the rock spire that the temple is built on. When you get there you can see that there are rock steps carved into the side of the rock that spiral up it.

“I guess we’d better climb then.” you sigh, if nothing else your classes atop that one tower have given you practice for this.

“That’s… a lot of stairs.” Dave says in a small voice.

Looking around you see that Dave looks daunted by the stairs and Sollux is all but plastered to his side. Sollux grits his teeth and in a puff they’re gone. Bec’s head snaps upwards, he barks, vanishes and reappears with Dave and Sollux once more.

“Good job.” Mituna snorts.

“It’s ok Dave, it’s not like Sollux would let you fall off.” you assure him.

“They’re pretty wide too!” Jade adds, already several steps up and bouncing on them a little to show how secure they are.

Dave makes an uncertain noise but when the rest of you start to climb he follows. He climbs up with Sollux holding onto his arm and Mituna talking away to distract them both. The climb isn’t actually all that bad. The steps up are decently wide and it’s not especially windy so you’re in no danger of being blown off of them. The weird thing is that you’re pretty sure Dave isn’t afraid of heights or anything, not with how he acts with his skateboard. It’s odd that he’s so bothered.

It takes five minutes at most to reach the top and a lot of that is because Dave is so jittery that it slows the whole thing down. When you’re all up there and Dave is once more on solid rock he starts to calm down somewhat.

Ahead of you is the body of the giant stone frog and you can see the stone archway of the entrance yawning wide in front of you. Jade steps forwards to go in but Sollux grabs her arm and pulls her back. Sollux’s gaze is focused upwards to the highest point of the arch and Mituna is looking that way as well, if you squint you think you can see something up there.

“What was your grandpa’s name? Jake... Harley?” Mituna asks slowly.

“Yeah, that was it. Why?” Jade asks.

“You didn’t mention he was a- that he worshipped _him_.” Mituna says with a vague gesture downwards.

“What? He didn’t!” Jade insists.

“Are you actually insinuating that Jade’s grandfather worshipped the de-” Rose is cut off by Sollux’s hands over her mouth.

“Shh. Look, names have power, don’t go throwing that one around here. This temple was clearly put here by unholy forces so watch what you say.” Sollux hisses at her, he glances back at the temple as if it might do something.

“The gods have been gone for a long time, who cares what I say?” Rose retorts, shoving Sollux’s hands back.

“It’s not attention you even want to risk. Sol, that might not let me in if the wording is going to be super picky.” Mituna says and points up at the arch.

“Will it let us in?” Jade asks.

“You’re not Jake Harley or a demon, so no.” Sollux answers.

Oh, maybe Mituna’s banishment might include something that makes him technically not a part of demonkind even though he is a demon in the literal sense?

“So I have to go.” Sollux concludes.

“Wait, if it’s dangerous then you don’t have to go.” Dave says. Sollux shakes his head and gives Dave a little smile.

“I’ll be fine. I have to know what’s in there, I can’t sense anything bad from here so I should be ok.” Sollux assures him.

With that Sollux turns and heads into the temple. You hold your breath as he crosses the threshold but nothing happens, Sollux turns a corner and he’s gone from sight.

“Everything okay?” Dave calls, edging closer to the temple.

“Yeah, there’s… not really anything here.” Sollux shouts back.

“Was something supposed to be here and it never happened? Maybe Jade’s grandpa dying stopped it or something?” you wonder.

“Grandpa never said anything about any of this.” Jade mutters.

Sollux comes back around the corner with two things in hand. Well, you say in hand, he’s making them float. One is an open box and the other is an old style gramophone.

“That it?” Mituna asks.

“Yeah and there’s nothing in this box either, it just had a note on it in english saying ‘look after this, it’s empty’.” Sollux says. He tips the box over a little and you can see that it is indeed empty.

“Is there a record on there? Is that anything sinister?” Rose asks, pointing to the gramophone.

Sollux steps out of the temple and sets both items on the ground. Kneeling down he pulls the needle of the gramophone aside and picks up the record that’s on there. He blows it free of dust and peers at it. Mituna leans over his shoulder and stares as well, he runs his hand over it but neither can seem to see anything wrong with the record.

With a shrug Sollux puts the record back down and puts the needle down randomly, it doesn’t start until Sollux curls his tails around the side and slots them into place where the power cord should be. At once the record starts spinning and you’re prepared for something cursed to come out, but no. It’s WORSE.

_”Johnny, rosin up your bow and play your fiddle hard_   
_'Cause Hell's broke loose in Georgia and the Devil deals the cards_   
_And if you win you get this shiny fiddle made of gold_   
_But if you lose the devil gets your soul”_

“Fucking GEORGIA!” you snap. Your voice makes the record needle skip and the last line you heard starts to loop.

_“But if you lose the devil gets your soul”_

It’s… unsettling.

_“But if you lose the devil gets your soul”_

Sollux pulls his tails free and the music dies.

“...Huh.” Mituna says slowly.

“Is it cursed?” Jade asks.

“No. I don’t know why you’d have this whole temple with nothing in it. If it wasn’t for the ward in the arch I’d think it was here first and your grandpa just found it and kept random shit in it for no reason. But this is meant to keep people out that aren’t working for _him_ and the hellhound is obviously meant to be a guard dog but there’s nothing here worth guarding.” Sollux answers.

“Could there have been something here that was taken?” Rose suggests.

“There didn’t look like there was a space set out for anything, this was right in the centre and it says on it that it’s empty.” Sollux gestures to the note taped onto the box. Jade leans over him to read it and frowns.

“That’s definitely not my grandpa’s writing and I never saw anyone else on the island either.” she says without a shadow of doubt about her.

“Perhaps there was something empty in the box? If the box itself is mundane it doesn’t seem reasonable to store it here or leave a note explaining that it was empty when that’s obvious to anyone who opens it.” Rose points out.

“But then why leave some random empty thing in a box? Who could have taken it anyway? Only demons can get in here, right?” Dave says and gestures to the demonic writing keeping the rest of you out.

“This is weird as shit. I’m gonna ask around, hit me up if you find anything else here.” Mituna says and then in a puff of smoke he vanishes. The slight breeze wafts the smoke into your face and you’re surprised that it’s not Sollux’s artificial apple scent but rather the more familiar smell of honey. For some reason you expected that to be the same too, but you guess not.

“I feel like this whole thing just gave me more questions than answers.” Jade says unhappily.

With Mituna gone Bec walks to Jade’s side and nudges his muzzle into her hand, making her absently scratch his head and the fluffy places behind his pointy ears.

“I guess out of all the things you could find in somewhere like this these aren’t bad. It could be way worse.” Dave tries, clearly shooting for comforting.

Sollux does not look comforted at all. He’s scowling down at the two things he brought out and you can see the agitated way his tails are lashing back and forth behind him.

“Is everything okay?” you ask Sollux.

“No, because I don’t understand this. That means something is going on that I don’t get, which means I can’t defend against it.” Sollux snaps, even though his frustration is clearly not directed at you.

“Or it could be nothing. This could have been a planned site for a temple or something else that never came to be. Or it could be that this temple was first and Jade’s grandpa wrote out that spell himself in demonic. Jade said her grandpa had ties to the university and mom knows demonic, it’s not unthinkable that he might know some too.” Rose reasons.

“It doesn’t feel like that.” Sollux mutters. He presses his hands to the box and the gramophone in turn and both vanish, presumably to that place within him that houses swords and baseball bats as well.

“Can we maybe just go back to Jade’s house where it was nice and not ominous?” Dave asks hopefully.

“The place you definitely weren’t unsettled by? With the taxidermy animals and person?” Rose asks lightly. Dave just flips her off and you decide to stay out of that one.

“Yeah, let’s… let’s get out of here.” Sollux sighs. He stands up fully and walks into the middle of your group so he’s close enough to touch you all. There’s a flash and all at once you’re back outside Jade’s house.

Jade tries to get the mood from earlier back and suggests that you all watch a movie, it turns out that her grandpa was quite the movie aficionado. Your group gathers in the purpose built movie room and settles into watch something fun and mindless but it’s clear that Sollux can’t relax and he ends up skulking off partway through Casablanca. It’s plain to see that Sollux’s uneasiness is rubbing off on Dave too.

You’re between Dave and Jade on the sofa with an old threadbare blanket thrown over all of your laps, but even with that you can feel the way Dave’s knee is anxiously jiggling up and down. You wouldn’t know it from his face which is putting off the impression that he’s cool as anything right now. Surely nothing is bothering him at all, nope, not a bit.

Yeah, you believe the nervous movement of his leg more than his face right now.

Carefully and subtly you slide your hand under the blanket, creeping your fingers across the sofa cushions until you brush against his fingers against his. Dave jumps slightly and looks over at you. You try to make sure that your face is in something approaching a reassuring expression and you must do an okay job because Dave gently laces his fingers with yours.

The rest of the movie passes pleasantly with Dave calming down. You can’t help but notice that every so often Sollux makes his way around the room and leaves again shortly after, he’s clearly very bothered. Rose suggests a walk on the beach before dinner, a useful way of padding out the time until it’s actually dinnertime on this island. Your group, minus Sollux, heads out towards the beach. You needn’t have worried about inviting Sollux or telling him where you’re going because you’re not even five minutes out before he pops in again near you.

“Man, where are you-” Dave starts to ask but Sollux is already gone again.

“He is not happy.” Rose sighs.

“Yeah, I got that.” you nod.

“It’s fine, he gets like this sometimes. Mom’s often paranoid that people are going to find the house but every so often something would make Sollux get all worried and defensive about it too. I bet you anything he’s circling the island and checking for anything dangerous.” Dave explains.

That sounds stressful for him, he’s clearly convinced that something is wrong and what he’s doing about it doesn’t seem to help. It’s as if he’s stuck in a loop. Perhaps the best thing you can do is go and be chill on the beach and very obviously fine and not in danger. If Sollux sees that enough he might relax again. You’d also bet that this has touched on something unpleasant in his past, he’s as much as told you that things used to be less than stellar for him.

As it happens you don’t have to pretend at all. The beach is pristine with pale golden sand glinting in the sunlight and crystal clear blue water lapping at the shoreline. Palm trees and other jungle flora rustle in the faintest breeze, offering you just the right amount of shade if you want it. The place really is paradise.

Sollux pops in with a wave of synthetic apple scent and looks around at all of you.

“Wanna join us?” Jade asks.

“No.” Sollux says distracted and his gaze shifts to a large rock. Psionically he flips it over and peers at it.

“What are you looking for?” Dave asks him.

“I don’t know. I don’t know shit about geology, maybe I could…” Sollux doesn’t bother to finish the sentence, instead he disappears the rock and then vanishes himself.

“He stole my rock!” Jade says indignantly.

“I’d just leave him to it.” Rose advises. She pulls Jade off towards the waterline and you watch as Rose delicately takes her shoes and socks off and steps close enough that the waves just lap up to her ankles.

You give up on that and instead sit down ever so slightly in the shade and look out at the horizon, Dave joins you.

“Have you ever seen those videos of big cats in tiny zoos? How they just pace around and around? It’s as hard to watch as that.” Dave says miserably.

“It’s not even like it’s easy to prove a negative either. If he tries to find if something is up with this place and finds nothing he has no way of knowing if it means there’s nothing to find or if he’s just not found it yet.” you add.

“Exactly.” Dave says and wrestles his own shoes off. He shoves at the sand with his feet like it’s the fault of the beach somehow.

You probably shouldn’t stay on the beach with your shoes on or else you’ll be finding sand in them for months, so you follow suit.

“Maybe next time he comes back we could try to distract him?” you suggest.

“If he stays long enough.” Dave says with a pout.

“Hey, it’s pretty obvious that if you asked Sollux to do something he’d do it.” you point out.

“Giving him my opinion is one thing but I really don’t like telling him what to do. I’m not his- his boss or something. If he doesn’t want to listen to me I don’t want to just demand that he do what I want him to.” Dave says. He leans forward to the dent that his feet had made in the sand and starts making the indentation deeper with his hands, sweeping more sand away.

“Maybe it’s different with you but it’s not as if Sollux doesn’t say no to people. Or maybe he’s just a defiant, argumentative little shit with me. Actually, that’s a very real possibility.” you say.

You shuffle forward and watch the hole that Dave is digging and decide to help him out.

“How have you got him out of this sort of thing before?” you ask him.

“Either I distract him or it burns out. Sometimes if he’s worried about a specific thing, like if Mom’s lab is secure, then I can go with him and check it out. Allay the fear or whatever.” Dave explains, tossing a handful of sand off to the side.

“If we can get him to say what’s bothering him we could try to help.” you suggest, deeping the hole.

“That’d be great but this trip was supposed to be about making you feel bet-aah, uh, I mean.” Dave looks visibly panicked.

“Dave, I think the fact that this trip was supposed to distract me from my problems was supposed to be a secret.” you tell him calmly.

“That’s not what I said. We weren't trying to do anything like that, uh, not that we wouldn’t want you to feel better. We do. Or that we think your problems are so minor that a beach trip can fix it, that wasn’t what I said either.” Dave says hurriedly.

“Of course not. It’s entirely theoretical and if I had suspected that I wouldn’t have said anything because I thought it was a nice thing to do and that you were probably right. But that’s not the case because you weren’t planning that, right?” you prompt him. You’re digging the hole in the sand deeper as Dave tries to dig himself out of the more metaphorical hole that he’s got himself into.

“...Right. And you weren’t suspicious of anything because… nothing happened.” he says slowly.

“Right.” you nod.

Dave goes back to digging in the sand with you.

“So, since that’s settled. We could team up together to try to chill Sollux out.” Dave says after a moment.

“Sounds like a plan.” you agree.

You shove some of the dug out sand further down the beach and Dave casts around for a rock to help his digging efforts.

“Why do people do this? You put people on a beach and sooner or later people always start digging a hole in the sand.” you wonder.

“Who knows? We’re going to dig the deepest hole there is though.” Dave brags and tosses more sand over his shoulder.

“I think the deepest hole dug by humans was a mile down or something, are you going to beat that?” you tease him.

“Yep, I’m going to dig all the way down through here and out the other side of the Earth to… wherever is on the other side of the globe from here.” Dave declares.

“The other side of the globe? Oh, Dave. I’m afraid we can’t be together anymore, I’m secretly a flat earther.” you tell him in full deadpan.

“New plan: I’m burying you in the hole. RIP Karkat.” Dave says solemnly.

When Dave goes to grab you, you yelp and scurry back. When you run away from him you at least have the advantage of having a little bit of a headstart, what with the spectacular way Dave fell into the hole he just dug.

“Get back here!” Dave laughs, sprinting after you. He’s definitely faster than you so you have but one hope left. You run full speed down the smoother waterline, trying to get to Rose.

“Rose! Help me!” you call out.

Rose casually turns and watches as you run towards her, doing and saying nothing at all. You figure that she doesn’t intend to help in any capacity, until you’ve passed her and she sticks her foot out. Dave trips right over it and splashes down into the few inches of water that have rushed in with the latest wave.

After that it’s all out war in a game of tag, or more accurately a game of shove someone else into the ocean. If you’d stayed in your speciest xenobiology class you might have learnt not to play games with the fae, for they can be devious and always play to win. Alas, you didn’t stay in that class and you’re entirely unprepared for just how much Jade is willing to cheat to win. She warps space around you so that you go from running away down the beach to plunging up to your waist in water. When she takes Rose out she full on tackles her into the waves.

You’re all soaking wet and trying to dry off on the beach when Sollux shows up again. Luckily for him Jade has dozed off in the sun so is unlikely to try to slam dunk the demon into the sea. It’s unlikely, but not impossible.

“Hey, don’t go so quickly. What’s up?” Dave asks, quickly reaching up and catching the hem of Sollux’s shirt in his hands

“I’m trying to work out what’s wrong with this place but I can’t figure it out.” Sollux answers, scowling off in the direction of the distant frog temple.

“Is it anything we can help with?” Dave asks but Sollux just shakes his head.

“What were you doing with that rock before?” you ask, trying for a more specific question.

“Oh, I don’t know. I guess I wanted to see if it was real, maybe work out how old this place is but it turns out that all the demons that I can convince to help me don’t know anything about geology either. It’s not something we usually need to know about, is it?” Sollux snorts.

“Why would you think the rocks are fake? Unless you think this whole island is.” Dave says with a slight frown.

“I think this whole island was made, temple and all.” Sollux insists.

“Well… maybe we could look on some maps and see if it’s always been here?” you suggest.

Sollux stares at you and his mouth parts slightly, as if in shock.

“That’s actually a good idea.” he says in wonder.

“Thanks for the backhanded compliment, asshat. I’m sure the Salem library would have some old maps somewhere in there that we can check. Google maps is going to be dubiously accurate around here because everything is so far apart so why risk sending their low orbit balloons up to take pictures, but it’s not like this is the only Pacific island. Even if Google can’t help us there’s bound to be sailing charts for this whole area.” you explain as you stand up.

“So if we go look you can stop freaking out about it, great. Let’s go.” Dave nods happily and also gets to his feet.

You both look at Sollux expectantly and after a moment he teleports you both into the Salem University Library. Belatedly you realise that you’ve left Rose and Jade behind but there’s nothing you can do about that now. You’re still damp from the ocean and you have no shoes or socks on but you guess that’s just how it’s going to be. At least Sollux didn’t drop you outside the office where your coworkers might see you. Actually, he’s set you down in the demonology section where he first talked to you again.

You wonder if he’s being sentimental.

Still, you’re here to fix his problem, not get all sentimental yourself. So instead of getting your heart involved in this, you lead Dave and Sollux off so you can search for any maps specifically to do with the Pacific. There’s a few old atlases in the World History section so you lead the pair off there.

It’s easy enough to find the right book, although you have to put another back in its place before you can allow yourself to open it. From the look Dave gives you he clearly doesn’t understand why you moved what probably looked like a completely random book from one spot to another really close to it.

“Okay, let’s see.” you say quietly and open the book up.

Sollux crowds over your shoulder and watches as you flip to the right area in the older Atlas.

“When was this from?” Sollux asks quietly. You know it’s because you’re in the library and he’s keeping his voice down but him talking so low so close to your ear makes you feel… things entirely unrelated to books.

“The… 1890s.” you answer him, quickly checking the book over mentally.

You scan over the pages in the atlas, seeing some islands that you know are somewhat close to Jade’s island. You don’t know the exact coordinates to look for it though.

“It’s not there.” Sollux says.

“But that’s a very ye olde book, the old shit often isn’t accurate. Right?” Dave reasons.

“It’s not a big island, it’s probably easy to miss.” you agree.

The book goes back on the shelf, in its proper place of course, and you pick another atlas. You repeat the same process and find that this atlas from the 1920s doesn’t have the island there either. Another, 1940s, still nothing. It’s only when you pick up an atlas from the late 1980s that you find the island.

“So it wasn’t there before and then it appeared.” Sollux hisses.

“Or it was ‘discovered’ by the old white dudes who write those books.” Dave says, air quotes included.

“It’s hard to say which. Oh, speaking of old dudes who discover islands it’s got Jade’s grandpa down as the one who discovered it.” you say as you scan the minimal amount of information about the island with interest.

“So he says. Why should we trust a guy who got given a hellhound and got an exemption to go into that temple?” Sollux hisses.

“Sollux, dude, you need to let this go. You can’t go around trying to prove that islands didn’t exist, it can’t be done. Jade’s being nice enough to let us all stay there and you insisting her only relative was some moustache twirling bad guy isn’t going to help that.” Dave sighs.

“It doesn’t add up, I can’t ignore that!” Sollux insists.

Should you say something? Get in the middle of this?

“You’ve been looking and found nothing. You should stop looking into it.” Dave says.

“But I don’t want-”

“Sollux. Stop investigating the island and that temple already.” Dave says firmly.

Sollux’s mouth opens but no sound comes out, he stays there like that for a second before his jaw clicks shut and he looks off to the side with a scowl.

“Can we just go back and enjoy our vacation? Please?” Dave asks, his voice softer now.

Sollux grits his teeth but he must agree because all at once you’re back on the beach.

“I’m going to sleep.” Sollux mutters and then he’s gone again.

“I hate fighting with him like that.” Dave groans.

“He probably just hates having to admit he was overdoing something.” you say in an effort to reassure him. Dave nods but the mood is pretty clearly lowered now.

You hunt down your shoes and socks and the four of you slowly hike for the little while that it takes you to get back to the Harley house. Rose declares that she’s going to cook and Dave is going to help her, not that Dave seems entirely enthused. They of course need Jade to tell them where everything is, but you’re no help with that.

So, really, it’s no big deal if you just… slope off all by yourself. It’s cool, you’re just exploring until dinner time. Keeping out of the way. You find Sollux stretched out on top of a bookshelf. Not that you were looking for him or anything.

...Honest.

“Are you okay?” you ask him carefully.

Sollux glares down at you with all the prickly hostility that he held for you before all that shit with Kankri happened.

“I’m sorry about whatever that was with you and Dave. I just thought the maps might help.” you say instead of asking stupid questions.

“There’s something not right about all this.” Sollux insists as his fingers hold tight onto the top of the bookcase.

“It is weird, I’m with you there. If we find any more odd shit I’m absolutely fine with looking into it but you seem a little bit like you’re grasping at straws here. Isn’t that why Dave asked you to stop it? He was worried about you.” you say.

“I know he was worried. Obviously. And he didn’t- whatever.” Sollux mutters and looks away.

“Want me to get lost?” you offer.

Sollux doesn’t answer, he just rolls over on top of the bookshelf so you can’t see him any more. That’s a pretty firm yes.

“Okay.” you say, trying not to be hurt.

You hesitate as you turn away.

“Are we still friends? Uh, boyfriends?” you ask him uneasily.

The laugh that comes from atop the bookshelf is not especially reassuring.

“You’re so stupid. Yes, we are.” Sollux laughs. He rolls back over enough that you can just see his face. He looks sad and stressed still but there’s a fondness there.

“Well, then… you clearly have terrible taste.” you retort.

“Ain’t that the truth.” Sollux agrees.

“Alright, I’m going to go see about food. Later.” you nod. He’ll come down when he wants to, you’re pretty sure of that.

“Later.” Sollux’s voice follows you out of the room and despite his casual choice of words he sounds a little warmer now.

Sollux doesn’t come down from his bookshelf of brooding until well into the night. Rose and Jade are sharing Jade’s big bed and you and Dave have been given a bed made up of all of the sofa cushions from the various sofas and chaise lounges around the house. It makes for a lumpy but not totally uncomfortable bed, especially as it’s one that you’re sharing with Dave.

Dave is pretty much asleep and you’re half awake, hazily staring at the ceiling when it tints red and blue ever so slightly. You lean up and see Sollux slinking into the room.

“Hey.” you whisper.

“Shh. You’ll wake people.” Sollux hisses back.

“You’re making at least as much noise as I am!” you retort as quietly as you can.

“Sol?” Dave mumbles sleepily, pushing himself up on an elbow to look up.

“Hey, no, go back to sleep.” Sollux insists.

Dave mumbles sleepily and sits up. Sollux darts over into the space between you and Dave, clearly trying to convince him to go back to sleep. You guess that he does too good of a job because Dave pulls him down with him and latches onto his side as if Sollux was some oversized stuffed toy and not one of the most powerful demonic forces in existence.

“Not a word.” Sollux hisses threateningly.

Oh, so he doesn’t want you to say anything, then? Well, that’s a shame. You suppose you have no other choice but to sleep if you can’t talk.

You settle back down to sleep and it’s not your fault that Sollux is right next to where you were sleeping before, is it? And it’s dark so it’s hard to see, so again it’s not on you if you happen to end up against Sollux’s side with your head on his shoulder. Sollux clearly doesn’t want to wake up Dave so that leaves him stuck in bed between you and Dave.

Admittedly you were hardly against the idea, partly because it was nice and partly because it would no doubt frustrate Sollux. You’re starting to get the idea that with your kismesis that is part of the point. But you hadn’t expected his warmth or the regular pace of his breathing to knock you into deep sleep so fast. It’s been impossible to sleep well ever since you found out about Kankri but now… it’s easy.

It’s the giggling that wakes you from the best sleep you’ve ever had. The deep bassy growl in your ear certainly adds to it though.

Blearily you open your eyes and you take stock of where you are.

For a start you’re still against Sollux’s side, mostly. Instead of being next to him your leg is thrown over his and it’s tangled up with a leg that can’t possibly be Sollux’s so it must belong to Dave on the other side. As well as draping one leg over him you’ve turned a little in your sleep so you’re almost laying on his side and hip. Your face is pressed into his shoulder and for all that you invited yourself here without Sollux asking you he still has his arm curled around your back. His claws are pulling against your shirt as he tenses and growls and you can hear his tails irritably lashing against the sheets below you.

Turning your head you see Jade leaning over the three of you with her phone in hand taking pictures. Behind her Rose is smiling like a cheshire cat. You shift, suddenly self conscious, only the movement frees up Sollux’s arm and he lashes out to try to grab the phone. Jade is too fast and Sollux clearly isn’t willing to jostle the sleeping Dave too much.

“You three are so cute, I’m sending this to June ASAP.” Jade snickers.

Her laughter wakes Dave and that gives Sollux the freedom to try to snatch the phone again. Why he doesn’t use his psychic powers you don’t know but you’re not awake enough to point that out. As Sollux starts to chase Jade around the room you find your gaze falling on Dave. His shades have been discarded over the edge of your makeshift mattress so you’re greeted with the sight of his bright red eyes, however sleepy looking they might be. The folds of Sollux’s shirt are imprinted into the side of Dave’s cheek and his hair is sticking up at odd angles. The whole sight is just so tender and vulnerable that your heart seizes in your chest.

You try to wrench your gaze away only to find that you’re under the sly scrutiny of his twin, Rose is perched on the edge of the bed in her pyjamas watching you.

“Coffee?” she offers innocently, an innocence you don’t buy one bit.

“If you make me coffee I will reconsider fake divorcing you for being part of taking my picture when I was asleep.” you tell her.

“Well, I have to save our fake marriage. Think of our fake son, what will this do to him?” Rose says in fake horror, clutching at pearls that are purely imaginary.

“Too early for this.” Dave mumbles and crawls towards the edge of the makeshift bed to grab his shades.

“You claim to care for our son but I bet you don’t even remember his name.” you say with faux outrage. Of course you two have never pretended to have a son before, but now you get to put her on the spot to come up with a name.

“As if I could ever forget my sweet, precious, Viceroy Bubbles Von Salamancer.” Rose tuts, you’re generally impressed with how fast she came up with that.

“You mean Viceroy Bubbles Von Salamancer Lalonde-Vantas.” you correct her.

“No need to be so formal.” Rose says, only on the last word she cracks and starts laughing. It’s infectious and you end up snickering in amusement as well. You don’t think you anticipated when you met Rose just how funny you would find her.

“Alright, coffee.” Rose says with a smile and hops off of the bed onto her feet.

You all head downstairs and have a lazy breakfast in the kitchen. As you nibble on toast from the bread Rose brought with her you look out of the large windows and watch a tropical rain patter gently against the glass. It’s peaceful sitting there watching the rivulets of water sliding down the window, calm in a way that you hadn’t anticipated.

“Man, I hope that clears up later. I wanted to check the island out and see if I could sample sounds from any of the weird little bugs and animals around.” Dave sighs wistfully.

“I might do some reading.” you say thoughtfully.

“I’m sure I have a tonne of weeding to do with my plants in the greenhouse.” Jade adds.

The rest of you start setting out your plans for the day, as it happens you pretty much all wind up in Jade’s greenhouse within the hour. Sollux had gone off on his own with Bec but soon enough he’s knelt on the floor of the greenhouse petting the overly enthusiastic hellhound. Dave is happy taking pictures and Rose is doing some gardening under Jade’s instructions.

For your part you have a mildly cursed book to read.

Checking it over you can’t see anything weird about “Impossible Geometry: A Study”, it doesn’t feel odd to the touch or speak to you especially more than any other book you’ve held before. You carefully fan through its slightly yellowed pages and get a flash of text and diagrams. It’s one of those books that have glossy pages in the centre for pictures so you take a moment to look at them. The pictures look like those optical illusions where the table’s legs can’t possibly work like that, there’s even a series of diagrams that cover that stupid thing you saw online where you cut a chocolate bar up and somehow end up with extra chocolate. That was so dumb.

Nonetheless you were supposed to be working out what’s mildly cursed about this book so you settle down to read it. The text itself is winding and kind of hard to understand. Its essential point seems to be that we understand the titular impossible geometry in these optical illusions because as an idea they make sense, the eye parses them but it’s instead just the mind that denies the reality in front of it. The book invites you to look at a table printed on the page where the legs exist in ways that aren’t possible, the lines don’t line up right and the illusion is suggested by shadows.

Your eyes trace over the drawings intently, they look so convincing until the moment that they become fake. The words of the book wind through your mind giving answers to this problem. It theorises that we instinctively understand these shapes with our eyes because they aren’t impossible after all. There are other planes of existence where geometry could easily work, in fact it certainly does work there. But our minds are trained to understand reality on this plane, the prime material plane. So when we see impossible objects our eyes intuitively understand them but our minds rebel, this causes the illusion.

The book invites you to study the table once more, to focus over the location of the legs and to resist the inclination of your mind to screech at its impossibility.

Bec barks loudly, startling you from your reading.

“Whoa.” Sollux whispers.

You look around to see him sat up staring at one of Jade’s plant covered tables. This is the one where her pumpkins keep disappearing. As you look at the table you see there’s no pumpkins there but you also see that the legs are… wrong. It’s not possible for the table to look like that, your mind rebels as you stare at the impossible furniture and as if unsettled by your scrutiny the table shudders. The wood ripples along its impossible frame and then all at once it folds in on itself over and over. It’s as if you’re watching origami at high speed, or an accordion compressing, as the entire table folds into absolutely nothing. The plants and soil that were on the table seem to hang in the air for a second after the table is gone, almost in shock, and then they fall to the ground.

“Did you do that?” Sollux asks in surprise.

“Kind of. Stupid cursed book.” you grumble.

“My pumpkin plants!” Jade exclaims from across the other side of the room.

“Ohh, busted.” Dave says, helpfully, from the other side of the room.

The poor pumpkin plants are now in a sad heap on the floor, making you feel guilty by their sheer presence.

“Shit, I’m sorry Jade. Let me fix it.” you apologise quickly.

Jade sets you up with a tarp to transfer the hopefully still living plants to and a dustpan and brush to sweep up all the scattered dirt.

Stupid cursed book.

The day continues and you decide that you’re not going to read that book near anything valuable again, like other people’s furniture for example. The rain outside starts to turn into a proper storm, which is fine for settling in and watching movies together under a blanket. Jade even makes you all hot cocoa and just as she indicated when you first went out for coffee with her it’s… not great. But even a less than mediocre drink is improved with a good atmosphere and even better company.

Partway through your second movie you have to excuse yourself to go to the bathroom. When you’re halfway up the stairs you realise Sollux is following you.

“I’m just going to the bathroom.” you tell him, you hadn’t said why you were getting up because you didn’t want to talk over the movie. You still figured it was pretty obvious though.

“I guessed.” Sollux nods.

So why is he following you? Maybe he needs something upstairs. Whatever. You shrug and keep climbing the stairs, Sollux stays only a few paces behind you.

“Is there a reason that you’re following me?” you ask him after a few minutes.

“Yep.” Sollux says.

“Are you trying to beat me to the bathroom or something?” you guess.

“No, but that would be entertaining.” Sollux flashes a devious grin at you with that. You flip him off and keep going.

“Are you just trying to annoy me?” you ask him.

“For once, no. This is super weird, huh?” Sollux says brightly.

“Yes. It is.” you respond, stopping outside of the bathroom to look at Sollux who is just staring right back at you.

“Hmm.” Sollux hums thoughtfully.

“Okay, well, this was incredibly weird. I’m going to pee now, you can stay out here. Weirdo.” you tell him and back into the bathroom door.

“I’m not following you in there, honestly. I’ll just be over there, specifically there. That hallway.” Sollux tells you, pointing off down the hall a little.

That was incredibly weird. Finally alone you relieve yourself, wash your hands and when you step outside again Sollux is just where he said he’d be. You could just go back downstairs but you also want to know why he’s being so odd.

“What is with you?” you ask as you make your way over to him.

“Nothing. I’m not doing anything, just hanging out in this house.” Sollux answers innocently. He’s even casually inspecting his claws as if this is all super chill and normal.

“Right.” you say.

In the hope of gaining some context you glance down the corridor that he’s by and realise that this is the one that leads to Jade’s grandpa’s lab and office. As you look down it you’re aware of the whisper of books.

“That’s Jade’s grandpa’s rooms down there.” you state.

“I wouldn’t know, I can’t get in. Not that I’m allowed to go snooping now anyway.” Sollux tells you casually, a casualness that’s betrayed by the intense look he’s giving you.

“Oh. So if I go down there then you’d have to come with, just to make sure nothing dangerous happens, you wouldn’t be snooping and technically going against what Dave asked of you. You’d be looking out for me, is that it?” you ask him suspiciously.

“You are kind of a magnet for trouble, if you went I’d have to go with. I know Dave would be devastated if you triggered some trap and got killed.” Sollux shrugs.

So he’s definitely squirming around this on a technicality. The question is do you want to enable him? If you go back downstairs then Sollux can’t sneak in there, but you can’t deny that you’re curious as well. Also, maybe just checking out this one area will make Sollux more at ease in Jade’s house.

The whisper of hidden books that haven’t been read in ages calls out to you.

“Just a quick look, ok?” you warn him. Sollux brightens eagerly and nods. Oh, you can’t say no to that.

You roll your eyes and head down the corridor, aware that there’s nothing below the floor here because of how the building improbably stretches out. The door to grandpa Harley’s office is open and as you try to step into it your foot smacks hard into nothing at all.

“What the fuck?” you hiss, holding your foot.

“It’s a barrier ward, keeps anyone who’s not human out. But since you want to go in there…” Sollux trails off and pulls a bottle of water out of thin air. He unscrews the top and holds it in his hand. You watch as the clear water turns violently orange and starts to fizz.

“What is that?!” you hiss, stepping back on instinct.

“You know holy water?” Sollux asks, you nod.

“The opposite of that. Stand back.” he tells you.

You back off and hide yourself behind him. Sollux levitates the open bottle into the room and then smashes it above the door on the inside. It fizzes on the carpet and with a flash of green in the air you realise the barrier has dropped.

“If it’s that easy to get through then what was the point in the spell?” you wonder. Surely that wouldn’t keep a demon out, even a demon who wasn’t as smart as Sollux.

“It was a broad spell, I’m guessing it was supposed to keep Jade from snooping.” Sollux answers.

“So when she said before that she couldn’t go in here she meant literally.” you say as understanding dawns on you. Sollux nods his head and waves a hand at the floor, the unholy water that dripped down fizzes away into nothing and he gestures to the door to invite you to go through.

Much like the rest of the house grandpa Harley’s office has that same vibe that’s a mashup between Victorian gentleman and an eccentric safari explorer. It’s an odd vibe for sure, but one that you’re getting accustomed to. There are globes and maps about the place with notes here and there. The desk is a solid dark wood with a deep green leather blotter on it, all covered with a thick layer of dust.

Your fingers trail over the spines of the books as you inspect them, they all seem to be about xenobiology, demonology and legends from around the world. It all seems to be about what you’d expect, nothing untoward at all.

Sollux doesn’t seem satisfied in the slightest, he’s looking around with a frown on his face.

“What?” you ask.

This place was a sphere, but I can’t see any other floors like Jade has in her room. When you lie on the floor of Jade’s room you can see what is technically an upper floor that she says she uses for storage. You suppose the underside of the sphere of her room isn’t much use. There’s no obvious way up to whatever is above or below in here, the room is a narrow middle slice. In fact from the narrowness of the floor you think this may be the lower portion of the spherical room, almost as if this sphere was divided into halves and the lower half just gifted a false floor.

“There must be a way up, a spell or something?” Sollux mutters.

You ignore him as he rifles through Jade’s grandpa’s desk and instead listen. You can hear more books above, Sollux is definitely right. Scanning through the bookshelves once more you spot something that doesn’t belong, a book that isn’t a book. Upon closer examination you see that it’s not a book at all, but it sure looks like one.

Carefully you pull the book back and the bookshelf next to you swings outwards, revealing a staircase up to the other floor.

“What kind of person has a magically sealed off room AND a hidden staircase behind a bookcase?” you demand. It’s not as if there was anyone on this island but him and Jade, what required this much secrecy?

“Someone with something to hide.” Sollux says grimly.

He goes up the stairs first and you stick close behind him. The staircase leads out into the top half of the spherical room, as you suspected. This one is also filled with books and boxes of papers, but in a far less organised fashion than the floor below. It makes you itch a little to see it.

In the middle of the floor is a magic circle, the patterns of it look awfully similar to the one you saw in Roxy’s video. Sollux paces around the edge of the circle with a look of concentration on his face.

“Is that for summoning?” you ask him.

“Weirdly, no. It’s all in demonic but it’s for speaking. It’s basically a way to video call my plane of existence.” Sollux says and keeps reading the writing in the circle.

“So he was… what? Doing demonic chatroulette? Was he interviewing them like Roxy or something?” you snort.

“No idea. What’re all the books about? You’re the magical book nerd.” Sollux asks, waving a hand at the stacked books and papers.

“I resent that.” you tell him. Sollux doesn’t seem to care about that at all. What’s worse is he’s not technically wrong, either.

You pick up a book at random, it’s a green leather-bound volume with no title on the front and just a date range on the spine. You flip it open and find yourself confronted with pages and pages of elegant handwriting and the occasional sketch of a plant or animal. It’s a journal. Curiously you open another book and then another and find they’re all journals.

You tell Sollux what they are and then start to rummage through boxes of letters. One is addressed to Jake Harley at Harley Manor, Hauntswitch, Massachusetts. It’s already opened so you pull the letter inside out and read the printed letter on surprisingly pink paper.

Professor Harley,

listen man youre supposed to be helping me with my thesis not ignoring my letters at the university. figured your home would be better to reach you. if you wanna show up to any of our one to one meetings thatd be great but in the meantime heres my outline.

roxy lalonde

“It’s a letter from Roxy.” you say in surprise.

Sollux leans over your shoulder and reads the short letter that you just read. He has one steadying hand on your left shoulder and when you look right slightly you can see the soft grey sweep of Sollux’s neck as he leans over you to read. A dumb and impulsive bit of your brain is telling you to kiss his neck just because it’s right there. You don’t, of course, but the thought gives you butterflies.

“It looks like he was her doctoral advisor. I suppose that’s not too surprising, Jade did say he had ties to the university and it’s not as if there’s a lot of notable people in that field.” Sollux concedes.

“I wonder if Dave and Rose would want to see this.” you muse. It’s not much but it’s something their mom wrote before she lost a lot of herself.

“Maybe. There’s probably more in here but I don’t know how we’re going to find anything in this disorganised mess.” Sollux sighs wearily.

Across the room something rattles. The two of you freeze and you even hold your breath as you listen to see if whatever it was will do it again. Maybe it was just… the wind? Maybe?

Another rattle, this time you see the metal ring on a chest about the size of your head. You wish that you hadn’t made that comparison because now all you can imagine is that the chest absolutely has a head in it. Sollux creeps towards it, you pull your weapon out and follow behind him. He stares at it suspiciously and then wrenches the thing open.

To your relief there isn’t a head in the chest, but there is a green worm. It takes one look at Sollux and ducks its head underneath its tail. The thing is maybe five inches long from tip to tail and it looks harmless to you.

“Ohh, not more demons.” it whines.

“Well, fuck you too.” Sollux snaps.

The worm curls tighter and you can’t help but feel bad for it.

“Sollux, you’re scaring it.” you tell him and nudge him aside.

The worm peeks out at you from under its tail, little black eyes stark against its green skin.

“What are you? We didn’t mean to scare you, we didn’t know anyone was here.” you say to it, trying to keep your voice gentle.

“I’m Abraxas, I’m a book worm.” it says and uncoils itself a little.

“A book worm?” Sollux repeats, skeptically.

The worm straightens up, like the world’s least threatening cobra given its smooth green body with rounded harmless angles.

“The book worm or _Bibliotheca Psychica_, phylum Annelida, superphylum Lophotrochozoa of the Animalia kingdom. Book worms are an endangered magical species, traditionally inhabiting magical libraries. Wild bookworms can be destructive, destroying the books to get to the magical knowledge that they feed on. Domesticated book worms, like myself, do not destroy books and often people have found a purpose for the knowledge of the books we provide.” Abraxas answers clinically.

“Like a library spirit?” you guess.

“No, the spirit that inhabits large enough collections of books is not the same thing. That is a nonphysical magical entity tied to books, I am a physical but magical creature. Library spirits of various stripes are often the natural predator of _Bibliotheca Psychica_.” Abraxas informs you.

“So you know everything that’s in here?” you ask him. Or… it? You don’t know if book worms have genders.

“I do. I function as a method of searching the library for the late Jake Harley. Unfortunately I’ve not seen anyone since he passed.” the worm says unhappily.

“That sucks. You mentioned other demons. Tell me about that.” Sollux orders the book worm.

“I don’t have to do that. You certainly aren’t the first demon I’ve seen, Doctor Harley was quite familiar with your species. I don’t see why I should help until you two at least tell me your names, I’m dying for more information. Quite literally, actually.” Abraxas says with a shudder. You guess that makes sense, with no new information added to this book collection it’d probably be like a food supply slowly running out for the worm.

“Sollux.” Sollux grits out.

“Is that your first or your last name?” Abraxas asks curiously.

“First.” Sollux answers.

“And your last?” Abraxas asks.

“Not telling you that.” Sollux grumbles.

“Demons.” Abraxas tuts.

“I’ll tell you my name if that helps. Karkat Vantas.” you say.

Abraxas perks up, its eyes glittering.

“Can you spell that for me?” it asks.

“K-A-R-K-A-T V-A-N-T-A-S. Why?” you answer.

“Ah… he was wrong on the spelling. I believe that I have a letter that references you, albeit misspelt if it is you.” Abraxas says brightly.

“Really?!” you and Sollux say at once.

“Really. Allow me.” Abraxas nods.

The worm twists its body and squirms out of the chest. It makes its way quickly down onto the floor and then hurries across, its body moving like worms in cartoons do and it’s going at quite the speed. Abraxas squirms into the box of letters and then a moment later a letter floats up into the air. You catch it and peer at the opened letter.

It’s addressed to Roxy Lalonde and postmarked with air mail, but it’s also clearly been sent through the university mail system several times judging by the stamps on it. You suppose Roxy must have returned this letter to Jake Harley since it’s not for him.

You exchange a wary look with Sollux and take the letter out. It’s dated the 20th April 1973.

You read the letter aloud.

Dear Roxy,

I am terribly sorry to have to ask that you resend your thesis draft to me as the last one has unfortunately been lost. However, I do have quite the story to tell you about how that happened. As you well know I was supposed to be heading to the Turks and Caicos islands as well as those surrounding it in order to properly investigate that unusual group of mermaids and the sea spirits they’ve been reporting on in those parts. Naturally I could not take a teleport there because the good old Bermuda Triangle is notoriously sticky so I was to take a short aeroplane flight from the edge of Florida over to the short runway on Cockburn harbour.

I will pause here because I am well aware that you will be giggling at this point.

As I mentioned to you before, I was quite excited to actually fly in a real life aeroplane. The place where they take off is much like a regular port and I found my gate quite easily. The plane was to be quite small so there weren’t a great number of us there, twelve all told. Added onto that was the one trolly dolly and presumably pilot and copilot, though they were not waiting around with us of course. There were, however, two other people present. 

I felt that sensation that I have felt when we have summoned demons before or when I have the attention of a certain gentleman caller, a sort of static on your skin and a sense of wrongness. I looked around and noticed the two other people. It was a man and a woman. The woman was perhaps in her twenties but she had a kind of ageless look about her, she was dressed in all black and seemed a little bored if I’m entirely honest. The man she was with was far more animated. 

The chap was maybe your age, if he was in his twenties I’d say it was only by a hair. He seemed to be foreign to me, perhaps of some kind of Arabic persuasion. Although I know you’d point out that my observation of that doesn’t mean that he isn’t a red blooded American, of course. He was pointing at each person waiting in turn, trying to be subtle about it, as he did he spoke quietly to the woman with him and each time she shook her head and said nothing.

When I realised they were getting to me I busied myself leafing through your thesis, although I must confess not reading it, and instead observing out of the corner of my eye. When the young man pointed to me and asked his companion something she grimaced a little and stared. I swear to you, Roxy, that I felt her gaze into my very soul. As soon as it had started it passed and she sighed and nodded at the man. With that she walked off, leaving the man alone. 

The lad hesitated and then darted off as well. I was just contemplating following when he returned with a briefcase that I swear he did not have moments before. He parked himself in the chair next to me as if our flight was not already full and pretended for a few moments as if he hadn’t seen me. Then he rather poorly pretended to notice me and asked me for my name. 

I told him who I was, I had decided that if he meant me some harm then perhaps my reputation as an adventuring sort would dissuade him. I asked him for his name and, as I suspected, it was quite foreign sounding. I’m sure I’m misspelling this but he said his name was ‘Carcat Vantas’.

You look up from the letter and over at Sollux who is staring at you intently. You looked about the age you are now back in 1973? What were you doing talking to Jake Harley in an airport in 1973 and who was the woman you were talking to before him?

“This is me then? Who’s the woman? Why…” you trail off, too many questions and not enough time.

“I don’t know. Keep reading.” Sollux urges you.

You clear your throat, shake your head and continue.

Having exchanged names the strange man shot an anxious look at the waiting plane outside. I asked him if he was perhaps nervous about flying, most people haven’t done it before and he barked out a laugh so loud it made my ears hurt and everyone stared at him.

I had no idea what this man might be and truth be told I’m still not entirely sure. He did not feel human in the slightest, even though he looked perfectly normal. I tried to see beyond what he was pretending to be, what he was beguiling me into believing and to perceive what was truly there. That method of yours that I think you once described as ‘stealing the voidyness’. 

Have you ever experienced vertigo, Roxy? I’m not afraid of heights and I’ve never felt that feeling when climbing, but I did once get a rip snorter of an ear infection and it messed with my inner ear and gave me vertigo for a day or two. The overwhelming sensation that you either are falling or are going to, like every step is on a tightrope. When I looked past this man’s facade I felt like that, a sudden vastness of space folded into a smaller form so much greater than I could ever understand. I saw within him rings and rings, interlocking, spinning and so many red eyes watching. 

When he spoke, and it can’t have been more than a fraction of a second later, he was normal again and I saw only the human looking man before me. 

He assured me he was not afraid to fly. 

He then asked if I had flown before and I told him, trying to keep my cool, that I had not. At this point the young man looked me in the eye and told me to take something for him, that I ought to hold onto it and he stressed that I really should pay attention to the flight crew during my flight. Then, with that done, he got up and walked away. I got up to follow him of course but when I turned the corner he had left around, he was not on the other side. I tried to open the briefcase but found it magically sealed by means too strong for me to open it then. I was far too curious to throw it away and so when they called us onto the flight I brought it with me. 

I am sure that you already know what became of my plane and I hope that you didn’t think I had perished with the other passengers and crew aboard. I do not care to think on what happened to that plane and I have no intention of flying ever again once I make it back to the mainland. Suffice to say that I happened to be in just the right spot on the plane so that when it ripped asunder I was the only one to survive the impact with the water who wasn’t also by the engine which then exploded. 

The briefcase that I had been given allowed me to float until I could locate a raft. All my other possessions, which includes your thesis draft, are now at the bottom of the ocean. After I had inflated the lone raft and scrambled aboard I tried to think about what to do. I know enough to navigate with the stars and we can’t have been that far out as we were starting our descent at the time, I can also alchemise drinking water with the aid of the moonlight although without proper storage vessels the amount I could do would be limited to one handful at a time. I would not die of dehydration and if I could last until I made it to land I would only have to contend with starvation and exposure. 

It took me several hours before I thought to try the briefcase the man gave me again. This time it opened. Contained within was a flare gun, several weeks supply of nutritional bars, a bottle of water that I could refill with alchemically converted water and a compass. That and one note that dissolved the moment I read it, which said only ‘DON’T GIVE UP’. 

Using the empty briefcase and the compass I paddled my way close enough to the mainland for someone to see me when I fired my flare. Perhaps I could have survived without the aid of that stranger who I am certain is supernatural in origin, but if that is the case I am sure that it would have been a far worse experience than it was. Weeks and weeks stranded at sea, starving and freezing instead of several long days. 

Unfortunately, I have no idea exactly what kind of creature the man may have been in reality, but he certainly saved my bacon. 

Regardless, I will be back on campus soon and will read your thesis then.    
Yours,   
Doctor Jake Harley.

Your hands are shaking as you hold the letter and Sollux is watching you with unblinking eyes, his tails swishing behind him like a cat stalking prey. You saw something like that when Kankri died, so there’s no doubt that he’s talking about you but you have no clue what you might be.

Sollux wants you to work it out or to remember, he wants it so badly that the feeling is radioactive. He’s all but glowing with it. Just like radiation it’s starting to make you feel sick. Why can’t you just know this stuff?

“Karkat? Sollux?” Dave’s voice calls from outside the room and down the hall. Sollux winces and bounds right over you, quickly hurrying out of the room and towards Dave. From the muted voices out there you think that the others are there too.

“Can you search through all of the books here for anything?” you ask Abraxas.

“Absolutely.” the worm nods.

“Could you tell me if you can find any other references to any species that matches the description of these rings and eyes?” you ask. God, you hope there’s something. You hope that Jake worked out what you are and wrote it down here somewhere, that’d be real helpful after all the shit you’ve been through.

“I can, and there is something. But… I’ve been here for so long with no other books and I’m so hungry.” Abraxas gives you as close to puppy dog eyes as a lime green worm can get. It wants your books. There’s no way you can give the bookworm books that belong to the library but you did bring some of your own books with you, there are some you could force yourself to part with in the name of finding out what you are.

You rummage through your bag and pull out a good stack of romance books and a few bits of classical literature. Abraxas perks up and dives right into them, literally vanishing through the covers.

“A… Abraxas? Could you show me that information now?” you ask.

“Oh, yeah, yeah. Pick these books up, go down the stairs and then down again.” the worm says as it pokes its little green head out of the pile of books.

Obligingly you lift up the stack and descend the stairs. You can hear the twins talking to Sollux down the hallway but Jade is standing in the main room of her grandpa’s office with a bittersweet expression on her face. You would apologise for intruding, but you’re busy.

“How can I go down again?” you ask, there’s no obvious stairs and there can’t be much of the sphere that you’re in left to go down into.

“Right, trapdoor under the desk.” comes Abraxas’ voice from inside the books.

“What are you doing?” Jade asks.

“Later, sorry.” you mutter and hurry around the desk.

You set the books on top of the rich mahogany for a moment and pull the aged leather desk chair back. There is, as the worm said, a trap door there. Heaving it open you see that there’s a completely glass dome underneath. There’s enough room for you to side down into it but you’re sure to bring the books with you as you go.

With a squeak of skin and shoe rubber on glass you slide down the underside of the glass sphere and as you go you can see that there are a whole bunch of what look like very expensive and rare books slotted into holders on what is the floor of the room above.

“UV light doesn’t get in here, it’s magically temperature controlled and even though you can see out you can’t see in. If someone broke in they wouldn’t be able to find these books.” Abraxas brags.

Unless, of course, you bribed the book worm with a few books to tell you just where they are.

“Which book am I looking for?” you say, trying to take in all of the books around you.

“That red and gold one there, ‘Extra-Planar Entities: A Comparative Anthology In Fiction and Fact’.” the bookworm answers from somewhere deep in your romance collection.

“Karkat, who’s that other voice? What’s going on?” Jade asks, sticking her head through the trap door.

“Just- just give me a minute!” you call back.

It’s tricky to skid over to the book but you manage it. You peel it from the ceiling but it’s far too bulky to hold above your head and read so you set it on the curved glass below you and roll over. You can just hold yourself on your hands and knees here, the space would be incredibly claustrophobic if it wasn’t for the crystal clear view you have of the huge drop down to the island below you.

Between the time and the storm raging outside it’s really dark, but not dark enough that you can’t appreciate how high up you are. Good thing you’re not scared of heights.

“What page?” you press Abraxas.

“Sixty nine.” it answers.

Out of mindless habit you answer ‘nice’ and flip to the page. Your hands are shaking as you open the book up, when you turn to the right page the first thing that greets you is an illustration of a floating ring within another ring, the whole edge dotted with eyes. That’s what Jake described and more or less what you saw for an instant when Kankri died.

You read.

The thrones are perhaps the most unusually formed, even among ranks as unusual as this. In this third tier thrones are listed as having varying responsibilities, but it is to be assumed as with most that they are able to take on human form and this is perhaps because of their varied tasks. It is likely that thrones are a larger group and there are varied specialties. They have been listed with preserving the state of the material world as designed, perhaps undoing unholy influences. In addition they are listed to spread the word of God and carry the throne of God, hence the name.

What?

Because it is uncertain as to the rank of every angel witnessed on Earth, it is unknown just how common thrones may truly be. As-

...Angel?

Your heart hammers in your chest. That can’t be- you’re nothing like that.

But your abilities are supernatural, you invoking the word ‘God’ makes Sollux flinch. And- and aren’t demons fallen angels? You have so many similarities with him and you’re not a demon, he made that VERY clear. Perhaps clear enough that you should have thought to ask if you were the exact opposite. You’ve been around for a really long time without getting much older than you seem to be now. You have- had a maker just like demons do and…

And your voice. It’s so loud, it’s terrifyingly loud and what’s that thing angels often have to say? Be not afraid? Like oh shit humans, sorry for just crashing down here with my horrifying many eyed form and yelling so loud I made you deaf or near enough?!

You’re hyperventilating now and you can feel something horrible and powerful burning and building in your chest.

This can’t be true. You’re not even religious and even if you were it’s not as if you think this world is that fucking great, like, if this is the divine plan then you have a lot of fucking criticism! How could you uphold that? You couldn’t!

Your hands shake on the glass below you. The force in your chest builds and builds. What about Sollux? If you’re an angel how could you possibly be with him? What about your human friends? Are you going to be ordered to smite people if things ever go back to normal? Is THAT what your memory at the target practice range was about? Is that what you ARE?!

The dam inside of you bursts, you can’t help it. You scream. All of your frustration, your anger, all this time you were looking for answers and now you have one you have never wanted anything less. It’s not fucking FAIR if it’s true and you can’t DO anything about-

You’re on a glass domed floor, perilously high above the ground and you have a voice that has been known to shatter glass. There’s a fraction of a second where you remember that, but unfortunately it’s the same second that the glass explodes from under you.

The wind and rain whips by you as you plummet, you’re tumbling through the darkness. Out of sheer instinct you react and at once you’re not falling down so much as sideways. You twist, already knowing somehow what you’ll see but even so you’re not prepared for the wings you see coming out of your back when you look over your shoulder. Twisting like that in the air sends you into a spin. You’re uncoordinated, you’ve no idea what you’re doing and it’s so dark you can barely see especially with the rain whipping in your eyes. You flail, falling and flying, screaming the whole way.

It’s not completely dark though, you manage to see the trees. A second before you smack headlong into one.


	18. All The Good Girls Go To Hell

“Karkat?! Karkat!”

You open your eyes and gasp in a breath. Gross muddy water sloshes into your mouth and you instinctively cough it out.

“Karkat, are you alright?”

A hand touches your shoulder and you jerk in alarm. You hit something, a something that yelps.

Still coughing you push yourself up on shaky hands. Your head is throbbing and you feel dizzy and disoriented. Rain is beating down on you, you’re soaked through and your back and shoulders feel so heavy.

“What… hit me?” you croak out.

“More like what did you hit, you smacked right into that tree. Sit up, let me look at your face.” Jade insists, you recognise her voice and as she pushes you upright and kneels down before you it’s absolutely her. Your balance tips backwards without warning and you yelp, flailing out to try to right yourself.

There’s a smack and pain flashes through you, through your…

Turning your head you can see a sodden wing reaching out near a tree, long feathers bent and soaked in mud. That thing is attached to you. In a numb kind of shock you reach your hand back over your shoulder and inch your fingers down the back of your shirt to where your shoulder blades are. When you get there the fabric is ripped through and you can very clearly feel where these extra limbs, these WINGS, connect to your back.

The book, the one you just read, it said you were an angel.

“I think I’m gonna be sick.” you mumble.

“That’s probably the bump to the head talking, let me see you.” Jade says.

She shines the flashlight from her phone in your face and pushes your fringe away from your forehead, wet and no doubt caked in mud it sticks where she moves it.

“Considering you flew face first into a tree you don’t seem to be doing too bad. Are your… are your wings hurt?” Jade asks, sweeping the light over them. They’re soaked with water and mostly caked with mud.

“I don’t know, I don’t know anything about the fucking things and EVERYTHING hurts.” you groan.

“Do you still feel sick?” Jade asks. She’s crouched in the mud, perhaps so she can spring back away from you if you do hurl.

You nod and regret it the moment you move. As you wince the wings stuck to your back pull in closer to you, but you can feel that their mobility is hindered from the way they’re being dragged through the mud.

“Why don’t you tell me a few things since we’re waiting for you to feel better? What were you doing in my grandpa’s study and lab? We may as well start at the beginning before we get to you smashing everything and suddenly having wings.” Jade says, perhaps a little sharply. You wince with guilt, you shouldn’t have been there.

“I… I went to the bathroom and Sollux followed, he clearly wanted to go into your grandpa’s room and it seemed like it was warded to keep you out. Sollux was all suspicious so I thought if we had a look it might be better. I heard books, we found a demonic circle of something or the other.” you tell her groggily.

“I didn’t go upstairs, I was more concerned with you falling out of the building.” she says.

“Yeah, I’m concerned with that too.” you say and rub your head. You can feel the lump starting to form on your forehead.

Jade’s expression is one of pinched concern but she’s clearly not happy either.

“I’m sorry we went into your grandpa’s office, we shouldn’t have done that.” you apologise and Jade relaxes a little.

“There’s no point worrying about it now. Tell me what else happened, Rose found a worm in some books outside. What’s that about?” Jade presses on with more questions.

“Abraxas, I must have- shit, the glass shattering. Damnit, is it okay?” you ask.

“Rose picked the thing up, I went looking for you. I think everyone went looking for you but I went off first.” she explains.

“How did you find me?” you ask. It’s dark, stormy and you fell and flew down to wherever you are now.

“Are you kidding me?” Jade laughs, “I’ve lived on this island for my whole life until starting school with you. I know how to track things. Besides which, I saw what direction you went in and you clipped a fair few trees higher up before you smacked right into this one.”

“Well, I’m glad you found me.” you tell her and rub your sore head again. You get wings and the first thing you do is fly into a tree. Good job, Karkat.

“What happened, then? Keep talking.” Jade reminds you.

“Right. So, we found Abraxas, the book worm. It seems like he was in your grandpa’s library and letters so- sorry, I said he but I don’t know what Abraxas is.” you frown.

“Karkat, your concern is sweet, but you have head trauma and you were just telling me about the very important breaking and entering you did? Maybe talk to this worm later and have that conversation then.” Jade sighs.

“Right, sorry. Well, Abraxas asked our names and said that there was already something in the library about me. I saved your grandpa from spending forever stuck at sea after a plane crash, apparently. I don’t remember shit about it. But the letter had a description of me and I asked Abraxas to find anything else referencing that and so I went down to that bottom level looking for the book. And I found it and it said what I was.” you explain.

“An angel.” Jade nods.

You stare at her. Did she know somehow before this? Was this the kind of thing she couldn’t tell you because you didn’t know, like Sollux?

“Karkat, you have giant wings sticking out of your back and since you’re not a horse I can rule out you being a pegasus. I’m going to be nice and put that down to the head trauma.” Jade snorts in amusement.

Right. Wings.

As you think about them they twitch slightly, you wish they wouldn’t.

“Right, well, that’s about it.” you say.

Jade nods and you shiver as the rain continues dripping down on you through the leaves above you.

“Alright, I’ll let the others know where we are. Sollux can probably pick us up if he’s with Bec. I’m not sure that you should just walk back.” Jade says and types away on her phone.

Carefully you look around at one of your wings. Even in the dark you can see that they’re huge and you’ve got no idea how you’re going to walk around with them. Can you make them go away? You can’t go back to school like this, you can’t go ANYWHERE like this!

Without warning Jade stands up, puts two fingers in her mouth and whistles loudly enough to make you wince. There’s a multicoloured flash and a bark from behind you.

“Karkat!” Sollux exclaims, suddenly in front of you. He looks worried for you, his fangs are digging into his bottom lip nervously as he looks you over.

You reach out and grab hold of his shirt and then… you shake him.

“I’M A FUCKING ANGEL!?” you shout at him.

Jade curses and claps her hands over her ears.

“I couldn’t tell you!” Sollux yelps.

“Can you maybe not nearly deafen me twice in one hour please?!” Jade snaps at you.

“Sorry, sorry.” you say hastily, but you still keep your hands tight on Sollux’s shirt.

Sollux leans in and looks at your forehead with concern, his eyes scanning your features with an expression that’s way too tender for how angry you want to be at him. He turns his attention to your wings next.

“Are they hurt? Why don’t you put them away?” he asks.

“Put them- what? How do I do _that_?!” you demand.

“I don’t know! You just pull them in, I don’t know how it works I don’t have wings!” Sollux says defensively.

You try to tuck the things in closer to you but they’re just dragging through the mud. Sollux helps you up to your feet, his hands continuing to hold yours when you’re up so you stay steady. The wings feel odd to you, like when you fall asleep on your arm and it goes dead. You can still feel and manipulate it but it’s clunky and strange. With effort you manage to pull them tight together but all that happens is that you’re now dripping mud and water in a smaller area.

“They’re still there!” you hiss.

“I don’t know, I thought you’d remember things when this happened. When you worked out what you are.” Sollux says helplessly.

Shit, this isn’t his fault.

“I think we should get back to the house. Karkat’s hurt and covered in mud, maybe we can fix things back there but there’s no way we can out here. I’ll go round up Dave and Rose, they might get lost in this storm if I don’t. You take him back and see what you can do.” Jade says with confidence, she has a plan and without waiting for your agreement she strides off into the dark forest with a hellhound at her heels.

“Come on.” Sollux says gently. He steps closer to you and wraps his arms around your middle, holding you close to him. With a flash the world changes and you’re outside Jade’s house.

He takes you in through the front door, or he tries anyway. Your wings have relaxed slightly with you not thinking so much about them so you bang right into the door frame and swear loudly. The whole journey is like that as Sollux leads you up a bunch of stairs and into a large bathroom. He takes you to the combination bath and shower and then vanishes.

There is no way that you’re getting in there, you can barely walk without slamming into things, there’s no way you can navigate a shower on your own. Just as you’re thinking that Sollux comes back with a tall stool in his hand, he sets it by the bathtub and floats behind you.

“Your shirt’s pretty much dead already, so…” Sollux trails off. You feel the tug of his claws on the fabric and the tearing sound it makes as he pulls your shirt in two at the back. Sollux stands before you again and slides the sodden and ruined thing off of you and drops it on the floor. Your jeans are ripped at the knee and plastered with mud. If it wasn’t for the head injury and the total shock you’re dealing with you might have more thoughts about Sollux unbuttoning your jeans. As it is all you think is that you’re glad he didn’t rip those too.

“I wanted to tell you.” he says softly and drags the tall chair over.

“You couldn’t, I know. I just…” you don’t even know where you’re going with that so instead you just get onto the chair when Sollux nudges you to do so.

“I don’t really know how the mechanical stuff of being an angel works, I never was one. Most demons weren’t. I just know you can make the wings go away.” he tells you.

Very carefully he lifts one wing and then the other so they’re hanging over and into the bathtub.

“I can’t believe this is what I am.” you mutter.

“Angels have a pretty good reputation, but you sound disappointed.” Sollux notes in a voice that seems carefully neutral to your ears.

“I don’t know, at least demons are actively trying to damn humanity. Thrones supposedly make things the way it was intended to be. Am I supposed to look around at the world how it is now and be like ‘oh, yep, this is perfect we did a great job’?! What the fuck?!” you say furiously.

The shower turns on behind you and when you twist around to see Sollux he’s floating there with the shower head in hand and a fond smile on his face. He presses a hand to the top part of your right wing, making it spread a little.

“Do you think you’re the kind of person who’d be good at following those rules? Do you remember being like that?” Sollux asks you in a definitely leading way.

Your shoulders slump and your wings do too, spreading wider into the bathtub. Warm shower water flows over them suddenly and you feel it as all of your feathers stand up on end, the feeling builds and builds like a sneeze until you shake all over.

“Thanks.” Sollux grits out.

You twist and see that the tiled wall behind Sollux, and Sollux himself, are now splattered with water and mud.

“Sorry.” you apologise quickly.

Sollux sighs and shoves you into sitting straight again. He goes back to washing your feathers and even though you’re trying to resist the urge to flick your feathers out it still happens a few more times.

“If it’s any consolation, I don’t fit in with a lot of demons very well either.” he tells you.

He’s not like most of them, and neither are you. If Jake’s letter is to be believed then you took the chance to minimise his suffering, something you probably weren’t supposed to do. But you did it.

Sollux’s claws rake gently between your feathers, working the mud out from everywhere you ground it in. You wince when his fingers find spots near the… arch? You don’t know the terms. Near the- if it was an arm it’d be the bit between your elbow and shoulder. Part of that is bruised from your journey through foliage and into the trunk of a tree.

“Do the others know?” you mumble as Sollux carefully tips your head back so he can rinse mud from your hair.

“Jade told them you have wings and Rose is always too smart for her own good. They know.” Sollux answers you and shifts to the other wing.

“What would have happened if… I mean… what’re the rules with us? Can angels date demons?” you wonder.

“It’s complicated for me and I don’t know how your side was exactly. But… I can get you answers.” Sollux tells you.

“How?” you ask.

Sollux’s fingers still for a moment in your wing, paused between feathers. The moment passes and his methodical care continues.

“I know a guy.” he says finally.

The shower switches off and Sollux walks around into your line of sight again.

“Stay there.” he tells you and vanishes again.

The urge to flick your feathers out rises within you again and since Sollux isn’t here you give into it, your wings fluttering at speed and misting everything with water. It’s a great plan until Sollux reappears just in time to get a load of wet feathers to the face.

The look on Sollux’s face is so deeply offended that even through all of your shock and disbelief at the situation you find yourself in you end up laughing.

“Well, I’m glad YOU find that funny.” Sollux mutters and pulls you off of the stool and onto your feet. He’s got something in his hand, a hairdryer.

“Sorry.” you apologise.

“I doubt it. Unfold this one.” Sollux sighs and nudges your left wing with his finger.

With a little focus you manage to consciously unfurl your left wing. It really is huge, impractically large if you had to describe it. Sollux spreads it a little more with one hand and then drops the power cable to the hair dryer. He wraps the ends of his tails around it and then flicks the thing into life. Hot air flows over your bedraggled feathers and with care and patience he combs his claws between each feather without pulling them or scratching the skin underneath. It tingles under your skin, hot in a way that can’t be explained just from the hair dryer.

“Ah!” you hiss as Sollux claws touch a sore spot on your wing, it feels like a nasty bruise coming up.

“Sorry, is that better?” he asks, gently working around the injury and just drying the feathers around it with the hair dryer.

“Yeah, I must have hit a few things.” you say. He nods and keeps working along your wing.

You watch him with a kind of wonder building inside of you. He’s obviously familiar with your wings, he knows his way around them and how to touch them without hurting. It feels nice, actually. This clearly isn’t new to him, so in the past when you were together you must have let him touch the things. He’s being so diligent and gentle with you, completely focused on what he’s doing. You, on the other hand, are scared, hurt and vulnerable. Even though these things are part of your body you don’t know how to use them and purposefully moving them requires active thought and if you don’t they do their own thing and startle you. You’re clumsy, awkward and again very vulnerable. But Sollux isn’t teasing you for it or even saying about how much better this will be for him now that you know what you are, he’s looking after you.

You’re weak and he’s refusing to take advantage of that at all.

Sollux turns off the hair dryer, running his fingers through your mostly dry and warm feathers on the part of your wing that he’s been working on. You think he’s checking that he hasn’t missed anywhere.

“I’m not taking it back.” you tell him abruptly.

“Taking what back?” he asks, clearly thrown by your words.

“Trusting you, giving you permission for anything. I’m not taking it back.” you elaborate for him.

“I- Karkat…” Sollux says so flustered that he can’t seem to get a whole sentence together.

“No. I don’t remember shit before the event and honestly there’s a lot that’s making me think I’m not missing a lot, at least with memories of certain people. It sucks that I can’t remember us. The first time we met or how we got together, how any of that worked with me being an angel and you being a demon. I wish I knew that but I don’t, you can’t tell me either which sucks for both of us.” you tell him.

“That’s not your fault.” he assures you.

“That’s good to know, but it still sucks. But my point is that I trust you. I mean, right now I’m vulnerable as shit. I’m uncoordinated, I’m scared, I’m alone, you have a knife that could kill me instantly and I’ve given you permission to do anything to me. But you’re doing this.” you tell him and flex your now almost completely dry wing.

“So. I’m not taking it back.” you tell him. You won’t be swayed on this.

Sollux is staring at you, all his eyes wide in shock or maybe he’s just overwhelmed.

“Karkat-” he starts.

There’s a distant bang and you can hear your name shouted from downstairs. Sollux groans and tips his head back.

“Shit timing. Great. Look, just…” Sollux hesitates for a moment and then throws himself at you.

He’s careful not to knock you over, at least not physically. The way he kisses you feels like it’s set you on fire, like it’s electricity running through your veins and who knows, maybe it is. Maybe the way he kisses you affects you this way because you’re so literally opposite, it could be like a matter and antimatter thing.

As quickly as he threw himself at you he pulls back, flicks the hair dryer back on and looks innocently busy with your other wing when Rose bursts through the door like she’s leading an FBI raid on a terrorist hideout or something.

“KARKAT!” Rose shouts and rushes over. She stops just short of you, staring over your wings with shock on her face. Seeing them up close must be something

Sollux turns off the hair dryer in time for Dave to loudly go ‘WHOA’ from the door.

“You got all the mud out.” Jade comments from the doorway.

“You really are an angel, you’re… oh wow.” Rose whispers, all her volume from before completely gone now. She steps closer to you and reaches for your face with a hand, her fingers skim your cheek. She stares at you, taking in your face and the bump on your forehead, her eyes skitter along your wings which instinctively tuck closer to you under her scrutiny. What she returns to is your face.

“We were so worried, are you alright?” Rose asks you.

“You fell out of a building, man. Jade said you hit a tree with your head, we were scared you’d died.” Dave adds. He’s rain soaked too, mud splashed up his jeans from where he was running around outside looking for you.

They were all looking for you, they were trying to protect you and help you because they’re your friends! Dave is more than just that but that doesn’t mean he isn’t your friend too. They care.

“I didn’t mean to scare you.” you apologise.

“It’s not your fault, we’re just happy you’re okay.” Rose says gently.

You’re overwhelmed with their affection, between all four of them this is just so much.

Rose’s eyes widen, in fact everyone but Sollux reacts in shock.

“Is that a-” Rose starts.

“Is that a halo or are you just pleased to see me?” Dave asks with a weak little laugh.

“Both.” Sollux snorts.

A what now?

There’s a mirror on the wall across the room and you clumsily make your way over there with your wing tips dragging on the floor tiles after you. When you look at yourself there’s this glow from behind your head. Your messy hair is starting to dry in its usual wild, fuzzy way that it does. There’s a bright light shining through that fluff of hair, as if you were standing in front of a bright light. When you look over your shoulder there’s nothing glowing there and when you turn your head this way and that in the mirror the light is always behind you. When you’re facing side on to the mirror and looking at yourself out of the corner of your eye there’s light gracing your profile.

It’s a halo, you have a halo.

“What the fuck?” you whisper.

“Dave, can you get him in the movie room? I need to get someone here.” Sollux asks.

“Uh, sure, but… okay.” Dave doesn’t get past ‘sure’ before Sollux is gone.

“Movie room, then?” Dave suggests.

You have nothing better to do and you trust Sollux, so you’ll go. As you’ve already bemoaned your wings are huge and seemingly going nowhere, when faced with the doorway you try to deliberately pull them tight to you but that makes them drag on the floor in a way that’s really unpleasant. Arcing them out a little more sideways changes the angle of the wings so that they don’t drag on the floor but then you can’t get through the door.

“Turn sideways, maybe?” Jade suggests from the hallway.

Oh, yeah. You relax your wings somewhat and sidestep through the door.

“I can’t go back to school like this. I can’t.” you mutter.

“I can only imagine what people would think and do if an actual angel showed up, all the questions you’d get about God and where any of them are. What have you been doing this whole time? Answer all of these theological questions and so on.” Rose agrees.

“Way to be reassuring, Rose.” Dave says, clearly disapproving.

“I’m sure Karkat has already worked all that out, pretending that we’re not in the situation that we’re in isn’t going to help anyone. I’m assuming you don’t remember anything new?” Rose asks.

You shake your head, but you can’t help noticing that she said the situation that ‘we’ are in. Not the situation that you’re in alone, they’re sticking with you.

“That is some glow.” Dave remarks.

What’s weird is your halo doesn’t seem to illuminate anything else, you guess it just makes your head glow. Hello useless superpower.

When Jade leads you into the movie room it occurs to you that the sofa is not going to be a workable situation, not sitting on it normally at least. Instead you clamber over the back and sit on the back of the sofa with your feet on the seat. Dave settles next to you and Rose and Jade take the nearby loveseat.

“So are you telling me that you saved my grandpa’s life then?” Jade asks.

“What do you-” Rose tries to ask but Jade waves her off and shushes her.

Jade looks intense, her eyes focused and sharp in a way you’ve only seen once before. The time she followed Sollux and June to listen in on them.

“I don’t know if saved is the word. From his letter it sounds like I gave him supplies so he wouldn’t suffer anywhere near as much and would be rescued sooner. I don’t remember any of it, it’s just what he wrote.” you explain yourself. You wish you remembered, some answers would be great.

“Does that mean you were on some mission to save him? Or to help him at least?” Dave wonders.

“Then surely that means that my grandpa CAN’T be a devil worshipper if heaven wanted to save him or look after him. Why would your side want to protect someone who was on hell’s side?” Jade points out, clearly clinging to her idea of who her grandpa was. Not that you blame her for that.

“We’re assuming that Karkat was doing what he was supposed to be doing, and not running around trying to help anyone he could or breaking orders to do what he thought was the right thing. This is Karkat, he gave a dragon a library card to make her happy.” Rose sighs, you vaguely resent her characterising you as a pathological do gooder, or at least someone obsessively nice. You’re- you can be mean!

You feel bad about it afterwards but that’s not the point.

There’s a puff of smoke and suddenly Sollux and Mituna are in the room too. Mituna sucks a breath in through clenched teeth when he sees you.

“He doesn’t know anything, he can’t even make the wings go away.” Sollux says desperately.

“I don’t want to talk about-” Mituna tries.

“PLEASE.” Sollux begs.

“Baby… ugh. Fine. Only if the rest of them get out, I’m not doing this with an audience.” Mituna grits out, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Right!” Sollux nods and instantly everyone else but you and Mituna are gone.

The demon sighs deeply and waves a hand at the door which seals over with heavy gold chains. Without a word he moves closer, standing in front of an armchair but not sitting down.

“Do you remember anything?” he asks, his voice cold.

“Sollux said-” you try to say but Mituna cuts you off sharply.

“I asked YOU.” he hisses.

“Not about being an angel, no. Why did Sollux bring you here to talk to me about it?” you ask your own question in return.

Mituna looks away and wraps his arms around himself, his thin fingers digging tightly into his arms. He says nothing and you’re about to prompt him again when he moves. Mituna rolls his shoulders forward, like people have you do in those exercises to relieve neck tension or whatever. When he does it something comes out of his back. You don’t parse what it is that you’re seeing right away so you take it in part by part.

It’s two things, big. You realise that you can smell them, like burnt barbeque and singed hair. It’s flesh stretched out but blackened, cracked and burnt. In parts you can see bone showing through ripped and bleeding skin and it’s only when you get to the end and see a half charred white feather that you realise you’re looking at wings like yours that have been horribly destroyed.

Mituna shakes himself off and his wings seem to fold away impossibly. With a sharp exhale he drops into the armchair and pulls his feet up onto the seat of it as if he was trying to make himself as small as possible.

Those were angel wings, but he’s a demon. You’re not stupid, you know the idea of how demons came about. Fallen angels. Sollux said you were sort of the only angel he knew, that he sort of knew someone who could help. Mituna isn’t an angel, but he was.

“I can’t answer questions about your past or about you. I don’t know you. I only know about you from Sollux. I can tell you abstract shit or stuff about me, that’s all.” Mituna informs the arm of the sofa, some distance away from you. He can’t look right at you.

You swallow thickly and try to work out what to say.

“Are you… are you okay?” you ask him and now he does look at you.

“That looks really painful.” you add.

“It’s usually only mild migraine levels of pain. When they’re out it hurts as much as you’d think.” Mituna answers, his voice a little more gentle now.

“I don’t know where to start asking questions.” you admit.

“Pick anything, start somewhere.” he shrugs.

“Alright. Uh… how do I do what you did? Put them away? How do I turn this off?” you ask, gesturing at your wings and your head.

“You just fold them away, I guess?” Mituna shrugs.

You clench your wings in tight to your body but nothing happens.

“No, more than that.” he says.

You squeeze tighter and nothing continues to be what is taking place here.

“That’s not working!” you groan and relax, that was starting to feel like it might cramp your back up.

“I don’t know what to tell you. I don’t know how to explain a bodily function to you, I can’t tell you how to digest food either but I can do that.” Mituna shrugs.

“Fucking… great. Uh, next question, the book said that I’m a throne. What the fuck?” you ask.

“That the fuck.” Mituna nods.

You glare at him.

“Throne isn’t super helpful. It’s… it’s like saying that you work with computers. It tells me fuck all about what you really do. What thrones are supposed to do and what you really do is also another thing. Heaven doesn’t work the way it should.” Mituna says with a sigh.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” you ask.

Mituna seems to consider what he’s going to say for a few long seconds before he speaks.

“In hell there’s a hierarchy, a chain of command. People have jobs that they do and there is clear instruction from above about what happens. There’s leadership, teams, projects, goals, timelines for when things get done.” Mituna tells you.

“You make it sound really corporate.” you say.

“Pretty much. _His_ leadership might be evil, uncaring and can turn on a dime but there is leadership. Heaven… not so much. Everything was set up, before my time, creation mythos etc. Angels were given an understanding of what their jobs were supposed to be and for the most part that was it. The ‘almighty’ intervened literally once in the whole time I was there and I’m thousands of years old. If Earth is a test for how humans behave then the same applied to us.” Mituna says bitterly.

“You were just left alone? Do whatever you’re supposed to do with your supernatural powers, trusting your own judgement and whatever you’d been told before?” you say in disbelief.

Mituna nods.

“That’s anarchy, no wonder everything sucks.” you breathe in horror.

“Imagine a crossover between literal holier-than-thou suburban upper middle class church community, the kind of people who say ‘fudge’ instead of ‘fuck’ but would also call the cops on a homeless guy, cross that with the most pretentious philosophy class. That’s the basic picture. Then add in an eternity of ‘we’ve always done it this way’ and a smug sense of superiority and you have that place. Not to mention there’s the fact that if someone’s found doing the ‘wrong’ thing you fall and get to be a cautionary tale.” Mituna hisses.

“...Wow. Fuck that. I’ve had vague dreams about my maker and that place and I was MISERABLE there, I guess I know why.” you say.

Wow, just… wow. It explains some things for sure but you really wish that wasn’t how things were.

“Mmm, well, you’d probably have ended up down below at some point if you kept that up.” Mituna says with a shrug.

“So if one of the things thrones do is maintain the world how it’s ‘supposed’ to be, does that mean doing whatever the others decided the world should look like?” you wonder.

“About the only thing angels would manage to agree on was stopping whatever hell was trying to do because hell is bad, that’s the thing they agree on. Other than that actually interfering is frowned upon unless it’s very special cases that they’ve worked out was part of the plan.” Mituna explains.

“...So I was probably doing that secretly then. Spades Slick and Aradia already knew me and I helped out Jade’s grandpa so…?” you trail off.

“If you wanted to help people and not mess up the plan then not saving people who were destined to die there for sure would be a way to do it. Not what I did, but it works.” he nods.

You try to decide if you should ask what you want to ask. It seems like a dick move but you feel you need to know. He can always say no, right?

“What did you do? What happened to cause…” you trail off, gesturing vaguely to him.

Mituna shuts his eyes, leans his head back on the armchair and stays still for what seems like a good minute or two. When he does speak, his voice is quiet.

“The almighty didn’t interfere much, like I said. But having offspring is something that requires some… participation.” he says slowly.

Oh, Christ. Both in the sense of you blaspheming in shock at what he’s saying and literally that being the thing he’s discussing.

“I wasn’t the one coming down delivering the news to her. Like ‘hey, I know no one asked you and apparently consent doesn’t count for a god but guess what’s happening to you in nine months’! Yeah, no, not me. He was born, star, wise men, whatever. Deadbeat deity and fucked back off to wherever and wasn’t answering any questions except for responding shit like ‘what do you think’ and that crap. So he was left there.” Mituna explains.

That seems like a horrible oversight. Give what is technically a demigod a bunch of powers and no guidance. Sure, that’s how the Greek pantheon tended to roll but that also went really badly a lot of the time.

“Babies are fine for that sort of thing, even kids. When you get older and you’re an adult, especially for the time, you start running into problems. Like, why is the son of God such a socialist, why is he healing all those gross people and putting up all these anti authority views? People who ARE an authority like angels get a little twitchy about that. So I get sent down to keep an eye on him.” Mituna goes on.

“Like you were his parole officer or something? That’s so fucked up!” you say in horror and Mituna laughs.

“Pretty much! Didn’t work out that way, though. I wasn’t big on other angels and authority anyway, I already knew it was all shit but damn he was good at making you question if you were really doing the right thing. A lot less smiting the wicked and more caring about other people. He wasn’t even big on his divine parentage either, always said that it’d be nice if he got some kind of sign about what he was supposed to be doing but nothing ever came. Had this joke about how he was perpetually signless, it stuck as a name at least between me and his family. Signless. A joke and a ‘fuck you’ at the same time, my kind of thing.” Mituna smiles, though it’s sad.

You don’t need to ask what happened. There’s literally a whole religion about that and you’ve seen what obviously happened to Mituna. The demon and former angel across from you leans forward, looking at the floor instead of you.

“I found out what the big plan was. Sacrificing a guy who didn’t ask for any of it, who never did anything wrong for some big chess move all done by people who didn’t give a fuck about anyone down here as more than a number on a scoresheet. It was all some big plan. No one cared about how he felt about it or what it’d do to his family, his friends, or to me. I told them the plan was fucked and went back down here, determined to stop it. They were pretty lax on control usually, watching people wasn’t their thing because that implied they didn’t already know. But I… attracted attention.” he goes on.

He laughs bitterly and grips his hands together, like an angry prayer with his fingers locked together instead of the calm press of hands you always see in paintings.

“They’re not big on people defying rules and orders, or people trying to stop the divine plan. I think the fact that I was in love with the guy and had been dating him for the last few years didn’t help either. Like, hey, no one technically told me I couldn’t bone the son of God but it was probably implied.” Mituna laughs, it’s a desperate and sad kind of sound.

“So they killed him anyway.” you whisper.

“They made me watch. Dragged me down there, made it so he was the only one who could see me but no one else could. Do you know how long it takes to-” Mituna cuts himself off.

“So I fell. I didn’t want to be up there anyway and I was willing to destroy whatever because fuck all of them. Only I got asked to do something, a kind of ‘prove yourself’ test. They had their martyr now but the whole family would be even more tragic, make them saints, show that even humans could be like us if they do what their betters say they should. That was heaven’s play. You’ve got to let them think he’s dead for good and then yank him away when he comes back for the optics of the whole thing, gotta pull that tragedy angle. Who cares how much it hurts THEM? So hell wants the opposite, tempt his family, break them and drag them to hell. Even people who lived with divinity end up in hell, none of you are safe. You know, for the optics of it all.” Mituna spits the word out, his loathing clear as day.

“What did you do?” you whisper.

“Neither side gets them. Fuck both of them. You only go one place or the other if you die, I made them immortal. Near enough anyway. Made it clear they needed to jack up points with some other deity so even if they did die there’d be a custody battle for millenia over their souls.” Mituna says with a violent smile.

“Oh shit, that’s genius.” you say in awe and crawl closer to him, you nearly unbalance and have to throw a wing open over the back of the sofa to stay upright but you’re closer to Mituna now.

“Yeah, well. Gotta say that _he_ didn’t think the same. Got banished, eternity at the edge of hell so I was supposed to go nuts on my own. Instead I bred hellhounds well enough that I got useful to other demons, ended up meeting Latula after I got dragged to court to decide if it was a violation of my punishment. Or… more like Latula was made after Redglare won my case. That part of her came out and- I’m not explaining demon reproduction to you.” Mituna says flatly.

“Sollux already did that.” you tell him.

“Oh yeah? If he told you we reproduce sexually he was just trying to get you in bed.” Mituna snorts and that’s the first actually amused smile he’s had since he started his tale.

“He didn’t say that. But apparently that’s happened before, not him lying I don’t mean. I’m pissed that I can’t remember it if I’m honest.” you sigh. Seriously, you’ve remembered shit about Kankri but you can’t remember having sex with Sollux? Why can’t you selectively get your memories back? It’s not fair.

“I can’t help you there. I’m sure he’ll demonstrate if you ask nicely. Or just look or breathe in his direction, he’s embarrassingly thirsty for you. I’d say it’s damaging my brand for him to be like that when he looks so much like me and has my name but I did bone the son of God and was just as stupid for him so I can’t really throw the first stone there.” Mituna snickers. You wonder if he talked like this when he was still an angel.

“I have a few vague memories. Well, dreams that I think are bits of memories and some little flashes that come up with trauma or whatever. It seemed like it sucked up there, I think I get why Sollux likes you so much. Heaven and hell seem to suck equally in different ways, I’m glad he had you I guess.” you admit.

Mituna seems a little touched by your comment and smiles. You go to sit down properly again, remember that you can’t with wings on your back so you’re forced to climb back onto the top of the sofa again. This is going to get old real fast.

“Alright, I need to think. You can’t tell me anything about me specifically and the basic how to make the obvious angel stuff go away things aren’t working. What else can I do? I can go invisible, touch and pick up regular fire and I don’t need to breathe, is that normal?” you ask.

“For a throne, yeah. You’re expected to be able to do stuff down here if the endless discussion groups decide it’s a good idea. There’s no point sending you here if you’re going to die from mortal shit. Thrones are generally pretty hard to kill, you’re not usually designed for war or anything, there’s different angels for that. But… harder to murder than your average angel.” Mituna tells you.

“Unless you have a magic knife. I saw two demons kill my maker with one and it didn’t look hard to do at all.” you point out.

“There’s not many of those aroundl, Sollux told me about that.” the demon says with a wince, like he feels bad for you.

“So where the hell are all the other angels then? Did they all lose their memory like me? Kankri didn’t seem to know what he was.” you ask.

“I don’t know, I don’t even know all of the details about what did this to tell you exactly. Not that I could. If your maker was down here and didn’t know what he was and you didn’t then I would say that any of you down here probably got wiped.” Mituna says, but it’s obviously a guess. You suppose guesses aren’t covered by the spell that holds his tongue on this topic normally.

“And the rest of the angels are probably in heaven endlessly debating and doing fuck all, right?” you groan.

“I wouldn’t know but that wouldn’t surprise me at all.” Mituna says with a bitter laugh and shake of his head.

“You should be careful about showing off what you are around demons. You belonging more on our side and being connected to who you are is going to protect you usually but the order to kill any angel on sight is still going and it’s not going to change. If someone doesn’t know who you are they’ll try to kill you. We don’t want angels fucking around with anything down here.” Mituna warns you.

“They would want to undo things, right? Which means that it’s someone on your side who did this, or at least you benefit from it.” you guess.

Mituna stares at you silently, his jaw twitching with how tight it’s clamped shut.

“As much as I want some of my memories back I’m starting to think that undoing whatever spell did all this would be a very bad idea. Sollux obviously wants me to remember things but he doesn’t seem to be trying to change things for anyone else. If he’s trying to keep things how they are now then I’m not going to get in his way.” you say slowly, watching Mituna’s tense expression as you talk.

“That’s good.” Mituna nods.

You’re about to say something along the lines of how you’d even be willing to help if Sollux can think of something for you to do, but Mituna keeps talking.

“I hate to break up relationships and me killing you for trying to undo all this would suck. Sollux sure as shit wouldn’t be happy, even if he did kill my moirail. It’s not like I’d do it for revenge, he didn’t have a choice and I wouldn’t either.” Mituna tells you, his voice perfectly level.

Your wings pull close as the threat sinks in for what it is.

“I wouldn’t be thrilled either.” you say in a small voice.

“Then let’s not do that. I’m going to bail, this was… this was a lot.” Mituna mutters that last past as he heaves himself out of the armchair.

Clumsily you flutter and stumble off of the sofa and grab hold of his shirt.

“Mituna I…” you hesitate and the way he stares at you pins you in place.

“I’m sorry for what they did to you and to him. You didn’t deserve any of that. Thank you for telling me about it and coming here to help, I’m sure it hurt.” you say.

“You don’t need to be sorry, it’s not like you did any of that. It’s pretty obvious that you’re not as old as I am, you probably weren’t even around then.” he says with a frown.

“That’s not the point! What both sides did to you was fucking disgusting, you didn’t do anything wrong! I sure as shit don’t want to be in the service of any side that said you did and then punished you like _that_!” you insist.

Mituna’s mouth opens slightly and then you hear him sigh a little.

“I can see why he likes you.” Mituna says softly.

“I’m pretty sure Sollux says he hates me.” you laugh.

“And I can see why Sollux hates you too. Too sincere, all heart on your sleeve and caring too much. Thanks for the thought I guess, good luck with figuring out how to not look like what you are.” Mituna nods and then teleports away.

The door into the room is unchained now but you’re not really in any hurry to leave after everything Mituna just unloaded on you. It’s almost a relief in a way to hear that heaven and angels suck, it answers a lot of questions and the fact that you didn’t want to be associated with them at least reassures you that you weren’t like that.

Your head is still throbbing with a bassy kind of pain that thrums around in your skull. Mituna said you were hard to kill but that doesn’t mean things don’t still hurt, right? This whole situation is a mess. You should talk to the others and you should really talk to Jade, you owe her a big apology for just bursting in on her dead grandpa’s room and trashing his stuff. That last part was an accident but you chose the rest.

What a mess.

Curiously you look around at one of your wings. You manage to move it so it curves around in front of you, it requires a little focus, not unlike patting your head and rubbing your stomach, but you can do it. It feels like these wings can’t possibly be yours, but when you touch them you can feel it. You flex them a little, moving unfamiliar muscles. It’s not as if the things are going away any time soon so you at least need to get used to them.

You open the door out of the movie room now that Mituna’s chains are gone and on the other side the dark hallway greets you. You freeze on instinct and it takes a literal second before you can make out Jade in the space your eyes keep skipping over. Her eyes appear first, unnaturally green and pinning you in place. As you focus you’re aware of how very inhuman she can be, not that you’re one to talk on that subject.

“Jade.” you say, redundantly.

“You kicked me out of a room in my home when I let you stay here to help you, you broke into a room even I was banned from, damaged the building and risked a bunch of books that Sollux has been good enough to rescue from the storm. On top of all of that you’re casting suspicion on my grandfather.” Jade says, the only reason that you can’t call it an accusation is because every bit of it is true.

“I’m sorry, really I am.” you apologise.

“So you admit wronging me and that you are in my debt.” Jade says, her voice sharp.

The fae and debts, you should have known better and maybe there’s still some way you can get out of it even as you feel the noose of your obligation to Jade tightening around your neck. But you do owe her, you did wrong her and you want to be able to say that you’re the kind of person who fixes his mistakes. You want to do the right thing, not just say that you do.

“Yes, I do. Obviously I’m kind of… going through a lot here.” you say with a gesture to your presumably still glowing halo around your head and the wings behind you.

“That doesn’t mean I can just treat you like the background character to my personal drama. It makes me a shitty friend so tell me how to make it up to you.” you say sincerely.

Some of the tension in Jade’s shoulders eases and she shakes her head a little.

“Geez, Karkat. You’re such a sap. But since you offered I would like your help with something!” Jade grins. She’s not nearly as put out as she just let you think, is she?

“And what’s that? I- fucking hell.” you hiss as you try to leave the movie room and catch your wings on the doorway again. The sooner you work out how to bring these things in and out at will the better.

“I want to work out what happened with my grandpa, what his life was before me, why we’re on this island of all places and what’s with that temple. It doesn’t sound like humans just get given hellhounds like Bec for no reason and that’s wildly suspicious.” Jade says.

“You just got mad because we were suspicious of that exact thing!” you protest.

“Yeah, but he’s _my_ grandpa. I can be suspicious of him all I like, he’s family.” Jade grins.

“Goddamnit, fine. I’ll help however I can think to.” you sigh.

“Good. How’s your head feeling?” Jade asks and reaches out to feel at the lump that’s now fully formed.

“Like I smacked into a big old tree at incredible speed head first.” you groan, it still throbs something fierce behind your eyes.

“Funny that!” Jade giggles, “I don’t know about angel anatomy much but you smacked your head pretty hard, you should probably stay awake for a while, maybe eat something. You should maybe have Sollux wake you up a few times in the night too just to be sure you’re okay, it’s not like he sleeps at night anyway.”

“I don’t think he needs to sleep, he just likes it.” you agree.

“It’s funny, Bec sleeps with me usually when it’s stormy like this. When I was little he used to sleep with me all of the time, at least I thought he was sleeping. Turned out he was awake the whole time, he was guarding me when I was vulnerable. I think Sollux does the same, I’ve never seen him asleep when Dave is.” Jade says.

You wonder which it is, whether Sollux cares so much about Dave that he can’t bear to leave him alone and vulnerable by sleeping at the same time, or if he can’t comfortably sleep unless he has someone he trusts nearby and awake.

Jade nudges you towards the kitchen and heads back off upstairs. You can’t prove it and she didn’t say where she was going, but you’d be surprised if she wasn’t going through things in her grandpa’s rooms. When you get into the kitchen you wonder if there’s a reason for that.

“There’s got to be something.” Dave says to Sollux.

“Not much more than I’m already doing. Mituna should-” Sollux cuts himself off when you step inside the kitchen. You do it sideways so you don’t bump your wings AGAIN.

“Karkat!” Dave exclaims when he turns to see you, tipped off to your presence by Sollux’s sudden stop.

“Mituna’s gone, I don’t know if you’d wanted to talk to him too Sollux, or…” you trail off.

“I dragged him here for you. Did he help?” Sollux asks.

“I don’t know, do I still look like an angry swan? For someone with as many eyes as you it doesn’t seem like you’re observant at all.” you retort.

“HAH, he says, as if he doesn’t have WAY more eyes than I do and didn’t even realise his OWN species.” Sollux cackles.

“Yeah, on that subject, he doesn’t look a lot like the picture in that book.” Dave points out.

“Eh, alternate forms. Which, side note, if you work out how to change into that I would avoid doing it near humans. Unless you want to risk driving them insane or making them claw out their eyes.” Sollux warns you even though his tone is far too casual.

You eye Dave nervously, you don’t want to do that to him at all.

“Great, my existence is the shitty gift that just keeps on giving.” you grumble and sit down next to Dave.

Dave twists around in his seat and looks at you carefully. He reaches for one of your wings, slowly and deliberately so you could stop him if you wanted. His fingertips graze a recently blow-dried feather and smooth gently over them. He liked the birds back in his New York home, didn’t he?

“I know this all kind of sucks, but I like them. Now you know what you are and you can get more answers, you don’t have to wonder all the time. We still like you too, right?” Dave says and look at Sollux, clearly prompting him to reassure you.

“Hate you.” Sollux says.

It’s funny, if anyone else said that they hated you then you’d be hurt. If Dave said he hated you it’d make you cry, at least if he was sincere and not joking because you stole the last spring roll off of the plate at dinner or something. But when Sollux says it you get what he means, it’s the same words and different meanings. It’s trust, understanding and recognition in there. He knew what you were and how that should have been antithetical to everything he was supposed to be. But you don’t think you’re much of a typical angel and he’s no normal demon.

Maybe Mituna’s right and if things had gone on you would have fallen, become a demon like him. But if you deserved to fall then Sollux deserves to… rise, you suppose. It’s not as if he belongs in heaven either, no more than you really belong in hell.

Maybe it’s nice that you’re on Earth, halfway between the two.

Sleeping is tricky, you have two extra limbs to account for and they don’t like being crushed underneath you so you have to sleep face down. Sollux agrees to wake you a few times in the night to check that your brain hasn’t gone to scrambled egg and it’s funny, if it wasn’t for his eyes the room would be completely pitch black because there’s no street lights outside, no light pollution.

And no moon.

Until there is. You are high in the sky, so high up that your breath would freeze if you bothered to breathe up here. Above you the moon looms huge and white, you can’t see it from heaven and it’s always seemed to do wonderful things to Earth. Like, right now, you can look down over a lake and see the way the white orb reflects off of the surface.

You drift to Earth, disguise yourself and search. You know that she’s around here somewhere but the seer is remarkably hard to track down and you’ve been looking for months whenever you can get a chance to come down here. When she meets your eyes across the table of an outdoor restaurant you don’t think that you tracked her down, you’re pretty sure she saw you coming and decided to meet you.

The table is set for two and there’s already food and drink laid out for you both. You know how old she is, but it’s funny, you could be classmates from how you both look. Maybe that’s what passersby will think. You’re sort of envious of that life, you’ve watched people in schools before, learning and living their lives. Sometimes you sneak out and nudge people just so into something good for them or out of the way of something bad. It would be nice.

The seer raises her drink to have a sip and watches you over the top of it, her purple eyes boring into you.

“The food here really is great, you should try it.” she says, cutting you off just before you speak but not so you’d begun speaking and could accuse her of interrupting. It’s deliberate, but it is pizza and you’ve not had a chance to have any in far too long so you won’t say no.

“We have an interest in common, I think. I need your help.” you admit and pick up a slice of the pizza.

“And why exactly should I help one of your kind?” she asks.

You bite into your pizza, intending on using it to buy time but the taste just overwhelms you.

“Oh fuck me that’s good.” you groan and the seer laughs out of sheer surprise.

“You are… not quite what I expected.” she laughs.

“Don’t, uh, tell anyone.” you mumble, glancing around. As if Kankri wouldn’t already have your skin for what you’re doing already but you know he’d add cursing to your long list of sins. Worse still he’ll read them all out to you again and make you sit there and listen, the more you’re able to avoid lengthening that list the better.

“Your secret is safe with me. So you need me to see for you.” she grins.

You watch as she stretches her arms up behind her head and leans back, languid and comfy in the certainty that she has in herself.

Her expression freezes.

“It’s night.” she says, still looking up.

“Yeah?” you say, looking around. As if noticing your gaze the streetlamps spring into life and they hadn’t been before, but they should have been on, it’s obviously night.

“It wasn’t night, it was day. And that…” Rose trails off, still looking up.

You look up.

The moon is huge, far bigger than it ever should be and it is bright, luminous green. Then, like a bulb going on it becomes white and perfectly smooth. Watching you.

You flail awake with a pillow muffled yelp and from Dave’s cry next to you there’s a very real chance that you just smacked him with a wing. You fumble upright, actually pushing yourself up with your wings as much as your hands.

“The moon.” Rose gasps, she’s sat bolt upright in bed too.

The two of you stare at each other, each of you presumably wondering the same question.

“Were you in my dream?” she asks first.

“I thought you were in mine. Night time, at a restaurant? The moon was wrong.” you tell her, even as the details start to slip from you.

“Yes, that’s it exactly. You were asking me about something.” Rose nods.

“What’re you two talking about?” Dave groans as he looks between you and his sister.

“Stop talking about it.” Sollux tells you tightly. You look at him for the first time and see the wide eyed look on his face and the not so subtle thread of fear running through his whole body.

“Why should we do that? That meant something!” Rose insists.

“Please, Rose, trust me. Leave it alone.” Sollux pleads.

“Wait, wait, are you having visions again? With Karkat somehow?” Dave asks, obviously confused. At least Jade is still too asleep to ask questions, the girl can sleep like no one else.

“I…” Rose hesitates, clearly caught in something she hadn’t wanted to share yet.

Dave looks at you and it’s clear that poker playing is never in your future, you’re pretty sure he reads you clear as day.

“Cthulhu has been talking to you? How?” Sollux asks in a tight voice.

“In a dream, just the once. Right before the zombies. I don’t think this was him but I don’t know what else it could be or how Karkat was there.” Rose admits.

“Maybe it was my dream and you were just seeing it?” you suggest.

“I was an active participant, not just an observer.” Rose says with a shake of her head.

“Tell me exactly what you dreamt.” Sollux demands.

Dave looks uneasily between all of you and with his obvious concern for you and his sister coupled with Sollux’s clear distress you have no choice but to tell him.

You speak the details of the dream into the dark room as best as you can remember them with Rose filling in the details that you miss. As you talk you’d say that Sollux’s face grows more and more ashen, or at least you would if his natural skin colour wasn’t literally the colour of ash normally.

“I need to go. Don’t go back to sleep.” Sollux tells you.

“Sollux, it’s the middle of the night. I’m not staying awake for no reason.” Rose grumbles.

“It’s not for ‘no reason’ and I asked, just don’t sleep.” he insists again.

“I’m going to need more than that.” Rose tells him.

“Can’t you just take me on my word?” Sollux asks hopefully but Rose’s look shuts him down.

“Fine. We can all be unhappy with this situation.” Sollux snaps and gets to his feet.

You’re about to ask that he come back to bed with you, Dave certainly looks like he’s about to do the same, but you don’t get the chance. Sollux lights up in red and blue and you can hear muttered sibilant syllables of demonic tumbling from his mouth. You feel something snap, rather than hear it, and then Sollux vanishes.

“Uh. Maybe we shouldn’t go back to sleep.” Dave suggests worriedly.

“As if I don’t already have sleep problems to begin with.” you sigh. Stretching your arms above you it seems that your wings instinctively mirror the stretch, reaching up and spreading out in the full space provided by the high ceiling. It is without a doubt the single most satisfying stretch you ever remember and for once your back doesn’t feel all messed up and sore in a way you’d always attributed to poor posture. You sigh in bliss and fold your wings back in place.

Dave is staring, without his shades on it’s very obvious that he’s staring and not just looking at you. You become acutely aware that you don’t have a shirt on still.

“Well if he’s not going to bother giving me a proper reason then I’m going back to sleep.” Rose says tartly and very pointedly tucks herself back into bed. Next to her Jade snores, having never woken up at all.

For your part you settle back down on your front and habitually pick up your phone to flick through your email, social media, dumb games. The usual stuff that you occupy yourself with when you wake up in the night. Dave nestles down next to you and once more his fingers graze one of your wings, it makes you jump a little and he jerks his hand back.

“Sorry.” he apologises in a whisper.

“No, it’s fine. You just startled me. I don’t mind.” you tell him.

Honestly if he sees you with wings and a halo and is still for some reason into you then you should be thanking your lucky stars, not pushing him away.

“Can I touch you?” Dave whispers, his fingers very close to your wing.

“Casual reminder that I’m still here and not asleep yet.” Rose announces from the bed.

“It’s his WING, Rose! I wasn’t- and you say about ME!” Dave replies hotly. It’s a little bit like the lady doth protest too much and Rose’s muffled snickering tells you that she thinks something along the same lines.

“Sure.” you grin at Dave in the dark.

Dave grumbles a little under his breath about nosy sisters with filthy minds and things that he absolutely wasn’t thinking of doing or touching. Not that he’d mind of course. And then he seems to realise that you can actually hear him still and shuts up. Good God, Dave is a whole ass disaster and you are absolutely stupid for him.

Still, Dave does touch you. Your wing, that is. You should really learn the names for bird parts because you’re going to assume the bend at the top is sort of like an elbow if the place where it joins to your back is akin to a shoulder. So you guess that the bit Dave is gently stroking his fingertips along is like your forearm, except it’s a wing. Dave feels along individual feathers ever so carefully and then works his fingers under them to the warm and delicate skin beneath. You feel his fingernails brushing the skin there and it makes you shiver.

Carefully he nudges your wing upwards so it’s not flat against him and folded up but more upright, like he’s testing the range of motion. He seems to regard the inside of your wing curiously, looking at and touching the place where it meets your back at the very base. Dave brushes the smaller fluffy feathers there which you supposed aren’t used for flying so much as they mostly brush your back. They’re a bit downey, you guess.

Dave examines them carefully for several long seconds before just shoving his whole face in there and making you yelp in alarm. Rose sighs pointedly and you try to remember to keep it down.

“So soft.” Dave whispers.

“A little warning next time!” you hiss at him.

“Sorry, sorry. Wait. Next time?” Dave grins as he falls back on the makeshift mattress on his side, his head propped up on his hand and his body laid out in a parody of an alluring pose.

You smack him with your wing and it knocks him back onto his back properly, with a satisfying ‘oof’.

With a shake of your head you return to your phone and try to ignore it when Dave goes back to curiously playing with your wing and seeing how it works. It feels nice when he gets it to stretch out properly and he actually combs a few feathers back into place and that’s like satisfying an itch that you hadn’t even known was bothering you.

In all honesty the physical touch is soothing and you end a boneless melted angel next to Dave, dreamy and content. Kind of like the way cats look in sunbeams. It’s been long enough for you to get that relaxed and, unfortunately, long enough for Rose to fall back asleep.

Her scream has you on your feet in seconds, Dave jolting up with you. Even Jade doesn’t sleep through this one, flailing up in bed and staring at Rose. Rose is sat upright in bed, screeching with her hands over her ears.

“Rose!” you shout and Dave who is more proactive than you leaps onto the bed with her.

“What’s wrong?” he yells.

“THE NOISE! CAN’T YOU HEAR IT?!” Rose shouts as loud as she can, her hands still over her own ears. You all shake your heads and then Rose carefully takes her hands away from her ears and you can see that they’re shaking.

“It… it stopped. It was- you couldn’t hear it?” Rose says breathlessly.

“All we heard was you screaming. What happened?” Jade asks.

“It was like sirens and music way too loud or a root canal but so much louder.” she tells you all.

You look at your arm, and new red and blue flows over it in small and hurried looking writing.

“You fell asleep.” you say.

Rose stares, her face going from shock to a cold kind of rage.

“I am going to KILL him.” she hisses.

“Hey, or you could not do that. I’ll talk to him, this isn’t cool at all, but… maybe don’t go back to sleep?” Dave suggests a little weakly.

“No, you get him back here right now so I can wring his scrawny neck until he undoes this.” Rose demands.

“Wouldn’t he need to speak to undo a spoken spell though?” you wonder. You also know Sollux can’t die permanently and he’s not exactly weak either. Also you’d bet that if you don’t need to breathe then there’s a good chance that he doesn’t need to either. Similar species and what have you.

“Why would Sollux do this, I don’t understand.” Jade frowns and you take a few seconds to catch her up, feeling a little bad that you didn’t wake her when all of this was going on before.

“And now he’s cursed me so I can’t sleep!” Rose snaps, finishing up your recap for you.

“He says he had to do it and you wouldn’t listen. He says it puts you in danger but he can’t say what.” Dave says. He’s reading off of his phone, having messaged Sollux when you were explaining.

“It’s not like this is going to be a forever thing. People die when they don’t sleep for long enough and they go insane sooner than that. Sollux wouldn’t do that to us. To you.” you amend that last part, you probably don’t need to sleep. You feel tired of course, but you’ve always had sleep problems. Maybe you just started sleeping after the event because it was what people did and your difficulty with it was because it was unnatural to you maybe. Or, who knows, maybe angels do sleep and do need to and this spell actually can do you harm too. You doubt that Sollux would do anything to really hurt you. Startle you awake with loud sirens only you can hear, sure, but not drive you nuts or kill you.

“It’s not that I’m not pissed, I am. But he wouldn’t do this if it wasn’t for a good reason and I’m going to try to find out what it is. He did ask you not to sleep and- Rose, no I didn’t mean that how it sounded.” Dave protests but Rose has already stormed out.

“You sort of made that sound like this was her fault.” Jade adds helpfully.

“Thanks, Jade.” Dave says through gritted teeth.

“You want me to…?” you ask, glancing at the open door. Dave gives you a grateful look and nods.

You head out looking for Rose. She’s not in the kitchen but you make coffee anyway and wander to the next place you’d look for a seer hunting down answers of any kind. You set the mug of hot coffee on Jake Harley’s desk, on the blotter so you don’t get a ring mark on the dark wood. Rose is glaring at poor Abraxas who is perched on top of one of her textbooks, she must have fed it too.

“What about it do you want to- oh. It’s you.” Abraxas narrows its little green eyes at you.

“I’m really sorry about dropping you like that, I wasn’t really myself. Or maybe I suddenly was myself and it was a big shock, I don’t know.” you apologise.

“You’re lucky that I don’t have ears like you do.” Abraxas sniffs haughtily.

“Enough of this. Give me information about the moon.” Rose demands.

“And like I said it’s too broad of a topic. There are thousands of references to spells involving the moon, theories involving the moon’s historical significance as a source of power in numerous ancient sites, notes on what phase the moon was in during a specific journal entry, research notes on the moon itself, deities associated with it…” Abraxas shakes its head.

“You’re trying to see about the moon because it was in our dream?” you ask Rose.

“The moon featured in the dream you had before, the last vision I had was on the new moon, it’s a new moon tonight and we dreamt of the moon. It was green and then far too white, it’s clearly a running theme.” Rose says sharply.

“A green moon, you say?” Abraxas asks and Rose’s focus sharpens again.

Nervously you sip your coffee.

“Yes, do you have anything on that?” Rose asks.

“A journal entry mentions it. Hold on.” Abraxas hums thoughtfully and squirms its way across the room. A book slides out from a shelf and floats above Abraxas.

“Here we are.” it says and squirms up the desk again, although you don’t quite know how it manages it.

The book drops onto the table, already open.

30 Jul ‘69  
In all honesty I don’t enjoy being right when it’s something like this and all I can say is that I am glad it was not me up there. They called me in to talk to the poor fellow in his hospital bed, all trussed up like a christmas turkey. My reputation of going to places I shouldn’t and tangling with forces that ought to kill me precedes me now and I really ought to focus more on academia again or else I’ll end up like that poor soul. Michael Scott, that’s his name and I really should say it. 

The moon has been a power source for magic since there were things to look up at it, no one should have ever gone there. We were warned, but ‘don’t touch that’ has never been a thing man has been able to abide, is it? So many gods are tied to the moon that I don’t see how I can be much help. 

I told him to try for details. So he told me details. On the 16th he, Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong launched off of Earth to the eyes of millions. It was all fine but the closer the got the more their tech went haywire but they’d expected that after the Russians had found the same problem and smashed their toys up against the moon. Honestly I think Michael is as magically inclined as a potato but he’s a smart man and he was taught well. He said they landed. 

He said they were meant to wait but they were too eager, the first men on the moon you see? I do feel for them there. When they opened the door the moon was green, which is absurd because it isn’t. Michael said they were excited, thought it might be some sciency thing to do with colour refraction or atmosphere. Neil and Buzz stepped out. 

He found it harder to talk after that point. He started to cry and babble about little green men on the green moon. That they eventually returned him with a message, the nurses told me it’s etched into his actual skin but he wasn’t able to tell me if he put it there or if that was something else. 

‘Even a very good host is not obliged to host uninvited guests’

He was gone for ten days. Not only was there not enough food for that long but there wasn’t enough air for that long, wherever he was there was both already. I asked him about what he ate and he started shouting about liquorice of all things. 

Unfortunately he won’t be speaking to anyone else, so unless they can get the poor man to a state where he can be trusted with a pencil we’ll never know what happened to Buzz and Neil. Poor blighter bit right through his tongue. 

It’s all top secret now of course. Somewhat reassuringly it has put an end to this whole space race business, it’s not much of a race when you know there’s a thing waiting for you at the finish is it? I think both sides are going to quietly drop the whole matter. 

The thing is there’s a whole bunch of myths and stories about men in the moon and gods tied to it but none of the details really gel with any of them. Even though the top brass invited me there all I can tell them is that I have no idea what is up there, what those men saw. They didn’t like that, they said they can’t fight what they don’t know. 

I was VERY strong in suggesting that they don’t start a fight with the moon.

“They said it was radiation sickness.” Rose whispers in horror.

Everyone knows about the moon landing, how terribly it went. You can’t go into space, the Earth’s magnetic field protects us and without it you die. But… oh, you really don’t like this.

“I wonder if I could fly there. It’s not like I need to breathe.” you say in dull horror.

“Don’t.” Rose says instantly, pinning you with a look.

“No, believe me, I don’t want to. I didn’t just read that and think it sounds like a nice day out. I guess I just wonder if I could fly that high.” you assure her.

“You’ve heard of Icarus, right?” Rose says pointedly.

You could tell her that your wings aren’t made of wax but you do take her point. You’ve no intention of going up there.

“Hey, if whatever is up there is happy to stay up there then I’m happy to stay down here.” you reason.

“Except it’s not. Not staying up there I mean. Was it peeking into the dream or was the dream prophetic about something to do with it?” Rose sighs, tiredly rubbing her forehead.

You feel the childish compulsion to do Sollux’s thing and suggest both but reminding her of him right now would be dumb.

“So what are you thinking, then?” you prompt her.

“I don’t know. I can tell the moon is relevant but I don’t know if this information is relevant. I don’t know what it would have to do with our dreams or why this phase is important. Or… who knows? Twice isn’t a pattern and normally I’d dismiss it entirely on the basis that there’s not enough evidence.” Rose says unhappily.

“But the way Sollux reacted doesn’t make it seem like it’s nothing.” you agree.

“Exactly! I need to know what’s going on here, if it’s connected to The Event and me losing my sight until now then I can’t just let it go.” Rose tells you, her eyes blazing with determination.

You hesitate, feeling pulled in two directions.

“He obviously knows something, he knows a lot. But I don’t believe that he’d hide something that important to us if there wasn’t a good reason for it. Hell, you’ve known him for how many years, do you think he’d do that?” you try to reason with her.

“He’s never done something like this to me before.” Rose snaps.

“Then it’s obviously very important that we don’t sleep.” you say.

“Just because you’re dating him now.” Rose hisses.

“That’s not fair and that’s not it either. Come on, Rose.” you sigh.

Rose leans back in the desk chair and watches you for a moment or two.

“You should use one of your questions to ask him about this.” Rose says thoughtfully.

“If it is related all we’re going to get is him saying that he can’t answer that, it’ll tell us nothing and waste a question.” you point out. You aren’t sure what you want to use your last questions for but wasting them on something that you’re almost certain is going to be useless just isn’t something you’re interested in.

“I’m not letting this go.” Rose tells you.

You nod, that’s pretty clear and you think you should probably leave her to it. There’s no way you’re going to talk her out of this state of mind, no matter what you do.

Sleeping is probably not going to be possible at all with whatever Sollux cursed you both with, you’re not keen to try either after how unpleasant it seemed for Rose. You’re also not keen on bashing your head against the brick wall of Rose’s stubbornness so you leave.

Watching a movie seems like the best way to burn through the evening but you’ve not even picked anything out of the extensive Harley collection before Dave shows up. He peeks around the door at you and that’s where you spot him.

“Hey.” you call out.

“You don’t sound pissed off.” Dave says warily.

“At you?” you ask in confusion.

“Well, yeah. Rose was going on about me siding with Sollux instead of my own twin and when I stuck my head in the room she was in, she nearly bit my head off.” Dave mutters that last part.

“I’m not thrilled with Sollux cursing me but there’s obviously more at play here than I know about, but when isn’t there? I just don’t think he’d curse us to keep us awake for no reason. He seemed… scared.” you admit. You’re not keen on fucking with anything that scares Sollux.

“That’s what I said. I’m still pissed at him, cursing my boyfriend and my sister isn’t something I’m cool with him doing.” Dave assures you.

You feel your face grow warm at Dave calling you that and it’s pretty obvious that Dave notices how it flusters you. He saunters over to you, playing the cool guy that he thinks he is. It’s hard to pull off cool when you’re wearing both pyjamas and sunglasses indoors in the middle of the night.

“You are though, aren’t you? My boyfriend, I mean.” Dave says in a way that you’re loathed to describe as seductive, you’d rather put down the fact that his tone does something for you to a weakness in yourself and not smoothness on his part.

“Yeah, well, you clearly have terrible taste in men.” you mutter.

“Hah, probably.” Dave laughs.

He turns his head and has a look over the shelves on shelves of movies and you’re struck again with how pretty you think he is. It completely blows your mind that he wants to be with you at all.

“Does this really not bother you?” you blurt out, self destructive as always.

“Huh?” Dave says

You gesture to your glowing head and the wings behind you, surely what you mean should be pretty obvious. It’s the giant winged creature in the room, isn’t it?

“My moirail’s a demon, you really thought it’d make me not want to be with you?” Dave says.

You shrug. It turns out that when you have wings and do it they somehow shrug too, it’s great, it feels like you can communicate twice the confusion as before. Truly your greatest power.

“Trust me, there’s no problem with me being into you. How are you taking it though?” Dave asks.

“Was that meant to be entirely innuendo or am I just tired?” you wonder.

Dave pauses, considering.

“Yes.” he answers, unhelpfully.

“Seriously though, you finally know what you are and it’s had a little time to sink in. What do you think about it all?” Dave asks as he goes back to being serious.

You sigh and climb onto the back of the sofa as Dave gives you time to think and puts up a pretense of looking over the movies.

“Mixed, I guess? This isn’t something I would have chosen to be and I can’t say that I’d happily serve the deity that I seemingly have to. Kankri was an asshole and according to Mituna all angels were like that apparently. It’s a small consolation that he pretty much told me I’d have been a shit angel. Too much trying to help people and not enough holier-than-thou.” you say bitterly.

“It’s probably why you and Sollux got together though. And you get to fly, that’s pretty cool.” Dave points out as he pulls some movie off of the shelf.

“I’m not sure I can call falling from a building, flailing through the air and crashing into a tree really flying.” you grumble.

“You’ll probably work it out better when you’re not terrified and in a storm. I’m sure Sollux would help teach you.” Dave suggests. He’s right, of course. Partly because you’re pretty sure Sollux would enjoy flying with you but also because he’d get to mock you as you learn and then compete with you afterwards.

“I guess.” you say.

“But?” he prompts you as he crouches down and puts whatever DVD he chose in the player.

“Like I said, it’s not what I wanted. I’m also pretty sure that this isn’t what I’m _supposed_ to be doing either and I don’t like how that’d turn out for me if I got caught and punished. I’d probably fall, end up as a demon.” you tell him.

“Sollux would stop people messing with you if that happened and besides you’d be a cute demon if you went that way.” Dave assures you and sits down on the sofa.

You don’t tell him about how painful falling must be, about the way Mituna’s poor wings looked. You don’t want to be an angel but you really don’t want to fall either. Although maybe if you were a demon you could get clued in on all of this secretive bullshit, that’d be nice.

“Look, me and Sollux aren’t an issue, really. You don’t need to tell me things like that.” you groan, pretty sure that he’s just saying nice things about Sollux to make you feel for him. It’s really not needed, not now. You’re pretty sold on the subject of both of them. As you’re dramatically tipping your head back and sighing you miss Dave clicking through the menus.

“I just think he’s neat.” Dave chirps.

“Don’t you meme at me.” you snap at him and from the angle you’re at you can see the mischief in his eyes.

You miss the opening credits of the movie as you work out that you CAN sit on the sofa and not mess up your wings if you stack a few of the sofa cushions on top of each other so that your wings can hang over the back. So when you first start paying attention to the movie there’s a really young Matt Damon talking to some nun about religion.

“Seriously?” you groan.

“I’ve never seen it but loads of people complained when Dogma was made, said it was super blasphemous. I thought you might want a little blasphemy. Also it has Jay and Silent Bob in it.” Dave says brightly.

“You have terrible taste.” you groan again.

“We agreed on that, remember?” he laughs.

You settle in to watch the movie. You don’t remember much of heaven but you’re REALLY sure this would have gone down so badly up there, you kind of like it on that principle alone. The premise of the movie is that some long lost descendant/relative of Christ has to go on a quest to stop two angels getting into a church and undoing creation. It’s pretty plain that the angels are the bad guys here, they also have a bunch of powers that you don’t have, or not as far as you know anyway. Alan Rickman shows up at one point which leads you and Dave to have that happy and sad moment of seeing such a good actor clearly having fun but still sad that he’s no longer alive.

Of course, when the subject of his scene is about how he’s an angel your focus goes back to the story.

He’s appeared from nowhere in the descendant woman’s bedroom and she has understandably freaked out at waking up to a strange man in her room, leaps to obvious and rational fears.

“I can’t teleport.” you complain as the woman threatens Alan Rickman with a baseball bat.

“Maybe you can.” Dave shrugs.

You watch as Alan Rickman nudges reality so the baseball bat she’s holding becomes a fish.

“Oh, I WISH I could do that.” you snort.

“That seems like a power you would definitely use just to fuck with people.” Dave points out. He’s not wrong.

The descendant tells him to take anything he wants, still figuring that he’s a burglar but not to… well. Only Alan Rickman insists that he couldn’t possibly do anything of the sort to her seeing as he’s, and you quote ‘as anatomically impaired as a Ken doll’.

Dave looks at you.

“I am NOT.” you hiss at him.

“I mean, have you checked?” Dave asks, eyebrows raising above his shades.

“I’ve been an angel this whole time and I have a dick, thank you! Unless you’re implying that there’s some sliding scale of how human I look and when I get wings I lose my junk!” you snap defensively. You’d deny it but you squirm a little under Dave’s most likely just teasing scrutiny. You’re sure you’ve got all the parts you started today with, thanks.

“That does make some kind of sense.” Dave reasons.

“If this is your lead in to offering to check for me then I will find some way to remember how to smite people again and do it to YOU.” you threaten him and this time he breaks down laughing, yeah, he was just fucking with you. Asshole. Wow, you’re the one with terrible taste in people to date, aren’t you?

You return your attention to the movie and watch as Alan Rickman- sorry, The Metatron goes on about how he is the voice of God. The whole time his wings are on display, he took them out of nowhere, a trick you’d really like to know how to do in reverse.

“Your wings are way nicer, those look so fake in comparison.” Dave sighs wistfully, making you think of how much attention he was paying you before as he studied your wings.

“Unless there’s something I don’t know about Alan Rickman, they are fake in comparison. They’re a lot smaller though, they look a lot more convenient at least.” you agree.

“He could never fly on those, you can on yours.” Dave sniffs all condescending on your behalf.

“You can see this big bump on my head, right?” you say dryly and point to it. Dave waves you off, ignoring your point.

When you turn back to the screen the angel has put his wings away and fake or not you’re deeply envious about that.

Either way the movie is deeply dumb, highly heretical and funny in ways you would like to think yourself above being amused by. But, still, it’s a fun jab at theology and at angels and you think Dave was right, you did kind of need that.

You twist a little, sliding down with one wing stretched up and over the back of the sofa at the menu music plays in a loop. It’s not light out yet but the sky is starting to lighten a little.

“Maybe I would have been better off if I hadn’t found out what I was.” you say softly, your cheek pressing into the fabric of the sofa.

“It does look like you’ve got more to deal with now. But… at least you got what you wanted.” Dave says.

“What I asked for at least, not what I wanted. It’s like some stupid monkey paw wish.” you sigh.

“Yeah. But you can’t unknow shit, not unless you want to fly into that tree a few more times. With any luck you can work out how to look human again and then we can all go back to class after the break and we’ll be the only ones who know. Plus, you can go flying when you want to and not have to wonder what you are anymore. It’ll be okay.” he assures you.

Can you do that? Sure, if you can’t remember how to be an angel it would certainly benefit you learning how to do magic properly so staying in school is the best idea. Keeping your head down is also a good idea. But after that can you really just live a normal human life? Can you really be fireproof, do all the things you’ve already worked out how to do, and not help people? If you saw a burning building could you really just wait and let the fire brigade deal with it and not help them?

You couldn’t.

Maybe you’ll never know what Kankri made you with, maybe you don’t want to know, but you’re pretty sure that walking away from people when you could help them is against who you are. Now that you know what you are you can’t fully ignore it. You’ve got no intention of serving any God or listening to other angels but you’re going to do what you can for Earth at least. If they damn you for it then so be it.


	19. Flirting With Disaster

Discovering that you’re an angel is all well and good but eventually you end up remembering that you do have other demands on you. In your case the assignment of your cursed book from the library. Besides, it’s not as if you can sleep, is it? Thanks a lot, Sollux. 

All of that is to say that by the time the sun rises the storm has more than passed and now you’re just camped out on the beach under a much repaired beach umbrella. It was only drizzling when you left and after what happened to Jade’s table you didn’t want to risk magically folding up anything else in her home and vanishing it into some other dimension. You already owe her for the breaking and entering and then the... Well, the breaking after that. 

The thing is that the more you read the book the more it’s the same. Some sand and a few palm leaves fold up and out of this plane of reality, but that’s no more enlightening than the first read you took of the book was. This book was supposed to be Ms. Paint’s way of testing your readiness to deal with the dangerous books, it can’t be just as simple as asking you to read it. 

So maybe there’s another way of looking at this. You flop over onto your front and let your wings spread out on the sand, now that the sun is over the horizon it’s warming up. The early sunlight actually feels really nice on your wings. 

Focus, Karkat. If the test isn’t to read the book then maybe it’s to not allow the book to change the world around you, that’s why it’s cursed after all. Perhaps if you read it and try to resist what the book wants to do then you crack it. 

Carefully you open the book back up and start to read its theories, but instead of paying attention to just the words of the book you focus on yourself. For a while you think that you’re barking up the wrong tree but just as you’re considering giving this up you feel a subtle pull go through your mind. A papery sensation as the book tries to reach through you to the nearest tree. 

You jump and mentally point at it, like catching a cat leaping up onto the kitchen counters when it knows it’s not allowed to. You’ve CAUGHT IT! And just like that you can identify the book’s influence. Just like Ms. Paint and Terezi said, it’s not even malicious really, it’s just trying to demonstrate what it’s talking about. Maybe someone who owned this book in the past did some accidental magic, just hoping for a demonstration, and ended up with this. 

Holding the demonstration in your mind you look at the nearby tree and try to direct the book to do its thing. Before your eyes the tree warps and bends in ways that just isn’t possible and then it vanishes. The book’s curse skitters back into the book but you feel as if you understand it now. 

Casting your eyes on a nearby rock you try to channel the same magic through you, but this time without the book. To your delight the rock folds itself away just as easily as the tree did. But the question is, can you do the same in reverse? 

You eye your right wing, splayed over the warming sand. Curiously you focus on it, you try hard to see how all the ways it exists shouldn’t be possible. Wings that size on a body like yours are absurd, how do they even attach to the rest of the bones in your back? They shouldn’t exist here and yet they do. As you channel that same feeling the book gave you when you looked at the warped trees, rocks and that one table, you find your wing jerks. It snaps close to your back with its opposite and then, all at once, you feel lighter. 

Scrambling upright you twist your arm behind you and feel your entirely normal back, completely absent of extra feathered wings. 

Thankfully you are unobserved at the moment so no one else gets to see your little victory dance right there on the beach. You have a vague paranoia that Sollux will suddenly appear to make fun of you as he so often does but it seems that even his habit of teasing you doesn’t grant him the literal omnicience needed to pop up every time you do something dumb. Thank God. Actually, no, fuck God. Thank… goodness? Yeah, you’ll go with that. 

You hurry back to Jade’s house, eager to show your friends how normal you now look and luckily for you they’re in the kitchen. Unluckily for you Sollux is also there and you seem to have walked in right as Rose was trying to rip him a new one. 

“-said I’m sorry.” Sollux is saying as you hurry into the room. Everyone looks around at you. 

“Hey! You don’t have wings any more! You managed to figure out how to put them away then!” Dave says with a desperate kind of cheer borne of the desire to have everyone else stop arguing now, please. 

“Yeah, I worked it out.” you agree. 

Rose is still glaring at Sollux who shifts uncomfortably, but he doesn’t seem willing to take his eyes off of her either and drop his guard. You wonder if each set can look in different directions at the same time, you’ve no idea but perhaps you could ask him sometime. 

“I will forgive you under one condition.” Rose says haughtily. 

Sollux regards her with all of the suspicion you think that statement warrants, which is to say, a lot. 

“And that would be what?” he asks her slowly. 

“You agree to answer one question for me. To answer it right now, truthfully, audibly and at a speed, pitch and language I understand, to the best of your knowledge as long as it does not contravene your other obligations.” Rose says, clearly and with obvious forethought. 

Sollux jerks back in alarm and stares, clearly shocked at Rose’s offer. He looks over at you and then back to Rose.

“Why wouldn’t you try to use one of his questions? Unless he said no…” Sollux says slowly. You can see him coming to the same conclusion that you came to, that the question you think Rose intends to ask isn’t going to be helpful. 

“Alright, but you have to let it go afterwards. You really didn’t leave me any choice, cursing you was my last resort. I didn’t want to.” Sollux says, it’s not really an apology. 

Sollux holds out his hand and Rose takes it, shakes it once. You can see the glow of demonic writing solidifying the deal on their skin for just a moment. 

“What do you know about the moon landing? I want to know everything you know.” Rose demands. 

“The what?” Sollux says in clear surprise. 

“Answer me!” Rose demands. 

Sollux cries out in pain, grabbing his middle. You can’t help but notice that his hand is touching the place where that glowing rib lives. 

“Rose, that hurts!” Sollux gasps. 

“Rose!” Dave shouts. 

“Then answer the question!” she snaps at him. 

“I- I don’t know! It was- it was in the sixties I think? It failed, three of them went up, one came back. Humans can’t take it up there or something. I don’t know, I wasn’t alive back then! I can’t remember their names. It was… uh… something stupid like Buzz or something? That’s all I know!” Sollux says desperately. 

The deal ends, Sollux told her all he knew and it’s less than you knew before you read Jake’s journal entry. You suppose human history in space exploration isn’t something he’d have been very interested in learning about, it’s not like he’s been to school before this. 

“That’s it?” Rose asks, clearly thrown. 

“That really hurt, you didn’t have to demand it like that, I don’t know why you’d ask me about the moon landing.” Sollux hisses at her, his hand still on his side. 

So Sollux’s panic about your shared dream wasn’t anything to do with the moon landing, a subject he knows barely anything about. Rose just hurt him and wasted a question all at once. It still doesn’t feel like a red herring but you don’t know what to make of it either. 

“Are you okay?” Dave asks him softly, touching Sollux’s side tenderly. 

“I’m fine.” Sollux mutters, still bitter. 

Rose seems thrown by how her question got her nowhere at all. You warned her it wouldn’t although for entirely different reasons.

“I guess you’re both even now, then.” Jade says from the kitchen island. That was the deal and she’s reminding them of it, they both have to be fine with each other now. 

Dave turns his attention to you and you’re abruptly self aware of how you still don’t have a shirt on. Self consciousness bubbles up inside of you but Dave doesn’t seem to notice, instead he walks around you with his fingertips just gracing your shoulderblades. His gaze shifts from your back to your head, presumably checking for the halo that must have gone away without you thinking about it. 

“Figured it out then.” Sollux notes, as he looks at you. 

“Yeah, I guess. Are you okay?” you ask him. 

“I’ve had worse.” Sollux shrugs. That’s not a yes. 

“Have you worked out how to get them back?” Dave asks. 

“I can’t say that I’ve tried.” you admit. 

“You probably should, so you don’t do it by accident in class.” Jade points out. It’s a good argument, actually. The last thing you want to do is to expose what you are to everyone else. 

Rose and Sollux are still eyeing each other like two cats who have recently had a fight and might start up again at any moment. Jade and Dave have a point, you should get to know how your new body parts work. How to summon them and how to put them away. More than that you think they’re probably hoping that you trying to do that will provide enough distraction to diffuse the tension between Sollux and Rose. 

So, what else can you do? 

You try to focus on unfurling, unfolding. Picturing your being like those folded up paper fortune tellers that kids make, where it opens and then flaps of it open out further still. The very same thing happens to you, the space you occupy becoming larger and larger as wings and feathers bloom out into the space around you. Your vision opens up and you are whole, uncramped and uninhibited. As you open your eyes you realise that your vision around you is infinite in every direction, or near enough. Everyone but Sollux looks alarmed to see you. 

You are… you’re too much, too many angles, too much impossible motion that this plane’s physics can’t deal with. At once you realise that you’ve gone too far, tripped into what must be your true form. Sure enough you have no flesh and blood body now, just an infinite ever fractal tangle of rings that bind and eyes that see too much. You can’t stay this way! You remember what Sollux warned you about and the physics of this place is not happy with you either. 

You crash back into yourself like a breaking wave and tumble to the ground in a heap, smacking yourself in the face with a wing. You’ve gone back to the most angelic form this place can allow long term, human but for wings and a halo. 

“Hhhhholy shit.” Dave whispers and crouches down to you.

You flail upright, looking around at the others and half expecting to see their sanity slipping away or them clawing their eyes out. But… there’s nothing of the sort. They all look a completely surprised, except for Sollux who is only mildly so, but that’s all. 

“You’re fine. But I went into-” you stammer out in surprise. 

“Oh, right. The insanity and eye gouging thing. Fae already exist between realities so they’re fine, Rose has spent years dealing with an eldritch god to get used to things that shouldn’t be possible and Dave…” Sollux hesitates. 

“You’ve BEEN on the unreal air.” Dave says with amusement. Yeah, you suppose that might do it, plus he grew up with Rose. 

“Thank fuck for that. I didn’t mean to go that far, but I did get the wings back. I’m just glad that June wasn’t here.” you say in relief. You flutter your wings a little to get some lift as you stand back up again. 

“Mmm, on the subject of people who are back in New York we really should be going.” Sollux says. 

“Wait, what? You’re going now? I thought you were staying until the solstice.” you say in surprise. 

“Mom, ah, isn’t doing so hot without us. Sorry.” Dave apologises quietly. 

“Oh. Oh, I’m sorry. Of course you have to go back. We can still chat online though, right?” you say hopefully and Dave nods at that, the edge taken off of his melancholy. 

“I’ll hold you to that.” Rose smiles at you. 

“Hey, what about me?” Sollux protests. 

“Psh, I know what you really want me to send you.” you snort. Dave and Rose both raise their eyebrows in mirrored images of surprise and very much interpreted innuendo. 

“You do, huh?” Sollux grins. 

“Yep. Pictures of Jade’s dog.” you nod.

Sollux gasps and brightens in a way that you can describe with no other word but ‘adorable’.

“Shit, yes, I want pics of Bec!” Sollux agrees eagerly. 

“I must have about ten thousand pictures of him.” Jade beams. Sollux whirls around and looks at her in eager anticipation. 

“Give me!” he says. 

“I think I’ll hold onto them and trade them to you for things I want later.” Jade grins impishly. 

“You,” Sollux tells her, “would make an excellent demon.”

“Thanks!” Jade chirps. 

“Anyway, we should go. Later.” Sollux says, he vaguely waves at you and then all three of them are gone in an instant. Then it’s just you and Jade, you don’t even know where Bec is.

“That didn’t really work out for Rose, did it?” Jade observes casually and stirs a spoon around in her oatmeal. 

“Not so much, no.” you agree. 

With a little focus you’re able to put your wings away, now that you can recall the feeling you’re able to just do it. Like Mituna you think you’d find it hard to give proper instruction on how to actually make your wings go away, you just need to grasp the concept and then do the thing. 

You’re pretty tired after your sleepless night last night and you’re sure Rose disturbed Jade’s sleep as well. So you’re glad that she seems intent on having a pretty chill day. You spend most of the day watching mind numbing cartoons together as Bec sprawls out between you, begging for attention and tummy rubs. You’re not a monster so you have to oblige him, you even send pictures to Sollux because you’re nice like that. 

When evening comes you assist Jade in making a vegetable lasagna with fresh vegetables from her greenhouse. Apparently there’s even a little fenced off section of the island where she grows wheat and other grains, you don’t entirely understand the process but you get the idea that she made the pasta sheets too! It’s unquestionably the best lasagne that you’ve ever eaten. 

Jade waits until you’re mid bite to speak. 

“We should probably sleep together.” she says casually and of course you choke on your food. 

Jade barks out a laugh, amused by her own trick. 

“What I mean is there’s no point in you sleeping on the floor, silly. My bed was big enough for me and Rose, if it’s just us then there’s no reason you shouldn’t sleep in there with me.” Jade corrects. 

“Yeah, but… Rose…” you try to say but even you’re aware that insisting that they’re both girls so it’s different doesn’t really work. Rose is gay and you don’t know about Jade, also you don’t know how directly fae genders map onto human ones either. Besides you’re in a relationship, or two relationships really given that what you have with Dave is very different from Sollux. You’re not interested in doing anything inappropriate and you doubt that Jade is either. 

“Right.” you say instead. 

“Plus we can get all those cushions off of my floor.” Jade nods. They do get in the way, you can’t argue with that. 

That evening you put everything on Jade’s floor back where it should be and as you’re brushing your teeth you hope that you’ll be able to sleep tonight. You can see the tiniest little crescent of moon as the true new moon fades away and its cycle goes on. For some reason you suspect that sleep won’t be a problem. 

Any awkwardness you’d been worried about when it came to sharing a bed with Jade is gone when it actually happens. The bed is large so Jade isn’t an inch from your face or anything. 

Bec, on the other hand. 

“Good boy.” you mumble sleepily and scratch at his ears. Bec’s tail wags from one side to the other, smacking you and then Jade in the legs in turns. A glowing green mouth falls open as you scratch behind his ear and a dayglow tongue lolls out happily. 

You sleep just fine and when you wake you don’t remember having any dreams at all. 

You get up before Jade wakes to make you both breakfast. You decide on scrambled eggs on toast. You don’t know where Jade gets the eggs from, possibly there are wild chickens or some other kind of bird on the island. You crack the eggs into a bowl as Bec sits expectantly at your feet.

carcinoGeneticist [CG] began trolling  twinArmageddons [TA]  
  
CG: DO HELLHOUNDS EAT EGGSHELLS? BEC IS GIVING ME THE EYE.  
TA: hellhound2 eat anythiing  
CG: ALRIGHT THEN.  
CG: HOW'S ROXY DOING?  
TA: driiviing her kiid2 crazy, but 'tii2 the 2ea2on for that ii thiink  
CG: THAT'S WHAT TWITTER AT CHRISTMAS TIME HAD ALWAYS LED ME TO BELIEVE FOR SURE.  
CG: ALRIGHT I'M GOING TO GET BACK TO COOKING.  
TA: k, kk  
CG: I HATE THAT WHAT YOU JUST WROTE IS COMPREHENSIBLE TO ME.  
  
carcinoGeneticist [CG] ceased trolling  twinArmageddons [TA]

“You want these?” you ask Bec, holding the empty eggshells up in one hand. 

Bec sits up straight, his front paws bouncing off of the ground one after the other in a desperate doggy dance. 

“Catch!” you exclaim and toss the eggshells at him. 

Bec bounds into the air and snatches them all up, crunching them happily in his radioactively green mouth. As you whisk the eggs in a bowl Bec licks the floor in search of anything he might have dropped. By the time you’re turning the toaster on and pouring hot water over the coffee grounds in the drip filter he’s bothering you again. 

“I just gave you eggshells.” you sigh as Bec whines and presses his nose to your hip. He whines some more as if no one has ever fed him ever in his entire life. You’re not going to give him anything else to eat but you will scratch behind his ears. With your free hand you pick your phone up again and message Dave.

carcinoGeneticist [CG] began trolling  turntechGodhead [TG]  
  
CG: THEORETICAL QUESTION: I HAVE WINGS, SO IS IT SOME FORM OF CANNIBALISM TO EAT EGGS?  
TG: youre not a chicken and on top of that youre not even from this plane of reality  
TG: youre so far from being a chicken cannibal that youre nowhere near any road or the other side that a chicken could have anything to do with  
CG: THANK YOU FOR CLEARING UP THAT ETHICAL PROBLEM FOR ME.   
CG: HOW ARE THINGS IN NEW YORK?  
TG: oh you know  
TG: alone in the middle of the woods bored out of my mind and my sister and my moirail are still prickly with each other and im pretty sure mom isnt actually unwell and just pretended so wed come home  
CG: WHAT, REALLY?  
TG: yeah  
CG: HOW DO YOU MEAN?  
TG: you saw what she was like before when she was genuinely confused  
TG: cooking things that arent food or cutting things in half  
TG: getting turned around about what time or day it is or being surprised by how old me and rose are now and then theres magical misfires  
TG: and the paranoia that someone is here that leads to obsessively stalking the property line and throwing up protective spells like theyre going out of style  
CG: THAT'S... REALLY ROUGH, I'M SORRY.  
TG: its whatever  
TG: but its like shes playing at it and pretending to be like that  
TG: which rose is taking as some big passive aggressive gesture through logic that is so non linear that all optical illusions everywhere just shat their pants in fear  
CG: THAT WAS THE GROSSEST METAPHOR, BUT WHATEVER. WHY WOULD SHE FAKE IT THOUGH? DO YOU THINK SHE JUST MISSED YOU AND COULDN'T THINK OF A REASON TO BRING YOU BACK?  
CG: AND WOULDN'T SOLLUX HAVE NOTICED IF IT WAS FAKE TOO?  
TG: yeah thats what i wonder  
TG: if anything hes acting like moms behavior is totally legit and i have no idea why  
CG: YOU THINK THEY'RE CONSPIRING TOGETHER? WHY WOULD THEY DO THAT?  
TG: i have no idea and i cant see why he would  
TG: he cares about mom as much as we do so i cant see why hed lie about that stuff  
TG: not that the fact that something is weird here is driving me crazy or anything nope no sir  
CG: I CAN'T THINK OF ANYTHING THAT WOULD REQUIRE THEM LYING ABOUT THIS TOGETHER THAT HE COULDN'T JUST STRAIGHT UP TELL YOU. IF HE WAS STILL PARANOID ABOUT THIS ISLAND AND WANTED YOU TO LEAVE WITH HIM THEN SURELY HE'D JUST SAY SO.  
TG: yeah he would for sure  
TG: the only thing he cant tell me about is event stuff  
CG: WHICH DOESN'T SEEM AT ALL CONNECTED TO ANYTHING HERE, RIGHT?  
TG: yeah i mean the only thing that freaked him out recently was the temple and you and rose having that weird ass dream  
TG: but she said she wasnt seeing your dream but instead it was the same one like the matrix or something  
CG: I DOUBT THAT'S HOW SHE PUT IT.  
TG: shh  
TG: i also dont see how moving rose away from you would help and if the island was dangerous enough that he wanted us off of it he wouldnt leave you and jade there  
TG: nothing adds up!!!  
CG: UNLESS YOUR MOM REALLY IS DOING BADLY AND IT'S JUST MANIFESTING WEIRDLY. THAT'S CERTAINLY THE MORE SIMPLE SOLUTION.   
TG: yeah but  
CG: ...BUT YOU'D RATHER NOT THINK ABOUT THAT?  
TG: yeah  
CG: WE DON'T HAVE TO TALK ABOUT IT, REALLY. I FEEL BAD FOR SAYING THAT.   
TG: no man dont feel bad  
TG: i hate the idea that maybe shes getting worse or that shes staying the same but acting in ways i dont understand because theyre new and im just thinking up conspiracy theories to dodge that idea and its dumb  
CG: IT'S NOT DUMB. IT'S A PERFECTLY NORMAL RESPONSE TO STRESS.   
TG: i guess  
TG: were you asking me about eggs because you were cooking or something  
CG: RIGHT. UH... DO YOU THINK JADE LIKES HER TOAST BURNT?  
TG: maybe feed it to bec and start over  
CG: HMM SO HE'S GOT YOU ONTO HIS CAUSE AS WELL, HUH?  
CG: ALRIGHT, I SHOULD COOK PROPERLY. IF YOU WANT TO TALK LATER I'M HERE.  
TG: thanks man  
TG: sorry for getting all emotional on you like some swooning damsel all collapsing on a fainting couch with the vapors because the most minor thing happened  
TG: oh mr karkat how could i be so gauche to say such an improper thing to you  
CG: SCROLLING PAST ALL OF THAT NONSENSE. BYE DAVE!  
TG: boo  
  
carcinoGeneticist [CG] ceased trolling  turntechGodhead [TG]

You take the damn near cremated bread out of the toaster and hold it up for Bec, you frisbee it away for him and with a bark he zaps off to catch it. Slotting new bread in the toaster you fuss with the coffee and set about actually starting to cook the eggs. As you gently scramble them you can’t help but wonder about Dave and Rose’s mom. On the one hand you want to say that if anyone would know if she was just pretending to be unwell it would be her own kids, but on the other you can’t see why she would lie and Sollux would enable that. You suppose the simple solution is that Sollux is inclined to believe Roxy about how she’s doing or is erring on the side of caution and that she was just lonely without her kids around. 

Pushing the idea from your mind you take the eggs off of the heat, butter the toast and serve the eggs onto it. It’s a careful journey back to Jade’s room with everything balanced on a tray, especially with a dog following you who dearly hopes that you might drop something he can eat. 

Nudging the door to Jade’s room open with your foot you maneuver the tray of breakfast food inside, Bec still trailing at your heels the whole way. 

“Br’kfast?” Jade jawns, slurring her letters slightly as she does so. She sits up in bed, rubs her eyes and fumbles for her glasses. 

“I woke up before you, so.” you shrug and put the tray on the bed. 

“Nope, off.” Jade sighs, shoving her hellhound off of the bed the moment he jumps up to eat the breakfast that must surely be for him. 

“He was very persistent.” you snort. Bec has his face on the edge of the mattress and if he had any eyes you think he’d be giving you the old puppy dog eyes to make you feel bad so you’ll feed him. 

“Oh, I believe you. Thanks for this Karkat, it’s really sweet of you. You’re an angel.” Jade teases. 

“Har har.” you grumble and take your own plate from the tray. 

Jade sips her coffee and sighs in the familiar bliss of the freshly caffeinated. 

“Anyway, you’re letting me stay with you instead of being all on my own in Salem. Making you breakfast with your own food isn’t really a stretch.” you point out. 

“I was thinking actually that today you could help me out today with our little agreement. My grandpa’s library is huge but there’s got to be information in there that will explain some of this mess. Any of it, really. Besides, you know that worm so it shouldn’t be too hard to get what we need.” Jade explains. 

“I think Abraxas needs you to be specific about what you’re looking for, I don’t think it’s great with vague questions.” you tell her, remembering Rose’s futile search for information on the moon. 

“Well, we have plenty of time.” Jade says, clearly determined. You’ve not known Jade all that long but you’re starting to get the impression that the women you tend to associate yourself with are as determined and as impossible to resist as a force of nature. More so, actually, you were able to fly a little before in defiance of gravity and you think your odds of disobeying that law of nature are better than talking Jade out of this mission she’s set herself. 

“Alright then.” you agree. 

The two of you finish your breakfast, your plates are cleaned by Bec before you can close the dishwasher and keep him off of them but you think that’s probably normal for him. With that done you and Jade go up into her Grandpa’s study again. The shelves in one area are lined with dated journals, it seems that Jake Harley was quite detailed in the chronicling of his life, something that can only be good for you. 

“I figure that asking Abraxas about the island is going to be too vague, but we found an atlas back at the university that said that your grandpa discovered this place in the late eighties.” you explain. 

“That’s still a pretty wide span of time.” Jade points out and runs her index finger over the many volumes that span from 1985 to the very beginning of 1990. 

“We might just have to read them all cover to cover, it’s the long way around but it’s thorough at least.” you admit. 

Jade selects a volume from the mid eighties at random, flicks to a page in the middle and starts to read aloud. 

submitted the bloody risk assessment to the department, filled out all of their little boxes and silly questions. Frankly I’ll be glad to be rid of that sort of guff in the future. On the way back home I remembered to pick up bread and milk, but as I’m writing this I realise that I quite forgot to pick up the tea bags and so I feel like quite the ninny. It’s just raining so much outside that I really don’t want to go out again and-

Jade stops reading and gives you a look, communicating quite effectively that reading these things cover to cover will be excruciating. 

“Wait, why isn’t he doing risk assessments in the future?” you ask. That seems like the kind of thing someone should do, especially as one of his experiments ended up with someone losing bones before. 

“I don’t know, he doesn’t explain.” Jade frowns as she scans the page a little more, silently this time. That’s the problem with diaries, people don’t elaborate on what they already know because they’re the only ones meant to read them.

“Abraxas!” you call out. 

There’s movement from the desk and you see Abraxas’ little green head pop out of Rose’s textbook. 

“Hi, would you be able to find any entries in this where Jake talks about not doing or not having to do risk assessments in this book?” you ask and Jade holds it up. 

“Could you show us, please?” you’re careful to be polite, given what you’ve already put the poor bookworm through. 

“There’s a fair few entries in just that one book.” Abraxas warns you.

“That’s okay.” you reply. Like Jade said, you’ve got time, haven’t you?

With its tail Abraxas gestures for the book and Jade brings it closer. The bookworm bounces up off of Rose’s textbook and dives into the diary that Jade is holding. The pages flick by themselves and stop earlier on in the book. You and Jade both lean in and have a read. 

Always with the paperwork! I handed in the poxy risk assessment today after a few weeks of not doing it. I don’t know why I can’t just photocopy the last one, the experiments are broadly the same each time, but no.

“I don’t think that’s it.” Jade says. 

You pass through a few more entries where her grandpa mentions not doing what he should be doing and even palming it off onto people who were working for him. 

I keep thinking about the offer my gentleman caller made me, especially as I’m up to my moustache right now in paperwork and I’d much rather be off doing the exciting stuff. That’s why it’s such a tempting offer, isn’t it? I won’t have to do any paperwork, I won’t do risk assessments, I won’t even have to deal with junior researchers either. Nor, as he pointed out, would I need to concern myself with the ethics board. 

I am sorely tempted. Think of all that I could discover, all the good my work could do. Of course unless I keep very detailed notes and pass them off when I’m done no one else will know about any of it. I certainly can’t submit any of it for peer review when I’m still working, not if I’m doing so outside of the system. I must think on his offer, I’ve no idea when he’ll next show up like a stray cat again but when he does I really need to be firmly set on my response to his offer. 

I have a lot of thinking to do…

“He mentioned a ‘gentleman caller’ in the entry that I was in too.” you say. 

“It’s a very old timey phrase, the kind of thing he always used to say. It means a man that he’s dating, right?” Jade frowns. 

“Yeah, but I think it was something women had. Which I guess means he’s presenting himself in the- anyway, that doesn’t matter. Unless he’s making a joke or misusing the phrase I think your grandpa was dating a man.” you say. 

“Good for him I guess? I knew he was married to a lady at one point who died, I’ve seen her picture. It must mean he had other relationships. He never really talked about that sort of stuff, I don’t even know anything about any of our family but him. Or, his family I guess since they’re all human and I’m a… a changeling.” Jade trails off a little at the end. 

You knew that Jade was a changeling of course. It means that she’s full fae, just swapped out at birth for a human child. Naturally there’s a lot of prejudice there but changelings can’t be held responsible for the abduction of the children they replace and human law doesn’t extend into fae territory. Legally speaking they’re regarded as the full children of the family they find themselves in, even if it’s by adoption rather than blood. Fae or not Jade is still Jake Harley’s granddaughter. 

“They’re your family too.” you tell her softly. 

“I mean… not really. I can only assume that he took me in after whichever of my parents was his kid gave me up to him. I’m probably the reason they never came here either. He never talked about it and I felt too guilty to ask.” Jade admits. 

The moment hangs in the air, with her looking at the book instead of you. You lean over and carefully wrap your arm around her. With a slight shudder you feel your wings appear and you’re confused by it until they wrap around her too. You’re hugging her the most you possibly can!

Too bad about your ripped shirt on the floor, but that’s a problem you can deal with later. 

“Hah, it’s fine! Really! It’s not like it was bad, I loved Grandpa and this island is paradise, remember?” Jade says into your shoulder with a brightness that feels brittle to you. 

“You have us now too.” you remind her. 

Jade’s teeth sink into her bottom lip for a moment and then she hugs you back tightly. Her arms knot around the back of your neck and you curl your arms and wings around her back. You know how it sucks to feel like you don’t belong and if she’s felt other to her whole family, even if it’s just a little, then you can relate to that ache. 

She pulls back with a sniff and a laugh, forcing the emotion down for cheer again. You’re not going to press it. It takes a moment or two for you to make your wings go away again and when you’re back to normal Jade is flicking through the pages. You rummage through your bag for a new shirt.

“Here, look!” Jade exclaims, pointing at a page and shoving the diary under your nose. 

June 15 1985  
I have no idea how he does this. I’m off, out in the back of beyond on a research study, ostensibly looking into scrying runes in some of the cave systems out here but really I’m on the lookout for a jackalope for my collection. Not that the runes wouldn’t be fantastic and all but fingers in many pies and all that. Anyway, I come back and Gerry’s on lookout duty at the camp and everyone else is out like a light despite it not being all that late at all. 

I step into my personal tent and, of course, it’s my gentleman caller. It’s also not my tent. Oh, the flap was there but it led into this plush boudoir that was so opulent as to be eye wateringly gaudy which I’m sure is the point. He of course is sprawled out in some giant armchair, holding a crystal wine glass with honest to goodness diamonds in the bottom as he sipped champagne from it. I can’t imagine that the diamonds did anything for it, nor is that the right glass but again I’m sure it’s all deliberate. 

I had been meaning to stay away from him but that’s never been how it’s worked, he finds me. He said he had an offer to make me. I tried to refuse outright, just because my dearest is with the angels now it doesn’t mean that it’s right for me to dally with him. I should have held to my vows more seriously when she was alive and I really had every intention of honouring her memory after. The last time I had vowed was the last and I was only so weak as to be with him out of… grief. A misguided need for affection and attention. 

He insisted that I listen to him and he is so very compelling. He offered me a way to get around my problems with academia. A place I could study whatever I wanted without all those pencil pushers breathing down my neck, a paradise all my own. I could transport whatever creature I fancied to study there and do what I wanted with them after, he offered to even have his people bring me anything I needed there. No peer review, no paperwork, anything my heart desired. 

I was not so naive as to not ask what he wanted in return for such an extravagant gift. He told me that he’d create this island and his only caveat would be that he wanted to keep something of his own there, a box. I just had to agree not to mention about it to anyone. It is a suspiciously good deal and I was all set to say no when he insisted that I not give him my answer then and there but consider it for next time he swings by and that was the end of the conversation part of his visti. 

I… I somewhat hope that the deceased can’t keep watch after they’ve passed on. I just find my gentleman caller so hard to resist, but I suppose I found him so when she was still alive. Damn it all.

“Wow Grandpa.” Jade says flatly. In all honesty it doesn’t paint the man in a fantastic light now, does it? 

“He must have said yes eventually, the island is here now.” you point out. 

“So Sollux was right in a way, there is something suspicious about this place.” Jade says. 

She has a point. The kind of point you ought to bring up with Sollux, but that feels like going behind Dave’s back when he clearly was upset with how obsessive Sollux was getting about this whole mystery. So, then, maybe you should talk to Dave. But that cuts Sollux out. 

Stupid polyamorous negotiations!

You should talk to both of them.

carcinoGeneticist [CG] began trolling  turntechGodhead [TG] and  twinArmageddons [TA]  
  
CG: LOOK AT THIS GROUP CHAT FEATURE THAT NO ONE EVER USES. I MAY HAVE SOMETHING THAT I NEED TO TALK TO YOU BOTH ABOUT AT THE SAME TIME AS A WAY OF FIXING MY WHO DO I TALK TO FIRST PROBLEM.  
TA: that 2ound2 liike a neat 2olutiion  
TG: should i be nervous about this  
TG: i mean this isnt a we need to talk situation is it  
CG: WHOA, NO. I MEAN WE DO NEED TO TALK BUT WE DON'T "NEED TO TALK".  
TA: ah clariity  
TG: and yet i get you entirely so whats on your mind karkat  
CG: SO...  
CG: ABOUT THAT THING BEFORE.  
CG: WHERE THE ISLAND IS SUSPICIOUS AND SOMETHING IS GOING ON HERE. THAT THING.  
TG: the thing that sollux was absolutely dropping and not obsessing over anymore or investigating further  
TA: waiit, doe2 that mean that you have proof kk?  
TG: dude we talked about this and how youre not starting that up again  
CG: SORRY, I DIDN'T MEAN TO UPSET THINGS.  
TG: no man  
TG: i appreciate that the island probably is weird af because jades grandpa was all over that place and he was a pretty powerful witch too  
TG: i mean my house is weird as shit because mom put it here and magiced it out the ass  
TA: that'2 not entiirely how that worked but okay.  
TG: shh  
CG: NO, I TAKE YOUR POINT. THAT A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF ODDNESS IS TO BE EXPECTED WHEN YOU'RE DEALING WITH AS MUCH MAGICAL FUCKERY AND IRRESPONSIBLE USES OF IT THAT YOU GET WITH WITCHES OF THAT LEVEL.   
TG: right  
TG: so theres no new info here and sol should still not be obsessing over it and making himself sick with worry because i hate seeing him like that  
TA: dv he could ju2t tell me what he found, iit doe2n't have to be a biig deal.  
TG: no  
TG: cmon man dont make me be the jerk about this  
CG: SHIT, THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I DIDN'T WANT. I DIDN'T WANT TO CUT ANYONE OUT BY GOING TO ONE OF YOU BEFORE THE OTHER BUT I DIDN'T WANT TO START AN ARGUMENT EITHER.  
CG: HOW THE HELL DO PEOPLE BALANCE SHIT WHEN THEY DATE TWO PEOPLE?! I'M TERRIBLE AT THIS, I'M SO SORRY.  
TG: dude no this was probably the best idea youre fine  
TA: 2top compliimentiing hiim, iit'll go riight two hii2 head.  
TG: eyyy he is also fine like that too but im going to pretend that was intended  
CG: BYPASSING THAT BECAUSE I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH IT, SO TO BE CLEAR YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW WHAT I FOUND OUT?  
TA: are you iin iimmediiate danger?  
CG: NO?  
TA: then... no.   
CG: UH. WELL, OKAY THEN.   
TG: thanks for being all thoughtful and shit though karkat its sweet of you  
CG: OH. THANKS.  
CG: I SHOULD PROBABLY GET BACK TO JADE THOUGH, I JUST STOPPED WHAT I WAS DOING TO MESSAGE YOU TWO ABOUT THIS AND I PROMISED TO HELP.  
TA: ju2t as long a2 you diidn't vow.  
CG: NO BUT I PROMISED A FAE SO I MIGHT AS WELL HAVE.  
TA: dumba22.  
TG: dawwwwww im going to print this out and put it in a scrapbook  
TA: waiit what??  
  


turntechGodhead [TG] ceased trolling  carcinoGeneticist [CG] and  twinArmageddons [TA]

That settles that, you can’t tell them anything about what you found. Maybe if you look deeper into it and discover something really dangerous then you can. Or perhaps you could talk to Mituna about it, but you don’t know how to get in contact with him. Then again you wouldn’t want him to come to the conclusion that you were trying to undo anything and risk him trying to kill you.

“What do we do now then?” you ask Jade. 

“Well… maybe we’d know more if we knew more about everyone. I’m going to assume that his ‘beloved’ is his wife, the one I’ve seen the picture of. Maybe if we find out more about his past then we can try to retrace his steps, find out how he got this island and who his ‘gentleman caller’ is.” Jade says thoughtfully. 

“That makes sense. Do you know her name?” you ask but Jade shakes her head no. 

“I can show you her picture though!” she says after a moment.

Jade leads you out of the room, down a few floors, and into a side room filled with stuff. On one wall is a signed photo, tinted blue with age and sunlight exposure. A woman smiles enticingly from the picture, in black pen are the words ‘To Jake, my biggest fan! Claire’.

“He said they were married?” you ask, this doesn’t look like a photo from someone he was married to. It looks like an autograph to any old fan who happened to be called Jake. 

“Yeah. Maybe it’s from when they first met.” Jade says but you can hear the doubt creeping into her tone. What if her grandpa was a deranged stalker too?

“We can probably find out more about them if we look up their marriage records. That stuff is all public record I think and the University would have his full legal name so I could search from that.” you say as the idea occurs to you. 

“Alright then, let’s do that.” Jade agrees. 

You go back to Jade’s room and get your laptop. It turns out that Jake Harley’s name is really that simple, Jake doesn’t seem to be short for anything like Jacob so you can just plug his name into the government website that deals with marriage records. There’s a fair few Jake Harleys but given that this is the whole country over the whole span of records you’re not surprised. You get your browser to find the word ‘Claire’ on the page. There’s a few matches but only one that fits the timeframe you’re looking at. 

1st May 1976, Dr. Jake Harley marries Anne Claire. 

Jade is on her own laptop next to you and she immediately throws the name into google. There’s no way it can be that easy, Anne isn’t exactly a rare name and Claire as a last name isn’t especially unusual either. All your doubt is seemingly pointless because the search brings up a bunch of website results but also a bar of images that all look like the woman in the signed picture downstairs. She even has a wikipedia entry! 

“She was famous.” Jade whispers. 

She clicks through and wikipedia confirms that Anne Claire was a prominent ballet dancer in America in the 70s, she married Dr. Jake Harley but because of her career she didn’t change her name. That makes sense, when you’ve built up a profile and reputation attached to your name it must suck to have to change it. Better to just not do that. 

It lists that she was the mother to two children, her first child was a daughter, Joey Harley who was born in 1980. Her second child was a son, Jude Harley born in 1983. Unfortunately neither child has a wikipedia page of their own, there’s no link with them so either they’re not famous or they go to a good deal of effort to keep their lives out of the public eye. 

Anne Claire died in 1984, a fire in the theatre she was in. Shit. 

“So, one of these two are probably…” Jade trails off. 

Either Jude or Joey are the parent of the child that Jade was changed for, unless Jake had any other kids that is. His wikipedia page doesn’t indicate that he ever remarried or had any further children. It does state that he worked with Roxy Lalonde a lot in his research, her name stands out in hyperlinked blue text. Out of curiosity you click her link and find that it lists all of her work and research up until the year 2000 at which point there’s no more information at all. 

Literally there’s nothing else, no mention of Dave and Rose, nothing about them living in New York or about her being retired from her work. Nothing. Curiosity compels you to click through to the article’s history and it seems that any attempts to modify the page for a time period after the year 2000 glitches and deletes the whole page. The commenters and editors of the page seem to have just set a ban on trying to put any information down at all, even in the comments and editing notes. 

What was it that Sollux said? Void magic? Yeah, this seems like Roxy’s doing. Someone paranoid enough to live on a magically hidden property in the middle of the woods is probably inclined to protect their privacy, even online. 

Well then, Jake has only two children and one of them has to be related to Jade. Or rather they both are but one is going to be a parent of the human that Jade swapped out with. 

“What do you want to do?” you ask her. 

Jade gnaws on her lip for a moment as she thinks. 

“I want to know more about my Grandpa, his kids should be able to tell me something but… well, I doubt they want to see me.” Jade says softly. 

“You don’t know that. Look at the years they were born, whichever one of them it is it’s going to have been a teen pregnancy, right? Giving a kid up to your parent in that situation isn’t unusual. Maybe they felt guilty or like they’d forfeited a right to be in your life, maybe whichever one of them it is wants to talk to you too.” you reason. 

“But I’m not their kid, I’m the thing that replaced their kid.” Jade says sharply. 

“You’re not a thing. And if they say you are I’ll figure out how to smite people for you.” you tell her firmly. You’re not going to lecture Jade on how to feel about the implications of being a changeling but you’re also not going to let her act like she’s a monster either. 

“That’s sweet but I don’t even know where they live.” Jade says. 

“Maybe we do. That letter Roxy sent him was to his home, that was in Massachusetts, we have the address.” you tell her excitedly, you can look it up and get directions!

“That was a long time ago though.” Jade points out. 

“Yeah, but what’s the worst that happens? If they’ve moved away we could ask for a forwarding address or if there’s nothing then we’re no worse off than now, right? We can… ah, except we only have the one ticket back. If we left to go back we’d be stuck there. We could get a bus or something back to Salem but then we’d be there until term started again.” you say as realisation settles over you. 

“Except we know someone who can teleport people. Someone you happen to be dating.” Jade grins. 

Oh. Oh no.

“Sollux isn’t exactly in the business of doing me favours for free.” you tell her uneasily. Sure Sollux helps you of his own free will, he’s actually been very caring and sweet with you. The thing is you didn’t ASK him for any of that, you get the feeling that you asking gives him a certain amount of power over you and that’s the kind of thing he’d be inclined to gloat about. 

“I thought you said you’d help me out to make amends for all the ways you wronged me.” Jade says sweetly, leaning closer to you in a way that you’d class as ‘mildly threatening’ 

Auuuugh, why did you agree to that again?

“Fine, I’ll ask him. He’s going to be insufferable though.” you sigh and open up the desktop version of trollian. Jade doesn’t even hide how she’s reading over your shoulder.

carcinoGeneticist [CG] began trolling  twinArmageddons [TA]  
  
CG: ALLOW ME TO PREFACE THIS BY SAYING THAT I AM, IN FACT, VERY GRATEFUL FOR ALL YOU'VE DONE FOR ME LATELY. I KNOW THAT SHIT HAS BEEN WEIRD SINCE I DISCOVERED WHAT I AM BUT IT WOULD HAVE BEEN A WHOLE LOT WORSE WITHOUT YOU, SO UP FRONT I WANT TO TELL YOU THAT I'M THANKFUL.  
TA: but...?  
CG: NO BUT, I'M GRATEFUL.  
TA: 2u2piiciiou2. go on.  
CG: IF JADE AND I NEEDED TO GET FROM HERE TO HAUNTSWITCH MASSACHUSETTS AND BACK AGAIN HOW INCLINED WOULD YOU BE TO GIVE US A LIFT?  
CG: WITH YOUR MAGIC TELEPORTATION ABILITIES. SINCE NEITHER OF US HAS THE FUNDS TO BOUNCE BACK AND FORTH LIKE THAT THROUGH THE PORTS.   
TA: ii'm not your per2onal taxii 2erviice, ii don't do 2hiit for free.  
CG: YOU MEAN YOU WOULD WANT SOMETHING IN RETURN AS PAYMENT.  
TA: ye2!  
CG: SO YOU WOULD TRANSPORT US FOR PAYMENT OF SOME KIND, MAKING YOU ESSENTIALLY...  
CG: WAIT FOR IT.  
CG: A TAXI SERVICE.  


You wait, certain that you can feel the irritation flowing through the air from him to you even with him all the way in New York and you in the middle of the Pacific. It’s satisfying. 

TA: ii hate you, you know that riight?  
CG: SAME.  
CG: BUT IF YOU WANT TO BE PAID FOR THIS FAVOR I COULD DO THAT.  
CG: JADE IS READING OVER MY SHOULDER FYI.  
TA: iimplyiing that ii have any 2hame.  
CG: YOU'RE RIGHT, WHAT EVER CAME OVER ME?  
TA: ii can thiink of 2omethiing ii want though  
TA: ii'll be there iin a few hour2  
CG: WAIT, YOU DIDN'T EVEN TELL ME WHAT IT WAS.  
TA: 2ucks for you then doe2n't iit?

twinArmageddons [TA] ceased trolling  carcinoGeneticist [CG]

“Well, that’s happening, I guess.” you groan and shut your laptop. 

“I appreciate whatever it is you’re going to have to do.” Jade says and claps you on the shoulder. 

Jade makes some vague excuse to leave and you don’t press her on it. Everything the two of you have read so far is pretty big and revealing stuff on some very heavy subjects. You don’t blame her for wanting some time to herself to think. 

Two hours pass, the fact that it was two specifically should have tipped you off but you’re an idiot. You hear the puff of smoke that you’re used to associating with Sollux but before you can react his hands are on your sides and you’re abruptly not in the room you were just in. 

You yelp, both from the shock of sudden movement and because you’re now ON TOP OF THE ROOF OF JADE’S BUILDING! 

“You can fly, stupid. Did you forget?” Sollux teases you and floats around so that he’s in front of you now. 

“I didn’t forget but you can’t just show up here and drag me onto the roof!” you hiss at him and back away from the edge a little. Not that it’s really an edge as such, the roof is a sphere so you’re backing into a safer central location rather than the steeply sloped section further out. 

“I can, actually.” he says with a grin. 

“Why am I up here?” you ask him. You can sense that if you don’t change the subject the two of you are just going to go around in circles as you bicker back and forth. 

“Because I want to throw you off of the roof.” Sollux says casually. 

You stare. He grins. 

“What?” you ask him again. 

“I’m going to throw you off of the roof.” Sollux tells you. 

You back up a little more. 

“Did you forget that you can fly, again?” Sollux says with a sharp grin. 

“Did you forget that I can’t? I fell out of this building and smashed into a tree, look at my head!” you insist and point to the still prominent lump on your forehead. 

“You were panicking and there was a huge storm going. It’s not like falling off of this building would even kill you and I wouldn’t let you hit the ground anyway.” Sollux says and rolls his eyes so hard his head follows the movement, as if you were being dramatic and not talking about being thrown off of a building. 

“What if I can’t?” you say again. 

Sollux alights on the curved roof and walks closer to you. 

“I wasn’t going to throw you off and stay up here, you’re not going to hit anything.” he tells you. 

You’re trying to protest, to argue that you can’t do it. Of course you can’t fly. You’ll just fall and hurt yourself because why would you be able to fly? But you were- are, an angel. Angels fly. You want to ask him if you’ve flown with him before but that’s a question about your past, he might not be able to answer it. The memory of him looking after your wings floats up in your mind, he was familiar with them. It would probably be odd for you both to be capable of flight and not have flown together. 

If he’s willing to throw you off of a building he has to be sure you can actually fly, right? 

“This is what you wanted? To get me to fly?” you ask and try to keep the shaking out of your voice. 

“You let me name my own price, a dumb move, actually.” he shrugs. 

“Maybe I trust you.” you retort. 

The expression that flits over Sollux’s face makes you think that you may as well have said you loved him. Or hated him, whatever. You didn’t die when you fell out of the building and you’re not much higher, even if Sollux did nothing you’d probably just be hurt. You don’t think he’ll let that happen. 

You swallow, trying to ease the way your throat is tight with nerves. Carefully you peel your shirt off and flex wings that aren’t there until they emerge. Actually, Mituna was still wearing his shirt when he brought his wings out, why do you always have to take yours off or else lose it? You should ask Mituna how he did that next time you see him, somehow you suspect Sollux will be wildly unhelpful in allowing you to have wings AND a shirt at the same time. 

“So how do I- oh, why am I asking you? You just fly by magic.” you grumble and stretch your wings out. Some people have to do this shit manually. 

“Oh, yeah, nothing about your flight is in any way magical.” Sollux says sarcastically. 

You flap your wings hard, trying to test the movement. 

Not a smart thing to do on the top of a building. On the top of a round, slippery building. The force of your wings flapping staggers you backwards and you’re so much heavier behind your back because of these giant wings that you’re carting around. Your centre of gravity is further back than you’re used to. Between that and the momentum you’re stumbling back and falling, tipping further and further. 

“Shit!” Sollux curses and flings himself at you. 

His hands collide with your shoulders and you feel him shove you further away from the building so you don’t hit it on the way down. You don’t know if he pivots you in the air or if you twist and manage it, all you know is that you go from falling facing up at the sky to desperately flapping as you face the ground. Sollux is beneath you now, his claws dug into your shoulders slightly as he holds on. 

“Stop panicking and fly!” he shouts at you over the wind. He’s pushing back at you, slowing your descent. 

Your wings arc up, so much so that the tips almost touch far above you. Then, with an almighty beat of the giant things you rocket off. Mostly upwards. You shoot up away from Sollux, his claws scratching you as you speed out of his grip. Clouds are suddenly a thing far FAR below you and you can’t even see the island anymore, the air around you is cold and thin. 

A flare of blue and red streaks towards you and suddenly Sollux is before you again, but you’re starting to fall once more. Sollux puts himself between you and the ground, he doesn’t hold your shoulders this time. He holds onto you with a leg around your hip and uses his hands to grab your wings and pull them flat. 

You stop falling, or the amount of height you’re losing is almost nothing. 

“Oh shit, oh fuck, what-” you gasp. 

“You can glide, dumbass. It’s mostly magic, I think the wings are just a… focus or whatever. I know you can’t fly without them but no way this would work without magic. It’s like Terezi, she shouldn’t be able to fly at all with the size and weight she is, but it’s magic.” Sollux sighs in relief, one of his hands absently smooths over your feathers. 

“How do I…” you trail off as you carefully change the balance of your wings, the positioning and who knows how many tiny muscles connected to little feathers. You start to turn in a wide circle, like a bird of prey hovering as it surveys the ground below. You shift and circle the other way. 

“How did I get up here so fast?” you whisper. You don’t know why you’re whispering, do you think that if you talk louder gravity will notice the shit you’re pulling and drag you back down?

“I can get places faster than you can, I can teleport and you can’t.” Sollux says.

“That’s not what I-” 

“But you might be a little quicker at the start with the physical flying or whatever.” Sollux shrugs, he’s not looking at you. 

“So I’m… faster. And you just teleport to catch up?” you say slowly. 

“No!” Sollux hisses. 

Oh, yes. That’s exactly it, isn’t it? You grin and he hisses at you as if that scares you at all. 

“You don’t even know what you’re doing, you ungrateful, bird brained, feathery fuck.” Sollux complains. He ducks under your arm and wing and flies up over you so that he’s almost sitting on your back below your wings. 

“Hey! This isn’t a ride!” you snap.

You try and reach back to swat him but you instinctively move your wing out of the way to accommodate your arm, unfortunately you were flying with it and you start to plummet again. Sollux’s hands hold onto your wing and manually adjust you so you’re steady again. He leans forward, his hand pressing on your spine just between your wings so he can get close to your face. 

“Welcome to flying school for idiots.” he purrs in a way you can only describe as gleefully malicious. 

Between verbally directing you and outright moving your wings how he wants them, Sollux manages to reconnect your conscious mind with the thus far dormant instincts in the back of your mind. Part of you knows how to control your wings, how to tip and tilt them one way or another so that the tiniest changes result in graceful movement. Yet a huge part of you understands nothing of the sort and is freaking out about even being up here. The more he teaches you the more you’re able to relax and let your instincts deal with it.

A few times when you’re changing direction and getting too into flying you take off with incredible speed and end up losing Sollux as he tumbles off of you or away from where he was before. He always catches you right back up afterwards, either flying as well or by teleporting to you.

The glittering surface of the ocean beckons you so you dip lower in the air. Every wide beat of your wings just comes short of actually touching the sea. The part of you that knows how to fly is entirely fine with this, happy to be flying in fact. The part of you that distinctly remembers crashing into that tree is playing you high speed visions of you smashing into the water’s surface at whatever crazy speed you’re doing now. You’re going to hit the water and it’ll be like hitting concrete and you’ll DIE. 

You beat your wings slowly and almost gracefully, that tends to produce less of a panicked fluttering at a million miles an hour. It takes focus, and pointedly ignoring the panicking part of your mind, but you’re able to ease the path of your flight to put you right near Sollux. 

“Did you miss this?” you call out to him as the pair of you track a wide circle around Jade’s island in the far distance.

You’ve only just learnt how to fly and it’s been years since you two could have possibly flown together, you don’t know how often you did this before the event but this feels like something you would have missed. 

“You’re such a sap.” Sollux tuts and shakes his head. It’s not a no, though. You think that he did miss this. You think that he missed being with you after all this time and missed flying with you, even though you’re two very different species who do this in totally mismatched ways. Him calling you a sap is just deflection. 

Without warning Sollux twists in the air, going above you so you can’t see him. You’re just about to look when you feel him touch your back again. Despite the fact that you’re still flying very fast he stretches out over your back and in the space between your wings as if you were some kind of beach chair and not an angel. 

“Why do you even want to go to wherever it was you asked me to take you?” Sollux asks, leaning forward so he can talk right into your ear over the wind. 

“For Jade.” you say back over the noise of the wind. 

You’re coming in closer to the island now. You’ve never landed before aside from crashing into that tree so you’re trying to just play it by instinct. 

“Why does Jade want to- KK, you’re not- that’s too fast!” Sollux yelps. His claws prick against your skin and you realise far too late that he’s right as the beach races to you and you’re far too low to land properly. You’re going to crash! 

The world flares red and blue around you, your skin tingles with it and all at once you’re curving upwards and losing speed fast until you’re drifting gently down to the beach. Sollux just saved you from crashing without even a second thought. 

“Such a stupid way of flying, angels really have to do shit the hard way.” Sollux mutters as the two of you slowly touch down on the beach. 

He looks poised to carry on his ‘angels suck, demons rule’ themed speech but you don’t really give him the chance. Instead you grab him by the shirt with your left hand and pull him right up close to you, as soon as you reasonably can you get your other hand on the corner of his jaw so that when you kiss him you can be sure that you’re going to do it right and not just slam your face into his. 

He saved your goddamn life, or at the very least he saved you a lot of pain, sanded off skin and yet another crash. He protected you like his whole black romance deal promised that he would. His feelings are so sincere that he seems surprised indeed that you’re this grateful, it’s like the possibility of not saving you hadn’t even crossed his mind. 

So, yeah, of course you kiss him. Despite the surprised noise your kiss elicits from him you can’t say that Sollux resists at all, if anything he’s wildly enthusiastic. He kisses you back just as intently, one hand stuck in your hair with his claws to your scalp at the other on that space between your wings. 

If this is some kind of competition you think you got a good deal of opening points for starting the kiss, but he has to have got a lot for dramatically saving your life beforehand. So you really need to catch up, don’t you? You should be thinking of some way to do that but it’s hard to think straight when the guy you’re kissing has a forked tongue that is far more exciting than it has any right to be. Actually, this whole game is rigged, he remembers things about you that you haven’t re-learnt about him yet! This is unfair, you should call a referee. 

Wait, that just makes you think of Dave and THAT sends your overexcited mind down a whole road of other possibilities. 

Sollux’s fingertips press against your skin on your back between your wings, his index and middle on either side of your spine there. Then he does… something. It feels like a vibration almost, as if you were a tuning fork and Sollux has struck you at just the right note so you’re resonating all over. His fingers against your bare skin is a harmonic note to whatever you’re at and you swear you feel them go through you. It’s not that he’s stabbed through your skin or anything painful like that. 

Far from it actually, it feels like he’s everywhere. It reminds you of when he put his hand in your chest and you realise that this isn’t your real body and Sollux’s is just as negotiable as yours. 

If you were a bowl of red tinted water then Sollux is a drop of yellow dye. His fingers grazing through the boundaries of what you consider you and suffusing you with orange. He’d kill for you, he saved your life just now. He lost you and got you back again, even if you can’t remember you can feel how grateful he is to have you back at all. 

You don’t know if he’s getting something back from you in return, but you hope he is. You hope he can tell just how intense your feelings are for him. Even though so much of this is new to you it doesn’t make it less powerful.

You can’t actually kiss him forever so you do try to stop, only when you pull back he chases you after a second and you get caught up again. Then when he decides to end the kiss you have to get him back, because that’s how this whole rivalry thing works, right? Or maybe you just like kissing him, who knows? 

Eventually the two of you both lean back enough to look at each other, both of you a little out of breath. You can feel the way your face is warm and his is gold tinged and lit up with a wide smile that shows off sharp teeth. 

“I missed your halo, it always glows so much more when you’re happy.” Sollux says softly and ghosts his fingertips over your hair. It’s probably as close as he can get to touching that persistent backlighting that passes for your halo. 

“Really? How bright is it now?” you ask, still in a bit of a daze. 

“Makes me wish for Dave’s shades.” Sollux grins. 

“I should probably stop that and stop having wings if we’re going to be around humans again.” you sigh and with a little focus you fold your wings back away into that impossible place they come from. That extra dimension where your real form resides. 

“Right, I was taking you somewhere with Jade or something. After that I’d probably take you anywhere.” Sollux says, his grin hazy with delight. 

You’re tempted to ask for something outrageous just because you can but, no, you won’t. 

“Yeah, we wanted to find Jake Harley’s kids. The man seems sketchy as all hell and Jade wants to know more. I think she’s a little nervous because of the changeling thing though.” you admit and pull your shirt back on again. 

“Eesh, that makes sense. I’ll take you both. And hey, if the whole thing goes bad there’s always arson!” Sollux says cheerily. 

“Yeah, maybe don’t make that comment around anyone else. Apparently Jake’s wife died in a fire.” you tell him.

Sollux winces, you’re glad he just said that to you and not anyone else. Anyone who might not appreciate Sollux’s brand of helping with complex feelings as much as you do. 

He walks you back up to Jade’s house. When you get inside you find that Jade is cooking a hunk of meat for Bec in some glowing box that you can only assume is magical, when she takes the meat out it’s glowing green! She flings it across the room for Bec who all but eats it in one bite. 

“Sollux said he’ll take us. Do you have the address from the letter?” you ask her. 

“Way ahead of you.” Jade nods and holds up the envelope. 

“Great, I guess we’re ready when… he is.” you sigh loudly because Sollux is fawning over Bec, petting his long white fur and praising him. It really shouldn’t be as endearing as it is. 

“Any time, Sollux.” you call out after a few minutes. 

“Yeah, yeah. Let me see the address.” he says and holds out his hand. Jade obligingly hands the envelope over. Sollux frowns and takes his phone out, tapping the information in. 

“I’ve never seen you look up where you’re going when you teleport before.” Jade says in surprise. 

“I’ve always known where I was going when you’ve seen me do it before. I’ve never been to this place.” Sollux says absently as he peers at the screen. 

When Sollux is confident about where you’re going he gets the three of you close together and teleports you. It’s a good deal colder in Hauntswitch and you immediately wish you’d thought to wear something warmer, thankfully you still have your hoodie stuffed in your bag so you’re able to keep most of the chill out easily enough. 

Sollux has set you down in what you suppose is the centre of Hauntswitch. There’s a little suburban plaza with small shops and a larger grocery store, some small restaurants, a pizza delivery place and several boutique stores. In the distance there’s a slightly green water fountain that’s not running at the moment. Past the plaza you can see winding roads and large homes, it’s clearly a wealthy area but not exactly a vibrant one any more. Bare skeletons of trees give the place a lifeless feel that the festive lights strung through them can’t entirely negate. It’s daytime here and so the bulbs on all of the string lights are off. In the distance you can see a few people shopping, some movement inside the coffee shops, but it’s hardly busy. 

“I… am going to stay here.” Sollux says slowly. 

“Why?” Jade asks in surprise. 

“You’re talking to family that you’ve not spoken to before, it might not go well. You probably don’t want to show up with a demon and put them off right away, do you?” Sollux points out. 

“If they have a problem with demons-” you start to say, already getting angry. 

“Oh, please. I don’t need you defending my honour. There’s stuff to do around here and I don’t massively want to do smalltalk with people I don’t know.” Sollux scoffs. 

“Yeah, for sure, I bet you’re incredibly excited to look inside…” you squint at an establishment that’s one down from the secondhand bookstore you’re in front of. “The practical jester: costumes and craft. Thrilling, I’m sure.” 

“You got me.” Sollux says flatly. 

“It’s okay, Karkat. Sollux can be antisocial if he wants to be, and we can just call him when we’re done.” Jade says. 

“Thank you, Jade.” Sollux says, oh so polite to her while he gives you a smug little grin. 

“Sure, sure. Google says the address is that way.” you say and point behind you. 

Sollux wiggles his fingers at you in a little wave and then goes back to holding his arms around himself to keep the chill away, you know he doesn’t like the cold. You and Jade turn and head off, but you’re not five paces away when you look back and see that he’s gone. 

It’s really a big assumption that Jake’s kids would still be living inside the same house that they were all the way back in the eighties, for all you know they moved out and you’ll be at a dead end. You’re contemplating how you might track Joey and Jude Harley down if that’s the case, meanwhile Jade is walking at your side in a heavy silence. No doubt she’s thinking about what she might say or how they might react to seeing her. The end result is that the fair walk from Hauntswitch centre, over rolling hills of stately homes, is a quiet one.

Your new phone tells you when you’re approaching the house. You think that you’re in luck when you spy the hand painted sign on the grey stone wall outside that reads ‘Half-Harley Manor’. 

“Half Harley?” Jade wonders. 

“Maybe it means it belonged half to Jake and half to his wife?” you guess. 

The house itself is large with a sizeable yard that wraps the whole way around the manor. In an especially sturdy tree there’s a weathered treehouse that looks like it saw a lot of love once. There’s lights on within the manor itself and the outside of the building has little twinkling lights set up all around, there’s someone home. 

“We’re not going to get any answers out here.” you state. 

“Yeah. I… I know.” Jade says softly. 

Jade unlatches the front gate and lets herself in, you latch it again after you and the pair of you walk down the winding stone path to the front entrance with its grand double doors in old brown wood. Jade reaches for it and pulls her hand back. 

“Go on.” you nudge her. 

“Could you?” Jade asks, her voice small. 

“Jade, if these people don’t accept you then-” you start. 

“No, the knocker. It’s pure iron, it’ll burn me. Most metal is coated or cut with other metals so I’m usually fine but that’s solid old iron and it seems magical too.” Jade explains. 

“Oh. OH! Of course, shit, sorry.” you apologise in a rush. 

You reach up to the iron door knocker and knock twice, loudly. You step back behind Jade a little and wait. 

“Coming!” a muffled male voice seeps through the door to you both. 

A few seconds after that you hear the door unlock with several loud thunks, it swings open revealing a man. He’s about average height, a little gawky looking with thick square glasses. He has a crisp black and teal shirt with suspenders on and a festive bow tie around his neck. He gives off the aura of a man who can tell you everything about every element in the periodic table, at least twenty digits of pi and probably spent a lot of his formative years being stuffed inside his own locker. There’s also more than a passing resemblance to the taxidermied man in Jade’s house. 

“Hi, can I help you?” the man asks as he looks at you both. 

“Are you… Jude Harley?” Jade asks warily. 

“I am, who are you?” he says suspiciously. 

“I’m Jade. Jade Harley.” she says after a moment.


	20. Somebody's Watching Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just so you all know we now have a discord server if you wanna come by and hang out! https://discord.gg/drREmFU

Jude Harley squints at Jade from behind his glasses, obvious suspicion there. 

“Harley, you say?” he says slowly.

“Yeah. Yes. Jake Harley was my grandpa. I only just found out about you and your sister thanks to my friend Karkat here.” Jade explains hastily and waves a hand at you. 

“Hi?” you blurt out, compelled to speak but having been entirely unprepared to do so. 

Jude looks at you both for a moment more and then pulls the door open properly as he steps back. 

“Can you come in?” he asks. 

That’s a weird way of saying it. Before you can think to check if something is off with the doorway Jade steps inside, crossing the threshold without any issue at all. Well, okay. You follow after her, or try to at least. Stepping over the threshold of the Half-Harley Manor is like walking through treacle. Your movement feels like it has slowed way down and your skin is covered with static. The moment your foot makes contact with the ground on the other side of the threshold it stops, simple as that. 

“Okay then, you should probably sit down. I’ll grab my sister, follow me.” Jude nods.

He pushes the door closed and leads you both into a living room that feels very old money, it’s clearly well loved though. The walls are covered in photographs of Jude and a similar looking woman that you assume is Joey, there are photos of their mother and plenty of pictures of what look like friends and coworkers. 

The large TV is set to that video of a crackling fireplace and even though it’s just a video it does feel cosy. Jude ushers you both to the large leather sofa and walks off to another door. 

“JOEY! Where are you? Come here!” Jude yells as he walks through the door. 

“Don’t walk in the room yelling at me!” a woman’s voice yells back from beyond it. 

“Well, I didn’t know where you were.” you hear Jude say.

“But you walked in the room and SAW me, dummy.” the woman sighs. 

“Yeah, yeah, you need to come out here. We have guests. In the house.” Jude says. 

“What.” 

A woman comes through the door, staring at you with a mixture of total disbelief and confusion. 

“How did…” she breathes in amazement. 

You get a good look at her as Jude comes back out into the room. There’s a strong resemblance between them. She’s a little taller than her brother, or maybe it’s just his posture. Her hair is short and curls softly around her face, a face that has a lot of resemblance to the picture you saw of Anne Claire before. Definitely Joey, then. 

“They walked through the door without any problems. The girl says her name is Jade Harley. That Pa was her grandpa.” Jude explains and drops into one of the armchairs near the sofa. 

“Her grandpa.” Joey repeats. 

“You must be Joey, right?” Jade says uneasily, she looks between her and Jude. You can guess what she’s wondering, which one of them had the kid she was swapped with?

From the way the siblings are looking at each other you think they’re thinking the same thing. 

“Don’t look at me, I’ve never had sex. I don’t even want to, I don’t have a secret kid!” Jude says finally. 

“Lesbian!” Joey counters. 

“That doesn’t mean that-” Jude starts. 

“Alright, no, it doesn’t. But do you REALLY think that if I had birthed a child I’d have given her to him of all people?!” Joey snaps. 

“That’s fair.” Jude nods. 

Joey and Jude look at Jade. Actually, Joey, Jude, Jade, Jake. What the hell was wrong with Jade’s grandpa and his choice of names?!

“Well, what did he tell you?” Joey asks her. 

“He never really told me anything about our family. Or… his family. I mean, we’re not biologically related, I’m fae. He said he was my grandpa and that I was a changeling, not a human like him. He never talked about his family, I figured it was because of me.” Jade’s voice goes quiet as she admits that last part.

“Oh, that sounds like him alright. Any suspicions of you lying that weren’t gotten rid of by you managing to walk in here are gone now. Evasive distant old bastard is right up his alley.” Joey laughs humourlessly and falls into another armchair. 

“So you don’t know who your parents are?” Jude asks, Jade shakes her head. 

Jude sighs while his sister just scowls at the floor. 

“I’m sorry for just showing up out of nowhere like this. It’s just that Grandpa never told me much of anything about this stuff. It’s only when my friends came to visit me that they were able to get into his office by breaking the spell on the door. He had all sorts of diaries and letters there, he mentioned his wife and I saw the address. Wikipedia said that he had kids so…” Jade trails off with a futile gesture. 

“Is he dead then?” Joey asks. Her voice is kind of flat and you’re not really sure how she’s going to take any answer that Jade gives her. 

“A few years ago.” Jade says. She doesn’t elaborate on what happened. 

“So he still spent all that time not checking in on us, figures.” Joey mutters. 

“Joey, come on. I’m sorry, Jade. Does this mean we have some other sibling we don’t know about? Or- how old are you?” Jude asks Jade. 

“I’m nineteen.” Jade tells him. 

“Jade just really wanted to know more about her grandpa is all. His diaries didn’t paint him in a great light and we had a lot of questions about him.” you explain. 

“Well, why don’t you tell us what he was like with you?” Jude suggests. 

“I… it’s hard to know where to start describing someone. We watched a lot of movies, he loved movies. That Avatar movie with the blue aliens was one of his favourites, he loved that weird blue lady in it. He collected a lot of stuff from his travels, art, statues, taxidermied creatures.” Jade lists off. 

You’re watching Joey, the way her fingers are gripping tightly on the arms of the armchair she’s sat in. She’s seething but Jade hasn’t noticed. 

“He’d study the animals on the island we lived on, it was just the two of us there. He used to go from being completely absorbed in what he was studying to following me around. He’d devise a lot of puzzles, magical and normal ones. A lot of things felt like a test but that was probably because he was always making notes on everything. I can’t really complain, we had food and the island is beautiful but it was pretty lonely.” Jade admits. 

“It sounds lonely, especially all on your own. Without any brothers or sisters to live with.” Jude says and shoots his sister a look. 

“No, no, it wasn’t so bad. We have a dog, Bec. So even when he’d go off to the wilderness off the island or places I couldn’t go I still had some company. It wasn’t great after he died but I got to go to Salem University and made friends there, right, Karkat?” Jade smiles at you, it’s brittle and you think you’re starting to grasp just how isolated she’s been for so long. 

“He always used to leave us too. He’d go away for work or expeditions for huge stretches of time and we wouldn’t hear from him. We were basically orphans after mom died, we didn’t get a steady babysitter for years.” Joey says softly. 

“He could be pretty absent and even when he was back it seemed like he wouldn’t be here long before he’d have to go back off again.” Jude agrees. 

“I’m sorry you had to go through that too.” Joey adds. 

Jade opens her mouth but she can’t seem to find the words. There’s probably a lot she’s avoided thinking about her grandpa but now that other people are saying it… well, it must be harder to deny. 

Joey shoots you a suspicious look that lasts for a longer amount of time than you’re really comfortable with. 

“Are you two married? You seem pretty young for that.” she asks. 

“What?!” you blurt out in complete shock. 

“No! He’s a friend!” Jade insists. 

“It’s just we’re the only ones able to come and go from this house. Well, Pa could too and our main babysitter because she put all the magic down to keep it that way. It’s only when Joey got married that her wife could come in at all. That's why I asked if you could come in earlier, you’re not the first person to show up claiming to be related.” Jude tells you. 

“Oh. Oh, right, I’m not human. I might be out of that on a technicality. It felt weird going over the threshold but it didn’t hurt or anything.” you explain. 

“What species are you?” Jude asks. 

“Jude! You can’t ask someone that!” Joey chides him and shakes her head with exasperation. 

“What? It was a reasonable question. Besides, it’s not like I’m asking her why she’s fae after everything that Pa used to-” Jude cuts off as his sister gives him a look so sharp it could cut. 

“Used to what?” Jade asks. 

Joey and Jude share an uneasy look. 

“Used. To. What?” Jade asks again, each word deliberate. 

Joey gestures to Jude to talk, perhaps since he opened his mouth he has to say it. Whatever it is. 

“Pa was always… I mean-” Jude shifts in his seat, “his grandma was taken by fae, swapped out. Only she got back here but I got the idea it was pretty scarring for her. I never met her so I don’t know. He always had some pretty strong things to say about fae, not good things.” 

“But he must have changed his mind. I’m glad, you probably opened his eyes on the whole thing. It’s more than I could ever do with him on any subject.” Joey says quickly. 

“Why would he agree to… and if neither of you had a kid then did he just adopt me? But where from? Why would he do that if he hated fae? I don’t…” Jade’s hands tighten on her knees and you can see the way the fabric of her skirt crumples under her grip. 

“Jade…” you say softly and rest your hand on her shoulder.

Joey hesitates for a moment and then gets up, she walks over to Jade and kneels down on the ground in front of her. She takes Jade’s hands from her knees and holds them as she looks up into Jade’s eyes. 

“I’m sorry, Jade. We didn’t mean to upset you. Me and Jude accepted a long time ago that the man just sucks and we don’t know why he does what he does sometimes. He was a crappy parent to us and we figured he just finally abandoned us fully as soon as Jude was seventeen. If we’d have known he was off messing up another kid we’d have done something, I’m sorry you were all on your own. It’s not fair.” Joey says gently. 

“You’re pretty obviously family. Even if Pa’s gone you still have us.” Jude agrees. 

“Right, exactly. I know Jude found it hard to accept that our father was as crappy as he was and it’s not a fun thing to go through.” Joey says gently. 

“We read a lot about him in one of his journals.” Jade says and suddenly the journal is in her hand. 

It’s not like you can actually see the future, or not in any helpful way at least. But all the same as you see Jade hold that book up you have a horrible idea that you can just see is going to happen. 

“Can I use your bathroom?” you say suddenly, a little louder than is probably polite to ask. 

Joey and Jude seem a little taken aback by your interruption but nonetheless Jude gives you directions to their upstairs bathroom and you hurry away. You can’t and probably shouldn’t stop her from telling her aunt and uncle (or possibly her siblings) the truth about Jake Harley’s gentleman caller, but you also don’t want to have to witness that happening. 

Since you’re hiding in their bathroom you may as well actually use it. The bathroom has a distinctly manly feel to it, there’s only the one toothbrush in here and all of the shower products have the word MAN on them because apparently that’s the only way anything can be marketed to men. Perhaps Joey doesn’t live here or perhaps she has her own bathroom. Or, who knows, maybe she just has an affinity for ‘manly’ products. You don’t know and you also don’t super care. 

As you’re washing your hands and wondering why sandalwood is marketed more to men you find your gaze drifting out of the open bathroom window. It’s letting in the chill December air but it does afford you a nice view of the Harley property and the rolling hills beyond. There’s two cars parked in the driveway and a lopsided inflatable snowman nearby. The other houses in the distance seem to have far more coordinated and competent decoration done to them. There’s those lit up animated reindeer lights, twinkling icicle decorations, there’s even something in the woods.

Wait.

You pause, water still running over your hands. On the hill in the distance are some trees but there’s figures there, people clustered together facing the house. One moves slightly and you get a double flash of light reflected off of glass, binoculars. There’s people out there watching this house! 

You shut off the water and keep staring. They’re definitely watching the house and it seems like there’s four of them out there. Are they intending on trying to break in here? To hurt Jade’s family? You won’t and can’t let that happen!

Leaving the bathroom in a hurry you realise you forgot to dry your hands, but that’s what jeans are for aren’t they? As you leave you almost run into Jude, who seems as startled by your presence as you are his. 

“Sorry, I-” he starts.

“There’s people out there looking at your house with binoculars!” you say over him and point towards the bathroom to prove it. 

Jude gasps and slams the bathroom door shut, he slides down it and looks around nervously before focusing on you. 

“You saw them too? Joey always says I’m imagining it and they’re just different people, neighbours or people out for a walk. But… you saw them watching as well?” he asks in a hushed and urgent voice. 

“They had binoculars, pointed at your house!” you tell him emphatically. 

“I knew it! Whenever I’ve got close to them they always pretend they’re there for some other reason or they just vanish. They pretend they’re business people sometimes, they just say words like ‘stocks’, ‘shares’, ‘quarterly reports’ at each other like that makes any sense at all!” Jude rants, clearly this has been a topic of much irritation for him for some time. 

“What if they didn’t see someone coming? I can be invisible.” you suggest. 

Jude’s eyes go wide with delight and he claps a hand on your shoulder. 

“That could work, can you really do that?” he asks. 

To prove it you let yourself fade from view as you did with Jade before, you know it’s worked because Jude reacts with surprise to your sudden disappearance. 

“That will absolutely work! If you come downstairs with me I can go out the back door for something innocuous and you can follow me out, then I’ll go back inside and you can check those creeps out! Take photographs and message me as you go!” Jude exclaims gleefully as you reappear.

You nod eagerly and so the two of you hurry down the stairs. You pass Jade and Joey sat on the sofa, reading Jake’s journals together. 

“Where are you-” Joey starts but you’re in the kitchen before she can finish the sentence. 

You fade from view as Jude casts around for some excuse to go outside. He eventually settles on the trashcan and pulls the nearly full bag out. He swings the back door open and leaves it open as he leaves for the perfectly innocent chore of taking the trash out. In that time you hurry outside and rush off in the direction of the people stalking the Harleys. 

You’re a couple of minutes down the road when you realise that you didn’t get his number to text any photographs to, but you suppose you can just send them to Jade. You probably should also tell Sollux that you’re doing this, but Mituna pointed out that you’re an angel and hard to kill. Besides, you’re invisible and you have no intention of starting a fight, you don’t need to run everything you do past Sollux. 

You hop a stone wall and scurry up the hill, making sure to keep low. Not that these guys should be able to see you or anything but better safe than sorry, right?

As you suspected there are four men at the treeline of the hill, definitely watching the house. You would say they’re all middle aged and all dressed in suits, they have smart coats on and very proper hats. They look like what you think businessmen look like. One of them is sitting in a lawn chair reading the financial times and from the way he’s sat you can see that his socks are on suspenders. They look like dads from the forties on TV. 

“He’s back inside now.” the one with the binoculars says. 

“If they were able to just walk inside then that must mean the barriers are down.” another says. 

“Can’t be, Mr. Jansen said that the demon in town didn’t get any further than the centre. If he can’t come this close to the house then the barriers can’t be down.” the third one who is crouched by a tree says. 

“Doe, Mr. Jansen has also not told us what we’re to do about two strangers going in the manor.” the second man says tersely.

The man in the chair with the copy of the financial times sighs loudly and drops it flat on his lap. It’s not the financial times inside, it’s the funny pages. What the hell? The man turns around in his chair and regards the other two reproachfully. 

“Mr. Doe, Mr. Navnesen, I would remind you that our message has been passed up the chain and Mr. Jansen cannot give us an answer until he himself has received one.” the man in the chair says. 

Navnesen mutters under his breath and pulls a pipe from his jacket and starts to do whatever esoteric stuff you have to do to light those things. 

“The point is there are strangers inside the building. I can’t see the boy, he went into the kitchen with Jude but I don’t see him now. Could be in the basement.” the man with the binoculars says thoughtfully. 

“And the girl?” the man in the chair asks. 

“With Joey, they’re hugging.” Binocular guy answers. 

There’s a ping from the group and the man in the chair reaches into his suit jacket and pulls out a blackberry phone. Jesus, when was the last time you saw someone with one of those? 

“Apparently the demon is causing some troubles for Mr. Jansen.” the man in the chair frowns. 

“It ain’t right, having to work with demons. They’ve got nothing to do with us.” Mr. Navnesen says sullenly as he sucks on his pipe. 

You take out your own phone.

carcinoGeneticist [CG] began trolling  twinArmageddons [TA]  
  
CG: SOLLUX, I DON'T KNOW WHERE YOU ARE OR WHAT YOU'RE DOING BUT YOU'RE WITH A MR JANSEN, RIGHT?  
TA: what?  
CG: THERE ARE A BUNCH OF PEOPLE DRESSED AS BUSINESSMEN STALKING THE HARLEYS, THEY'RE CAMPED OUT ON A HILL NEAR THEIR HOUSE WATCHING THEM.  
CG: THEY MENTIONED YOU AND HOW YOU'RE CAUSING TROUBLE FOR THEM.  
CG: WHAT'S GOING ON?  
TA: 2ome 2hiit that ii diidn't know about that'2 for 2ure.  
CG: ARE THESE GUYS DANGEROUS? I'M INVISIBLE BUT HOW CONCERNED SHOULD I BE?  
TA: you could probably take them iin a fiight, they're only human2. not 2ure how ho2tiile they'd be two you but maybe ju2t don't get caught.  
TA: they 2houldn't hurt the harley2 though.  
CG: WHO THE FUCK ARE THEY?  
TA: guard2 ii thiink  
CG: THEN WHY DID JUDE NOT KNOW WHO THEY WERE? CAN YOU NOT COME HERE?  
TA: not riight now ii can't  
TA: iif you gave me a few week2 ii could maybe get clo2e but riight now ii can't.   
CG: THAT'S WHY YOU STAYED IN TOWN.  
TA: yeah, headiing two that hou2e made my teeth hurt. ii know better than two pu2h that feeliing.  
CG: SHIT.  
CG: OKAY, I'LL HAVE QUESTIONS FOR YOU LATER. JUST PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT'S GOING ON WITH THAT GUY YOU'RE WITH.   
TA: 2ure  
TA: don't get caught  
  
twinArmageddons [TA] ceased trolling  carcinoGeneticist [CG]

“What if only part of the barrier is broken?” Doe asks after a moment. 

“I’m sure that management is-” the man in the chair pauses as his blackberry ring, this time it’s not a message but a call. 

“Hello, this is Ó Rudaí. ...Yes, sir. They’re both still in the… oh. Right, very well, we’ll do that right away. Thank you, goodbye.” the man in the chair says and stands up. He folds his newspaper up and stuffs it under one arm. 

“Rossi, are they still in there? Is there anyone else out around here? The path to the car clear?” Ó Rudaí asks as he quickly folds up his chair. 

“Uh, hold on.” the man with the binoculars says and looks around. You wince as he looks in your direction but manages to see right through you. 

“Boss? What’s going on? Was that Jansen?” Doe asks. 

“Yes, we have to leave now. Until further notice no one is to go near to or watch the house, we can’t be caught.” Ó Rudaí says firmly. 

“What? We can’t leave! Jansen can’t just decide that by himself. I’ll talk to HIS boss about this!” Navnesen says as he angrily gestures with his pipe. 

“Whoever you talk to they will have to defer to their orders. This comes right from the top.” Ó Rudaí growls and the other men look at him in shock. 

“All the way from the- you mean the very top?” the man with the binoculars says in a strangled voice. 

“Yes.” Ó Rudaí says tightly. 

“Oh… god.” Doe whispers. 

“Exactly. Rossi, are we clear or not?” Ó Rudaí asks and the man with the binoculars jumps a little. 

“Yeah, we are. I still can’t see the guy in the house but it looks like Jude is talking to someone out of sight, so that has to be him. There’s no one between us and the car, we’re good to go.” Rossi answers hurriedly. 

The four men, clearly all quite shaken, hurry off through the trees and away from the Half-Harley manor. You follow at a safe distance and watch as they all pile into a beat up car and drive away at speed. 

What the fuck?

carcinoGeneticist [CG] began trolling  twinArmageddons [TA]  
  
CG: THEY ALL JUST LEFT, THEY WERE TALKING ABOUT HOW THEIR ORDERS TO PULL BACK CAME RIGHT FROM THE TOP.  
CG: THEY ALL LOOKED LIKE THEY WERE ABOUT TO SHIT THEMSELVES IN FEAR.  
TA: yeah the one here look2 about the 2ame.  
CG: MIND TELLING ME WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?  
TA: ii'd love two.  
CG: WELL DON'T HOLD UP ON MY ACCOUNT. I CRAVE EXPOSITION AS MUCH AS THAT ASSHAT WHO RUNS CINEMA SINS HATES IT. WHICH, SIDE NOTE, HE IS ABSOLUTELY INSUFFERABLE.   
TA: niice tangent  
CG: SHUT UP AND TELL ME THINGS.  
TA: ...  
CG: YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN!  
TA: liike ii 2aiid, ii'd love two tell you.  
CG: OH. SO IS IT THAT YOU CAN'T OR WON'T TELL ME?  
TA: can't  
CG: BECAUSE IT'S RELATED TO THE EVENT SOMEHOW?  
TA: telliing you why ii can't tell you ii2 iin fact telliing you 2omethiing, whiich ii can't do.  
TA: ii can tell you that ii diidn't know thii2 wa2 goiing on, nor do ii have any iidea why that hou2e ii2 2o well protected.   
TA: that'2 liike roxy level2 of 2tay the fuck away  
CG: EXCEPT ROXY'S WARDS DON'T KEEP YOU OUT.  
TA: yeah  
CG: ACTUALLY, SHE WORKED WITH JAKE HARLEY, COULD THIS ACTUALLY BE HER WORK?  
TA: maybe?  
TA: ii don't know why 2he would go to hii2 famiily'2 home, but ii don't know what 2he wa2 liike before all thii2, not iin per2on at lea2t.  
CG: YOU'RE ACTUALLY AS IN THE DARK ABOUT THIS AS ME RIGHT NOW, AREN'T YOU?  
TA: pretty much  
TA: ii'm NOT thriilled  
CG: ME NEITHER, I'LL UPDATE YOU IF I LEARN ANYTHING.  
  
carcinoGeneticist [CG] ceased trolling  twinArmageddons [TA]

You make your way back to the house. To your ear all those names sounded a bit fake, like codenames or something. Plus, they all addressed each other by their last names and that’s surely more of a military or espionage thing, right? Whoever they are, they’re organised and you’re pretty sure Jude was entirely right to be paranoid about them. 

When you get to the back door you let yourself be visible again and knock. Jude peers out of the window, sees you, then hurriedly opens the door and drags you inside. 

“Did they see you?” he asks you in a hushed voice. 

“No, they’re gone now. They were absolutely watching the house and they’re part of some organisation too.” you tell him seriously. 

“I knew it.” Jude whispers. 

“What are you two doing in here?” Joey asks, poking her head around the kitchen door. 

“Joey! I was RIGHT! He just checked out those people watching us from the hill because he can go invisible and they WERE from a shadowy organisation watching us!” Jude declares. Joey does not look impressed at all. 

“Just like I said.” Joey mutters to Jade. Jade nods sagely as if Joey has just proven her wisdom. 

“There really were people out there watching your house. They were all wearing suits and I swear they had codenames for each other.” you tell them both. You don’t know about Jude’s past theories or anything but this much at least is legit. 

“Why would anyone want to spy on us?” Joey asks, clearly still skeptical. 

“Better question, how is your house so well warded that the demon who got us to this town can’t get close to it? The guys watching your house were talking about a barrier.” you interrupt. 

“Wait, that’s why Sollux didn’t come with?” Jade asks. 

“I’m not saying he wasn’t also trying to be considerate but he said he can’t get here, so what’s with that?” you ask, looking from Jude to Joey.

“We’re not magical and we didn’t set anything up. We can’t even sell this stupid place because no one else can get in.” Joey says. 

“I don’t WANT to sell the house anyway, I like it here.” Jude grumbles. 

“Our babysitter did it, that’s our theory at least.” Joey explains. 

“No, this is serious magic. He said it’s the kind of stuff that he’s only seen one person do.” you insist, this isn’t some student witch. You couldn’t do this kind of spellwork. 

“Who was your babysitter?” Jade asks. 

“We haven’t heard from her in ages, she left us too. I always thought Roxy cared more than that.” Joey says sadly. 

“Roxy LALONDE?” you and Jade ask at the same time.

“Yeah?” Jude says, clearly surprised. 

“That’s my boyfriend’s mom! That’s the person my- uh, my other boyfriend, the demon was talking about. She used to work with Jake Harley, he did something with her thesis.” you say, somewhat stumbling through the explanation of your romantic relationships. 

“Yeah our terrible father had his poor assistant look after us all the time, even when she was just a teenager herself. She was with us for years and then just ditched us.” Joey mutters. 

“Did she happen to abandon you around the year 2000? Because if that was when it happened I don’t think she did abandon you.” Jade says. 

“Yeah, it was around then.” Jude answers instead because it seems clear that the topic is more sensitive for Joey than it is for him. 

“I don’t think she abandoned you. There was some kind of accident around then, around the time she had her own kids. It did something to her mind, she’s paranoid and hasn’t left her house since as far as I know. She kicked me out when I had to be there to help rescue Karkat from some disaster.” Jade says, which you think is a somewhat unfair characterisation for the one time you got stuck in a different dimension and needed help. It’s not like that kind of shit happens to you often!

“An accident? What kind of accident? Is she alright?” Jude asks in alarm. 

You and Jade look at each other uneasily. It’s not as if Roxy is dead or anything but whatever happened to her clearly left its mark. 

“Oh god, I feel terrible. I always thought she just left us like Pa did or something.” Joey gasps softly, her hand over her mouth. 

“I… hold on.” you say and step back a little, you lean on the kitchen island and pull your phone out. You’ve never called Dave before, only messaged him, but this seems like something where voice would be best. You hold the phone to your ear and listen to it ring. 

“Karkat! What’s up? How’s stuff with Sollux?” Dave asks cheerily. 

“He gave us a lift like he said he would. He’s not with me right now but some other people are. Jade’s family, actually. Turns out your mom was their babysitter for years and they thought she’d just vanished, do you think she’d want to talk to them or something?” you ask him. 

“Oh! Wait hold on let me make this video.” Dave says. 

You pull the phone away from your ear and accept the change to a video call. Dave’s pretty face fills the screen and for a moment you forget where you are and why you’re calling him, because the butterflies in your stomach are so much more consuming. 

“Hi.” you say dumbly, feeling the stupid smile spreading across your face. 

“They’re so sweet together, look.” Jade grins and shows her phone to Joey and Jude. 

“AW! Is that the other boyfriend? The demon you mentioned?” Joey coos, peering at the screen. 

“Hey, hey, what are you showing them?” you ask. Jade snickers and flips her phone around to show that picture of you, Sollux and Dave all sleeping together. 

“Jade!” you hiss. 

“Not that I would want to interrupt a Vantas brand tantrum before it even really gets going but weren’t we talking about something?” Dave reminds you. 

“Oh, shit, right. Sorry.” you turn your phone around so the screen and front facing camera are pointed at the Harleys, “This is Joey and Jude, the people I was saying about.” 

“Wait, I know you! Hold up, hold up, ROSE! ROSE LOOK AT THIS!” you can hear Dave yell and the sound of him rushing somewhere with his phone in hand. 

“What are you shouting ab-” that’s Rose. 

“It’s the people from the photo!” Dave babbles excitedly. 

“Wait, what photo?” you ask as you peer around to try to see the screen and keep the others in frame the whole time. 

“There’s these photographs of these kids growing up and we’ve got no idea who they are and Mom never told us. If it wasn’t for the fact that it’s obviously the same people in several pictures we’d have thought they were stock pictures or something!” Dave says eagerly. You watch as Rose looks over his shoulder and you see her eyebrows raise in surprise. 

“You’re right, it is them.” Rose agrees. 

“It’s Jade’s family, Mom apparently used to babysit them or something.” Dave explains. 

“She basically raised us.” Jude explains. 

“No one else was going to.” Joey mutters. It’s pretty clear to you that she has a lot of well earned animosity towards Jake Harley. 

“They said that your mom just vanished and the time looks like it probably lines up with whatever happened to her. They didn’t know anything about it.” Jade says, choosing her words carefully. On the screen Dave and Rose both pull a familiar expression of unease. 

“Maybe she might want to talk to them?” Dave suggests quietly to his twin. 

“I think she’s alright today so perhaps. She was in the library the last time that I saw her.” Rose agrees. 

“Okay, hold on, I’m going to track mom down. Actually, who should I tell her you are? I didn’t get your names.” Dave says as he moves along the hallway with his phone. 

“Jude Harley and Joey Claire.” Joey answers. If it wasn’t for the fact that you knew her mother’s name already you might think that Claire was Joey’s married name. You guess she’s rejected her father’s name. Suddenly the ‘Half-Harley’ manor makes a lot more sense. 

“Right. MOOOOOOOM.” Dave yells as he walks. You hear a distant ‘DAAAAAAVE’ and a giggle. 

Dave opens a door and leans around it, the angle of the camera doing a rather striking thing to the length of his neck and the line of his jaw. Maybe other people are thinking about how it’s a weird angle but your mind is very much stuck on how you’d really like to get close to him. Everything’s been so crazy since you started dating that you’ve not had much time to enjoy being his boyfriend as much as you have with Sollux. Although Dave hasn’t tried to throw you off of a building so there’s that. 

“What’re you yelling about Davey?” Roxy asks off camera.

“Mom, there’s some people on the phone for you.” Dave explains. 

“What? Who?” Roxy says, suspicion creeping into her tone. 

Dave moves and sits next to his mother, getting her on screen for the first time. It also means that Joey and Jude can see her again. 

“Roxy!” they both say together, their eyes lighting up at the sight of someone who was apparently more family than their own father. They’re delighted to see her but you watch as Roxy’s face goes ashen. 

“No.” she whispers in terror. 

“No, no, no, no, no!” Roxy chants, her eyes wide as she stares at the screen. 

“Mom? Mom, it’s okay.” Dave says. 

“No! It’s- he’ll see! I can’t let them- they have to stay there, stay in the void. They’ll notice! Stop it!” Roxy babbles in terror. She lurches for Dave’s phone, grabs it and suddenly the call cuts off. 

“Oh… oh Roxy…” Joey whispers, her face a picture of devastation. 

You take your phone back, sending Dave a message. You apologise for upsetting his mom, that you didn’t mean to set off her paranoia and fear. You like Roxy, so distressing her is not something you want. 

“Like I said, I don’t think she left you because she didn’t want to be here.” Jade tells them both.

turntechGodhead [TG] began trolling  carcinoGeneticist [CG]  
  
TG: remember how i said she was faking before well she isnt faking now  
TG: shes even got sollux back here and is asking her a million questions about jades family and their house  
CG: SHIT, I'M SORRY. I DIDN'T MEAN TO UPSET HER AT ALL. FUCK, I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER THAN TO EVEN ASK.   
TG: no man you brought it up with me and rose first and we said she was fine so its not like we knew this was coming either  
TG: geez sol is trying to explain that he cant get in there or something  
TG: its stressing her out  
CG: I THINK THIS PLACE IS WARDED LIKE YOURS IS, FROM WHAT I UNDERSTAND SHE WAS THE ONE WHO DID IT. BUT FOR SOME REASON SOLLUX CAN'T GET INTO THIS PLACE. BUT THE PEOPLE I SAW OUTSIDE WERE SAYING THEY THINK THEY’RE WEAKENING SOMEHOW?  
TG: that doesnt sound good but i guess hes allowed in because of me or something  
TG: but if the spells there are older than me theyre older than sollux too  
CG: SO HE WOULDN'T BE AN EXCEPTION  
TG: right  
TG: uh mom is trying to get sollux to check the wards on the house and hes suggesting that you look since he cant  
CG: I DON'T KNOW WHAT I'M DOING WITH THAT STUFF THOUGH  
TG: could he call you  
TG: would jude and joey even be ok with you checking that out  
CG: I'LL ASK.  


“Roxy’s pretty upset, could I check out the wards that she did to try to make her feel better?” you ask. 

“I don’t really know much about that stuff but… sure. Do what you need to.” Jude nods. 

You message Dave back and tell him that they’re okay for you to do whatever you need to with the wards.

You listen as Joey and Jude explain to Jade about how Roxy used to look after them all the time. She’d do her work here, research, read and do paperwork as she kept them company. She’d help them with their homework, get them food, take them shopping for things and that was all because their own father didn’t want to be around to do any of it. He was always ‘too busy’ though it’s plain to see that neither Jude and Joey buys that he was actually too busy. 

Your phone rings in your hand and you answer without really looking. 

“Consider this like tech support but with magic.” Sollux says through the phone. 

“Hi, Sollux. What do I need to do?” you ask. 

“Roxy would either go for the basement or the attic in a house that’s already built. It looks like they’ve got an attic, do they have a basement or know which the wards are in?” Sollux asks, straight to business. 

“Do you know where the wards are and do you have a basement?” you ask, holding the phone away from your face slightly as you talk. 

“I don’t know where any of that magic stuff is but we have a basement, I can show you.” Jude nods. 

He leads you through the kitchen and opens a door off to the side. Reaching in to flick on a light you can see a room that’s very much divided in two. In the one half is an orderly stack of laundry machines and assorted soaps, tool boxes, spare lightbulbs and other household things. The other half of the basement is piled high with the same sort of thing you’ve seen in Jade’s house. Magical looking crystals and artifacts, items that look like they belong to the cultures of other species, taxidermied animals and paintings and photographs of Jake on his adventures. It’s piled high from floor to ceiling in a terrifying jenga game. 

“Ohhhh man, I’m in the basement but it’s really crowded with stuff. What am I looking for?” you ask. 

“Is there any writing on the walls?” Sollux questions you. 

You look around but it all seems plain to you. Carefully you lean in and try to see if anything has been painted over but if it has there’s no sign of it. 

“I can’t see anything.” you tell him. 

“Right. Are there any humans around?” Sollux asks. You turn and look at Jude still at the top of the stairs. 

“Jude’s here, why?” you say. 

“You want him to not be able to see you for this. Assuming you want him sane and not blinded I mean.” Sollux says and you know right away what he wants you to do. 

“I’ll go.” Jude offers, you guess he doesn’t want to be blinded or driven crazy either. 

Just to be on the safe side you close the door, you’d hate to hurt him or anyone else. 

“You want me to go into that other form?” you ask him quietly, wary that Jude could still be listening on the other side of the door and you don’t want to give away what you are unless you really have to. 

“Yeah, you have more than enough eyes that way and if there’s any magic there to see you should be able to see it then. Once you know what you’re looking for I think you should be able to see it even after.” Sollux says, but he doesn’t sound certain. 

“Right, I’m putting you on speaker. I’m also going to take my shirt off in case I rip it when I change back again and don’t make it all the way back to what I am now.” you tell him. You click the phone onto speaker mode and set it on top of the washing machine. You wrestle your clothes off until you’re just there in your jeans and shoes. 

“If this wasn’t such a dire situation I’d tell you to video call me for that.” Sollux says with a nervous laugh, he’s trying to set you at ease but he’s clearly concerned as well. 

“Funny. Let me concentrate.” you grumble. 

You let your eyes close and focus on your physical body, you imagine yourself expanding as your chest does when you breathe in. You imagine opening out like fractals, mostly you focus on the idea that you’re being a more true version of yourself. 

You open your eyes again, all of them. The room ought to be spinning given that so much of you is, but your senses know how to calibrate for it and you can see everything. There’s nothing worth looking at in this basement aside from some minor magical curiosities which glow faintly as you look at them. But above you there’s a seeping pink glow. 

THE ATTIC

“Fucking HELL augh! Karkat!” Sollux’s voice wails from your phone. 

Your form wobbles like a spinning top and crunches inwards. You land on the floor in a heap of feathers and aching limbs. 

“KK, can you still hear me or did your stupid voice bust your phone?” Sollux asks. 

“I’m fine. I’m good. Ow.” you groan.

Sitting up you shake your wings off and hide them. You pick your phone up and check it over, thankfully you haven’t busted the glass. How the hell you spoke so loud when you didn’t have a mouth in that form you’ll never know. 

“There’s nothing down here but it looked magic as shit in the attic. I’m going to see if I can get up there.” you tell him and get fully dressed again. 

“That sounds smart.” Sollux agrees. You open the door to the basement and though Jude isn’t right outside it he is in the kitchen and seems a little alarmed, no way he didn’t hear you. You open your mouth to tell him that you need to go into the attic when Sollux speaks instead. 

“Since you’re going up there I’m going to keep working on reverse engineering that spell Slick gave you that let you read porn.” Sollux says. Over the speaker. 

Jude stares at you, opens his mouth and then hesitates before shaking his head. 

“I’m just gonna…” you mutter and scurry past him. You hurry through the main room and up the stairs as fast as you can. 

“Sollux, I’m going to fucking kill you. Next time I see you I swear I’m going to slap the grey off of your skin, fuck it, I’ll slap the skin off of you. You’ll just be a stupid skeleton!” you hiss at him furiously. 

“What?” Sollux asks as if he didn’t just say what he did.

“Jude was there! It was on speaker!” you growl and stomp down the hallway. 

Locating the way into the attic isn’t easy, especially with Sollux howling with laughter at your expense. 

“I hate you, I hate you, you’re the worst person I’ve ever known and I can say that confidently even with most of my memory gone. You’re the single most infuriating person that has ever existed, I clearly only talk to you because the one person I hate more than you must be myself!” you snap at him and jerk a door open. It’s just a closet with a bunch of old boxes stacked in it, no help at all. 

Instead of more laughing you hear Sollux breathe in a kind of shuddering way and when he next speaks his voice is low and kind of secretive. 

“I should find a way to make this spell permanent, so you could write in demonic too. Some of the things you say are way better than anything in that book.” he tells you. 

Something static runs up your vertebrae and despite the fact that you were just telling him how much you hated him you can’t help but think of… well, how much you *hate* him. 

“We should… focus.” you say with effort. 

“Yes, yeah. I should make sure this spell is right so it doesn’t, uh, melt what little brains you have or something.” Sollux agrees hastily. 

You check a few more doors and will the heat in your cheeks to go away, but eventually you find a door that reveals a staircase going up. You follow it and find a door at the top, that must be the attic. When you try to turn the handle you find that it’s locked. 

“Damnit, it’s locked.” you mutter. 

“So find a way in.” Sollux says. You can hear the sound of a pen scratching in the background as he crosses something out and writes something else. 

“There’s something in our Basilisk book about opening spells, I was reading ahead.” you tell Sollux as you set the phone on the ground and crouch down to rummage through your bag. 

“Nerd.” Sollux snorts at you. 

“Bite me.” you retort without feeling and grab your book, flicking through it to where you need to be. 

The spell examples aren’t exactly what you need but you think you can fudge a few things together to make the door open right. 

Import pointer as p

t = p.Pointer()

if __name__ == '__main__':  
t.rotate(“x”, 90)

You touch the door and focus on the power of storms, that old familiar power source and the spell kicks off. The door flares that off whitish colour of your magic. At first you’re sure that it’s worked just as you intended as the door swings inwards, even if it does it a little fast. Only it’s not just the door it’s the whole damn frame too. The whole thing swings inwards, pivoting on hinges that don’t exist and instead of stopping against the wall the whole door and frame slam into the wall, not shattering but occupying the same space as the wall. 

You hop inside the room and stare at the door and wall, they’ve merged but it’s clearly not what’s supposed to happen. The wall lurches and it puts you in mind of when a pet is about to barf, it just ripples and shudders. Then, at all once, the wall ejects the door and frame at speed. It explodes across the room with a terrible bang and you only just leap behind a crate in time to stop the wooden debris from hitting you. Even with that it rains wood chips down on you for several seconds afterwards. 

“What was that?! Karkat, are you okay?!” Sollux shouts down the phone at you. 

“I’m good.” you cough and sit up, brushing debris from your hair. 

“What happened? What was that explosion?” he demands. 

“I don’t know what you mean, I didn’t explode anything. I just opened the door. It was locked and now it’s not and everything is fine.” you say hastily. It’s technically true. 

Technically. 

“You are full of shit, what did you do?” Sollux asks. 

You mentally run through the spell and think that you might have forgotten how Basilisk references things for movement, maybe? Either way you’re in the attic now and you can work out the specifics of your fuck up later, for now you have some wards to look at. 

“So, these wards.” you say and brush wood chips from your hair. 

“Can you see them?” Sollux asks. 

Stepping into the middle of the attic you look around at the relatively low walls and the high but sloping ceiling. Magic hums around you in the air and with a little effort that feels like opening eyes you don’t actually have you can make out glowing pink writing overlaid on the wood. 

“Yeah, I can. I can’t read any of it, but I can see it’s magic. A lot of it too.” you answer as you look around at what you can recognise as functions and subprocess, rules and definitions. You can’t understand a word but you can identify the way things are laid out by now. Destroyed doors aside you do have some idea about what you’re doing. 

“Alright. I am going to get you to tell me what you did later, but for now I’m sending you a picture. It’s like the spell that Slick gave you, only this one lets you write in demonic temporarily. There’s a slight temporary side effect to it but it’s fine.” Sollux assures you. 

Your phone pings in your hand and before you can ask Sollux what the side effect is, your eyes lock onto the picture that he just sent you. Your brain throbs in your head and you have to close your eyes for a second or two but the feeling passes. 

“Can you read it now?” Sollux asks. 

Looking up at the writing on the walls and ceiling once more you can now understand the words. Or that is to say that you can understand what all of the words say but how any of this magic works is far beyond you. 

“Read it, yes, but I still haven’t got a clue about how to interpret any of this.” you tell him. 

“Good, okay. There’s going to be a section that’ll have definitions and exceptions, it’s basically a library for the spell so her terms are defined. Try looking around until you see Jake Harley written out somewhere.” Sollux suggests. 

Great, a glowing headache inducing word search. 

“The library will be defined in plain text as well as magical logic and ~ATH identifiers.” Sollux says, not that any of that means much to you. 

The opposite wall has a big chunk of text that stands out, so you head over and read that. It looks promising. 

“I think I’ve found it, do you want me to read this part aloud to you so you can hear it?” you ask.

“Just the definitions.” Sollux says. You don’t want to accidentally cast this spell by mistake, much less just part of it. 

“Jake Harley defined as Jake Harley born on… ok that’s just the date and location of his birth I guess. There’s also a smear of something on the wall here. Do I want to know what that is?” you ask with a grimace. 

“A biological tether of some kind. Blood, a solution made of hair or anything else like that. It ensures that when it talks about Jake it really means Jake.” Sollux explains. 

“Descendants of Jake Harley, Joey Claire, Jude Harley in specific. They’ve got their dates of birth too. Uh… oh, other further legal or biological descendants directly from Jake Harley’s line. That’s why Jade got in, he adopted her so that counts.” you say, impressed with Roxy’s future proofing. Joey also mentioned that her wife could only enter the building after they were married, so that counts as well. 

“There’ll be the same for Roxy as well. Does it say anything about intentions there?” Sollux asks. 

“Uhhh, it says about malicious intentions from entities from other planes and specifically says about demons and gods. It’s VERY clear about gods, actually. There’s paragraphs on that.” you whistle, Roxy had a very clear definition of who she most wanted to keep out. 

“Read the part that’s not about gods or demons there, there should be something that let you in when you shouldn’t have got in.” he urges you. 

It takes a moment to find the part. 

“Uhhh, malicious extraplanar entities defined as entities that have travelled from another plane to the prime material, with or without sentience or concept of-” you start. 

“Ah. There. You had no malicious intentions and you don’t remember coming to this plane therefore you CAN argue that if you don’t remember it and no one else saw it then it may not have happened. Normally that wouldn’t have worked but this spell is old and Roxy’s not refreshed it, so it’s starting to fray and let things through that it shouldn’t. I need you to make an addition for me.” Sollux tells you. 

“To let you in?” you guess. 

“Yeah, I’m essentially cribbing Roxy’s spell from here that lets me in and out. Slightly modified because this one is her home but I know what I’m doing. Get to the part that’s under where it specifies the Harleys as allowed, you need to add me into there and then make a few other additions. I’ll walk you through it. Oh, you’re going to have to write in blood.” Sollux just casually throws that last bit in there. 

“You know what? Nothing seems to surprise me anymore. Let me put the phone down on this box so I can nick my finger on my sickle.” you sigh. 

With a gesture you take your weapon out and poke your index finger on the sharp point so that blood wells up, it barely even hurts but it’s the symbolic nature of blood that’s needed here. 

“Excluded from the category of demon and permitted to enter, reside in and use any form of magic is-” Sollux hesitates in his narration. You’re happily writing exactly what he’s saying in perfect demonic, careful to keep your writing small and tidy as you’re conscious of the space. 

“Sollux?” you call out. 

“You’re going to have to use my true name here. I’ve never actually told it to you before, I mean I never had reason to. You know who I am, you don’t need to- except now you do.” Sollux sighs. 

“Is this going to be a problem?” you ask him. 

There’s a pause on the line and you’re left in the stillness of the attic, kneeling on the ground as motes of sawdust float in the air around you. 

“No. I kind of wonder if you had heard my full and true name before if maybe your memory of me wouldn’t have been taken. But maybe that would have sucked too, you just remembering me and not understanding who I was to you or how you remembered. I don’t know.” he’s mumbling now and you really wish he was here so you could see the look on his face so you could gauge if he’s okay or not. 

“Alright, this is probably going to be strange. Just write it down.” he tells you. 

He speaks. Your ears kind of get the words, garbled by magic and meaning. To your ears what you hear is:

Ş̷̨̢̟̠̞̞̬̲̻̭̬̬̫̤̥͙̖͍̙̘̖̖̟͇̼͚̈́̎̐̀͜͠Ơ̴̢͇̥̺͈̝̟͖̹̟̤͎̈́̌̈́̒͛̐̇̈̈́̆̊̓͋̔̔͂̍̔̚͘͜͝͝͝Ļ̷͔̼͍͙̜̩͕͙̜̣̤̭̦͙͎̥̺̯̠̿͗̆L̸̢̛̲͕̣̘̜̘̈́̏̾͊̓̈̏̓̆̊͑̓͛̈́̈́͐͑̈̐͛͘͘͠Ư̴̢̧̧̢̧̢̛̙̥̮̰̙̰̙̺͕̙͙̝̼͙̰̠̖̺̱̳͈̟̫͇̗͇͇͎̈̎̇͌̐͂̅͂͌̅͛̈́̒̆̎̀̉͐̾̋̋̋̓̂͑͗̋͘̚͜͜͝͝͝X̸̨̨̧̙̟̠̟̣̦͚͕͕͍͗̓̈̀̀̈́͆̄̚ ̸̭̏̒̓̅̉͆́͆̓͌̇̈͛̌͒̃̕͠C̸̡̡̗̼̹̖̲̺̗͇̪̟͙͙̣̣̲̮͕͔̤̩͉͑̀̈́̌̈́̒̓̊̊̂̂Ą̷̧̛̯̻͍̜͉̠̖̪̦͈̗̟̯̑͆̐̈́̇̀͋͊̈̐̉́̈́͂͒̇̈́̿̅͒́͐̅̅̾̋͆̕̚͘̕͝P̷̨̺͕̭̼͛̋͗̆͛͛͛̑̇̒̔̓͘̚͝T̴̹̜͕̮͍̺͔̏͗͛̍̿̋͒̆̏̒́̂̊̓͌͗̃̓͗̎̆̂̉͒̕̕͝Ō̵̧̠̥̼̟̩̬͔̥̠̺̱̼͔̜͓̝̞̦͈̹͉̋̐͒͘͜R̸̡̢̡̛͙̳̺̮̗̻̮̖̝̭̭̃̐̍̿̑̂̋͠

But your mind… you get HIM. 

Made in the bleakest darkness, by a soul bereft of hope or any real life. Taken from blood and pain but not to make more, but to be better. To be something and someone to love and be loved. The eyes that watch and protect, the capacity to do harm when needed but the soul to not want to. There’s a spark of desperate hope that powers through him to be different than everything else he came from, an ally against a universe that’s determined to devour. An undying soul that never abandons or leaves. A blade that doesn’t thirst to cut, a shield that gives and doesn’t rebuff everything, the doom of doom itself. 

“Hey, hey, it’s okay.” 

You gasp a breath and realise that Sollux’s voice isn’t coming from your phone but is by your ear. His hands pull you away from the wall. 

“Wh-” you stammer and stumble into him. 

“I managed to get in despite you not making the other mods, I could do that from here. My name was enough. You maybe didn’t need to go that far. Sorry. I didn’t know your blood aspect would latch onto it that hard.” Sollux tells you. 

You turn your head and look at the wall. The glowing magic writing is still there but there’s your additions in their off-white colour, it seems that the magical text shifted to allow the sizeable chunk of text you wrote. Below the glowing words you can see your blood smeared onto the wall and gouged into the wood. 

Your hand hurts. 

“Ow.” you say for lack of anything smarter to say. Your skin is scratched raw and your nail has chipped off in a few places. It’s not that bad, you can just trim it a bit and it’ll even up before too long, it’s just SORE. 

“You’re good.” Sollux assures you and pats the top of your head. 

“Uh huh. Just gonna… lay down for a second.” you groan and flop down on the floor. 

Your head feels like it’s two sizes too small and it’s filled to bursting with all the meaning that Sollux poured into your brain with just two words. Part of you feels like this isn’t new information, you already knew how loyal, protective and loving he is. You’ve seen him with your friends, with his moirail. He’s risked his life for you multiple times. You knew all of that about him, but to know that it goes all the way down into the core of him, that he’s good the whole way down feels like something achingly new and raw.

“Do I have a name like that?” you croak. Tipping your head back on the dusty and splinter covered floor you can see him amending bits of the magical writing here and there to fix things. 

“Obviously you have a name.” Sollux tuts, like that was a stupid question. He takes your hand with the scratched up finger in his hands and looks it over. You’re fine, it looks worse than it is. Sollux seems to come to the same conclusion and lets you go.

“No, a name like yours. With all those extra words and meanings and things in them. God, my head hurts.” you whine. 

You realise what you said a second after you’ve said it and you clap your hand over your mouth, but for some reason Sollux doesn’t wince at you saying it. 

“Yeah, you do. It's written in angelic though, which I don't speak. I do know it by feel which is enough for magic and I could probably have a stab at translating it into English but you only get that thing you just got from my name when you're experiencing it in its own language.” Sollux tells you as he erases one line and starts writing a new one. That sure is an idea. But... wait. 

“That didn’t hurt?” you ask. 

“What?” Sollux asks, looking around at you.

“I said God.” you repeat. 

“Not in a language that means anything with that word. Haven’t you heard yourself talking yet?” Sollux asks and leans down to look at you. 

“What do you… mean?” your eyes widen as you realise that the words passing your lips don’t sound right. They don’t sound English at all. 

“Hah, caught on now?” Sollux laughs and his words are off too, the edges of his syllables a little softer, more sibilant. 

“I’m speaking demonic, YOU’RE speaking demonic. You changed my ability to speak it and read it?” you say and find yourself in awe at your own voice. 

“I needed you to be able to hear and understand my name, so, yeah. So you invoking names isn’t going to work in this.” he tells you. 

“Am I going to be able to understand you speaking demonic forever?” you ask him. 

“No. It’s probably possible to permanently magically change the language you can speak but you’d have to pay a price for it, I could work out how to do it if I had enough time but you wouldn’t really want me to. I think… I think that’ll do it. The wards are all fixed up and charged too.” Sollux nods. 

“Your voice sounds nice in demonic.” you say in your strange new language, you’re going to blame the language shift for that making it past your brain to mouth filter. 

Sollux leans over you once more and raises an eyebrow. He gives you a skeptical look and pulls you to your feet. 

“I’m a little worried that I gave you brain damage or something.” he says. 

“Do I have to have brain damage to find things about you attractive? Maybe!” you retort with a mean little grin on your face. 

Sollux’s tails wrap around your thigh and for a second you think he might be about to kiss you, until he shoves you and his hold on your leg makes you stumble and flail wildly. 

“You ass.” you accuse him. Sollux looks unrepentant and smug, naturally. 

You put your scratched up finger in your mouth as if that’ll make it feel better and look over the magic written on the walls and ceiling, still amazed that anyone can read it. You guess it makes sense as it is Sollux’s native language and how his species thinks about magic, but it’s still impressive. To think that Roxy did all of this before on her own. You take your finger out of your mouth again, it looks pretty scraped up and you need to cut your nails but you’re fine. You wipe your hand on the side of your jeans and squint at the glowing magic writing around you.

“Why did Roxy put this here?” you ask slowly, the thought stealing over you. 

“What do you mean? It’s to protect the people in the house.” Sollux says with a frown. 

“Yeah, no I got that. I’m not saying that Roxy is the kind of person who’s cool with kids she cares about being unprotected or anything. It’s just that this is a lot of magic to put on a house, what did she think was going to happen?” you ask. 

Sollux stays silent. Whatever she was scared about is the same thing she’s hiding from in New York. 

“Alright, fine. Let’s just go downstairs and tell Joey and Jude what you’ve done to fix it up.” you suggest, you know he’s not choosing to deny you information out of his own free will. If that was it he would look all smug about it. So if you start throwing a hissy fit because he’s not being helpful it won’t achieve anything. 

“That’s not going to work, but sure.” Sollux shrugs and doesn’t elaborate any more. See, this time he is holding information back because he’s being a dick, you can tell!

The pair of you go down the stairs together with you leading the way since you know where you’re actually going. As you get to the bottom set of stairs Joey, Jude and Jade look around at you from where they’re sat on the sofas. 

“Sorry about all that, and destroying your door. I didn’t mean to. This is Sollux by the way, he’s a demon but he’s not broken in to hurt you or anything. He lives with Roxy a lot of the time and he was the one who repaired the wards. Whoever it was that’s stalking your house isn’t going to be able to get in now.” you assure them. 

All three of them are staring at you in wide eyed confusion. 

Sollux snickers and then starts to talk. You can’t understand a word of what he’s saying but it sounds like you should be able to, it’s like when sims talk to each other. It sounds like speech, the intonations, accent and flow of his sentences sounds perfectly normal. But you can’t understand a bit of it. 

Jade interrupts him, waving a hand at you and she is just as unintelligible. 

“What’s- why can’t I understand anything?” you whisper in horror. 

“I said it was a temporary spell with a cost and you wouldn’t want it permanent. I just swapped your proficiency in English for Demonic, temporarily of course.” Sollux answers, suddenly intelligible and his words audibly in that sibilant demonic tone. 

“I’m going to remove your lungs and play them like fucking BAGPIPES! How long is this going to last?!” you screech furiously at him. 

“That sounds so much better in demonic.” Sollux parrots back at you. 

You shove him in the arm, careful not to push him down the stairs. Not that it’d matter, he can fly after all. 

“You’ll be back to your usual boring self first thing in the morning.” he tells you. 

“Could I write them notes or- no, I was writing in demonic up there when I did your name. You changed everything.” you groan. 

“I’ll translate for you, it’s not like I’m leaving you here.” Sollux tuts and shakes his head. 

“Somehow I don’t trust you to do that.” you say skeptically. 

Sollux turns his head and casually says something to the others, making them all laugh. You suspect that it’s at your expense.

You can’t message any of your friends or Dave and the only person you can talk to at all is Sollux. The Harley/Claire’s are nice enough to allow you and Jade to stay for the evening and the night but it’s a little dull for you. Even when Joey puts a movie on you can’t understand it and even with Sollux keeping you up on the plot it’s not exactly engaging. 

Still, you are able to watch as Jade gets to know her family. Not understanding their words means that you can see the expressions on their faces clearer, hear the subtle tones in their voices as they presumably tell Jade about their lives. 

Jude is the genius that later has the idea of playing cards, with games you already know you don’t really need to talk. Or you and Sollux can talk in Demonic and the others can talk in English at the same time. 

“Got any fours?” you ask Sollux. 

“You’re terrible at card counting. No. Go fuck yourself.” Sollux says casually. 

“It’s ‘go fish’, you- I don’t even know where to start with you. I think I give up.” you groan. 

“Maybe this is the demonic name for it and you’re just being speciest.” Sollux says tartly and turns to ask Joey for a card in English. She sighs and hands two over. 

“You’re so full of shit.” you accuse him. 

“Mmmhmm.” Sollux hums like he’s ignoring you.

“You know, Spades Slick’s spell didn’t do this to me. Maybe you’re just not that good at magic.” you tease him. 

“Well maybe you should have called him, see if he would have helped you. Only you can’t because you don’t know how and he probably wouldn’t have. So you’re welcome and I’m fantastic at magic.” Sollux retorts.

“I guess. So you just erased my ability to talk to everyone else because you’re that desperate for me to talk to you, then?” you ask innocently. 

You watch sparks skitter up Sollux’s horns and the look he gives you is absolutely menacing. Not that you’re intimidated, you’re amused if anything. Then, without any warning, Sollux snaps out of it. He looks around at the others who are talking to each other and looking at him. 

“Oh, no! Have they worked your intentions out too?” you ask him sweetly. 

Sollux’s mouth twists into a silent snarl and it shows off a decent amount of fang, which is all the more entertaining for how annoyed he’s getting. Are you really unusual for an angel? Surely you must be because irritating him feels as natural as anything. As soon as you let go of that lingering hangover from Kankri telling you how wrong it was it’s been as instinctive as breathing.

Jade says something and distracts Sollux once again. The moment kind of passes and the evening goes on. There’s food and eventually they offer Jade a guest room upstairs that Roxy apparently used to stay in a lot and you and Sollux are left with the rather large sofa. 

Sollux is fiddling with his phone when Joey leans over the sofa with her hand on the back and talks to him. You think she’s explaining things and giving directions to stuff from the way she’s pointing. Probably to the bathrooms or something like that. She narrows her eyes at Sollux and points at him, talking in a warning tone. Sollux responds with a slightly defensive and almost embarrassed tone. Joey nods once and then waves goodnight to you both with words you don’t know but can guess the meaning to. 

“Did she just tell us not to fuck on her sofa or something?” you guess. 

“Pretty much.” Sollux mumbles, his eyes fixed on his phone so he doesn’t have to look at you. 

“As if I would!” you mutter, almost offended by her saying it. She probably didn’t seriously think you were going to, she was most likely just teasing Sollux. Not that you blame her, he is innately teaseable. 

“Oh, yeah. You’re a super polite house guest. You would never bone me on their sofa but you’ll absolutely blow up parts of their building, you did the same to Jade’s too. Clearly people need to warn you about these things.” he scoffs. 

“I opened the door, don’t lie.” you retort. 

“It’s in a million bits!” Sollux argues. 

“But it is open.” you point out. You were TECHNICALLY successful. 

Technically. 

Sollux shakes his head and goes back to fiddling with his phone. You could probably do the same, you can’t read the English on your phone but even you know the icons that your favourite time wasting games have. Instead you head over to the table you were playing cards at and start trying to make a house of cards. 

Sollux’s phone pings and you watch as his shoulders drop with obvious relief, a small smile pulls at the side of his mouth as he keeps reading. The stack of cards you’ve been building topples and you sigh. So much for that. 

“Dave?” you guess and Sollux nods. 

“Roxy’s doing better now, especially since they told her that I fixed everything here.” he tells you. 

“That’s really good, it sucks so much that she gets like that. It must be horrible for her, it’s so obviously distressing for her when she’s like that.” you say. It’s true though, she really is convinced of the things that upset her at the time and it doesn’t matter if they’re real or not because it still hurts her either way. 

“A lot of the time she’s fine.” he shrugs. You suppose so, she must have been on a very steady ground mentally when she managed to drag you back to this plane from Aradia’s domain. It just sucks that she can’t be okay all of the time. 

You go back to building your house of cards again, occasionally glancing over at Sollux who is texting away as fast as anything. He’s smiling and his tails are moving in lazy and happy motions. Your tower of cards falls once more so you get up with a sigh, snagging your own phone out of habit rather than any ability to use it. 

“I’m going to grab a drink.” you tell Sollux. 

“Kay. She said there’s bedding in the… down the basement thing.” Sollux says distractedly as he types away in presumably a different language. 

You walk off and into the kitchen. Navigating an unfamiliar kitchen you finally succeed in finding the glasses and getting yourself a glass of water. Your own phone is face up on the counter and flashes a notification that you can’t read, you doubt it’s important though because it’s one of your games apps. It’s probably notifying you of something pointless so you’ll click on it and it can make you play again. You pick up your phone to dismiss the notification when an idea steals over you. 

“Gonna find the bedding!” you call and hurry down to the basement.

You flick the light on when you get there and shut the door after you. You sit on the lowest step and fiddle with your phone until you get it filming you, balanced a few steps above you. Very carefully you start to speak and make sure to gesture and be as emphatic as you can. 

“I can’t speak Demonic.” you say clearly, shaking your head and pointing to your mouth. 

“Sollux did it.” you say, with a grin and drawing an S in the air. 

You try a few basic things as well, yes, no, that sort of thing. You rattle off a few good insults, not caring much to gesture with these ones because you’ll remember that this section is just stuff you can learn to insult Sollux in his own language. Trying to think of other things you want to learn is hard but you settle on the final two things you want to remember how to say. 

“Sollux Captor is my kismesis.” that seems important.

And then, the most important.

“I hate you.” you try to put feeling into it, making sure that when you say it back even when you no longer understand demonic that you can really communicate what you feel. Of course this is all going to be gibberish to you when this spell wears off but you can learn to reproduce these sounds and as soon as you can write in English again you can note down roughly what they all are so you don’t forget. You have to practice so you can get it perfect but you’ll do it. He’ll be so surprised!

Your cover for being down here was getting bedding so you make sure to do that and hurry back to the sofa. Sollux is seemingly done talking to Dave when you get back and looks around with a stretch. 

“Did you get lost down there or something?” he asks. 

“They have a lot of stuff in their basement.” you tell him, not technically a lie. 

You toss the blankets and pillow on the sofa and get under them, the sofa is big and really deep, there’s more than enough room for you. You lift up the corner of the blankets and look up at Sollux who is still in his armchair.

“I know you don’t normally sleep at night but… do you want to?” you ask. 

“I can sleep at night, I just choose not to. It’s habit by now.” Sollux says.

Uncertainly you lower the blankets again and Sollux teleports abruptly in front of you, a distance he could have crossed in a few steps. 

“I didn’t say no.” he points out. 

You shuffle back against the sofa and Sollux slinks under the covers. The sofa is big but he’s absurdly tall so you’re right up against each other. The easiest thing is to tuck your head under his chin, let him lay on his back so that you can cling to his side. 

“I forgot to turn the light off.” you say dumbly as you realise that the room is still fully lit. You’d been so busy thinking about getting Sollux in here with you that you’d neglected that important detail. 

Sollux raises a hand up in the air, snaps his fingers, and the room suddenly goes dark. Aside from the glow of his eyes, of course. 

“Do you think you’re going to sleep?” you ask curiously. 

“Probably. Not been sleeping much at home.” Sollux mumbles sleepily and you feel his fingers curl around your side. 

You hope that he does get to sleep, then. You’d bet that all of the upset at the Lalonde house has been causing chaos during his usual daytime sleeping hours. 

“Is this a thing with demons when they’re pitch?” you ask him sleepily. 

“Is what a thing?” he asks. 

“Cuddling. This whole…” you trail off, waving a hand at this whole cosy situation you’ve got going on. 

“Sort of? It depends. After something big then it’d fit but I don’t actually give a shit. I hate you, I like this, what else matters?” Sollux says with a shrug that jostles your head slightly. 

“Oh.” you say. 

That makes sense. You’re presumably abnormal by angel standards so what do you care about the judgement of demon conventions? Sollux is comfy and warm, you’re fine. 

“What is ‘oh’ supposed to mean? You can’t just say ‘oh’ and leave it at that!” Sollux snaps after about thirty seconds. Aw, he was worried. 

“It means you’re right and I’m tired so shut up and stop lighting up the room, numbskull.” you yawn. You reach up and teasingly put your hand over his eyes, significantly darkening the room. In retaliation he licks your wrist. You flick him in the nose, you’re both very mature of course. 

The sofa isn’t the most comfortable thing to sleep on in the world and Sollux probably got the better end of the deal when it comes to the two of you sleeping against each other. Unlike him you’re pretty soft as opposed to Sollux who is all sharp angles. Not that it really affects your sleep, you actually sleep really well next to him.


	21. The Devil Went Down To Georgia

When you wake up in the morning you are sleepy and comfortable, perfectly content to lay there for a while. Sollux is still asleep and you don’t really want to wake him. You have one leg thrown over his and his tails are wrapped around your ankle on that leg like he’s your personal anchor.

In a half awake daze you watch him, he’s definitely dreaming. There’s little tell tale movements behind his eyelids and every so often his tails will tighten on your leg or his mouth moves slightly as if he was saying something in his dream. You’re a little worried about waking him but you shifting a little to make sure your arm doesn’t go dead or moving your head a touch so you can get comfortable doesn’t disturb him one bit.

But something does.

Sollux goes from dead to the world to wide eyed, buzzing with psionic energy and clutching you tight to him as he scrambles up in the air off of the sofa. You watch in shock as the expression on his face shifts, the alarm falling away.

“Sorry, I was trying to be quiet.” Jade squeaks, frozen on the stairs.

“It’s- it’s okay. It’s nothing.” Sollux says, blatantly a lie. He looks at you and lets you go, dropping you the foot down to the sofa.

“You ass, I- hey! I can understand Jade again!” you exclaim, pointing at her.

“You’re speaking English again!” Jade agrees cheerily and hops down the last few steps of the stairs.

Sollux drifts down to sit on the arm of the sofa, his tails twitching like an irritated cat.

“Sorry about waking you up though Sollux, I was trying to be quiet and sneak by. Were you having a bad dream or something? Because I can’t imagine me creeping by would wake you up when Karkat snoring wouldn’t!” Jade asks and shoots a teasing look at you.

“I don’t snore!” you protest.

“Ehh.” Sollux says.

“You do.” Jade assures you.

“You both suck.” you grumble. You want to insist that they’re making it up but they both have slept next to you so maybe they’re right.

“Sure, whatever. I’m gonna go. Hit me up when you need a lift back.” Sollux says and then without another word he just vanishes.

“Is he alright?” Jade asks you.

“Not a morning person maybe?” you say with a shrug.

“I didn’t mean to startle him.” she says with obvious regret in her tone.

“He said it was nothing, there’s probably no reason to worry about it.” you tell her.

You don’t think for one second that it’s really nothing though. Sollux mentioned very vaguely about his past in hell having not been great, if he happened to spend a lot of time hanging out with a fallen angel on the outskirts of hell he was probably trying to lay low. You snuggled up to him and moving a little didn’t disturb him, he trusted you enough to sleep. But Jade was someone further off, someone sneaking.

The way he jolted awake trying to protect you makes your heart wrench. What happened to make that such an instinct? No wonder he usually likes to sleep when his moirail is awake, he can feel better that someone is keeping an eye out for him.

A lot of this is guesswork of course, but it’s definitely an educated guess on your part. As much as you hate it you can feel a part of yourself bubble with anger at whoever instilled that kind of reaction in him. You’re too late to protect him and vengeance isn’t something you should really take up but damn if it isn’t tempting.

“You want coffee or something?” Jade offers after a long moment of silence.

“You know I do.” you laugh.

Jade shakes her head with a little chuckle and walks off towards the kitchen. You pull the blankets back over yourself and pull your phone from its charm. Taking a quick minute you rewatch the video you made of yourself last night and write your English translations down for what you said. You’re going to learn those phrases in demonic. Maybe one day you can learn the whole language but for now this will do.

You look at your phone screen for a moment or two after you’re done and on impulse open up trollian to send Dave a message.

carcinoGeneticist [CG] began trolling  turntechGodhead [TG]  
  
CG: MORNING.  
TG: fuck it sure is dude  
CG: SO YESTERDAY I WAS SPEAKING DEMONIC.  
TG: ha yeah i heard about that from jade and sollux told me too just now  
CG: OH SO HE WENT BACK TO YOU, THAT MAKES SENSE.   
TG: yeah man hes currently sat on my windowsill staring out  
TG: i think maybe mom is twitchy about the wards and he's eyeing them up for her or something  
TG: maybe he talked to her on the way here idk  
CG: MAKES SENSE.  
TG: oh no he says hes not talked to her yet  
CG: HEY, SO YOU SAID YOU'D TALKED TO JADE. HOW DID THAT GO? I DIDN'T GET TO SPEAK TO HER YESTERDAY NIGHT BECAUSE OF A SUDDEN AND FRUSTRATING LANGUAGE BARRIER.  
TG: yeah we chatted a bit but i think she talked to rose a little more  
TG: apparently neither of her grandpas two kids there are her parents which is a big question mark and she said she wants to check out all of her grandpas diaries or journals or whatever they are when you get back there  
CG: I ENTIRELY SUPPORT JADE IN THIS.  
TG: oh same  
CG: ...THIS IS GOING TO END TERRIBLY ISN'T IT?  
TG: so its not just me with that sinking feeling like someone tied my insides to the titanic and crashed it into all the icebergs and the band are just playing as my stomach gets dragged into the deeps  
CG: NO, THAT'S ME TOO. WE'RE BOTH THERE ON THE TITANIC IN THIS METAPHOR I GUESS.   
CG: I PROMISE NOT TO LEAVE YOU HANGING ONTO THE EDGE OF A DOOR AND FREEZING IN THE OCEAN IN THIS SCENARIO.  
TG: what if there really wasnt room for us both on the door  
TG: thats what people say  
CG: THEN I WOULD TAKE TURNS WITH YOU, OBVIOUSLY.   
TG: nothing expresses the depth of someones affections for you like offering to mitigate their risk of hypothermia with them  
CG: I TRY. OH SHIT JADE IS CALLING ME FOR COFFEE, I SHOULD GO.   
TG: cool i should get up at some point  
CG: PROBABLY, YEAH.  
TG: but my bed is warm and i dont want to  
CG: YOU RAISE A GOOD POINT, BUT I HAVE COFFEE TEMPTING ME OUT SO I'M GOING.  
TG: zzz  
  
turntechGodhead [TG] ceased trolling  carcinoGeneticist [CG]

You get up and head into the kitchen to find Jade. As you thought she's made coffee for you both and is curiously inspecting what's around that looks like it could be breakfast food. You don't know if they told you to help yourself or anything but you can't imagine that either Joey or Jude would begrudge you a slice of toast.

"Thanks." you say as you pick up the mug and blow on the steaming surface of the coffee.

"It's ok, I'm just glad you can speak the same language as me again. Sollux told us that it'd only be temporary but it's reassuring to see that he was right. I mean school is always telling us how serious magical accidents can be and one that messes with your mind enough to change your language could be really bad if it's done wrong." Jade says.

"I'm fine, really. Sollux already knew the basis of the spell and it was in his native language so I'm sure he knew what he was doing. He wouldn't risk scrambling my brain for that otherwise." you assure her.

"It's funny how the two of you were like cats and dogs before and now you're both like this." she says with a grin that's full of mischief.

"Oh, he still drives me crazy with how annoying and frustrating he is, it's just different now. Or maybe I should say that I can see it for what it is now. I don't know." you shake your head, how do you explain that kind of thing to someone else?

"Well I'm glad that the two of you worked it out." she nods.

Jade picks up a bag of bread and holds up a few slices, you're too busy drinking coffee to answer her but you give her a thumbs up with your other hand so she throws it in the toaster for you.

"So what's the plan now then? Back to the island?" you ask.

"I think so. I don't want to impose on Joey and Jude, they're together for Christmas time and they don't know me well enough for me to just invite myself. They probably wouldn't say no but..." Jade trails off. She wouldn't feel right just inserting herself here at the first opportunity. You get that, feeling like an outsider is never fun but it's hard to get away from.

"Did you find out anything more about your grandpa when I couldn't understand what you were talking about?" you ask, shifting the topic a little.

Jade nods and leans back against the kitchen island with her arms folded and her face set in a downcast expression.

"Yeah, I did. Obviously he wasn't a great father to Joey and Jude, that's pretty obvious. He used to just ditch them all the time. I think Joey took it more personally than Jude did but it's clear that even he doesn't like Grandpa much. Neither of them were especially sad to hear that he was dead, but I guess when you're out of someone's life so much that you can die and they don't know about it then you can't really complain about them not feeling too bad about it." she sighs.

"I can't imagine having kids and then just leaving them like that." you say.

Jade nods and picks up a lock of her long hair and stares intently at the end of it like she's searching for split ends.

"I feel bad about it, really." she says softly and combs through that lock of hair with her finger and starts absently braiding it.

"It's clear that they didn't like him and Grandpa was always very averse to conflict, you know? Whenever he had done something to make me mad at him he'd try to brush it off. Distract me from it or bury himself in 'work' all of a sudden. He wasn't good at dealing with that sort of thing. It's not their fault, of course not, but I wonder if he just saw how much of a mess he'd made here and just kind of ran away from it all." she says unhappily.

"That's a real cowardly move if that's what it was. Not that cheating on his wife with that 'gentleman caller' was any better." you say in disgust and take another sip of coffee to get the taste of that idea out of your mouth.

"Yeah, they weren't happy when I told them about that. I did that when you were in the attic breaking things." Jade says and finishes the braid off.

"That's not what I was doing." you grumble.

"Sure. I guess I just want to go back and try to look through his diaries. I want to know if he has another kid somewhere and if I'm their child or if he adopted me from somewhere as a second chance of being a parent with a kid that didn't hate him. A good number of parents of changelings give them up for adoption, so it's possible." Jade says with a wince. It's true but it still hurts to think about.

"You think he called himself your grandpa instead of your father because it afforded him more distance or something? As in, it's easier to be someone's wacky grandpa than an irresponsible as shit father?" you guess.

"Maybe. Or maybe it was just to explain the age thing. I know male humans can have children really late into their lives with no problems but it's not the normal age range, is it? Grandpa might have just been more believable. Or maybe he really is my grandpa and I have a parent out there that isn't Joey or Jude. I need to read his diaries to be sure." Jade says.

The toaster pops and she snags the toast from it, hissing slightly at the heat as she tries to get the toast onto a plate before she burns her fingers. You hunt through the fridge and come up with some butter and go through a few drawers until you find a knife or two as well.

"We can work it out together." you tell her confidently.

Jade beams at you and the two of you eat your toast and drink your coffee in companionable silence. Just as you're finishing up hand washing the dishes Joey and Jude come into the room, although Jude looks like he's been kicked out of bed by his sister. He's still wearing a dressing gown and bear foot slippers with the fur and claws.

"Morning, did you two sleep okay? Where's your other friend?" Joey asks curiously.

"He went home real quick. He said he'll be back to give us a lift out of here when we want to go." you tell her.

"Oh, you speak English again then?" Jude grins at you cheekily.

"Yeah, I'm back." you snort.

"Karkat and I were thinking of leaving, I've got a lot more questions about Grandpa now that I want to look into. Plus I don't want to intrude any more, you know?" Jade laughs awkwardly.

"Jade, you're not intruding. You can go back if you want to but please don't think that you're not welcome here. You've got our numbers, you can come by whenever or talk to us whenever you want. Right, Jude?" Joey says and shoots a look at your brother.

"Of course. Salem's not too far away either, if you ever want to stay out here for a project or anything or just for dinner you can." Jude nods.

"I... I really appreciate that." Jade sniffs.

"I just remembered I left my, uh..." you say awkwardly and make yourself scarce, slipping back into the main room. As you leave you can see Joey and Jude pulling Jade in for a hug. She's got a family, you don't want to get in the way of that.

You feel a pang of what might be envy. You don't have a family, as far as you know you only had your maker, no siblings or whatever the angelic equivalent is. Kankri's dead and he also sucked. It's not that you wish he was here so you could give him a hug, maybe you just wish that he was the sort of person who might have liked you enough to hug you and mean it.

Wow, that's sad.

You shoot Sollux a message to give him a heads up that Jade is probably going to want to leave soon but that you'll tell him closer when she exactly wants to leave. You just don't want him to start some hours long campaign on some nerdy video game or something else equally sad and dorky.

He tells you to get fucked. He also says to let him know when Jade wants to go and that it's no problem. Ah, the duality of Sollux.

You're left with not much to do so you fold up the bedding that Joey and Jude were kind enough to lend you and straighten the place up a bit.

"Oh, you really don't have to do that." Joey says when she comes back in the room with the rest of her family and sees you tidying.

"No, you've been really gracious with us just showing up here. It's the least I can do." you insist and stack the coasters up with one hand as you hold the drinks cans for recycling in your other.

"Here, I'll take those." Jude offers and takes the drinks cans off of you. That at least saves you asking where the recycling is.

"Can we go back?" Jade asks.

"Sure." you nod and shoot Sollux a message.

Sollux shows up about two seconds later, eating an apple.

"Wanna go?" he asks Jade through a mouthful of half chewed apple.

"Jesus, who raised you?" you hiss and regret it when Sollux winces a little.

"No one." he retorts.

"Well, that- I mean, same but I have better manners!" you splutter out indignantly. Sollux seems to consider this for a moment and then sticks his tongue out with a whole load of chewed up apple on it. He's DISGUSTING, why do you kiss this guy?

Jade snorts with laugher so you've already lost the battle to try to force some manners into the shitlord, you may as well just accept it. He holds out a hand to her and Jade hesitates, hugs Joey and Jude one last time before taking Sollux's hand. His tails snag around your wrist and all at once you're on Jade's island again.

"Thanks for the ride, Sollux. It's really nice of you." Jade says gratefully.

"I know, I'm fantastic like that. Later loser." That last part is directed at you as he flicks your forehead with his finger and disappears again.

"I loathe him." you grumble.

You and Jade return to her house and decide to both get changed into clean clothes before you get started on your research. When the two of you walk into her grandpa's office you end up looking at the huge stack of his journals and once more you feel overwhelmed. Through the glass you can see the frog temple once more and an idea occurs to you.

"Hey, before we look into your grandpa's sketchy past about how many kids he may or may not have could I look for something specific?" you ask.

"I, ah, sure. I'm feeling a little nervous now that I'm here to be honest." Jade admits.

You wander over to the stack of books on the table and call out to Abraxas. It pokes its head out after a moment and blinks at you curiously.

"Hi, Abraxas. I wondered if you could help me with a kind of specific search." you ask it.

"Specific is better than vague, so by all means." Abraxas nods.

"In that temple over there was a box and a record player. The record player had a specific record in it which seemed really weird to have there. I just wondered if you could tell me if Jake Harley ever wrote anything about it that might tell us something. The record is called 'The Devil Went Down To Georgia', can you find anything?" you ask, trying to be as clear as you can.

"There are several diary references to that song and one letter that came with the shipping of a package." Abraxas tells you.

"The kind of package you might get a record in?" Jade wonders. You shrug and look at Abraxas.

"The package arrived before I was around, but I can find you the letter. Follow me." Abraxas says and squirms quickly up the stairs to the top of the dome. It wriggles to a filing cabinet and then through the metal to the paper inside. A moment passes and a letter pokes out of the top, it's addressed to the Harley Manor.

Dear Jake, 

Thanks so much for not telling the press about what happened, we really did make a record out of it and it's doing real well! Here's a signed copy, I'll never forget that night. 

Charlie

You frown and pull out your phone. A quick search of Google tells you that the band that recorded The Devil Went Down To Georgia is the Charlie Daniels Band.

"That's... weird. Abraxas are there any diary entries that have, wait let me look the lyrics up." Jade mutters and looks at her phone for a minute, "any mentions of a fiddle contest at a date before this letter?"

"Oh, that's clever." you nod.

"Oh, yes." Abraxas nods.

The little worm wriggles over to an older section of the diaries and pops one out, the pages flip to reveal another entry in Jake's now familiar handwriting.

I really must tell you about this encounter I had tonight that I can scarcely explain. I've been travelling through Georgia for far too long trying to track down people who claim to have seen Altie, a cryptid that I'm certain is nothing more than poppycock. I feared the whole trip would be a total bust but it seems not. 

I went to a bar to try to drown my sorrows, despite how good swimmers they tend to be. There was a band drinking there together too but otherwise it was very quiet, I didn't even hear the young man come in or see him until he took a seat one stool down from me at the bar. 

I would never admit in public that I have had a passing fancy for the occasional gent, people don't tend to look kindly on that sort of thing even in academia. Not that it's a problem, I can just ignore it and pretend to be normal. Either way this young man sat down and he was just the type to get my heart racing. He was a pretty thing but he looked strong, like maybe he had some kind of career as a rancher or something, he certainly looked the type. He had pale hair and slightly golden skin with freckles across his bare shoulders. I could scarcely see his face from the shade of his baseball cap but I could see from his profile alone that he was attractive. 

We ended up talking, though I can't quite remember how. He was charming but in a way that put me ill at ease, as if I had to fill these silences and ended up saying all sorts of things that I wouldn't have meant to. He started asking me curiously how much I wanted to see this here cryptid of mine and what I'd give to see it.

At this point there was another man in the bar, one I hadn't really paid much mind to before. He was sitting in the back and walked past the table that we'd moved to by that point and his shirt just caught my drink and spilled it which rather shattered the mood. He was very apologetic of course and offered to buy me a new one. 

When he brought me a new drink the jukebox started playing that duelling banjos song and the young man laughed and said that it was a plum shame that people didn't duel in his instrument of choice because he was sure he'd win any contest. I asked him what he played, of course, and the young man said that he played the fiddle and he'd bet his very soul that he was the best fiddle player around. 

My companion was on his feet in an instant, an inch from the man's face saying that he'd take that bet. All I can say is that he looked... hungry.

The new man was undisturbed and held out his hand, said that his name was Johnny and he'd take the stranger's bet. 

What happened next I have trouble putting together. It wasn't music, not really, or not what I can describe as music to my ears. I hid behind the table of the band that had been drinking there as drinks burst aflame and mirrors shattered as the man who had been talking to me played and played. I still feel the beat of that music in my soul even now. 

When he was done we all stared in terror, sure that this man was not of this plane at all. But the young man was just grinning from ear to ear, his blue eyes all shining like he was in on the biggest joke of all. He said that the man's attempt was good but nothing compared to his music. 

He played.

I have been staring at this page for several minutes trying to describe the sound that man's fiddle made as he played but words simply can't put it to justice. It was music like I've never heard and that night I found blood dripping down from my ears and I don't know which of the two caused it. Either way we could all tell that Johnny's music was the better and my companion held out his fiddle with a hiss, turned it to solid gold and dropped it to the floor at the man's feet and walked out. 

The young man jeered after him and snatched up the fiddle, winked at all of us and walked out with a laugh.

The band say they might make the whole thing into a song. I would sooner forget it and to that end I have a bottle of whiskey here that I'm going to start work on until this is all a hazy memory.

You and Jade stare at each other for a moment, how is any of that possible? Surely that had to be a demon that Jake ran into, albeit one pretending to be human very convincingly. Or maybe he’s something else, a few species are big on deals and that’s what it sounded like he was trying to bait Jake into. The fact that the song is called ‘The Devil Went Down To Georgia’ makes it pretty clear that the people there worked out that the man was some flavour of demonic.

Holy shit. Or rather, unholy shit. More importantly, is this the mysterious gentleman caller?

“Abraxas, what’s the first entry after this for ‘gentleman caller’?” you ask.

Abraxas doesn’t even have to fetch a new book, it just dips into the pages and flips to a new entry not that far ahead. You scan the page as fast as you can.

I told him that if he’s going to keep showing up then I’m going to consider him my gentleman caller and what with this being his third time seeking me out that at the very least he ought to buy me dinner. It was a joke, of course, but in a snap we were somewhere else. Atop some skyscraper in a fine dining establishment that I couldn’t possibly ever see myself in. 

I was nowhere near presentable enough for the place but then neither was he. He snapped a finger and then out of nowhere the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen showed up with two covered dishes, she set them on the table, bowed to him and vanished. 

He just sat there and watched me until I took the lids off and then I had to laugh because it was only McDonalds under there after all that! He seemed amused by how funny I found it and now that I think on it I wonder if he was being more sincere than I thought about trying to have some kind of contact with me. He didn’t even try to talk me into selling anything away to him this time. 

A gentleman caller indeed.

The room is still and silent, your arm is warm from where Jade is leant against your side reading as well.

“Grandpa… was fantastically stupid.” she says slowly.

“Oh, one hundred percent.” you agree in awe. Okay, yeah, you’re dating a demon but you were twitchy around him for a good while until he showed he could be trusted and loads of people vouched for him. This dude showed up, tried to make a bargain for Jake’s soul and then got distracted trying to melt a man’s face off in a music contest and then seemingly stalked Jake to keep bothering him. Apparently that’s swoon worthy if you’re Jake Harley. What the shit?

“So now we need to- or I need to see where I came from.” Jade says hesitantly.

“Well, what’s your plan with that?” you ask and shift so you’re sitting cross legged on the floor and just watching her. You want to support her and let her do this at her own pace.

“My plan was just to look up the date I was born and work from there.” she says and picks up the book you have and puts it back in its place. She slides her fingers along the volumes until she comes to one she decides is the right one, she plucks it from the shelf and sits back down at your side to read. This time she reads aloud to you.

“December 1st 2000.” she begins.

“Wait,” you interrupt, “I thought we were starting at your birthday.”

“We are. That is my birthday.” Jade says. You kneel up and grab her by the shoulders.

“Do you mean to tell me that I missed YOUR BIRTHDAY TOO?! And- and you never said anything?!” your volume ratchets up and it’s a struggle to drag it back down.

“I don’t really cele-e-e-e-stop shaaaaaking meee!” Jade’s speech is somewhat disturbed by how hard you’re shaking her back and forth.

“You suck! I’m going to buy you a present and a cake and we’re going to have a nice belated birthday or I’ll die trying!” you snarl at her. She smacks your hand away and shakes herself off.

“Karkat, I know you mean well but I will sic Bec on you. Now sit your butt down, mister!” Jade barks at you. You don’t want to test her, not right now or ever.

“I’m still going to get you a cake.” you mutter but do as she says anyway for your own wellbeing.

“Anyway, as I was saying. December 1st 2000. I have accepted my gentleman caller’s deal, after much agonising on the- hm.” Jade frowns and flips the page back.

“Does he say what the deal was?” you ask.

“Well I’ll read it and you’ll find out, you’re so impatient!” Jade complains and elbows you.

“Ow.” you whine, rubbing your arm. Why are Jade’s elbows so sharp?

“November 30th 2000. My gentleman caller was on the island when I got up this morning. I had been heading out to study the brag that I had captured before, I often find that he shows up more often when I study anything equine adjacent but he didn’t seem too fond of the brag. The little goblin thing just pretends to be a horse to trick people and I don’t think that my gentleman caller likes that, he was certainly scowling at the beast.

He said that he had a proposition for me, not unusual of course as he often suggests ideas for my research when the outcome might benefit him. I can’t keep all of the creatures I catch on this island because they’ll compete with each other in ways that’s not right for this ecosystem, so if he wants the heart of some such creature when I’d need to put it down anyway then I hardly see the problem.

This time he asked me about the fae, he said that his lawyerly types had told him that changelings were getting more and more protections under the law to be regarded as if they were the human children that they replaced. He asked if it bothered me and I’m quite sure he knew my answer in advance.” Jade trails off a little there.

“Jude said it looked like you changed his mind though.” you tell her softly.

“He suggested that perhaps if people had real data about what fae children were really like then such laws would be revoked, all it would require is for some data to be gathered and in depth study done. The kind that one could not do with ethics laws back home. His proposal was that he steals me a fae child, a newborn, one that could be swapped for a human and I study its development. Separating it from its group at that age would ensure that its behaviour would be innate, thus people couldn’t argue that the ‘good ones’ would be an exception to any of my findings. I raise it, study it and run whatever experiments and tests I see fit.” Jade reads.

“Holy fuck. He- that’s- that’s evil. That’s not even unethical, that's outright evil, Jade I’m so-” Jade keeps reading, her voice picking up as if her stopping might break her. Wisely you stay quiet.

“Naturally I asked him what the catch was. A chance to prove a cause so dear to my heart, to avenge my poor grandmother who was taken and managed to escape their wretched domain. Surely such a thing would not come without a price. He said there was no price and he would even protect the island from the fae being able to find the child there and naturally Bec would protect me too as he has for all these years. He said there was no catch at all, what he was offering me was exactly what he wanted. I need to consider this, he says he’ll be back tomorrow for my answer.” Jade stops.

The silence around you both is heavy. Jake accepted the deal, he had his gentleman caller kidnap Jade as a baby from her people and studied her all while pretending that she was family to him. No wonder that he didn’t want her in here reading his things.

“Jade I’m so sorry.” you whisper and reach out to her. You gently rest your hand on her shoulder as Jade lowers the diary to her lap.

Abraxas looks at you both and you think that it perhaps doesn’t entirely understand what’s happening here.

“Abraxas, do you have any research notes about me? About Jade, his- fae or changeling research project?” Jade asks in a voice that sounds far off.

“Several volumes, yes. I’ll get them for you.” Abraxas nods and slips into the bookcase. Several white volumes nudge themselves to the edge of the shelves and Jade stands up to get them down.

“Jade-”

“Karkat, could you leave me alone? Sorry, it’s not personal I just want to read these alone.” she whispers.

“Sure, fuck, that’s completely understandable. I’ll just… go. I’ll be in the greenhouse if you want to talk or just want company or anything and I’ll have my phone, okay?” you tell her awkwardly.

Jade nods. Her hands are on the cover of one of the white bound books. The cover reads ‘Experiments and observations - ‘Jade’ 2000-2005’. Your fists clench in rage for her but this isn’t about you and your feelings, this is about Jade. You get up and turn to leave like she asked.

“Don’t tell anyone, please?” Jade calls after you.

“Of course I won’t.” you nod.

With that you leave Jake’s area of the house. You find Bec sleeping in a sunbeam a few rooms away and heft him to his feet, you shove him towards Jake’s office and the bewildered hellhound takes the hint and walks inside. You hope he’ll make her feel better at least.

Fuck, this is so messed up. Jade’s words about how much her grandpa seemed to pay attention to her at times suddenly have a far more sinister ring to them. God, poor Jade. You’ve half a mind to go down to the creepy taxidermy room and cuss out the taxidermied remains of Jake Harley but that won’t help anyone. You told Jade that you’d be in the greenhouse so that’s where you’re going to go.

You wonder if it would have been better if Jade hadn’t known about this. Maybe you could still have tracked down Joey and Jude without breaking into that room and Jade could have had a family without knowing all this shit. You and Sollux are the reason that all this has come out, you went where you weren’t supposed to go and now terrible things have happened.

The guilt that washes over you is kneejerk, instinctive, and feels so very old. You did a bad thing and now bad consequences have followed and it’s ALL YOUR FAULT. It doesn’t feel like that’s entirely your voice though. Sure, you do feel bad for the part you played and you hate that your friend is suffering. You wish she wasn’t! But this isn’t all your fault. You didn’t offer Jake Harley a kidnapped child, you didn’t take some kind of demon man up on that offer, you didn’t study that kid for the rest of your life and write down every little thing and pretended to love her as you did it. That’s not your fault, none of it is.

But maybe she could have been blissfully ignorant without your actions. She’d have thought her grandpa was a bit of a deadbeat from how he treated the rest of her family, sure, but she wouldn’t know this. Is ignorance really better though? You’ve lived years in total ignorance of even what you are, so acting like ignorance is better or you’re right to keep information from her is just wrong. It hurts, but she has a right to know the truth.

If Jade wants to pretend this never happened, burn the books about her, and swear you to secrecy she can. That’s fine, but she deserved to know.

Part of you wishes that you hadn’t sent Bec up to see Jade, you’re unsettled and nervous enough that you could use some doggy cuddles. You try reading but your mind can’t stay focused on anything you try to read for any length of time, all you can think about is Jade up there and what she must be reading.

Your phone pings and you’re grateful for the distraction.

turntechGodhead [TG] began trolling  carcinoGeneticist [CG]  
  
TG: hey karkitty  
TG: or maybe not kitty more like bird karbird  
CG: WHAT? HI.  
TG: hah sorry so whats up man  
CG: UH. I'M BACK ON JADE'S ISLAND AT THE MOMENT. NOT JUST ME, JADE IS HERE TOO OBVIOUSLY.   
CG: WHAT'S UP WITH YOU?  
TG: oh not much just stuck in the woods going nuts  
TG: rose is driving me crazy and mom is on some project and sollux is soaking up a sunbeam and sleeping  
TG: not that youre my last resort or anything i was just giving you the update  
CG: SURE  
TG: uh so whats up with you  
CG: I'M JUST IN THE GREENHOUSE.   
TG: cool?  
TG: uh so i was thinking that we should make plans to do something when we get back to salem you know  
CG: YEAH SURE  
TG: are you alright man because im not really feeling this conversation on both ends here  
CG: SORRY. IT'S NOT YOU.   
CG: CAN I GET BACK TO YOU LATER?  
TG: sure but is something wrong  
CG: I'LL GET BACK TO YOU LATER. SORRY. IT'S NOT YOU.  
  
carcinoGeneticist [CG] ceased trolling  turntechGodhead [TG]

You can’t concentrate on talking to Dave when you’re thinking about Jade so much, not to mention the risk of telling Dave something he shouldn’t know. You probably fucked that conversation up though, good job there Karkat.

When Jade comes down she interrupts you going back and forth with yourself over whether or not interrupting Jade to bring her lunch would be a good idea. On the one hand it’s a terrible idea, she’s not studying and in need of a snack! This is deep personal trauma! Sandwiches are hardly the appropriate response. On the other hand though Jade’s situation is already terrible enough and she’s probably going to end up neglecting her physical needs as she processes everything. Sandwiches could be just what she needs and a practical way for you to show your support without intruding on what she’s reading.

Jade comes in the room and throws that entire thought process out. Her eyes are somewhat red rimmed behind her glasses and her skin is red and blotchy. You leap to your feet when you see her but hesitate about whether to rush over and hug her or not, you err on the side of not doing that.

“I need to go.” Jade croaks, her voice rough.

“Where to?” you ask.

“Joey said I can stay with them until school starts back on, or even after. I told them everything.” she says.

“That’s… that’s good. I’m really glad that you can stay with them, I’m sure they understand better than I could. It’s good we found them.” you agree. They can give her proper support about how their father can be.

Wait, if she’s going there then what about you? Surely you can’t stay here alone, right?

“Do you want me to go pack my things now?” you ask.

“Yeah, I think I will too. We can use the return port ticket to get back to the closest port to Hauntswitch, unless you want to use yours to go right to school?” Jade says with a sniff and a nod.

“No, I’ll stay with you until they pick you up. Besides, I can fly, remember?” you smile at her, shooting for reassuring.

Jade nods and the pair of you head up to her room. You hurry about and pack up the things you can find that are yours. Jade doesn’t seem to be taking much and you don’t know if that’s a good sign or a bad one.

“Wait! Abraxas!” you gasp, your hand freezing as you reach for a lost sock under Jade’s bed.

“Yeah?” Jade mumbles and separates two squiddles plushies.

“We can’t leave Abraxas here, it was starving without new books. We can’t just…” you trail off. Jade waves a hand vaguely in what you’re going to take as permission.

You snag your lost sock and stuff it in your bag. With that done you hurry along to Jake’s library. There’s books and diaries strewn all over the place, Jade certainly went through a lot of things here after you left.

“Abraxas.” you call out.

“Yes?” it responds, you turn to see it on a shelf.

“We’re leaving and I don’t know if we’re coming back. I don’t know if Jade is ever going to come back here. You’ll starve without new books, right?” you ask. Abraxas nods silently.

“Do you want to come with me? I have books in my dorm and if Jade lets me I can bring these books with me too. I don’t want you to die.” you say.

Is this absurd? You’re an angel and you’re worried about the life of a book worm. You’re pretty sure that Kankri would think this is stupid or wrong of you. How can it be, though? Abraxas surely thinks, feels pain, has emotions, just because it’s different to you doesn’t mean that you can just ignore all of that.

“I don’t need these books, I would rather keep them but I can move to a new collection.” Abraxas tells you.

“Alright, come with me and I’ll ask Jade.” you offer and hold out your hand. Abraxas wiggles forward off of the shelf and onto your hand. You go back to Jade’s room and find her sat on the end of her bed petting Bec with a distant look on her face.

“Jade, Abraxas wants to come with but… can it take the library-” you start.

“No. Leave it. All of those books and- they’re not leaving here. No one’s reading his shit research.” Jade hisses and her form shifts slightly to something more malevolent and savage, the kind of fae that show up in the old horror stories about them from the dark ages. It’s gone in a second of course and Bec licks her palm with his glowing tongue, calming her down.

“Are you okay with the front pocket of my bag? It’s not the actual ‘of holding’ part.” you ask Abraxas, holding your hand near the additional pocket. Abraxas squirms inside instead of answering and you turn your attention back to Jade.

“Let’s go then.” you say to her.

Since the two of you have travelled here from a commercial port you just have to fill out the paperwork online, yours is pretty simple. You’re not taking anything back that you didn’t arrive with, aside from Abraxas, and nothing about you is different. Sure, you know what species you are now but you’re sure as shit not telling anyone else that. Jade’s form takes a good while longer to fill out than yours.

Peering over you can see that she’s filling out details for Bec.

“Will he come with you?” you ask.

“He refused last time, but I want to try again.” she tells you. You look over at Bec who seems to sense your gaze, despite his lack of eyes, he makes a quiet and deep ‘boof’ noise in response.

Both of you hit submit on your applications, the nice thing about going from a basically deserted island to a pretty low traffic port in Massachusetts is that you can get a slot very soon. The three of you leave almost right away to walk to the teleportation circle, you hold your breath as you walk past Jade’s grandpa’s taxidermied body but Jade stoically doesn’t look at him.

You deeply hope that Bec will come with you and you watch as Jade crouches down on the teleportation circle and calls Bec over, patting her knees and making kissy noises at him. Bec whines at the edge of the circle and looks back at the temple. Or he perceives it somehow, what with the lack of eyes.

“Come on, Bec. You don’t need to stay here on your own. He’s dead and his stupid temple with its stupid box are all worthless, you don’t have to do what he told you to.” Jade pleads.

Bec looks back at Jade and after a few seconds he walks into the teleportation circle with both of you. Jade almost sobs as she buries her face in Bec’s long white fur. The world around you smears and you are at all once in the Massachusetts port, or whichever one is closest to Hauntswitch at least.

“Uh, miss, your dog needs to be on a leash.” the teleportation attendant warns Jade.

“He’s never been on a leash in his life.” Jade sniffs and stands up.

“Well he needs to be on one now.” the man tells her stiffly.

You improvise a leash with a very loose length of string that in absolutely no way is restraining Bec or could in any way be described as leading him anywhere. Bec smugly trots past the attendant and you just hope he’ll be well behaved enough until you get out of the port.

Jade is on her phone as she walks out with Bec’s string barely held in one hand, she’s projecting a very strong ‘do not talk to me or get in my way’ aura. It’s doing a lot to keep the crowd out of her way and you’re happy to coast along in her wake. You pull your own phone out to find a way back to Salem only to wince when you find out that you’re on 5% battery. You also have messages waiting in trollian but you should probably prioritise finding a route home over talking to Dave. It’s most likely Dave after your talk with him earlier.

Perhaps you could find a power socket after Jade is picked up so you can charge your phone and plan your route. That’s the best idea, focus on Jade first.

“Joey says she’s in the drop off area.” Jade tells you as you both exit the port arrivals area.

“Oh, that way.” you exclaim as you spot the sign and hurry over with her. You did see the cars outside of the half-Harley manor when you were there but you were more focused on the weirdos spying on the house at the time.

Joey honks the horn of her car, nearly startling you out of your skin. She scrambles out of the drivers side door and rushes over to you both. She grabs Jade in a hug and only stops when Jude gets out of the car and takes over.

“I’m so sorry.” Jude tells Jade softly, she must have caught them up to speed on whatever else she read after you left her.

“Uh is this… her dog? I’m a vet and Jade said she had a dog but this is not a dog.” Joey says as Bec yawns widely, wider than a canine jaw should hinge and revealing his glowing green mouth and a surplus row of teeth behind his main ones like a shark.

“He’s dog adjacent. He’s a very good boy, but if he can’t get in your house because of the wards and what have you then troll this guy and he’ll absolutely pick him up. That’s the demon who was over before.” you tell her and quickly write down Sollux’s trollian handle on a receipt that you found in your pocket.

“Right. Thank you for staying with her, do you need me to drop you somewhere or…?” Joey asks.

“No, no I’m good. Just look after Jade.” you tell her.

“I’m sorry Karkat, I know I said about the holidays but-” Jade says and her voice starts to wobble.

“No, absolutely not. Shut your stupid face. I’ll be fine, you look after yourself and if you need anything at all you message or call me. It doesn’t matter when, you know I stay awake far too much anyway. Alright?” you snap, you’re not letting her go down THAT train of thought. You squeeze her into a hug until she stops trying to apologize.

Jade gets into the car with Bec hopping in after her and you stand there and wave them off. You did the right thing, she’s with her family. It just sucks that you’re alone again.

You should get back to your dorm, it’s cold out and you’d rather be back there. First you need to charge your phone. You put your hand in your bag of holding and mentally call to your phone charger but nothing comes. You take your hand out, visualise it with more clarity and put your hand back in, still nothing. You try to think of just chargers and when you pull your hand out it’s your laptop charger in your hand. Is your phone charger not in your-

With perfect clarity you can see in your mind’s eye your phone charger plugged into the socket by Jade’s bed. That’s where you left it and where it still is.

“Mother_fucker_.” you hiss.

Quickly you open up Google Maps and work out the path from here to Salem. You screenshot it, set it as your lock screen background and put your phone in teleport mode, hopefully that zoomed out version will work for directions.

Looking around you find that the port is reasonably busy but you’re able to hurry off around near some dumpsters and fade into invisibility. You don’t want to take your shirt off because it’s cold as hell but if you don’t then your wings will rip through everything. Grudgingly you pull your shirt and coat off, stowing them in your bag of holding. You flip the bag around to your front and shove your phone in your pocket.

You can do this.

Your wings unfold behind you, majestic despite your lack of visibility and proximity to dumpsters. There’s not a lot of room to take off here and you’ve never done it from flat ground before. You remember how fast you soared upwards before and take a step forward so you’re as far from any walls or other obstacles as you can be. Lifting your wings high above, you crouch down and then flap downwards with as much force as you can.

It’s a feat of self control that you don’t scream on your unbearably fast ascent into the sky, and a credit to Sollux’s previous instruction that you manage to level out and not just fall right back down.

Massachusetts spreads out below you, or at least the port and its parking lot does. You hold your arms to your chest against the chill and try to gain some more altitude. When you’re high enough you very carefully fish your phone out of your pocket and peer at the map you screenshotted, trying to orient yourself and work out where you need to go. After a bit of squinting at the ground you’re pretty sure you can spot the road that you’re meant to follow and you set off in that direction.

You look down at all the cars and people below you and feel thankful that they can’t see you. You wonder how many of them are like you and just don’t know it. How many of them are going home to families or partners in warm little homes? You know that you did the right thing to leave the island so Jade could stay with her family but you’d really been looking forward to your first holiday break with other people. You’ve no family to go home to and your partners are in a house that you can’t really stay in, it’s not fair to ask Roxy to allow you to stay when it might distress her if she forgets who you are. Maybe you could ask June if you could stay with her but it’d be rude as fuck to invite yourself to someone else’s home, especially when you’ve not been there before. It was different with Jade, she invited you.

So you’re flying back to your empty dorm, alone.

You’re drawing close to Salem University when your phone dies and you have to settle for navigating by common sense and how well you recognise the area. It helps that the Salem University buildings are weird as shit. As soon as you spot the huge tower you’re able to circle it and pick out your dorm.

Your landing on the roof is far from graceful but you don’t injure yourself or destroy anything else so you’ll count it as a slightly scraped up win. Carefully you fold your wings away, take your bag off of your front, put your shirt back on and then reappear. The roof door is locked but you have the keys to the building so it’s no problem to get in and go down the stairs to your dorm. It’s so quiet in the halls that closing your front door and activating the silencing spell has no effect at all.

You walk into your room and carefully put your bag down on your bed and open up the pocket that Abraxas went into. The bookworm pokes its head out and perks up at the sight of books behind you. You lift it up and set it on your stack of books, smiling slightly at the eager noise Abraxas makes before vanishing into them.

It’s late, you’re tired from flying and emotionally tired on top of that. You should probably just go to sleep and eat in the morning then go out and buy a new phone charger. You shut the door even though no one else is there and get about half of your clothes off before falling asleep.

You think it’s morning when you wake up, it’s overcast outside. That hazy nothing-y kind of light that could mean it’s nine am or one pm and you’d never know. Your phone is still as dead as it was yesterday so you pocket the stupid thing, wash and dress, then leave with your bag. You swing by the cafeteria for breakfast which means that it is morning, or ten thirty at least, and then walk into Salem proper.

It’s cold outside, not raining or snowing but just bleak. You can’t even say that you don’t know what you’re feeling, you do, it’s a familiar feeling. You’re lonely. You can’t contact any of your friends or either of your-

God, it still feels so weird to think the words.

You can’t contact any of you friends or either of your _boyfriends_. That’s so weird, how have you convinced one person to date you, let alone two?

You have no family, the closest thing you have to that was not great and recently murdered. Jade needs space and the last time you checked, your work wasn’t keen on you coming in. Maybe you could talk them around? You could show up with your mildly cursed book and show them what you’ve learnt in the hopes that they’ll let you back in. Perhaps Kanaya is about and might be interested in spending time with you outside of work, or would tolerate you hanging around the library when she is working. That just seems like you being a nuisance though.

The wish to have someone to talk to builds in your heart until you can feel it like a scorching ball of plasma in your chest, a miniature sun radiating out a light you hope people will notice. Surprisingly no one in the apple store reacts to your secret feelings of loneliness. Normally if it was your phone that you’d bought then you’d just buy any old charger as long as the cable fit, but Rose got you this one and you’re not going to break it with some knock off charger. You won’t take it back to the shop and have them shake their heads because you didn’t buy the proper thing. You don’t even know if that’s really a thing or if it’s just something tech companies make you THINK is a thing so you buy their overpriced shit instead of the non-branded stuff, but you’re not risking it for the phone Rose bought you.

With your charger purchased you hesitate, you could go back to your dorm but part of you wants to do something else now that you’re out. You settle on going to the cafe that you usually go to with Dave. Maybe you can take a picture of a pretentious drink and send it to him, he’d probably like that. As you walk, the hope of something to ease that loneliness in your chest burns brighter, like a prayer. Not that you would pray to anyone, but that’s how it feels.

You slip into the cheerfully decorated coffee place, it has a smattering of wintery iconography from various faiths and pantheons as well as just general festive cheer. There’s not much of a queue so you get served almost immediately.

You order a caramel macchiato with extra cream on top and you tell the barista to go bonkers on the decoration. It’s one of the baristas that you recognise and you think you and Dave have developed somewhat of a reputation here, but it’s quiet so she’s able to have fun with throwing all of the decorations that she can on your drink and you tip well as thanks.

The seat by the window is free and moreover you know there are power points in the bench seats there, so that’s where you and your dumb drink head to. The bell over the door goes as you’re settling down but you ignore it in favour of biting at the plastic encasing your charger. When you finally pop it open you reach down to plug it in, when you connect it to your phone it takes a moment before it comes back to life. A long suffering groan escapes you when the damn thing seems intent on running an update now of all times, you’re just contemplating bashing your brains out on the table when you feel the presence of someone else near you.

Looking up you see a familiar face and curious eyes watching you.

“Karkat, I thought that was you.” he says, coming closer.

“Eridan! What’re you doing here?” you ask, surprised to see him. Eridan gestures to his coffee as if the answer is obvious, you guess it kind of is.

“Are you meeting someone or…?” Eridan asks curiously.

“Oh, no. All my friends are off elsewhere, at home or with family. It’s just me. How about you?” you ask him.

“Same. Mind if I join you?” he asks, gesturing to the empty seat across from you.

You had been feeling lonely hadn’t you? And now there’s an opportunity for you to spend time with another person, someone you at least consider a class friend.

“It’s a free country.” you tell him and pull your things back over to your side of the table to make room.

“So I’ve been told.” Eridan says dryly and sits down.

“Hah, fair point.” you snort.

“So have you started any of the work we were-” Eridan starts to ask but you just groan loudly.

“No, I haven’t. I was working on an assignment my boss gave me and I really need to get to running a long term spell from my magical languages class since that’s actually time sensitive and… uuugh.” you groan. Responsibilities suck.

“I haven’t started yet either.” he confides in you with a small smile.

“Oh good, we can be bad students together!” you tell him with false cheer.

“So, you weren’t tempted to go back to where you came from for the break?” Eridan asks and sips at his coffee.

“No way, fuck that place. I was staying with a friend but that fell through because she had a… a family thing come up. So, here I am. What about you?” you ask. It doesn’t look like your phone is going to be done updating any time soon so you should actually drink this drink and just describe it to Dave later.

“I wanted to stay here.” Eridan shrugs.

“Where did you even come from before this anyway? I don’t remember if I asked you before.” you ask.

“Oh, uh-” Eridan pauses to take another sip of his coffee, “New Amsterdam.”

“I don’t think I’ve heard of that place but my geography isn’t the best in the world.” you admit. The name rings some kind of a bell for you though.

“North East, not that it matters. Do you have any plans for Christmas?” Eridan says, moving on.

“No, not really. I’ve got no one to spend it with, like always. Probably just get Chinese food and read or watch movies by myself.” you shrug.

“Still not plannin’ on studying then?” Eridan grins, leaning forward and resting his chin on his hand.

“Okay, fuck you for that, but no. It’s Christmas and at the very least I’m going to treat myself to not studying if I don’t want to. What about you? Got any plans?” you ask, trying to remind yourself not to be too much of a jerk.

“Ah, well, no. I’m down here on my own, you know?” he shrugs.

“Oh, did you have something you used to do back where you were from?” you ask curiously.

“Yeah, sort of. I don’t really want to get into it but I guess I’m on my own now.” he says dismissively and you can pick up the ‘don’t press me on this’ vibe that he’s putting out there.

“I guess it’s not that I even celebrate Christmas either. It’s not as if there was much point, after The Event religion didn’t really work, you know? I didn’t have any memories of traditions that I’d done before that if I had any so I wasn’t doing anything out of habit. I could have chosen to celebrate any number of winter religious holidays and observances if I wanted, I mean look at the decorations here.” you point out.

The coffee place is wreathed with little symbols and sigils of all sorts of gods and faiths that celebrate things around this time of year. It’s nice. You wouldn’t get this back in Georgia, that’s for sure.

“I’m pretty sure none of those gods would have been pleased to be strung up with the others as if they were equals.” Eridan frowns.

“Maybe, but it’s not as if there’s any of them around to smite anyone anymore, is there?” you laugh.

“Mmm, more’s the pity.” Eridan sighs.

“What?” you say in shock, nearly inhaling your coffee as you do so.

“Oh, come on, Kar. You’re telling me you can’t think of anyone who couldn’t use a good smiting? Some piece of shit town that could do with endless locusts? Some asshole who deserves a bolt from the sky or being turned into a pillar of salt? No one comes to mind at allllll?” Eridan drags that last bit out teasingly.

A few choice politicians flit through your mind, some notable bigots, people who run hate groups. Hell, half the people Kankri was watching could be candidates for that.

“I know what you mean, but no. If you kill someone like that, smite them or whatever, then all you’ve done is take away their chance to fix their shit and do better. There have been people who have been- been goddamn neonazis and they got out and turned their lives around and even work to do the same for other people. I’ve read things about that. But if they’d been struck down then and there then they couldn’t do that.” you point out. You really wish you could remember the name of the person you’re thinking of, there was a whole article about him and how he talked about deprogramming people from hate movements and how they were like cults, leaving you with no escape.

“You’re way too optimistic about people.” Eridan sighs.

“Well, I’m willing to die on the hill of ‘people can be good if you help them to be’.” you huff. You’re pretty sure that’s not the party line of angels if what Mituna told you was any indication, but it’s what YOU’RE going to hold yourself to.

“Here’s hoping that you don’t actually die on that hill then.” Eridan smirks and holds his coffee cup up as if to toast you.

“Better to live on it, I’ll drink to that.” you laugh and clank your cup against his.

You sip your drink and think about how you wish you’d gotten to show it to Dave, and again you feel alone. That’s a pretty shitty thing to feel when you have company right here. Stop drifting off and talk to him!

“Maybe I should revive my Christmas tradition of watching Christmas movies.” you say thoughtfully and lick the edge of your coffee cup where the edible glitter and sprinkles have started melding with the cream and the edge of the cup.

“I’ve never seen any Christmas movies actually, I’m pretty curious now. What’re the good ones, Kar?” Eridan asks brightly.

“You’ve never seen- okay, you have to watch some of them at least.” you insist.

“Together?” Eridan says. He doesn’t sound skeptical or dismissive, you’d actually say that he seems hopeful. Maybe he’s as lonely as you are.

“Yeah, we should. My roommate’s back home so I won’t have any competition for the TV.” you nod.

“I have myself a place off campus as well, we could alternate an’ make it a regular thing.” he suggests.

Making friends as an adult is hard but you think you’re doing okay lately. You smile at Eridan and nod happily. He has to go before too long but you both agree that you’re definitely going to meet up.

Yeah, maybe he’s as lonely as you are.

“I’ll go through my collection and put together a list and we can arrange a date to sit down and school you in Christmas movies.” you tell him firmly.

“I’ll wait to hear them then!” Eridan laughs. He drains the last of his drink and bids you goodbye. He ducks out of the front door and into the cold air outside and you watch him pull his purple scarf up to his nose and walk away.

Your phone finally buzzes on the table, having come back to life at last. Immediately your trollian app starts pinging.

turntechGodhead [TG] began trolling  carcinoGeneticist [CG]  
  
TG: hey so i know you said that youd message me later but its pretty late and i thought id message you  
TG: so here i am messaging you  
TG: oh youre offline now  
TG: okay then i guess ill talk to you later  
  
turntechGodhead [TG] ceased trolling  carcinoGeneticist [CG]

turntechGodhead [TG] began trolling  carcinoGeneticist [CG]  
  
TG: it is definitely that later that ive heard so much about   
TG: karkat  
TG: look if i said something you can just tell me and ill leave whatever it was alone i can be told things like that you know  
TG: im not the most sensitive delicate summer flower you know  
TG: goddamn this all looks super needy now   
TG: google how to delete trollian messages aw shit you cant   
TG: hahaha i am filled with regret  
TG: uh   
TG: later  
  
turntechGodhead [TG] ceased trolling  carcinoGeneticist [CG]

turntechGodhead [TG] began trolling  carcinoGeneticist [CG]  
  
TG: okay so ive messaged jade and she says that shes back at the harley house in MA and that she left you at the port  
TG: so i guess you were busy packing or what have you  
TG: aw shit youre probably still asleep or something from time lag  
TG: hit me up  
  
turntechGodhead [TG] ceased trolling  carcinoGeneticist [CG]

twinArmageddons [TA] began trolling  carcinoGeneticist [CG]  
  
TA: 2iigh, good job worryiing my moiiraiil so he wake2 me up from a great nap becau2e he'2 worriied about you  
TA: ii'm wiith ro2e that you probably ju2t diidn't charge your phone or 2omethiing or maybe you ju2t want two be alone.  
TA: but ii'm 2endiing you thii2 2o that iif you get thii2 and you're, 2ay, naked iin your room that you have warniing of me comiing over and you can put clothe2 on.  
TA: or, you know, don't  
  
twinArmageddons [TA] ceased trolling  carcinoGeneticist [CG]

Oh shit, that last one is from an hour ago, you must have only just left before he got there.

twinArmageddons [TA] began trolling  carcinoGeneticist [CG]  
  
TA: kk where the fuck are you??  
TA: you're not iin you dorm or our2 OR jade and june'2, not that ii know how you'd get into the other2. ii've 2een your "door openiing" 2pell and what iit doe2.  
TA: you're not iin the cafeteriia eiither.  
TA: fuck what iif tho2e demon2 that got kankrii got two you?  
TA: 2hiit 2hiit 2hiit 2hiit  
TA: me22age me iif you get thii2!

That message is still open and Sollux is still online! You hurriedly start typing back.

CG: HOLY SHIT I DID NOT MEAN TO SCARE YOU ALL THAT BADLY. I LEFT MY CHARGER AT JADE'S PLACE AND I DIDN'T HAVE A REPLACEMENT, I'M LITERALLY OUT NOW HAVING JUST BOUGHT ONE AND GRABBED COFFEE, I'M FINE.   
TA: fuuuuuuck

twinArmageddons [TA] ceased trolling  carcinoGeneticist [CG]

Oh, you thought you were going to get more conversation there.

A flash of light grabs your attention and you turn your head to see Sollux on the other side of the glass. He flips you off with both hands and comes inside with a scowl on his face, dropping into the seat that Eridan had been in only minutes ago.

“My phone literally just came back to life, it insisted on doing a super inconvenient update for ages.” you tell him off of the bat.

“It’s fine, I don’t care. You just didn’t tell anyone that you were going to be in an entirely different country and Dave got all in a fuss and that always puts me on edge and- whatever. It’s whatever.” Sollux shrugs in a way that doesn’t offset the receding panic on his face at all. It was very much not ‘whatever’.

“I’m surprised that you can’t magically track me down.” you tell him.

“If I could do that easily then you wouldn’t have had to live in Georgia.” Sollux retorts.

“Counterpoint, if you could do that and you let me stay there anyway I’d have to stab you.” you point out.

“I can’t say I’ve ever enjoyed being stabbed, so I’d try to avoid that.” Sollux snorts.

“Sorry for worrying you, especially after Kankri.” you tell him gently.

“I don’t care. You can look after yourself, especially knowing what you know now. You don’t have to tell me where you are at all times.” Sollux says defensively and that feels very much like a kismesis thing that you don’t entirely understand.

“I just shouldn’t worry Dave?” you guess.

“Yeah, that’d be great for me, thanks.” he says flatly.

Sollux reaches over, steals the last half of your gingerbread cookie that you got with your drink and vanishes. The fucking asshole. You sigh and open up a message to Dave.

carcinoGeneticist [CG] began trolling  turntechGodhead [TG]  
  
CG: HEY, I'M REALLY SORRY I SCARED YOU. I LOST MY CHARGER AND HAD TO BUY A NEW ONE, I DIDN'T REALIZE THAT I WAS GOING TO GET EVERYONE STRESSED OUT.   
TG: oh  
TG: haha thats cool im glad youre okay  
CG: NO, IT WASN'T COOL. I COULD HAVE MESSAGED YOU FROM MY LAPTOP, I JUST DIDN'T THINK ABOUT IT. I WAS SO DRAINED FROM THE JOURNEY THAT I PRETTY MUCH FELL ASLEEP AS SOON AS I GOT BACK TO MY ROOM.   
CG: I'M NOT REALLY USED TO PEOPLE WORRYING ABOUT WHERE I AM OR CARING WHEN I GET BACK.   
TG: well now you just made me sad  
CG: SHIT, SORRY.  
TG: no dont be  
TG: im sure i was freaking out over nothing which is a great look and honestly im not usually that uncool but i just got this feeling that something was up and you seemed so weird the last time we talked  
TG: jade seemed really off as well when i talked to her  
TG: whats going on  
CG: IF SHE'S NOT TOLD YOU I DON'T REALLY FEEL LIKE I CAN. I KNOW THAT'S SHITTY BUT IT'S REALLY NOT MY INFORMATION TO SPILL.   
CG: IT'S FINE THOUGH, SHE AND BEC ARE WITH JUDE AND JOEY AND I'M BACK HERE. I HAVE A NEW CHARGER NOW SO IT'S ALL OKAY.  
CG: EXCEPT SOLLUX STOLE MY GINGERBREAD COOKIE, THE ASSHOLE.   
TG: oh thats what hes eating in his little blanket nest over there  
TG: thats why my bed is going to be full of crumbs later  
CG: SEE? NO ONE IS HAPPY WITH THIS.  
TG: that sure is how it is  
CG: I'M REALLY MAD ABOUT THIS ACTUALLY.   
TG: the cookie thing you mean  
CG: NO. BUT IF SOLLUX ASKS, YES. HE OWES ME TEN NOW IN REPAYMENT.  
CG: I MEAN I WENT TO OUR COFFEE SHOP AND I ORDERED A DUMB COFFEE WITH THE INTENTION OF TAKING A PICTURE AND SHOWING YOU BUT MY PHONE INSISTED THAT IT HAD TO DO AN UPDATE *RIGHT NOW* AND NOT LET ME DO ANYTHING SO I HAD TO DRINK IT BEFORE IT WENT COLD.  
TG: aw karkat thats so sweet  
CG: IT WAS ALSO VERY SWEET THANKS TO ALL OF THE SUGARY DECORATIONS, IT WAS AN ABOMINATION, DAVE.  
TG: im so proud and i shall envision it in my mind fondly  
CG: GOODNESS ONLY KNOWS WHAT ERIDAN THOUGHT OF IT.  
TG: eridan who  
CG: THIS ISN'T A KNOCK KNOCK JOKE.  
TG: oh fuck i hate those things june hits me with those so often  
CG: MY SYMPATHIES. HE'S A GUY FROM MY MAGICAL HISTORY CLASS, THE ONE I HAVE WITHOUT ANY OF THE REST OF OUR LITTLE COVEN OF LOSERS. SO I SIT WITH HIM AND TALK TO HIM, BUT HE'S LIKE ME IN THAT HE DOESN'T REMEMBER SHIT BEFORE THE EVENT SO HE'S STILL IN TOWN.   
TG: thats kinda nice  
TG: not that he doesnt remember stuff obviously that kinda sucks but its nice that you have someone else there to talk to   
TG: i mean you can come up here but i dont know about mom  
CG: I WOULDN'T WANT TO PUT YOU IN THAT POSITION. I LIKE YOUR MOM PLENTY BUT I WOULDN'T IMPOSE ON YOU UP THERE LONG TERM AND RISK UPSETTING HER HEALTH AND WELLBEING BY BEING THERE.  
CG: I ABSOLUTELY WOULDN'T EXPECT YOU TO PUT ME UP THERE JUST TO STOP ME BEING ON MY OWN DOWN HERE.   
TG: im sorry but youre kinda right  
TG: its sweet that you understand and youre not weird about it  
TG: a lot of people are weird about it  
TG: i mean june gets it but i think she takes it a little personally just how much mom reacts to her being around on the rare occasions she makes it up here  
CG: I'M SURE IT'S TOUGH, AND I WOULDN'T WANT TO MAKE THINGS ANY MORE DIFFICULT FOR YOU.   
TG: thanks man  
CG: I GUESS I SHOULD LET EVERYONE ELSE KNOW I'M NOT DEAD.  
TG: probably!  
TG: we should catch up later or something when youre back in your dorm or whatever  
CG: YEAH, SOUNDS GOOD.  
  
carcinoGeneticist [CG] ceased trolling  turntechGodhead [TG]

carcinoGeneticist [CG] began trolling  tentacleTherapist [TT]  
  
CG: HEY, I THOUGHT THAT I SHOULD TELL YOU THAT I'M NOT DEAD.  
TT: I wasn't under the impression that you were.  
CG: OH, GOOD.  
TT: Forgot your charger or something?  
CG: EXACTLY THAT. JUST BOUGHT A NEW ONE NOW.  
TT: I probably had a spare one in my room.  
CG: I DIDN'T THINK ABOUT THAT BUT I ALSO WOULDN'T GO IN YOUR ROOM WITHOUT ASKING.  
TT: That's fair, and very respectful.   
TT: I did try to tell Dave and Sollux that nothing would be wrong with you but they didn't listen. I suppose you had best contact the others since no doubt Dave messaged everyone.   
CG: I WAS PLANNING ON IT.   
CG: OKAY, TALK TO YOU LATER ROSE.  
TT: Always a pleasure, Karkat.  
  
tentacleTherapist [TT] ceased trolling  carcinoGeneticist [CG]

carcinoGeneticist [CG] began trolling  ghostlyTrickster [GT]  
  
CG: HI, I'M NOT DEAD, IN CASE YOU WERE WORRIED THAT I WAS.  
GT: i'm also not dead! were you checking to see if i was?  
CG: NO, I JUST TERRIFIED DAVE BY BEING DUMB IS ALL, AND SOLLUX BY PROXY I SUPPOSE.  
GT: ah yeah he couldn't get hold of you or something.   
CG: YEAH, IT WAS MY FAULT.   
CG: HOW'S YOUR HOLIDAY GOING?  
GT: pretty good, it's nice to be home with dad.   
GT: sorry to cut and run but he just got back from the store and i have to help him unpack.  
CG: OH, NICE. TALK TO YOU LATER!  
GT: later!  
  
ghostlyTrickster [GT] ceased trolling  carcinoGeneticist [CG]

carcinoGeneticist [CG] began trolling  gardenGnostic [GG]  
  
CG: IN CASE DAVE WORRIED YOU, I'M FINE. I JUST FORGOT MY PHONE CHARGER IN YOUR ROOM AND HAD TO GET A NEW ONE.  
GG: oh that's good!  
GG: he was really in a mess about it...  
CG: YEAH, THAT'S PRETTY MUCH MY FAULT. I LEFT OFF MY LAST MESSAGE TO HIM WEIRDLY AND THEN JUST VANISHED.  
CG: I HAVEN'T TOLD ANY OF THEM ABOUT ANYTHING TO DO WITH YOUR GRANDPA BY THE WAY.   
GG: yeah, i figured as much from how they were surprised by me being back here  
GG: i will tell them  
CG: THERE'S NO RUSH, JADE. THIS IS PERSONAL AND I'M SURE THEY'D UNDERSTAND.  
CG: HOW'S BEC FINDING THE HOUSE?  
GG: oh! he's loving it!   
GG: joey and jude used to have a dog when they were kids so he's being spoiled rotten and they have already ordered him a whole bunch of dog toys as well as dragging the old ones they had out for him!  
CG: LUCKY BOY. PLEASE PET YOUR HELLHOUND FOR ME, SINCE I CAN'T.   
GG: hehe, i will!  
CG: ALRIGHT, WELL I'D BETTER GO BACK TO THE DORMS, I'LL TALK TO YOU LATER.  
GG: ok!  
  
carcinoGeneticist [CG] ceased trolling  gardenGnostic [GG]

Well, that’s everyone calmed down, although it really seems to be only Dave who thought that you were in any kind of danger. Him and then Sollux when you weren’t where he thought you’d be.

Seeing as the last of your cookie has been stolen by an unscrupulous demon you may as well go back to your dorm, your phone has enough battery to last you a little while and you can plug it in to charge fully when you get there.

Later you do look up all of the Christmas movies that you have and send the list over to Eridan. You’re kind of at a loss for what else to do with yourself so you just end up in a hole of youtube videos, wikipedia articles and re-reading your favourite books with meals interspersed between them. When you go to bed at the end of the day you’ve accomplished basically nothing.

This emotional funk is doing you absolutely no good so the next day after you’ve finished breakfast in the cafeteria you head over the library instead of going back to your room. You spy Kanaya in the office and hurry over as quickly as you can. She looks up when you open the door and narrows her eyes at you.

“You’re supposed to be on leave.” she warns you.

“I know, I know, my situation is terribly sad. I was meant to be spending the holidays with a friend but she had… uh, a family emergency I guess and now I’m back here. Please let me say, I’m going out of my mind.” you whine and drop into a chair next to her. You fix your vampiric friend with your best pleading look, not caring how pathetic it makes you for doing it.

“I’m not sure that expressing you’re emotionally vulnerable is a point in favour of getting you back to work.” Kanaya says with a frown. She scoots her chair over to you and peers at you.

“I’d rather be with you than in my dorm alone. Does that help?” you ask her hopefully.

“The rest of your friends are all at home then?” Kanaya asks.

“Yeah.” you nod.

Kanaya sighs and looks at you sympathetically.

“You can stay, at least socially. You’ll have to talk to Ms. Paint if you want to start working again though, but I won’t say no to the company, especially at this time of year.” Kanaya agrees.

“Yesssss!” you hiss in delight, even though you’re in the muted office it’s still a library and you should be careful to keep your voice down.

“Oh, speaking of Ms. Paint I should tell her that I managed to read that mildly cursed book without letting it do it’s thing through me.” you tell her.

“Hey, that’s really good. Not leaving yourself psychically open to the influence of books is a hard skill to learn, especially as some are better at it than others. A general rule is that it’s worse when you touch them, I suppose she’ll want to move you onto a stronger book next at a distance and then by touch and so on.” Kanaya explains.

“That sounds like a lot of work but I’d also rather do a lot of work rather than risk picking up a random book and have it blast my brain out of my skull or something.” you say with a nod.

“Sounds like you have your priorities in the right order then.” Kanaya nods, a smile playing at the edge of her mouth.

“Well, I’d better go find Ms. Paint. I think it’ll go better for me if I tell her that I’m here instead of her catching me.” you sigh. You’re not even entertaining the idea that you could evade her awareness in her own library.

Leaving Kanaya be you walk off to Ms. Paint’s office, but she’s not there. You wander around the library enjoying its still atmosphere and the general lack of students. There’s still some students of course, mostly post-grads but not nearly as many as you’d find on a normal day. Wandering past the office once more doesn’t bring your boss to light so you take a trip down the stairs to the restricted area. You don’t have the authorisation to get into the book cages yet but you can at least go down there now.

The elevator doors slide open and sure enough your boss is in the cage with the most dangerous books. You wait quietly off to the side, not wanting to startle her and put her at risk or anything.

“You are supposed to be recuperating, Mr. Vantas.” she says without looking around at you.

“Yeah, plans fell though. I’m back and I wanted to be here.” you tell her.

“Oh? Hm.” Ms. Paint shakes her head and leaves the cage, locking it behind her.

“Is something wrong?” you ask her worriedly.

“The books are behaving a little strangely, changes to the pecking order in there I think.” Ms. Paint says but she doesn’t seem too concerned.

“Speaking of books I got through that impossible geometry one and managed to stop it doing magic through me.” you tell her.

“Well done, well, perhaps you can advance to this one.” Ms. Paint smiles and steps into the slightly less dangerous cage of books. She plucks a black covered volume out and locks the door after her. When she’s free of the caged area entirely she places the book in your hands.

Interpreting Dreams by Sigmund Freud rests in your open hands. To the touch something feels a little off about the book but it’s not doing anything weird.

“Gifted from one psychologist to another after an academic dispute about Freud’s work, it was under the pretense of mending fences but he’d managed to get a rather unscrupulous witch to curse it before handing it over. See what you can make of it, have a seat down here and read.” Ms. Paint suggests, waving a hand to the tables and chairs in the restricted room.

“Alright.” you nod and hold the book up close to your face. It just looks like an older copy of the title, visually there’s nothing untoward.

“I’ll leave you to it.” your boss nods and leaves by the elevator.

She’s not kicked you out of the library at least and perhaps if you can show her that you can work through this task then she’ll allow you to do actual library work afterwards!

You settle into a chair and mentally steel yourself for whatever might be hidden within this book. Opening it you skip past the edition notes because no one ever reads those and go straight to the beginning of the actual text.

In the following pages I shall demonstrate that there is a psychological technique which makes it possible to interpret dreams, and that on the application of this technique every dream will reveal itself as a psychological structure, full of significance, and one which may be assigned to a specific place in the psychic activities of the waking state.

Your eyes roll back in your head and your head falls forward.

You flick your head back up, shaking water away from your face. Leaning closer to the motel mirror you get a better look at your face in the crappy lighting of the room, all to the soundtrack of maniacal laughter from the other room.

“Will you _shut up_?!” you snarl and glare at your face, the laughing doesn’t stop.

You turn your face in the light and see that, no, there’s still a yellow/gold tint to your skin. It doesn’t go away when you scowl, not that scowling has ever worked for anything but you live in hope.

“You’re the worst, you know that?” you snap, sticking your head back in the main room again.

Sollux’s whole body is shaking with laughter, laughter which only ratchets up when he sees your face again.

“If you actually die laughing I won’t be sympathetic.” you grumble.

“I can’t- oh- your faaaace!” Sollux cackles.

Grumbling you return to the mirror and squirt more cheap sample soap in your hands and scrub at your face. It’s when you’re midway through it that you feel an insistent jerk in your chest. A demand to come back home from, as it happens, an insistent jerk. Fuck.

Looking at your face you’re still stained gold and Sollux is still laughing in the other room. You no longer have time for this. You wipe your face with a cheap towel and walk towards the bed where Sollux is still on his back giggling. You smack him in the knee, which doesn’t help any.

“Hilarious. Fix it.” you insist, pointing to your face.

“Nope!” he giggles and his tails wrap around your forearm and pull you down to sit on the bed next to him.

“Yeah, except I have to go back up to my maker now and if he sees this then you won’t ever see me again on account of me being dead or locked in solitary until the universe ends. They wouldn’t let me fall and risk letting me be at all happy by being near you.” you tell him sharply and that bursts the bubble of Sollux’s amusement.

“So go later. Stay here instead. If you’re so sore about your stupid face you could get me back. Besides food’s gonna be here soon and when-” he starts, leaning up and wrapping his arms around the back of your neck.

“I can’t, I have to go. I’m going to go. Believe me I’d far rather be here but I can’t stay and the only reason it’s not hurting yet is because I’m determined that I will go back. The moment I start defying him is the moment this command really starts hurting.” you explain. Already the pull in your chest is getting very unpleasant but you’re trying not to take that out on Sollux because it’s not his fault.

“Wait, it hurts?” Sollux lets you go, all his eyes wide as he stares at you.

“Yeah, it goes all the way up to agonising and where you literally can’t think of anything else or even notice if you hurt yourself getting there. I’m sure YOUR maker doesn’t do that to you but mine does.” you tell him stiffly.

“It’s more like something I feel compelled to do but I can ignore it if I want to.” Sollux says and you can see the horror dawning on his face.

Sollux sits up properly, the sheets of the crappy motel bed pooling around his hips. He reaches out and gently touches his hand to your face and you can feel your skin tingle. You’re sure that your face is back to normal now.

“Isn’t there anything you can do to stop it hurting or…?” he asks, but you shake your head.

“I have to go, I’m sorry.” you cut him off, it’s not as if you want to go. You had anticipated staying, there was a whole plan for your night but not any more. If he asks you to stay any more it’ll just hurt both of you.

“I wish you could switch sides.” Sollux says softly.

“Psh, no you don’t. You hate your side as much as I hate mine.” you snort.

“Not hell, MY side.” Sollux says petulantly.

“I’m pretty sure I’m already on that side.” you grin at him.

You stand up, carefully removing your wrist from his tails. You wave a hand at yourself and summon clothes onto your form.

“Five minutes?” he asks hopefully. You REALLY want to say yes.

“I can’t. You should probably drive off when you can, I’ll go a ways from here before I fly back up but you don’t want them spotting you. Best to move on, yeah?” you suggest and he nods.

You hesitate for a moment and step closer to the bed again. You kiss him quickly and then lean back a little so you don’t end up getting entirely sidetracked by him, he is very distracting after all.

“I-” you hesitate. You swear you can feel Kankri’s judging eyes on your back, you know how livid he would be about all of this. Not just you being involved with a demon, maybe if this was love then he could perhaps suggest that you were being magnanimous by loving even the ‘lowest of species’.

But you don’t love him. Or- eh, you do kind of but that’s not the part that makes you feel a prickle of nerves up your spine. You force past it.

“I hate you.” you tell him.

“Hate you.” Sollux replies just as quietly.

“And I love you too. I’ll try and work on stuff when I’m gone, I might have a lead that could help. See you soon.” you tell him and with all of your willpower you step out of the room.

It’s cold outside the motel, drizzling with rain, so you hurry along as quickly as you can without attracting attention. When you’re far enough away you lift your head and-

You jerk your head up away from the book, still reeling. Your head feels heavy and you try to focus as the words on the page swim before your eyes. It’s trying to drag you into sleeping again, that’s the curse!

You slam the book shut and instantly your head clears. So much for resisting that. You rub your face and that dream… or maybe that memory comes back to you. You fumble for your phone and see that you’ve been asleep down here for two hours. You’re starting to suspect that Ms. Paint assigned you this book so you’d have some rest whether you wanted to or not.

You flick over to Trollian real quick.

carcinoGeneticist [CG] began trolling  twinArmageddons [TA]  
  
CG: SOLLUX I NEED TO ASK YOU SOMETHING, IT'S REALLY IMPORTANT.  
TA: yawn  
TA: ii'm not your per2onal google you know  
CG: I THINK I JUST REMEMBERED SOMETHING FROM MY PAST. INTERESTED NOW?  
TA: 2uddenly very iintere2ted and miildly alarmed   
TA: what diid you remember? or thiink you remembered?  
CG: I WAS READING THIS CURSED BOOK THAT PUTS YOU TO SLEEP AND WHEN I FELL ASLEEP I HAD THIS DREAM BUT IT FEELS MORE LIKE A MEMORY, YOU WERE IN IT SO IF YOU DON'T REMEMBER IT THEN I KNOW IT'S A DREAM.  
TA: make2 2en2e  
CG: WE WERE IN THIS MOTEL, I DON'T KNOW WHERE. IT WAS NIGHT, RAINING OUTSIDE.  
CG: I WAS LOOKING AT MYSELF IN THE MIRROR AND THERE WAS THIS SORT OF GOLD STAIN ON MY SKIN, I DON'T KNOW WHAT FROM BUT IT WAS LIKE ONE OF THOSE METALLIC MARKER PENS HAD EXPLODED ON FACE.  
CG: YOU KNOW THE KIND I MEAN? THE ARTS AND CRAFTY KIND THAT SQUEAK WHEN YOU USE THEM BUT LIKE A BUNCH OF THE INK HAD COME OUT.   
TA: ii am tryiing not two laugh, but go on  
CG: NO! YOU WERE LAUGHING IN THIS DREAM TOO!  
CG: YOU WERE ON THE BED LAUGHING AT ME AND   
TA: and?  
CG: AND I'M PRETTY SURE YOU WERE NAKED. LOOK, I'M NOT TRYING TO DO ANYTHING HERE, THIS ISN'T A SET UP FOR ANYTHING, I'M JUST TELLING YOU WHAT I REMEMBER.  
CG: ACTUALLY I JUST REALIZED I WAS NAKED TOO BECAUSE LATER IN THE DREAM I PUT CLOTHES ON BY MAGIC SOMEHOW.   
CG: I WAS TELLING YOU THAT I HAD TO GO AND WAS ASKING YOU GET THAT STAIN OFF OF MY FACE, THOUGH YOU FOUND IT INCREDIBLY FUNNY FOR SOME REASON.   
CG: I HAD TO GO BECAUSE OF KANKRI AND I WAS TELLING YOU THAT I WOULD TRY AND WORK ON A LEAD OR SOMETHING WHEN I WAS GONE BUT YOU WERE TRYING TO CONVINCE ME TO STAY BECAUSE SOMETHING WAS COMING. FOOD I THINK? IT'S KIND OF SLIPPING FROM ME NOW THAT I'M AWAKE.  
CG: WAS THAT A DREAM OR WAS THAT A MEMORY?  
TA: ...can you 2tiill remember iit clearly?  
CG: MOSTLY, I THINK.  
TA: that'2 not good.   
CG: YOU DIDN'T ANSWER MY QUESTION.  
TA: ii'm not 2ure ii 2hould, even though ii want two. 2top readiing that book though.   
CG: IS THAT BECAUSE IT'LL MELT MY BRAIN LIKE YOU SAID THAT SPELL ACROSS MY FACE WOULD?  
TA: iit miight.  
CG: WHICH IT WOULD ONLY DO BECAUSE IT'S A MEMORY.   
TA: ii plead the fiifth  
CG: ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT.   
CG: WHAT WAS ON MY FACE THOUGH?  
TA: eheheheh  
CG: ...WHAT?  
TA: oh ii wiill happiily come down there and demon2trate iif you want  
CG: WAIT.  
TA: ii wii2h ii could 2ee your face riight now  
CG: WELL I'M ENDING THIS CONVERSATION NOW AND I'M GOING TO PRETEND IT NEVER HAPPENED, THANKS!  
CG: NO WONDER PAST YOU WAS SO FUCKING AMUSED!  
  
twinArmageddons [TA] ceased trolling  carcinoGeneticist [CG]

You try to fight the colour off of your face, the red that is! From you blushing, not- not that memory you just dreamt up. Oh boy, you think maybe you should just go back to your dorm. You gather your things up and try not to let the images from your memory stick in your mind, but you’re not especially successful. When you check the book out you have to assure Kanaya that Ms. Paint let you get it out and it’s part of your practice.

Sollux clearly doesn’t think that you remembering things bodes well but you still need to learn how to resist books. So, you’re taking it with you. Besides there’s no certainty that you’ll get another memory instead of a dream next time if you fail to resist the book. Whatever, you’re taking it with you and going back to your dorm.

You think Kanaya is just pleased that you’re not trying to work.

After a quick detour to grab food you head back to your dorm and once the door is firmly shut you pull your phone out. You just… go with your instincts.

The phone rings at your ear and finally connects and you relax at the sound of the voice on the other end.

“Hey man, you know if you’re willing to make phone calls to people I think we have to revoke your millennial card.” Dave says, wryly amused.

“I’m pretty sure I’m far older than that, so that’s probably okay. I just missed you.” you tell him honestly.

“Aw, shit, really?” he laughs, he sounds hopeful. Does he not know how much you like him? Are you focusing on Sollux too much? God, you don’t know how to have one relationship let alone two!

“Is it hard to believe that I miss you? Because I do.” you insist, you need him to know that.

Dave makes a strangled sound and you hear a sound like something soft hitting him.

“What was that?” you ask in surprise.

“Gravity. My bed. You gotta warn me before you hit me with feelings like that Karkat, it’s the law.” Dave says, his voice slightly muffled.

You grin and lay down on the sofa, the phone still held firmly to your ear.

“Good thing that I have a very good lawyer then, I’m sure she’ll get me off of the hook for any charges of flustering the legally protected Dave Lalonde.” you chuckle. You hear Dave shift around and his voice becomes clearer.

“I can’t believe your flagrant disregard for the law, Karkat. I thought you were an absolute _angel_.” he says.

“Funny.” you tell him flatly.

“Aw, poor Karkat. So aside from this entirely unwarranted attack on my feelings was there anything you specifically wanted to talk about?” Dave asks with a touch more confidence in his voice.

“No, I just wanted to talk to you.” you say.

“I wish I’d done something cool and exciting to tell you about. All I’ve done today is microwave food and throw rocks in the river. It’s key to get those the right way around but if you want to be adventurous and flip that shit you can. Sollux will eat a microwaved rock if dared to.” Dave informs you and you believe him.

“I went to the library and read a book that made me literally pass out, so I spent several hours face down asleep on it. I got a memory back though, not a useful one but at least Kankri wasn’t in it. It also just gave Sollux a chance to laugh at me.” you grumble.

“What doesn’t give him a chance to laugh at you? I swear sometimes watching you two talk to each other is pure comedy from my point of view.” Dave snickers.

“I’m glad you’re amused.” you mutter.

“I’m glad that you’re glad!” Dave chirps, the asshat that he is. You clearly have terrible taste in men, that’s the only thing that can explain this.

You hold your phone to your ear with your shoulder and stretch your arms above your head. Despite the weird sensations of that dream/memory you’re starting to relax a little.

“When you get back-” you start.

“Yeah?” Dave asks before you’re even done with what you just thought would be a pause.

“When you get back we should go on a date. An actual one.” you suggest.

“Hell yeah, what did you have in mind?” Dave asks.

“I should probably have thought of that before I started talking about it but thinking before I say shit has never been my deal so why start now? I figure I’ve got a while before you get back here, I could look around for something cool for us to do and if you’ve got any good ideas you could let me know.” you say.

“No way, I have to think up cool ideas for whenever it’s my turn to come up for something for us. Get your own ideas.” he laughs.

“Alright but you’ll have longer so I expect to be completely swept off my feet then.” you warn him.

“Yeah I-” Dave pauses and you can hear a voice in the background.

“In a minute.” he hisses, you think he’s moved the phone away from his face a little. The voice in the background comes again, you think it’s his mom.

“No, I’ll be right there, I swear. I just want to finish talking to- that’s not- NO! Mom!” Dave protests and you can hear a scuffle over the phone.

“Hello, Karkat.” Roxy says smoothly down the phone.

“Hah, hi Roxy.” you laugh. In the background you can hear Dave petulantly whine ‘moooooooom’ at her.

“Dave has to come eat lunch, so he’ll have to stop talking to you and doodling your name in his journal with hearts all around it now.” Roxy says, and you can hear her trying not to laugh.

“I WAS NOT!” Dave protests in the background.

“I understand entirely.” you snicker.

“I knew you would. Ah- no snatching Dave!” Roxy says quickly and you hear a yelp in the background.

“Oh, hey. You knew what I was, didn’t you? What species I am, I mean.” you ask her.

“Natch, it just makes your adorable little feelings party all the cuter right? Being on opposite sides like that.” Roxy giggles. Yeah, you suppose there’s a certain irony in you and Sollux being together.

“I figured. Well, I’ll let you have lunch now.” you say.

“Byeee!” Roxy coos into the phone and hangs up.

As you pull your phone away from your ear you see that Rose trolled you too.

tentacleTherapist [TT] began trolling  carcinoGeneticist [CG]  
  
TT: Late for lunch? Not in the Lalonde household.   
[tentacleTherapist attached file 1833.jpg]

You click on the image and nearly choke on your own spit laughing at it. Dave is stuck to the ceiling in a glowing pink circle as his mom sits on the floor with his phone to her ear as she talks to you.

CG: OH SHIT THAT'S AMAZING, DID HE GET DOWN OKAY?   
TT: Of course, she'd never drop him. He's perfectly fine, although his pride may never recover.   
CG: YOU KNOW WHAT? THANKS FOR THAT, I NEEDED THE LAUGH.   
TT: You're more than welcome, however I need to go to lunch, lest I risk the same fate.   
CG: ENTIRELY UNDERSTANDABLE. LATER, ROSE.

carcinoGeneticist [CG] ceased trolling  tentacleTherapist [TT]

You’re still smiling when you lower your phone to your chest, you feel a little better now. You stay put on the sofa for a little bit, just enjoying being comfortable and in the warmth of your dorm. Still, you’ve already literally slept part of the day away so you should go and do something productive. With a grunt you roll off of the sofa on to your knees and drag your carcass into your bedroom.

The sight of sofa cushion covers filled with your maker’s stolen things makes you sigh. You’ve still not done anything about all of that and you really need to. You sit on the edge of the bed and pull one of them closer. There’s a soft warm sweater inside, you’d figured that perhaps you could give it to a homeless shelter or something. At this time of year you’re sure that there are plenty of people who could use something to ward off the cold.

Holding it in your hands you can feel the soft fabric against your skin, the way the weight of the garment hangs from your hands. You rub your thumbs over the weave of the wool and find your mind churning over him again. If you’d got a chance to know him this time around and talk to him, not as a maker and the person he made but just as two people who didn’t know where they were from, could you have made a difference? Could you have talked him through and out of his beliefs about other species by hearing what he had to say and countering it? Was there any way you could have shown him the view of other non-humans? Introduced him to people he might have liked who weren’t human? Could you have made him better?

Maybe you could have, maybe you could have been family or friends at the very least. You get the feeling that you weren’t close emotionally before, you’ve never had any positive memory about him come back to you. He probably still deserved better than being shanked in an alleyway, if only because you don’t think that anyone really deserves that.

You lift the sweater up to your face and breathe in, your nose buried in the fabric. You can smell fabric softener, his detergent, but there’s something else there. Scent is supposed to be one of the senses most strongly tied to memory, isn’t it? As you breathe in and move past the laundry smells you get something else.

You’d be hard pressed to describe the smell, it’s just… him. It’s not _’Jasmine flowers in moonlight with a hint of fresh coffee’_ or anything like that. It’s just a scent that hits your brain and your mind connects it to Kankri’s face. It smells like home. Your home.

Not your dorm that you’re in now, the one you really consider home. Nor is it the place in Georgia that you never considered home. It’s that place you lived for so long with him. No memories suddenly leap to the surface but a feeling settles over you as thickly as if it was the actual sweater in your hands.

You feel lonely. You feel like there’s no point talking because no one listens but you don’t stop and then it’s unpleasant words, lectures that make you feel an inch tall and terrible isolation. Kankri’s sweater makes you feel like you’re home again, in a way that’s not at all pleasant.

You shove the sweater back in the makeshift bag and wrap your arms around yourself. You don’t want to be on your own right now.

carcinoGeneticist [CG] began trolling  caligulasAquarium [CA]  
  
CG: HEY, ERIDAN. DO YOU WANT TO WATCH THOSE MOVIES NOW? I COULD BRING THEM OVER TO YOURS IF YOU'RE INTERESTED.  
CG: BEING ALONE IN MY DORM IS KIND OF DRIVING ME CRAZY.  
CA: oh hey kar   
CA: yeah sure you can come ovver ill just send you the address  
[caligulasAquarium sent you an image 'directions for kar.jpeg']  
CG: THANKS, I'LL GRAB MY LAPTOP AND MOVIES.  
CA: is evverythin okay?  
CG: YEAH, IT'S NOTHING NEW. I'LL SEE YOU IN A BIT.  
  
carcinoGeneticist [CG] ceased trolling  caligulasAquarium [CA]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wanna come scream at me about this chapter? We have a discord now! :D https://discord.gg/drREmFU


	22. Problems

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning for this chapter: for various reasons this chapter deals with the police, so if that's very upsetting for you then please proceed with caution.

“I don’t see what this has to do with Christmas.” Eridan says with a frown at the TV.

“You have zero patience.” you sigh and slide down on the sofa. Eridan’s sofa is great, his whole apartment is fantastic actually. Plush and expensive, not that Rose has cheap stuff so it’s really saying something when it’s nicer than your place. You’ve no idea how the hell he afforded this place on his own but you’re not going to ask.

“It looks more like a halloween movie. Hey, stop hogging that.” Eridan pouts and tugs the gourmet popcorn bowl off of your lap.

“It’s both.” you agree.

You wince a little on screen as stop motion vampires, werewolves and witches appear.

“So, this world is supposed to be the concept of halloween and scary things which is why everything is so… like that. At least I think that was Burton’s defense for why there are portrayals of vampires that haven’t been okay since the black and white era of cinema. They’re meant to be like the idea of vampires that people have that frightens them. Same with witches, back when that was all hush hush people had IDEAS.” you explain.

Eridan chews some of the popcorn and considers this as the movie keeps playing.

“Is that the real reason or just some bullshit excuse to cover his ass about somethin’ that’d get him in trouble?” Eridan asks.

“That’s the question. I feel a little bad for being able to look past it because despite that it’s a good movie with really good musical numbers. Maybe I shouldn’t watch it for that but I don’t know.” you sigh.

“You sound just like-” Eridan cuts himself off with a laugh.

“People online who look way too deep into everything? Yeah.” you groan.

You watch Jack Skellington’s number about feeling like no one understands him, about wanting to be something other than what he’s supposed to be. It’s… a good song.

“It’s nice that you care.” Eridan says softly.

“That’s the bare minimum though, isn’t it? Caring?” you point out, you’re pretty much ignoring the movie by now.

“A lot of people don’t even do that.” he counters.

“Well, yeah, but that’s not a good thing.” you snort. You’re well aware lots of people don’t give a shit about things.

“I don’t know, I think it can be hard to care sometimes. It always seems like there’s so much bad shit going down that there’s nothing that can be done to make things better. It’s all just pointless, you know?” he sighs wearily.

You turn on the sofa and look at him, he seems tired and sad. His eyes are downcast and his body language is heavy.

“I can see why you’d say that and I feel like that sometimes too. One of my friends recently found out about something terrible that was done to her and it feels like there’s nothing I can do in the face of that to make it better, you know? You just despair.” you agree.

“So you know what I mean.” Eridan says.

“Yes, but I don’t think it’s right. I can’t fix what happened to my friend but I could be there for her. I could take her to somewhere with people who could look out for her, I could toss her pet in the same room so he could make her feel better. I did what I could to show her that I care. It doesn’t fix her problem but I think it helped.” you point out.

“I’m not saying that wasn’t nice-” Eridan starts.

“I was feeling really shit and lonely before I ran into you and we did this. You made things better for me.” you interrupt.

Eridan seems startled at your words and you watch as his face goes a little pink.

“All I’m saying is that if everyone tried to do nice things, even small things then the world would be better. Lots of people doing small good things makes for a lot of good. Besides it’s only the people deliberately making things bad from places of power who want you to think you can’t do anything.” you add.

“And if you’re wrong?” he asks after a moment of silence.

“Well then, shit, I guess I just did nice things. How terrible.” you say and roll your eyes.

“Oh, shit, finally something Christmas related.” Eridan gasps as on screen Jack Skellington moves towards the door to Christmas town.

“I told you to be patient.” you say teasingly.

The rest of the movie passes easily enough and you’ve seen it before so you can fill Eridan in on the bits you were both talking over. He tries to tell you about how Christmas trees weren’t always a Christian thing but instead were pagan, which of course you already knew. Everyone knows that. The two of you watch the movie all the way through and it’s pretty clear that he enjoyed it.

“I think I’m going to have that oogie boogie song stuck in my head now.” he says as he stretches his arms above his head.

“It is unfairly catchy.” you agree and get up with the now empty popcorn bowl.

“Do you want to do this again? Maybe… the day after tomorrow?” Eridan asks hopefully as you put the bowl in the sink.

“Yeah. We could do Home Alone, that’s a pretty classic Christmas movie.” you suggest.

“I’d really like that.” Eridan smiles and it makes something inside of you glow, you’d been feeling so alone and now you’re not.

“You could come to mine this time, we can take turns so it’s fair.” you say, he was nice enough to host this time and provided snacks too. The least you could do is to repay him in kind. Maybe when the rest of your friends come back you can get everyone together and have a regular movie club!

“That sounds great.” Eridan nods.

You say your goodbyes and you head on home after that, a warm glow in your heart the whole way back. You even manage to text and walk at the same time because you’re just so good like that.

carcinoGeneticist [CG] began trolling  turntechGodhead [TG]  
  
CG: HEY, WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE CONTROVERSIAL NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS?  
TG: no thoughts  
TG: head empty  
CG: SIIIIIIIIGH.  
TG: haha ok but seriously i think the characters in that are meant to be like the symbolic versions of themselves  
TG: like obviously jack can do shit that liches can't and sally isnt anything like how necromancy really works  
CG: YEAH, THAT'S WHAT I WAS SAYING. BUT I GET WHY PEOPLE WOULDN'T BE COOL WITH IT.   
TG: oh for sure  
TG: but it is an old movie too so a different time i guess  
CG: DAVE, THAT MOVIE CAME OUT IN 1993.  
TG: yeah literally the last millenia  
TG: a bajillion years agoooooo  
CG: I ONLY RECENTLY FOUND MY AGE OUT AND I ALREADY FEEL OLD.   
TG: wait you know how old you are now  
CG: OH, WELL, NO. NOT EXACTLY. I JUST KNOW THAT I'M OLDER THAN I THOUGHT I WAS AND OLDER THAN SOLLUX. I MEAN I SHOWED UP IN JAKE FUCKING HARLEYS JOURNAL SAVING HIS LIFE SO I'VE AT LEAST BEEN AROUND THAT LONG.  
TG: youre at least my moms age i guess  
CG: AAAAAND NOW THIS WHOLE THING FEELS CREEPY. I FEEL LIKE A CREEP.  
TG: dude youre not human, human ages dont apply  
TG: also you can only kind of say its sketchy if theres a big gap in maturity between species and we both know that neither of us are mature at all  
CG: YOU'RE IMMATURE. I'M MATURE.  
TG: tell me more about that kids christmas movie you just got done watching  
CG: THAT'S IT, I'M GOING TO TELL ON YOU.  
TG: also very mature  
TG: and who are you gonna tell on me to  
TG: sollux? because hes gonna laugh at you  
  
carcinoGeneticist [CG] ceased trolling  turntechGodhead [TG]

carcinoGeneticist [CG] began trolling  tentacleTherapist [TT]  
  
CG: ROSE YOUR BROTHER IS CYBERBULLYING ME, MAKE HIM STOP.   
TT: How terrible of him, I shall believe you without question, dearest fictional husband.   
CG: YOU'RE THE BEST FICTIONAL WIFE.   
TT: Yes, we surely are the most normal and completely straight married couple.   
TT: Why weren't you home for dinner dear, do you not love me any more?  
CG: OF COURSE I DO, I WAS JUST OUT MEETING UP WITH 'THE BOYS' IN AN ENTIRELY NON HOMOROMANTIC FASHION.   
TT: Ah, I see. The cold one with the boys that I have heard so much about.   
CG: SO GLAD YOU UNDERSTAND.  
CG: I WAS ACTUALLY OUT WITH A BOY I SUPPOSE. WATCHING A MOVIE WITH A FRIEND FROM CLASS WHO'S STILL HERE OVER WINTER BREAK.   
TT: Oh, what did you see?  
CG: THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS.  
TT: I will neither comment on my thoughts on that particular piece of cinema nor will you ask how much of its merchandise is shamefully hidden in my attic.   
CG: I WOULDN'T DREAM OF IT.  
TT: Glad to hear it.   
TT: So this movie date, who was it with?  
CG: IT WASN'T A DATE.   
CG: NOT EVERYONE, IN FACT ALMOST NO ONE IS ROMANTICALLY INTERESTED IN ME.   
TT: I believe you thought that about Dave and Sollux in the past, no?  
CG: THAT IS UNRELATED.   
CG: HE'S JUST A GUY FROM MY HISTORY OF MAGIC CLASS.   
CG: I DON'T THINK HE HAS A LOT OF FRIENDS AND HE DOESN'T REMEMBER HIS PAST EITHER. BESIDES, HE'S NOT LOCAL EITHER AND I CAN RELATE TO THAT. I CAN HAVE FRIENDS, ROSE.  
TT: Of course you can, I didn't mean to suggest otherwise.   
TT: Where is your friend from anyway?  
CG: SOMEWHERE I'VE NOT HEARD OF. HE SAID NEW AMSTERDAM WHEN I ASKED.   
TT: New Amsterdam?  
CG: YEAH?  
TT: Karkat, that's the old name for part of New York before it was even New York. It hasn't existed under that name since 1664.  
CG: THAT CAN'T BE RIGHT.  
TT: Did you forget what state I'm from? And also my basic ability to google?   
CG: MAYBE IT'S STILL CALLED THAT? BY LOCALS OR SOMETHING?  
TT: *I'M* local, Karkat!  
CG: SORRY, WELL, MAYBE HE MEANT A NEW PART OF AMSTERDAM.  
TT: Does he sound like he's Dutch?  
CG: WELL, NO, BUT I DON'T SOUND LIKE I'M FROM GEORGIA.  
TT: Karkat.  
CG: I... ALSO NOTICED HIM NOT BREATHING ONE TIME.   
TT: Karkat, your friend isn't human. He could be an angel like you.   
CG: IS THAT SUCH A BAD THING? I'VE BEEN TALKING TO HIM AND HE SEEMS LIKE A NICE GUY.   
CG: MAYBE HE DOESN'T KNOW WHAT HE IS YET.   
TT: If he didn't know then why would he name a place that doesn't exist anymore?  
CG: IT COULD HAVE JUST COME TO HIM, LIKE LITTLE THINGS DO WITH ME.  
TT: Please be careful. I would hate for anything to happen to you.   
CG: I WOULDN'T BE A FAN OF THINGS HAPPENING TO ME EITHER. THINGS THAT HAPPEN TO ME HAVE A TRACK RECORD OF BEING BAD.   
TT: Quite. I would also hate to have to hunt down and kill this 'friend' of yours if he did anything to you.  
CG: VERY FUNNY.  
TT: Hmm.  
  
tentacleTherapist [TT] ceased trolling  carcinoGeneticist [CG]

It’s kind of nice now, you spend time with Eridan every other evening or so. You watch a movie and hang out, just chatting and shooting the shit about your classes. Occasionally you’ve even cracked a book or two together and looked at your shared homework for your History of Magic class.

During the daytime you spend time at the library, hanging around with Kanaya and trying to get yourself acquainted with that Freud book without passing out again.

You lift the book up in your hands and Kanaya works on repairing the cover of another book nearby. It seems that holiday breaks are a great time to pull books for repairs. As you hold it you can feel the slight compulsion to read it seeping through your skin.

“I slept well last night.” you tell Kanaya.

“Good?” Kanaya says, a pencil held between her teeth as she neatly folds a cover over and presses it to the glue.

“So if I pass out please wake me up. There’s no need to let me sleep so I can catch up on it or anything.” you explain.

Kanaya nods and so you return your attention to the book. You fan its pages slowly and feel the subtle hypnotic pull from within. You will not fall asleep. You will NOT.

You set it down.

Leaning over the book on the table you open it and start to read from where you left off before.

I shall begin by giving a short account of the views of earlier writers on this subject, and of the status of the dream-problem in contemporary science; since in the course of this treatise I shall not often have occasion to refer to either.

Oh, you definitely feel like you’re going to fall asleep, but that might just be Freud. Focus. Deny the book the chance to do what it wants.

In spite of thousands of years of endeavour, little progress has been made in the scientific understanding of dreams. This fact has been so universally acknowledged by previous writers on the subject that it seems hardly necessary to-

Your face hits the book.

You hit the floor and bounce off, hissing with anger. You roll and get to your feet but everything around you is endless white.

“YOU CAN’T THROW ME IN HERE EVERY TIME I DISAGREE WITH YOU!” you scream into the void.

“I KNOW YOU’RE STILL AWARE OF ME WHEN I’M IN HERE! LET ME OUT!” you yell as loud as you possibly can.

Your voice fades into the nothing of white around you and, of course, there is no response.

Oh, he’s going to play it like that, is he? You flick open your hand at your side and draw a huge circle of amplification. You start to fire off fireworks around you, set fires where you can will kindling into existence to sustain it and most of all you scream. You scream every obscenity you know and every thing you know that Kankri is ashamed of or scandalised about. If you have to be stuck in here you’re at least going to make him as miserable about it as you can.

“Karkat, wake up.” Kanaya shakes your shoulder and you jerk upwards from the book.

“Goddamnit.” you mutter and rub at your face. Your nose is sore.

“You hit that book quite hard, are you alright?” Kanaya asks, sweeping your hair back from your face a little.

“Yeah, I’m fine. It’s just sore. Mostly my pride hurts.” you sigh and lean back in your chair. It feels like you’re never going to get this and now you’re just sad because Kankri sucks and your past clearly isn’t great.

“Perhaps you should go get something to eat, it’s getting close to dinner time isn’t it?” Kanaya suggests.

You glance at the clock and see that it’s almost six.

“I guess. I’ll come back though, I’m determined not to let this thing beat me.” you insist and get up, flicking the book shut with one hand and trying not to look at it as you do so.

“I actually finish at seven. Would you want to come to my apartment after work? I have drinks and we could play some games perhaps.” Kanaya suggests.

You perk up at that offer, you like Kanaya and getting to hang out with her outside of work is something you’d definitely like and haven’t really done much before. Well, there was that party but that didn’t end super well for you, did it?

“Oh, that’d be really cool. Do you want me to bring you back anything from the cafeteria?” you offer.

“If the Polish lady who works on the drinks section is there I’d love one of their hot chocolates, otherwise don’t worry.” Kanaya tells you.

“See, I didn’t want one until you brought it up but now I have a desperate need for the same thing.” you laugh and pull your coat and scarf on.

Kanaya just smiles at you teasingly and goes back to repairing her book as you leave. You toss your cursed book into your bag and with a wave at Kanaya you leave.

The cafeteria is pretty quiet, which is a nice change from how it’s usually packed when you eat here in term time. It’s a tofu noodle type thing which is actually decently tasty, enough that you can hold a meandering nothing conversation with Dave over trollian with one hand and happily eat your meal with the other.

It turns out that the Polish lady is there making drinks so when you’re done with your food you hurry over to her and order two of her fantastic hot chocolates for you and Kanaya. With that done you quickly go back to the library. Just as you’re getting close to the building you see Kanaya step through the doorway, she spots you and waves.

“Perfect timing.” Kanaya calls out to you with a smile.

“She was there.” you say happily and hold Kanaya’s drink out for her.

Kanaya takes it from you, sips from the cardboard cup and groans in delight. You have to agree, it’s good stuff.

“This way.” Kanaya says and turns away from the library. You follow along with her, enjoying the cold evening air when you get to drink hot chocolate to keep you warm.

“So, have you… ah… heard much from Rose?” Kanaya asks, keeping her eyes straight ahead. Which is a shame because she doesn’t get to see the cheshire cat grin on your face.

“I talk to her pretty much every day. I mentioned about seeing you when I go to the library, about the movies I’ve been watching, you know.” you say casually.

“Does she a-”

“KANAYA.” a deep voice that thrums in your bone marrow comes from behind you. You jump and squeeze your paper cup of hot chocolate in your alarm, shooting it all up your sleeve and over your hand.

You whirl around and look up at a tall woman that immediately pings you as a vampire.

“Mother, what are you doing here?” Kanaya gasps.

“I felt- I missed you. Who is this?” the woman asks, turning her gaze on you. Her eyes are so very green.

“Oh, fuck, sorry. I’m Karkat, I work with Kanaya. I’d shake your hand but… uh.” you trail off and hold up your hot chocolate covered hand to demonstrate.

“Oh dear, I’m sorry. Hold on, I think I have something.” she says and pulls her thick black cloak aside to reveal a handbag. She rummages around in it for a minute before pulling out a packet of wet wipes and tugs one out to pass it to you. Her casual unthinking niceness with an undercurrent of being actually terrifying makes the resemblance to Kanaya all the stronger.

“Thhhhank… you? Thank you.” you say uncertainly and take the offered wipe from her. You’re not going to turn down the chance to not be sticky in the near future.

Kanaya seems a little embarrassed at her mother’s offer and shakes her head.

“Not that I’m not pleased to see you, but you visiting is a little unexpected.” Kanaya says as you clean your hand off.

“I know. It’s just the town I was in suddenly got very into celebrating and it was just a little much, so I wanted to see you. I did bring you a gift to apologise for showing up unannounced.” she says and goes back into her handbag again. It must have some kind of bag of holding enchantment on it because the bottle that she pulls out is fancy and old looking, filled with a dark liquid.

“I got it from the priest in a town I passed through in Italy.” Kanaya’s mother says with a secret smile.

“Oh shit.” you gasp as she hands it to Kanaya.

“It’s not blood!” Kanaya says hurriedly.

“I wasn’t thinking that and don’t really care if it was? It just looks really old and expensive, wow.” you say in awe and lean closer to look at the label on it, it’s so old and yellowed.

“Well, yes, I suppose. Thank you mother, I really wasn’t expecting this.” Kanaya says with a touch of awkwardness.

“Think nothing of it. But I feel rude, I’ve not introduced myself to your friend. Karkat, was it?” she asks and you nod.

“My name is Porrim Maryam, Kanaya’s mother. I’m very pleased to meet you and I’m very sorry for scaring you.” she says and offers you her hand. You quickly dry yours on your shirt and then shake her hand, it’s cool but perfectly manicured.

“Don’t worry about it, it’s great to meet you.” you tell her cheerfully.

You look across to Kanaya and can’t help but wonder how often she gets to see her mother.

“You know, if you two want to catch up we can always hang out another time. It’s not like I’m going anywhere.” you tell Kanaya.

“What? No, you don’t need to do that.” Kanaya insists.

“Oh dear, I didn’t mean to interrupt your plans, I can always come by your apartment another night Kanaya.” Porrim says with a worried little crease to her brow.

“Wait, no, you’ve clearly come from further away than me and I see Kanaya all the time at work, you don’t need to put off seeing her.” you insist.

“How about you BOTH stop fussing over who’s going to bow out and you both come back to mine? I insist.” Kanaya says that last part so firmly that you don’t dare deny her.

When you look at her mother she seems amused and charmed by Kanaya’s insistence, and so the pair of you follow Kanaya back to her home. As you walk Kanaya’s mother makes smalltalk with you both.

“How is this degree going, Kanaya?” she asks.

“Pretty well, I’m studying magical knowledge encoded into fabric with weaving as a way of preserving it from outsiders.” Kanaya explains.

“It’s really impressive.” you chip in.

“Oh, like my scarf you mean.” Porrim says and pulls a jade green scarf out from inside her full length black cloak.

“You’re not an academic source, mom. I told you this before. But yes, like that.” Kanaya nods.

You wonder how many degrees Kanaya must have and you can’t help but be in awe of her dedication.

“And what about you, Karkat? What are you studying?” Porrim asks you politely.

“I’m only in my first year so it’s still a lot of everything, they want people to have a good base knowledge before deciding what they want to specialise in. Whatever I go into I want it to be something that can help people, you know?” you tell her.

“He’s very sweet. You should see him with the students, I don’t think he ever contemplates cramming a book down anyone’s throat for being annoying.” Kanaya laughs.

“Hey, I’d never do that to a book. I do deeply think about strangling a few people though. How many times do I have to tell your group to be quiet, I can HEAR you even when I’ve walked around the corner!” you grumble.

“Some people.” Kanaya agrees with a sigh.

Kanaya’s mother seems to be amused by this discussion and you guess Kanaya realises that she might be left out and turns her next question on her.

“How was the trip here?” Kanaya asks.

“Travelling across the country was never a problem, I like seeing places and all the towns on the way. The boat journey across from Europe is always terribly tedious.” she sighs.

“You got a boat? Can’t you teleport?” you ask her curiously.

“I could, but I don’t trust it. Being magically sent somewhere, who knows where you could end up or who could take you on the way? No, I would rather walk or get a boat.” Porrim says sternly, Kanaya shoots you a look that tells you not to question it.

“That sounds like it’d be a long trip.” you say instead.

“Oh, yes. But I had books and knitting so time passes. Plus when you’re my age you get a different perspective on how long things really take.” Porrim shrugs.

“That sounds pretty nice, actually. Although saying that Halloween feels like forever ago but it wasn’t all that long, right Kanaya?” you say, looking over to her as she pulls keys from her ring.

“Don’t ask me. I’m not that much younger than my mother and I still don’t have a track on the passing of time.” Kanaya says flatly and goes to unlock her front door.

“Perhaps it’s based on maturity rather than age then.” Porrim says airily.

Kanaya pauses, her hand on her key in the door. She turns to her mother with a perfectly straight face, then her immaculately painted black lips part just right for her to… stick her tongue out at her mother. The older and distinctly intimidating looking vampire next to you snorts in amusement and Kanaya lets you all in, you think you like her.

Kanaya’s place is wonderfully decorated, speaking to the fact that she’s been here longer than you have and has really adapted this place to herself. Colourful and intricate fabric hangs from the walls and over the ceiling in places in wide sheets. It should make the place feel claustrophobic but it instead has the effect of the world's classiest blanket fort.

She makes her way to a little kitchenette which isn’t any bigger than your own but you suppose she doesn’t really use it. There’s stacks of tea and coffee in glass fronted cupboards and stacks of fancy glasses and cups. The plain value looking microwave that the place probably came with is loaded up under envelopes and there’s a spool of kitchen towel in front of it, clearly nothing is cooked in here. She does, however, have a very high tech fridge that looks almost medical in use.

Vampires are legally allowed to get blood from blood banks or from consenting donors in person, but you know that’s typically something only done when the vampire is dating someone. You wouldn’t want to ask about Kanaya’s eating habits because it’s rude as fuck and none of your business. Besides, you’re sure that tactless chumps ask about it regularly and you don’t want to be a tactless chump.

Instead of doing any of that you take your coat off as Kanaya’s mother elegantly sweeps her long back cloak off. Underneath she’s wearing a stunning evening gown and her skin is decorated with curling tattoos, you guess when you live that long you can just do and wear whatever the fuck you want. She flicks her long black hair which settles elegantly over her shoulders.

“Does everyone who lives as long as you two look like movie stars or what? Actually, no, that can’t be right. I’ve seen a guy who’s several thousand years old and he looks like a nerdy minecraft twitch streamer.” you say as you remember Mituna. That guy doesn’t look like a movie star.

“I like this one.” Porrim grins, showing off her fangs as she smiles.

“Me too.” Kanaya laughs.

Porrim seems to consider you for a moment and glances at her daughter who is currently setting the fancy bottle down on the kitchen counter.

“You know that my daughter is very gay, right?” she says surreptitiously.

“Mother!” Kanaya gasps in horror.

“Oh- no, no. I already knew and I’m definitely spoken for anyway. I have, like, two boyfriends.” you tell her hurriedly.

“Ah. That honestly seems like more trouble than it’s worth.” Kanaya’s mother says thoughtfully.

“Yeah, I bet they think that about me.” you scoff, you’re pretty sure that you’re a lot of work for both Dave and Sollux.

“Karkat and I are just friends, not that it’s any of your business _mother_.” Kanaya says pointedly and narrows her eyes at Porrim who looks as innocent as can be.

“Karkat, would you like a drink?” Kanaya asks sweetly, moving on from her accusations towards her mother and gesturing to the bottle on the side.

“No, I’m good. I don’t know if I can drink alcohol and that looks fancy and I’d hate to waste it. Besides, it was a gift for you.” you assure her.

“Fair enough. I suppose I should be glad that you’re limited in what you can tell her, aren’t you?” Kanaya says deviously as she pulls two wine glasses out of the cupboard.

“Funny.” you mutter.

“Limited?” Porrim asks curiously.

“It’s a stupid magic thing I did without knowing what I was doing, now I can’t talk about a specific thing.” you explain.

“A deal sort of thing.” Kanaya adds and bites the cork in the bottle and pulls it out with her fangs.

Porrim's eyes widen a little and she looks at you in surprise.

“A deal with a demon?” she asks.

“No, that wasn’t- I guess it’s a similar thing. I made a promise, a vow, that I wouldn’t talk about something and… well.” you peel back your sleeve and the whitish writing on your arm flares up so it’s visible.

You don’t see Porrim move, one second she’s there and the next she’s on the other side of the counter, putting herself between you and Kanaya. The fancy bottle topples over onto its side with a loud clang and red liquid comes rushing out. You gasp and quickly try to right the thing but there’s now wine over your hands.

“GET OUT. GET OUT. GET AWAY FROM US!” Porrim snarls, her face shifting into something feral and utterly furious.

“I’m sorry, I don’t-” you try to apologise, though you don’t understand what you’ve done.

Porrim pulls a glowing green blade out of seemingly thin air and levels it at you.

“Don’t think that I don’t know how to kill your kind, don’t think that I haven’t before. You stay the FUCK away from us!” Porrim snarls.

You stumble back in fear, your hands held up in surrender.

“Mother! What are you-” Kanaya tries to protest but her mother pushes her back behind her.

“Please, I’d never hurt Kanaya, she’s my friend.” you tell her.

“OUT!” Porrim roars and vaults the kitchen counter.

“Okay! Okay! I’ll go, I’m sorry!” you yelp and scramble out through the front door.

You realise right away that while you’ve still got your bag on you left your coat in Kanaya’s home, you’re sure as shit not going back in there to get it after that. You hurry back to campus and towards your dorms, not keen on sticking around close to a woman who wants to kill you.

She’s obviously met angels before and not liked them one bit. You can’t say that you blame her. You walk quickly, your arms wrapped around yourself to ward off the cold and in a vain attempt to make you feel better. As soon as you’ve shut your dorm room door you pull your sweater off and march into your room. There’s a mirror on your wardrobe door and it takes only a second to shake your wings out, though there’s barely room for them in here.

You stare at your reflection, at your wings… at what you are.

Fuck, you need to talk to someone else about this. Without much hesitation at all you dial Rose up, needing to hear a friendly voice. You think Dave will just try to distract you and cheer you up and Sollux might help but you feel a little too fragile to handle anything he might throw at you now. So, Rose.

“Hello?” Rose says as she picks up.

“Can I talk to you?” you ask her weakly.

“Ordinarily I would point out that you already are and have thus answered your own question, but you sound upset so I’d rather ask you if you’re okay. Did something happen?” Rose asks.

“I was hanging out with Kanaya and her mom showed up, we went back to Kanaya’s place and her mom worked out what I am and she lost it on me. Threatened to kill me.” you say in a small voice.

“Holy shit.” Rose whispers.

“Yeah. I mean I get it, it seems like pretty much all of my species sucks and she’s obviously had some experience there.” you mumble. You probably ruined her whole trip to see Kanaya.

“That’s absolute shit, Karkat. Just because someone’s had a bad experience with someone of one species before that doesn’t mean it’s fair to judge everyone that way, especially to the extent of threatening to kill them. If she had politely asked you to leave that would be unfair but at least reasonable, if she’d needed time to process things and talk to you sensibly later. Trying to kill you is an entirely different matter.” Rose insists.

You look down at your free hand and see that it’s stained red from the wine.

“What if it is fair though? What if I was as bad as everyone else before then?” you say and your wings curl around you protectively. Not that it really helps given how much you dislike the things right now.

“We’ve been over this before. Sollux wouldn’t have had anything to do with you if that was the case. Besides which the records of you in Jade’s grandpa’s library show you helping people. I don’t think you’ve ever been evil, I really don’t.” Rose reminds you.

“If Kanaya’s mom’s had a bad experience she’ll probably tell Kanaya about it and about me. I’ve probably lost a friend.” you say miserably. You work with her too, that’ll be awful if she hates you now!

“If that’s the case then I want absolutely nothing to do with her and I will have some very choice words for her the moment I get back.” Rose says, her voice steely and determined.

“Don’t do that, you like her so much.” you sniff. You flick your wings about until you can lay face down on your bed with one wing tucked tight to your side and other draping down onto the floor.

“If she reacts poorly to your species then she’s not who I thought she was at all, or someone that I want to date. So there.” Rose tells you.

You don’t really know what to say to that so you just make an affirmative noise to show you heard.

“Besides,” Rose says in a softer tone, “people can’t talk about what you are to people who don’t already know. Remember that? Mom and Sollux could talk about it because she worked it out and he knew but if Kanaya doesn’t already know then there’s no way she can tell her anyway.”

“Alright, but what if she’s able to explain it enough so Kanaya can guess? Or what if the specifics of this spell doesn’t cover vampires? We don’t know the details. I just…” you hesitate.

“Just want to catastrophize?” Rose says sweetly.

“I’m not catastrophizing, these are very real concerns.” you bite the words out and glare at the space Rose would be in if she was here. Which she isn’t.

“Do you want my advice?” Rose asks.

“Please.”

“Stay away from Kanaya for a bit, let her reach out to you. As someone whose mother has attacked people in her home before I have always reached out to people afterwards to apologise. My mother is a somewhat exceptional case but it’s still good manners to apologise for things like that and explain. She should talk to you. Also, let’s say that she does somehow know what you are because her mother worked it out then you might need to leave her time to think about it, so you’d also benefit from giving her space there.” Rose says.

“What if she thinks that I’m avoiding her?” you ask.

“You are. Look, you will see her again, you’re just letting things cool down and allowing her to come to you with the proverbial olive branch. In the meantime you can focus on doing other things. I’m sure you have work still to do for classes and you mentioned your not date with that friend of yours, you can do all of that. Be too busy to worry.” she advises you.

“I’m not sure I have ever been too busy to worry, but I take your point.” you say reluctantly.

“Good. Do that. There is nothing wrong with you as a person or because of what species you are and I will personally hex anyone who says otherwise.” Rose says.

“You don’t know any real hexes yet. That zappy thing you do with your needles is about it and I don’t think that’s technically a hex.” you say with a frown.

There’s silence down the phone and you can FEEL the knowing smile on Rose’s face.

“I don’t want to know what malicious magics you know, do I?” you ask in horror.

“The less you know the less ignorance you have to fake when you’re giving me an alibi.” Rose says sweetly.

God help you but she’s right.

“Fair.” you say and wonder how your life came to this.

“Well, now that all that is sorted I’m afraid I have to go. Do call me if anything else happens.” Rose says, moving on in a businesslike fashion.

“I will. Thanks for talking to me Rose, I do actually feel a lot better and I have renewed my fear of ever crossing you.” you laugh. It feels good to smile again, it really does.

“Ah, all is as it should be. Goodnight, Karkat.” Rose says cheerily.

“Night.” you say back and hear her hang up.

You try to do as Rose said. You study up and after a few hours you’re able to sketch out a preliminary spell for continuously identifying an object, or rather the contents of the object. You figure you can attach it to a mug in your cupboard, the idea being that it’ll identify if something is water, air or ‘other’. You’re pretty sure you’ll need to set a certain limit on identifying things because you don’t want the spell freaking out because there’s a tiny bit of fluoride in the water or whatever. You just need to work out what to power it with to have it work all the time.

The more you work on it the more it occurs to you that this could easily fulfil the criteria of your alchemy homework too, so you shoot the professor an email and ask if he’d accept your project as a kind of joint venture. After that you deem that you’ve done quite enough work and settle down to watch some mindless netflix baking show. As you sit there watching the contestants fail to recreate the works they’ve been challenged to and thinking that the odds are pretty stacked against them you can’t help but fidget. You’re… itchy. Not on any part of your skin but it feels like your being is itchy.

Out of sheer exasperation you take your shirt off and sit on the back of the sofa, you unfurl your wings and find that THEY are the things that itch. You suppose that you laying down like you did before and perhaps flying here before ruffled your feathers or something. The end result is you sitting on the back of the sofa absently combing through your wings with your fingers as best as you can AND watching netflix baking shows.

When you work one of your longer feathers loose the sheer relief can only be rivalled by finally cracking an ache out of your back after eight straight hours of studying, or the hottest shower after being caught in freezing rain. The thing is huge too, easily the length of your hand and forearm.

carcinoGeneticist [CG] began trolling  tentacleTherapist [TT]  
  
CG: HEY ROSE, DO YOU WANT A GIANT FEATHER? I'VE JUST SHED ONE, IT'S *HUGE*  
TT: Oh? How huge are we talking?  
CG: LONGER THAN MY FOREARM.  
TT: I am entirely interested in having that. Could you put it in my room?  
CG: SURE.   
TT: Thank you!  
  
tentacleTherapist [TT] ceased trolling  carcinoGeneticist [CG]

You floof and unfloof your wings, finally feeling settled. With care you fold them away and hop off of the sofa. You ease the door to Rose’s room open and carefully set the massive feather on her desk. There’s a bunch more on the floor behind the sofa, mostly smaller ones but you collect them all up with care. You’d rather that everyone didn’t know what you were and after a little deliberation you go into the bathroom and carefully summon fire into your hands to burn them, this time making sure to do it quick enough and close enough to the window that the smoke detectors don’t go off.

The next day brings no messages from Kanaya, no requests to talk or meet up, nothing. You don’t really have the heart or perhaps the guts to go into the library and see what’s going on. Besides, you said you’d stay away and you’d hate to find Porrim guarding the place ready to stab you if you show up.

Of course you can still do library work and you find yourself settling in to do some of the transcription work of Roxy’s experiments. They all begin pretty similarly with Roxy outlining how the circle was to protect her and hold the demon there long enough for her to lay out how things work. She asks for consent from the people she recruits into her research and takes pains to protect both herself and the demons that she speaks to.

You record several failed tests where Roxy summons someone, they decline to participate and she simply thanks them for their time and sends them back to where they were before. The demons she speaks to seem surprised at Roxy’s thoughtful professionalism.

Moving on you start to transcribe the first encounter in what seems to be a successful series of sessions. This first one is listed as 15.1 and you’re able to transcribe Roxy’s initial spiel almost in real time as you’re so familiar with it by now. The demon she’s summoned this time has long tapered horns and hair swept over half of his face with the rest of it seemingly in a knot or a clip behind his head. He’s wearing a shiny black shirt and a teal silk waistcoat as well as pinstriped pressed slacks. You’re starting to get familiar enough with demons by now that you suspect that this one is involved in the legal system somehow. You’ve taken to writing down the physical details of the demons and the actions they take so that if this was being read by someone who was blind or partially sighted then they wouldn’t miss anything.

_The demon leans close to the edge of the circle and narrows his eyes at Roxy._

_“You’re that human that I’ve heard rumours about.” he says slowly._

_“You’ve heard of me?” Roxy asks in surprise._

_“I am very well connected and well informed. I’m sure you have plenty of questions for someone like me but alas I do not work for free and I’m a very busy and important man.” the demon says snootily._

_“Oh really.” Roxy says, sounding unconvinced._

_“Really. If you do me a favour, payment up front if you will, then I will tell you something interesting about HIM. Isn’t that the kind of information that you’re looking for?” the demon grins and points down to the floor._

_“What sort of favour are we talking about?” Roxy asks suspiciously._

_“I’m currently working on a case and am due to appear in court soon, in twenty four hours exactly from your time. Naturally I am busy preparing for said case so really you’re quite inconveniencing me by bringing me up here. However, if you were to wait twenty four hours and summon the opposing legislacerator when we’re in court then I would be more than happy to speak to you if you summoned me back the next day.” he says smoothly._

_“I think I can manage that, all you need to do is give me your name and their name and you’ve got yourself a deal.” Roxy smiles._

_The demon hesitates._

_“I can’t summon someone specifically without their name or a sample from their body.” Roxy adds._

_“I suppose.” the demon mutters._

_Roxy waits patiently, she has nothing to lose here and it’s clear that the demon is the one wanting her help._

_“My name is T̸͙͊a̸̘̅g̵̗̔o̵̯͋r̵͓̀a̶̻͠ ̶̩Ğ̴̬ô̷͍r̶͚͘j̶͖̑ȩ̷̓k̶̗̿ and my opponent’s name is T̵͕̜̋i̷̮͂r̴̭̥o̴̻̿̉n̶̤̗͋̊a̶̛̩͇͝ ̶̦͇͒̅K̵̘̫̃a̷̛̬͝s̴̻̽ũ̴̻n̵͊̐͜d̶͚̪̒͒.” he says and Roxy is hurriedly writing that down._

_“Tagora Gorjek and Tirona Kasund, twenty four hours from now on this plane. Alright. If you press your hand to the edge of the circle on your side and state the deal when I’ve agreed I’ll do the same on mine and it’ll be like a real handshake.” Roxy explains, gesturing to the places on the floor with her pen._

_Tagora nods and crouches down, his hand pressed to the floor. When he speaks his tone thrums with magic._

_“I, Tagora Gorjek will provide one piece of information to-” he pauses._

_“Roxy Lalonde.” she says quickly._

_“-to Roxy Lalonde about the ruler of Hell that as far as I know is not known by humans. I will do this under the condition that Roxy Lalonde summons Tirona Kasund from hell to Earth twenty four hours from now exactly on Earth time for as long as she reasonably can. During this time Roxy Lalonde will also not disclose this deal to Tirona Kasund during this meeting through any method of communication either verbal or nonverbal, nor may she allow anyone else to do so. After twenty four hours of Earth time have passed from summoning Tirona Kasund then Roxy Lalonde may summon me back and then I will be compelled to fulfil my part of this deal.” Tagora says._

_You watch as Roxy pauses and very clearly thinks over the terms of the deal but in the end she reaches over and presses her hand to the edge of the circle on her side._

_“One piece of factually true information that other demons would regard as true if they heard it.” Roxy amends._

_“Clever. Fine.” Tagora amends the deal and repeats the whole thing again for her._

_Roxy considers it for a moment longer._

_“I agree.” she says and teal writing snaps around her wrist._

_“Well then, until next time.” Tagora smiles at her and vanishes._

You could move on to the next tape that you have stored which you’ll bet is Roxy summoning Tirona Kasund, but you’re more interested in tape 15.2, which will be her next meeting with Tagora. Fuck it, you’re doing this work for free, you’re going to indulge yourself. You put the next tape on and, again, run through Roxy’s summoning process.

_Tagora appears in the middle of the circle with a slasher smile on his face that runs nearly from ear to ear. Roxy seems unintimidated._

_“I did my part. How did your trial go?” she asks._

_“Fantastically, she always cheats so terribly and I won anyway! Hah!” Tagora cackles._

_“So, I believe that you have information for me.” Roxy says smoothly._

_Tagora leans as close to the edge of the circle as he can, his tails curling behind him in the air with body language that you’ve learnt from Sollux to indicate a certain degree of self satisfaction. It’s the way his tails curl and uncurl in the air when he’s particularly pleased with himself and usually about to do something deeply irritating to you._

_“You know, you’re really something. This whole spell is the tightest and most well thought out I’ve ever seen and the people I know who’ve heard of you have nothing bad to say about you. You’re smart and I like that.” Tagora smiles._

_“Thank you very much.” Roxy beams._

_“So,” Tagora says and floats back in the circle so he’s sitting in the air, “Tell me what you know about management down there so I have a base for where to start.”_

_“Well, obviously certain retellings change the details and without a doubt there are biased sources but essentially the story goes that God created everything, including angels and a very powerful angel called Lucifer rebelled in some capacity and was cast out for it. This resulted in demons, hell, etc. Then mortal sin happened because of him and so on.” Roxy explains._

_“For a start, Lucifer isn’t a name for him as such, it’s more of a description or nickname. You see there’s a star-” Tagora begins._

_“Yes, for Venus, tending to wander and seemingly ‘fall’. So it became associated with a fall from the heavens.” Roxy interrupts with the air of someone used to putting her hand up instantly in school as a kid, it’s endearing._

_“Very good. It’d be like referring to you as curly or something.” Tagora explains and gestures at the very neat spiral of hair that Roxy has at her temple. Dave has exactly the same one._

_“Anyway, you’re not entirely wrong. He wasn’t made by that deity exactly, more they’re two parts of the same thing but as separate people. He tried overthrowing, it went badly, the details are somewhat lost to history. He ended up ruling hell, original sin isn’t too far off I suppose but this is all way WAY before my time so I only know what I’ve been taught.” he goes on_

_“And that can be dubious.” Roxy agrees._

_“Of course this creation myth happened and it’s all true, but so are all other faiths.” Tagora goes on._

_“Yes, yes, the superposition of faith, I’m aware. All creation stories and legends about gods are true and can be considered to have happened in fractured realities leading to this one, many tributaries feeding the same river. I know, I’m not a first year.” Roxy huffs._

_“Hah, very well then. So here is the thing that you don’t know. The powers that exist up there, on the other side of the coin, decided to take our erstwhile ruler out. His influence was chaotic, petulant and unpredictable. They made an angel, forged like a blade purely to destroy and they sent him down. They fought and the angel won, killing the ruler of hell.” Tagora says, his eyes sparkling._

_“What?” Roxy breathes._

_“The thing is, hell has to have a ruler, we have a hierarchy just as much as angels do. With no unholy leader someone had to step in. The angel looked around and decided that hell was not just bad but that it was inefficient and why should he serve those who only used him as a tool? He was going to rule instead. The ruler of hell that exists now is not the ‘Lucifer’ of your legends and he’s no angel now, he took the title and he’s a god. He reformed us, broke down stupid rules and set us up to win.” Tagora says in a tone that’s almost reverent._

_“What… what’s his name?” Roxy breathes._

_“Hah, talented though you are I wouldn’t bet that you could handle hearing his name. Your pseudonyms and epithets will have to do. But here’s my advice to you, Roxy Lalonde. Stop doing these experiments, because I managed to hear about you. If he does then nothing can save you.” Tagora warns her._

_Roxy doesn’t seem to know what to say to that and with that said Tagora vanishes. Roxy stands there for a moment and then cuts the tape._

You lean back in your chair in amazement. Why have you never heard of this before? Shifting out of your word processor you open up google and search, though what to search for eludes you for a moment. Eventually you just end up on the wikipedia page for the devil. The information you skim is all stuff you’ve absorbed by cultural osmosis so you eventually just use the find function on the word ‘Lalonde’.

Other theories suggest that the devil may be more of an occupational title, akin to a monarch and that the current devil may not be the original one. This theory was advanced by Doctor Lalonde, however no one else has been able to verify this information.

Huh, you wonder why that’d be. You guess no one else calls up demons regularly to quiz them on stuff.

carcinoGeneticist [CG] began trolling  twinArmageddons [TA]  
  
CG: SOLLUX, I HAVE A QUESTION. ARE DEMONS PROHIBITED FROM TALKING TO MORTALS ABOUT CERTAIN THINGS?  
TA: 2ure.   
CG: I'M JUST READING ROXY'S RESEARCH IS ALL, GOING OVER HER INTERVIEWS.   
TA: that would be one rea2on why tho2e exii2ted.   
CG: PAST TENSE?  
TA: what of iit?  
CG: IS THAT RULE IN PLACE NOW? OR ARE THE DEITIES BEING GONE LIFTED THAT? OR SOMETHING ELSE?  
TA: ye2  
CG: I SHOULD HAVE BEEN MORE SPECIFIC.  
TA: ye2  
CG: HAVE YOU EVER MET HIM? THE DEVIL HIMSELF I MEAN?  
TA: ii don't want two talk about iit.  
CG: UH. OKAY. SORRY?  
TA: whatever  
  
twinArmageddons [TA] ceased trolling  carcinoGeneticist [CG]

That didn’t go well. You’re really on a roll for upsetting people lately, aren’t you? Good job.

You sigh and put your phone down. Eridan will be here in a few hours so you should go out and buy snacks since he was nice enough to provide them when you went to his place. You grab your shoes, coat, bag and then plug your headphones in so you can leave.

Surely Sollux must have known the devil, given what you know about his status. But then you also know he didn’t have a great time down there so maybe you should just have not brought it up at all. Obviously you shouldn’t have brought it up, stupid.

You hesitate about to select some music. Maybe you could just…

carcinoGeneticist [CG] began trolling  twinArmageddons [TA]  
  
CG: SORRY, I SHOULDN'T HAVE SAID ANY OF THAT. I DIDN'T MEAN TO BE A TACTLESS IDIOT.  
TA: you're alway2 a tactle22 iidiiot.  
CG: THAT'S TRUE BUT I'D RATHER NOT BE.  
CG: ...ARE WE STILL OKAY?  
TA: okay?  
TA: ii'm fanta2tiic and you're a lo2er, neiither of u2 ii2 "okay"  
CG: I MEAN HAVE I RUINED EVERYTHING BETWEEN US BY BRINGING UP SOMETHING SO STUPID?  
TA: kk iif ii broke up wiith you every tiime you 2tuck your foot iin your mouth then ii'd never get anywhere wiith you.  
CG: THAT'S NOT SUPER REASSURING.  
TA: the 2ame may or may not go the other way  
TA: ii refu2e two comment  
CG: AH.  
TA: are you done fu22iing now?  
CG: AM I EVER?  
CG: BUT I'M DONE FOR NOW I GUESS.   
TA: good   
CG: I HATE YOU, YOU KNOW.  
TA: oh  
CG: ROMANTICALLY SPEAKING!  
TA: oh my fuck 2hut up you're ruiiniing iit  
TA: ii hate you two.  
TA: <3<  
CG: WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?  
TA: what?  
CG: THIS <3<  
TA: iit'2 a 2pade  
TA: for hate  
TA: you know <> c3< <3< <3  
CG: OH! LIKE CARD SUITS, LIKE ON THAT BOOK OF PORN THAT YOU STOLE FROM ME.  
TA: aquiired. ii aquiired iit from you.   
TA: <3< ii2 the hate one.  
CG: RIGHT.   
CG: WELL, I HATE YOU THEN. <3<  
TA: you're monumentally embarra22iing two know. ii hate you two now get lo2t!  
  
twinArmageddons [TA] ceased trolling  carcinoGeneticist [CG]

You feel at least a little bit better now and find yourself smiling as you hit play on your go to playlist and head out in the hunt for snacks. With the anxiety of someone who’s never had a friend over you end up buying a little too much food but so what? The worst case scenario is that lots is left and you can eat more next time or if it’s the actual worst case scenario and Eridan suddenly decides he wants nothing to do with you then, fuck it, you have snacks to make you feel better.

You’re the best at planning, it is you.

Eridan shoots you a message when he gets to your building, his card doesn’t let him in because he doesn’t live here. You hurry down and let him in and have to laugh because he’s comically bundled up in his scarf, even wearing it draped over his head to protect his hair.

“Bad weather?” you laugh and step aside to let him in.

“Sooo funny.” Eridan grumbles and steps inside. He pulls his scarf off of his head and meticulously combs through his hair.

“Come on.” you grin and lead him up to your floor.

“So which movie are we watching this time?” he asks, still fiddling with the purple section in his hair.

“Home Alone, the first one.” you tell him and head up another flight of stairs.

“And this one is a movie about Christmas?” he asks.

You lean on the door to your floor and open it.

“It happens at Christmas and there’s a… Christmas moral to the story. Maybe.” you hedge. Eridan looks wildly unconvinced.

“Just come watch the movie.” you insist and walk down to your door. You didn’t bother to lock it since you only went down to the bottom of the building. You step inside and hold the door open for him.

The pair of you settle in for the movie which is not so much about the true meaning of Christmas and more about a small boy who has easily killed these home invaders several times.

“There’s no way that’s not fatal.” Eridan says, his eyebrows climbing high above his hipster glasses as he watches the poor man on screen take a paint can to the face.

“I saw videos online once where they recreated this stuff with ballistics gel and bones, it’s absolutely fatal.” you agree and reach your hand over for the M&M’s. You’ve slouched down sideways on the sofa again because good posture is for people who aren’t you. But then again Eridan is also stretched out with his feet on the coffee table.

“Theory: Harry and Marv have gone to hell for robbery and this is their punishment, endlessly robbing a house protected by this psychopath.” Eridan suggests.

“I don’t know if that’s how hell works but I like the theory enough to approve it anyway. It explains why this stuff doesn’t kill them. What about the family though?” you ask, looking up at him.

Eridan frowns at the screen and then glances down at you, his expression softening a little.

“They abandoned their kid, child endangerment. To hell you go.” he says with confidence.

“Hmm, maybe. The pizza guy did nothing wrong though. Oh! Oh! Unless the pizza guy is a psychopomp, delivering THEM to hell without them realising it.” you suggest eagerly.

Eridan nods, approving of your theory. On screen the perpetual torment continues and Eridan looks at his hands with a frown. He shoves half a handful of M&M’s in his mouth and sighs at his sticky and stained palms.

“I need to wash this off.” he says, showing them to you.

“Right, bathroom’s that way. We’ve only got dish soap in the kitchen, bathroom has good soap.” you tell him, waving a hand in that vague direction.

“Thanks.” he says and gets up.

You stretch out and grab your drink from the table and take the chance to pause the movie while you’re at it. You hear the door open behind you and take a look at your own hands, you don’t have M&M colours melted to your hands but that’s probably because when you pick them up they go into your mouth immediately.

“Why do you have stuff in… sofa cushions?” Eridan asks.

Turning around you see that he’s opened the wrong door and is looking into your room instead of the bathroom.

“Oh, that’s my room. Bathroom’s there.” you say, pointing to the right door.

“No, I guessed that from the lack of any kind of bathroom facilities in this room. But why do you have bags of stuff on your floor? Is that a lamp in one?” Eridan asks.

“It’s…” you hesitate and get up off of the sofa. Crossing the distance you join him at the door and look over Kankri’s things.

“It’s not my stuff. Well, it is, I suppose. It belonged to a… relative. I guess. He’s dead now so I took his stuff, I was planning to donate it to shelters and things like that but I’ve just not got to it yet.” you explain.

Eridan looks around at you in shock.

“You said you didn’t have family or remember anything.” he says, still staring at you.

“I don’t! I don’t remember anything, but we found him. He had the same last name as me and he looked just like me. He’s dead now he’s- I don’t really want to talk about it.” you cut that line of conversation off quick because you can feel the well of complicated emotions it brings just welling up inside of you.

“Oh, oh Kar. It’s okay.” Eridan says and before you can do anything else he pulls you into a slightly sticky and kind of awkward hug.

“I’ll just-” Eridan says awkwardly and gestures to the bathroom.

“Yeah, sure.” you nod.

He scurries into the bathroom and you shut your bedroom door once more then return to the sofa. Even when Eridan comes back the mood is kind of lost. The pair of you watch the rest of the movie but your mind is squarely on Kankri once again. It barely even registers when the movie ends, at least not until Eridan turns to face you on the sofa and rests his hand on your shoulder.

“It seems like what happened to your- to that guy, whoever he was to you, is weighing on you pretty heavily.” he says sympathetically.

“I don’t know, I guess. I’ve been trying not to think about it.” you say and move. Eridan’s hand falls from your shoulder as you turn and tuck your feet up on the sofa and rest your back on the arm rest.

“You can talk about it, you know.” he reminds you.

You feel a little weird about the suggestion and of all people Rose pops into your mind.

“I know. But.” There really should be more to that sentence. A ‘but’ implies there would be some explanation that’d follow after but you don’t have one. The idea of confiding something like that in him feels odd. You try to reason that it’s because you’re not that close yet. You think you might talk about Kankri to Jade but if only to help her deal with her own loss, you wouldn’t bring it up for your own ends. You’d hate to bring the mood down or make things about you even when you were just talking to June.

You’ve spoken to Sollux and Dave about Kankri but Sollux has knowledge of how that shit works and you’re dating him and Dave so that’s no surprise. Of course, you have spoken to Rose about it. You talk to Rose about a lot of things, actually.

It just feels different to Eridan asking you about it. Hah, you suppose he’s not your pretend theoretical wife. You’d hate for Rose to take you to imaginary divorce court. What about your precious imaginary son Viceroy Bubbles von Salamancer?

“I’m fine, really.” you tell Eridan with a smile that feels only a little fake. You don’t think he buys it.

“Hey, how about we do this tomorrow, too? At my place? I was looking up Christmas movies on that list you sent me and Love Actually is supposed to be good. That might cheer you up, right?” he suggests.

“Oh shit, I love romantic comedies. They’re my personal kryptonite.” you gasp and Eridan beams.

“Well, I’ll see you around mine tomorrow then.” Eridan nods and flashes you a smile.

He leaves and you spend a little while clearing things up before getting on your phone.

carcinoGeneticist [CG] began trolling  tentacleTherapist [TT]  
  
CG: HOW DO I UNSUBSCRIBE FROM FEELINGS?  
TT: Brain death? Although I think the dead still feel things too. Hm, a coma, perhaps?  
CG: EXCUSE ME, I'LL JUST BE GOOGLING HOW TO PUT MYSELF INTO A COMA.  
TT: What precisely is bothering you this much?  
CG: SAME SHIT. MY MAKER, YOU KNOW. COMPLICATED FEELINGS THAT I DON'T WANT.  
TT: Then I think the best method is time and self acceptance. Your relationship hardly seems like it was positive and you deserve positive relationships with people.   
CG: DO I THOUGH?  
TT: Yes.  
CG: WELL, SHIT THAT DOESN'T LEAVE MUCH ROOM FOR ME ARGUING ANYTHING DOES IT. ROSE HAS UNILATERALLY RULED ON THE MATTER.  
TT: I'm glad you recognise my authority.   
TT: You don't need to repress your feelings either. I really do wish that you weren't on your own for all of this but you can contact any of us whenever you want.  
CG: I KNOW. I JUST DON'T WANT TO BRING PEOPLE DOWN.   
TT: We would all rather you felt better, regardless of if it 'brings down the mood'.  
CG: THE COMA THING SEEMS EASIER.  
TT: No putting yourself into a coma.  
CG: YOU'RE SO DEMANDING.  
TT: I know, how do I live with myself.   
CG: FIIIIIINE. LATER.  
  
carcinoGeneticist [CG] ceased trolling  tentacleTherapist [TT]

The next day you’re, again, left with a dead zone of time where you would have gone to the library but you don’t feel like you can.

You’re bored enough that you’re willing to sit down and try to memorise your tarot card meanings, seeing as it’s a medium that seems to work for you. You look at a card, try to recall its meaning and then check online to see if you’re right or not.

Eventually, out of sheer curiosity, you shuffle the deck and do a little reading. Just with your future vaguely in mind, a little simple three card spread thing. Instead of past/present/future like you’ve done before you pick a different set. A situation you are in or will shortly be in/what you should do/the outcome of it. Simple enough. You shuffle, deal three cards face down and set the rest of the deck aside.

The first card is the situation. Justice reversed. Uh… well, justice is all about justice obviously so reversed it’s injustice. Hm, that feels weak. You cave and look at your online cheat sheet. Dishonesty, unaccountability and unfairness. So does that mean you’re going to be in a situation that is unjust or dishonest or you yourself will be those things?

Alright, second card. What should you do? The Moon, right way up. You’re drawing a total blank on that meaning but when you look it up one word leaps out at you. Illusions. You’ve drawn the moon before, haven’t you? Plus the whole thing that happened with the moon and that weird thing you read in Jake’s diaries. You feel odd about that. You also don’t see how that’s meant to be an action that you can take unless it’s telling you to hide.

This reading isn’t making any sense. Third card, the outcome. The Wheel of Fortune, upside down. That seems bad. This is one you remember from studying it earlier, the reversed reading is to do with control and the lack of it, or trying to cling to control. Bad luck and nothing you can do about it.

You stare down at the cards on your desk as if this is their fault for bringing you bad news. You don’t want to know this or deal with this so you’re going into the main room with your phone and just pretend this never happened. Shit, maybe you should study. You’re still waiting on that email from your professor so you don’t want to work too much more on that project but you could try to read that book of yours again. If only there was some way to protect yourself from the influences of the book.

A fantastic idea hits you, and it takes a little time but you decide to facetime Dave when you’re done.

The call connects and you’re treated to Dave’s pretty face, your heart stutters at the sight of him in a way that can’t be healthy. He then immediately breaks down laughing.

“K-Karkat, oh fuck my face hurts from laughing, why is your whole head covered in tinfoil?” Dave asks through laughter.

“Shut up, I’m experimenting with something!” you snap at him.

“Is it bold new fashion decisions? Because I’m not sure the shiny head is working for you.” Dave snickers.

“No. I’m trying to read a cursed book without it making me fall asleep, I’m trying to see if this protects me.” you explain.

“You wrapped your head in tin foil, poked eye, nose and mouth holes and you think this will help keep magic out somehow?” he giggles, covering his mouth as if that hides his amusement at your expense.

“It can’t hurt. Look, just watch me and if I fall asleep yell at me.” you tell him.

“Alright alright, but I’m screenshotting this though.” Dave warns you and you see his hand reach out to do just that.

You sigh but this is your lot in life. Flicking the book open you start to read again. You get about two lines in before you feel yourself keel forward onto the table.

The car rumbles underneath you, engine purring. The leather of the car’s seats is warm against your cheek and slightly sticky with summer heat. You blink slow and sleepy as shafts of sodium yellow streetlights slide quickly over your face. When you open your eyes again your eyes drift to Sollux in the passenger seat in the front.

“KARKAT!” Dave’s voice.

You jerk awake in alarm and on your phone screen you see Dave breathe a sigh of relief.

“Shockingly, that didn’t work.” you grumble and rip the tinfoil off of your head.

“Yeah, but you’re a pretty cute tinman.” Dave says with a grin.

“Har har.” you say flatly and toss the tinfoil ball across the room into the trash.

“Oh? You don’t think that I think you’re cute? Is that how it is?” Dave challenges you.

“You’re aware I can see myself in mirrors, right?” you retort.

“Clearly you need to get your eyes checked because you are cute.” he insists.

“No, that’s-” you start.

“Ah- nope. I’m gonna do a survey. Hold that thought.” Dave says and picks his phone up. He starts walking and you hear a door open.

“Rose, I’m doing a survey. Is Karkat cute?” Dave asks, he flips the camera to show Rose sat on her bed knitting.

“Karkat is adorable.” Rose says and stares dead into the camera.

“Kthxbye.” Dave says in a way that just lets you hear the way he would have typed it out. He backs out of the room and goes down the hallway, opening another door. Sollux is sat in front of a computer with a frown on his face, he doesn’t look up when Dave comes in.

“Busy.” he mumbles.

“Quick question, is Karkat cute?” Dave asks and holds the phone out towards him as if it’s a microphone in an interview, which gives you a stunning view of the floor and not much else.

“Until he opens his mouth and talks, sure.” Sollux snorts.

“HEY!” you protest but Dave just laughs and leaves, taking your view with him.

“You made your point.” you mutter, trying to hide half your face in your sweater.

Dave turns the camera on himself and looks dead at you.

“So you admit that you’re cute?” he asks you challengingly.

“Death first.” you retort.

“You leave me no choice.” Dave sighs and starts walking again, you hear him descend a set of stairs and this time when he turns the camera view around you can see his mom magically floating lights up the wall.

“Mom, you remember Karkat, what’s your verdict on his cuteness?” Dave asks her and you can only cover your mouth in horror.

“He’s adorable, I could eat him up with a spoon.” she giggles.

That’s it, your whole head is going in your sweater now, only your hair is peeking out. You can hear Dave laughing and walking away but you’re not looking out, you’re not.

“You know you’re doing that halo thing again.” Dave says softly, fondly. Your heart can’t take this.

“Am I?” you say and pull your head free. In the small preview of yourself in the corner of the screen it looks as if you’ve suddenly got some really intense backlighting going on behind your head. It’s freaking the camera focus out a little, actually.

“I think it’s pretty cool that your whole magic, angelic thing comes up when you get all in a fuss about people caring about you.” Dave says and the expression on his face is…

He really is into you. He cares and he finds you attractive. You’ve no idea HOW or WHY but you can’t deny that these things are true. It doesn’t feel entirely real. With Sollux maybe you can put some of your relationship with him down to the fact that he got involved with the you that existed before The Event, maybe you were someone better and more competent then and that person wooed him or whatever. But Dave? Dave didn’t know you then, somehow you, THIS version of you, managed to do something that got him to feel this for you.

“I wish you were here.” you admit quietly.

“Man, I wish I was too.” Dave agrees with a weary sigh.

“Yeah, but it’s fine. You’ve got your mom and people have families, you know? Besides it’s not as if I’m all by myself moping around in the dorm all the time. I’m watching a movie with a friend tonight.” you tell him brightly, you don’t want him to worry about you.

“The one from your class?” he asks curiously and sits back down in his desk chair again.

“Yeah. Uh. Are you okay with that?” you ask, worry suddenly stealing over you.

“Huh?” Dave says.

“I mean, you hear about people being mad that their boyfriends do things with other people. Especially people whose gender means they might be interested in them.” you explain hastily.

“Yeah but aren’t you pansexual or whatever? Wouldn’t that mean you weren’t allowed friends?” Dave points out.

You make an uncertain noise, you just like who you like.

“Dude, I trust you. When that whole thing happened with Sollux you sprinted your ass up to my room to tell me about it and the only reason that happened in the first place is because you were already dating the guy but didn’t know it. I’m pretty sure you’re not going on secret dates.” Dave says firmly.

Yeah, that’s really not your intention here. You just want a friend.

“And if you give a shit about someone then you don’t get to tell them who they can and can’t be around. Being all controlling, getting in people’s phones, stalking ‘em or playing mind games… that’s fucked up. Legitimately the thought of someone doing that to me makes my blood run cold, I’m not going to do that to you.” Dave adds vehemently. You weren’t even thinking about most of that, but you’d never demand that kind of control over his life either.

“Me neither.” you agree and Dave’s shoulders drop a little as he relaxes.

“Well then you can enjoy your movie thing without worrying about me having a freakout about it. I’m not about that.” Dave says.

“I will and… you’re really great. You know that?” you say.

Despite having canvassed his entire household on the topical question of your cuteness Dave flushes red the moment you tell him that you think he’s great.

“I mean, hah, I know. I’m the great Dave Lalonde, I have so many fans you know.” Dave brags, despite the nervous laugh in the middle.

“Good, you deserve them.” you tell him.

“Augh.” Dave pushes his glasses up as he covers his face with his hand. HAH, how does he like it?!

“And cute.” you add, viciously pleased at his embarrassment.

“I have to go now for unrelated reasons. Love you Karkat, bye.” Dave says in a rush and hangs up.

…

…….

Did he just say that he loved you?

You wonder if it was a slip, if he didn’t mean to say it. He certainly hasn’t called back to say anything about it, maybe you should just… let it go.

Even with that decision in mind your boyfriend is still occupying your thoughts that evening when you put your thickest coat on and leave for Eridan’s apartment. You have to keep yourself in check so you don’t suddenly start walking around with a halo in public. You figure that you must look normal because when you arrive at Eridan’s place he doesn’t yell about your head glowing, so good job you.

“Come on in.” Eridan smiles.

“Thanks, it’s really getting cold out there.” you say with a shiver and hang your coat up on the rack by the door.

“I don’t know, I kind of like the cold.” Eridan shrugs and shuts the front door.

“You only say that because of your affinity for scarves.” you say teasingly.

“You’re right, and I hate that.” he mutters, making you laugh.

You and Eridan start watching Love Actually. It’s been a really long time since you saw it and you’ve forgotten a lot of the parts of it, like that one guy showing up with those signs to his friend’s wife? Eesh. The story with the kids is cute though.

“I think I saw this the first year after The Event. By myself, obviously.” you add that part a little sourly and drink some of your fanta to chase the taste away.

“I bet it’s better with company.” Eridan says, he’s not wrong.

“For sure.” you agree.

“Were you really lonely down here on your own?” Eridan asks and his hand covers yours on the sofa.

You pull your hand back and sit up a little straighter, hoping that you play it off as just fidgeting, that felt… weird.

“Well, yeah. But now I’m here and I’ve got people, it’s good. I’m sure it was the same for you, right?” you laugh uneasily.

“Sure. You know you can talk to me about this stuff though, right?” he adds and leans over a little.

You turn your head to look at him and see that he’s still leaning towards you, you have a split second of realising that he’s going to kiss you before you flail and in your attempt to get away manage to fall off of the sofa onto the floor with a graceless thump.

Eridan looks down at you, clearly alarmed.

“Are you okay?” he asks.

“I’m fine!” you blurt out and scramble to your feet.

“You don’t seem fine at all.” he points out. He’s not wrong but he’s also reaching for you again. Oh no, nope, not happening.

“Listen, I- Eridan, this wasn’t meant to be-” you try to think of a way to put it but you can’t help but think that Rose was right and she’s going to be smug about it.

“It’s not that I don’t like you but this wasn’t meant to be a romantic date or anything. I just thought that, well, it’s a Christmas movie and-” you really wish the couple on screen weren’t kissing at this very moment.

You see Eridan look at the screen and then at you, rolling his eyes.

“I’m not trying to get in your pants.” he says flatly.

He just tried to kiss you, what else are you supposed to think?

“I’m actually spoken for. Twice. I have two boyfriends.” you insist. God, this is excruciatingly awkward.

“Uh-huh.” Eridan says, clearly not believing you at all.

“I do and I don’t think Dave or Sollux would be cool with this and I’m not cool with this so I’m just… going to leave.” you tell him.

You move and grab your laptop which was streaming the movie to his TV, shutting it and quickly shoving it in your bag. You need to leave now, preferably while Eridan is still staring at you in silent shock. You’re halfway to the door when he leaps the back of the sofa and grabs you by the arm.

“You can’t date- I don’t believe this they’re-” he splutters indignantly.

“Eridan, let go.” you say and try to pull your arm free.

“Unholy! It’s not right!” he shouts.

“HEY!” you snap at him furiously. The sound bounces around the room and his TV shatters, you don’t give a single fuck.

“I’m sorry I don’t feel the same way but if you even THINK of pulling any anti-demon shit on me then not only will we not be dating but we won’t be friends either.” you hiss at him, pointing your finger right in his face.

Eridan is too stunned to form words so you push him away from you sharply and storm out of his apartment. You slam the door in a way that’s deeply satisfying and you’re about ten steps out of his building before you realise that you left your coat up there.

You’re sure as shit not going back so you’re just going to have to walk home angry, letting the rage warm you up from the inside. It’s not even fair, there’s so many things that someone could say about Sollux that would be a genuine objection to anyone of good taste dating him. He’s annoying, he’s a bad student, he spends an inordinate amount of time deliberately antagonising people (or at least antagonising you), he has horrible dress sense and a fixation with a number. Any of these would be a good criticism.

If Eridan had said “You’re dating Sollux? That demon whose wardrobe makes it look like he walked in the middle of a red team vs blue team paintball match?” then that would be fair. You’d still actually resent that because you do hate him and find him attractive despite that and then hate him for it.

Jesus, hate is complicated.

The point is that someone throwing Sollux’s species out as a reason to not care about him is so much bullshit and you really thought Eridan was better than that. You’re livid that he’d say that and that you apparently had such poor judgement.

“Karkat!” Eridan’s voice makes you pause.

You turn around. It’s cold and getting late, it’s not raining but you can feel the threat of it in the air so there’s just you, him and some guy at a bus stop across the street. Other than that the road is deserted.

“Leave me alone.” you tell Eridan even as he jogs over to you.

“You don’t know what you’re doing, being involved with-” he starts.

“Not listening to this.” you groan, taking a turn to walk off again.

“I’m on your side!” Eridan insists.

He grabs you again and turns you around to look at him, only he suddenly shifts. His body lifts off from the ground and three sets of wings unfold. An impossible light glitters and shimmers around him, warping the air and what you can see behind it like distorted images through water. His head glows in a perfectly round purple halo.

You stagger back and summon your weapon from wherever it goes. Across the street a scream attracts your attention, the man at the bus stop is staring at Eridan and screaming. He scrabbles at his face and you break into a sprint, trying to get to him before he blinds himself. You grab the screaming man’s hands and pull them from his face with one hand and with your other you pull his face to your shoulder.

“Stop that!” you hiss at Eridan. In your arms the man thrashes and struggles, shouting incoherent nonsense.

“You said you forgot what-” Eridan starts to say but you can hear the way his voice has impossible tones in it. The man in your arms wails in agony.

“Stop! Stop talking! Go back to how you were, you’re hurting him!” you snarl.

Eridan blinks at you and seems utterly baffled. His wings fold away, his halo fades and he looks normal again.

“He’s just some human, Kar. Listen, you need to come back with me. Don’t go back to your dorm.” Eridan pleads.

“Get the fuck away from me. I don’t want anything to do with you.” you hiss, resummoning your sickle into the hand you have around the man’s back and raising it to threaten Eridan.

“You know what? Fine! Fuck you, Kar, I’m not even sorry now!” Eridan snaps but you can hear how his voice wobbles and his eyes fill with tears. You can’t bring yourself to feel any sympathy for Eridan given that you’re holding an anguished human that Eridan hurt and clearly couldn’t care less about. He storms off tearfully, leaving you alone with the man. You get rid of your weapon and go back to consoling the poor bystander.

You hold him to your chest on the otherwise deserted street and call for an ambulance. You fudge the details, saying he just seemed to have a mental break out of nowhere and started screaming. You give your location and wait for them to arrive.

“I’m sorry about him, I’m sorry you were here.” you tell the man gently. Maybe if you try to be reassuring it might reach him.

“You didn’t deserve that guy just showing up and messing with your mind like that.” you tell him and squeeze his shoulder, he’s still crying so hard.

“Don’t be afraid.” you whisper.

Should he be afraid? You’re still here, you’re the same species that did this to him. But you don’t want to hurt him, you want to help, you feel terrible that he got caught in the crossfire of this whole disaster. You tell him not to be afraid again and wonder if you knew Eridan before all of this. Were you like him in the past? Uncaring about casualties like this man?

Fuck, you hope not.

The stranger shudders in your arms, his words are still nonsense. Will he get better from this? You really hope he does. He’s so hurt and it hurts you to see it, a sting deep inside your chest that makes your eyes water. You probably look absurd, this man having a breakdown in the street and you holding him crying as well.

Tears drip from your chin onto the man in your arms and he starts to calm down. He’s still shaking all over and terrified when the ambulance shows up and takes him away but he seems more like he’s in shock, he’s not trying to claw his own eyes out anymore at least.

Fuck, poor guy.

You shudder in the cold, you feel now that your insides must be as cold as your outsides, you certainly feel hollow enough for that to be true.

You let yourself into the building, shouldering the door open when the lock buzzes at your card swipe. As you travel up the staircase your legs feel heavy with tiredness and regret. Eridan must have lied to you about not remembering anything, which means that he must have tracked you down. You dread to think why he did that, the answer can’t be anything good.

Shit, you probably need to tell Sollux about this. Angels fucking about down on Earth in the very school that you go to is almost certainly going to be alarming to him. You pull your phone out and then swap hands so you can pull your key out. You reach your door and push your key inside, only as you push the door swings open. Did you not shut or lock this right?

All thoughts of possible burglary flee from your mind as you see several police officers in your dorm room.

“What’s going on?” you ask. For a stupid moment you’re worried that something’s happened to Rose, but she’s not here.

Before you can get out a smarter question, several police officers tackle you to the ground and wrench you onto your stomach. You’re too stunned to react and cold metal cuffs are snapped around your wrists before you can do anything about it. They’re reading you your rights but they’re not telling you why they’re arresting you and you know better than to say anything at all. They pull your keyring from your finger, your phone charm from your wrist and pick your bag up from the floor.

Two burly men heave you to your feet and all but carry you to the police car. They throw you in the back and slam the door. What the fuck? You didn’t do anything wrong! Is this Eridan’s doing? Shit. You need a lawyer, thankfully you have one and she’s a real dragon.

The back of the police car is uncomfortable and the two men in the front seem visibly angry at your presence. You tell yourself that you just need to hold tight until someone talks to you and then ask for your lawyer. Terezi has your phone and you know your old number off by heart, you can rattle that off to them and they can contact her.

When you arrive they take your picture, fill in some forms and throw you in a single person cell. The cell has that aged magnolia paint on the walls, a steel toilet with a little sink basin on the top and a metal bed that sticks out from the wall as a solid sheet. Atop the bed is a plastic like foam mattress that reminds you more of the landing pad things you used to get in gym class than anything that could rightly be called a bed. It squeaks when you sit on it.

Aside from the bed, the toilet and sink thing, the door is the only remaining feature of the room. It is a solid plate of metal with only a small and sealed rectangle for someone to look through. Beyond that the room is endlessly blank and so small that the short bed is the whole width of the room. The room isn’t even a perfect square, you’re hardly tall but you couldn’t lay on the floor with your feet against the door without hitting your head on the wall under the bed.

At least they uncuffed you before they shoved you in here.

Warily you look at your arm and your deal with Sollux glows softly under your skin. You could use it to bring him to you but you know you did nothing wrong and if you escape from this cell then you’ll definitely be in trouble. Not that you need Sollux to help you, you’ve proven that you can magically get through doors as long as you don’t care about the state of them when they’re open. That course of action seems likely to not end that well for you, at the very least it’s a crime. No, better to wait and get Terezi to help you.

You can only be afraid and confused for so long. Eventually those feelings sublimate into anger. How dare these people just break into your dorm without a warrant and arrest you without so much as telling you what for! You’re going to tear them a new one for this! In fact maybe you can sue them! Maybe Terezi will do that for you, or one of the demon legislacerators like Redglare!

You’re a champion at holding onto anger but eventually it gets late enough and far enough into the next morning that you start to feel exhausted. They’ve not turned the lights out or anything and it’s horribly bright but you’re sure it’s much later.

Just as you’re on the edge of sleep the door is jerked open to reveal two officers, you can’t remember if they’re different ones or not but they cuff you without a word and drag you off elsewhere. Elsewhere turns out to be an interrogation room where your cuffs are transferred to a table. Before you is a police officer in a crisp white shirt and behind her is one of those mirrors that people can look through. Above it a clock tells you that it’s four am.

“Karkat Vantas.” the woman says with a cold tone. She has her brown hair pulled back in a tight bun that makes her whole face look sharp and severe.

“Yes. I want my lawyer, I can give you the number.” you tell her.

The officer stares at you with her ice blue eyes and clicks a pen. You read the number out to her and she notes it down.

“You are a student at Salem University, yes?” she asks.

“I’m not answering anything until I get my lawyer here.” you tell her.

She stares at you, her eyes narrowing in obvious loathing.

The officer makes no effort to call Terezi, she doesn’t leave or get anyone else in to pass the job on. She just asks you questions about your life. About why you came here, about your magic, about what you remember. You answer none of these, in your head you count backwards from one hundred and then up again. You’re at fifty eight when she jars you out of it.

“We know you killed Kankri Vantas.” she snaps.

Your eyes go wide. How does she know about Kankri? How does she know that he’s dead? There was no body. Unless they think that he died in the fire, but that can’t be right because you’d still find a body there if he was human. Oh, hm, you suppose that the arson was a crime but they can’t prove that you did that.

You stay silent.

Her questions turn mean, speculating about why you killed Kankri, about his views and what yours might be. She insults what she thinks your world view is, makes a jab at a sexuality that you don’t actually belong to. You refuse to react. It passes five am and she sends you back to the holding cell they had you in.

You get only an hour’s sleep because you’re back in there at six thirty. The woman is there again, not that you got her name, but there’s a man too.

The man is tall, his hair is slicked back and shiny black. He’s smoking which you’re fairly sure you’re not allowed to do in here any more. As you’re made to sit and are cuffed once again to the table you tell them the same thing you’ve said before.

“I want my lawyer.” you insist.

“We called, he said he doesn’t want anything to do with you.” the man sneers at you around his cigarette.

You look at his face, features that you don’t know but they’re sure as shit familiar even with two scars running over them.

“My lawyer’s a woman. You look like Eridan.” you say flatly.

The obvious irritation at being caught in a lie flashes over the man’s face and you lean back in your seat a little. Your eyes drift to the obviously furious police woman at his side, this feels like some big show with all the officers unknowing actors.

“You’re the same thing I am.” you conclude.

“I am BETTER than what you are, thank you very much.” he snaps and jabs his cigarette at your face.

“You know I have no idea who the fuck you are, right?” you say, you’re not inclined to be polite to someone who arranged your kidnapping.

“Cronus Ampora. Kankri Vantas was my moirail and I know he’s dead and I KNOW you know what happened! I was there when you were made, I saw how much better Kankri became when he took everything that makes you up out of him and I TRIED to help him make you better but no.” Cronus sneers.

At his side the officer has a slightly glazed look, as if she didn’t really hear any of what he just said.

“How’re you doing that?” you ask, gesturing to her as much as you can with your restrained hands.

“Well I tried to teach you but aside from what you needed to know to hide yourself you refused to learn. If Kankri could see you now… well, he probably wouldn’t be surprised, you were always a disappointment.” Cronus says coldly.

“Right. And you want to know what happened to him.” you say.

“Yes.” Cronus hisses at you.

You look around the interrogation room, at the bewitched officer and at him again.

“Why are we doing this here and not…” you trail off and point a finger towards the ceiling.

“Tell me what happened to Kankri.” he says, not answering your question.

You stay silent and think. Demons are on Earth because Hell is frozen over, is the same true for angels?

“You came all the way down to Earth just to ask me that?” you ask him leadingly.

“Yes! And you WILL tell me!” Cronus snarls, banging his fist on the table.

Nope, heaven still works. He came down here which very much implies that there’s still a functional ‘up there’ to come down from. So he’s doing this down here for a reason. You remember what Mituna said about how bureaucratic angels were, about how slow they were to decide anything. Coming down here on a whim to yell at your boyfriend’s… whatever you were to Kankri, doesn’t seem like the kind of thing that fits that pattern.

“You’re not supposed to be down here doing this, are you? That’s why Eridan got close to me first, right? He must be to you what I was to Kankri. You’re doing this illegally, you can’t take me up there because you’d be in trouble too, right?” you ask, more and more sure with every word.

“You _will_ tell me. I don’t have to take you back to Heaven to shove you in a featureless void that you’ll beg to be let out from. The only way you’re getting out of there is by telling me what happened, what you did.” Cronus threatens you.

Something tells you that you’re not getting out of this. If you tell him everything that happened honestly then you can’t seriously think that he’ll let you just go back to your life. You can’t think that he won’t try to kill Sollux for his part in burning down Kankri’s house. He’ll kill you, or make you fall, maybe he’ll just leave you in nothingness. Those bad consequences are going to happen whether you tell him or not so you may as well p̶̭͕̅͘r̵͔͍͋͒o̴̲͑t̵̬̹̽͊e̴͖͘c̶͈̣͗ẗ̷̥̗́̒͘ everyone else and keep the bad shit to yourself.

You straighten up and look across the table at the other angel. In the mirror behind him you catch sight of your eyes glowing featureless white and the near blinding glow behind your head.

“Cronus, go fuck yourself. I’m not telling you shit.” you tell him without room for argument or doubt.

He’s livid, of course he is. He uncuffs you just so he can pick you up and shake you, but that doesn’t deter you. Instead he drags you by the back of your shirt to the holding cell. When he wrenches the door open there is nothing on the other side. Endless white nothing in every direction and your mind fills with a horror, recoiling at the featureless wasteland before you. It feels horribly familiar and you’re going to get all the more familiar with it.

Cronus tosses you inside and slams the door shut behind you with a clang. You turn and there’s nothing there, no door. Nothing.

As far as the eye can see, total nothingness in every direction.

Well, fuck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you wanna chat about this chapter and talk we have a discord! it's https://discord.gg/drREmFU you should come join, everyone's really nice!


	23. Kill Of The Night

You watch as Dave presses his fingers to the edge of a sharpie circle. Red light flares up around his fingers, illuminating the circle. You hold your breath but the pendulum inside starts to tick back and forth very slowly. It’s not seconds but it is movement.

“That… should work.” Dave says as he leans back in his chair and regards his creation.

“The flow of time and the thermal energy of the lava beneath the Earth’s crust seems like stable power sources.” you agree with a nod.

“Magma.” Dave corrects you. “It’s only lava when it’s-” he goes on.

“Yes, yes, I know. I think it will stay working though.” you say.

“Hope so.” he nods. He stretches and leans back in his chair. You recline on his bed and consider your own project.

“Have you done yours yet?” Dave asks.

“Why do today what I can put off until tomorrow?” you answer him.

Dave opens his mouth to say something but a crash from downstairs stops you both in your tracks. You nearly trip over your brother as you scramble through the door and down the stairs. Sollux, of course, is already with your mother.

“Roxy, Roxy calm down.” Sollux urges her.

Your mother’s hand escapes Sollux’s reassuring hold and flings it out at the front door which immediately launches itself outwards and off into the yard somewhere. Your mother instantly sprints off through it without a backward glance at any of you.

“Augh, Roxy!” Sollux yelps and darts off after her.

You exchange a worried look with Dave and then both hurry after. You catch up to your mother and Sollux at the edge of your property, the air around it is glowing as she holds her hands up to it. Various sigils, signs and letters in languages you can’t yet read shift about through the air over the bubble that encases your entire property.

“Sollux, what-” Dave asks.

“I don’t know, she just flipped out.” Sollux tells you.

“He’s coming, he’s- he can’t- can’t let him.” your mom babbles in a panic. She tightens her fist in the air and the bubble flares pink. Sollux hisses, cringes into himself and then bounds over to Dave, hiding behind him.

“Hey, whoa, are you okay?” Dave asks, catching Sollux’s face in his hand.

“I’m- fine. My thing with you is keeping most of it off but that doesn’t feel fun. If it wasn’t for you then being within a mile of this would make my skin melt and my bones aerosolize. I don’t think a human would survive getting near it either.” Sollux says with a wince.

Most people can’t find your home because of all the misdirection magic she’s set around that place that’ll turn someone who even is trying to find your home around in circles. You have to have your mailbox right up on the road a good way down or else you can’t get anything delivered.

“Mom, what’s going on? You could hurt someone with this.” you tell her, trying to keep your words clear and calm.

“Don’t care. Can’t let him.” she says.

“What started this?” Dave asks Sollux.

“I don’t know, I wasn’t even in the room. She was on the sofa, I was in the library. I just heard shouting and came running.” Sollux tells you both. So he just got there first.

It takes half an hour and a solid promise from Sollux that he’ll patrol the borders of the property on the lookout for anything at all before you can get her back inside. She’s a wreck, wandering around checking anything she can think of, completely convinced that people are about to burst in at any second to do who knows what.

You make her some chamomile tea, not that it’ll be strong enough to make a dent in panic this bad but perhaps the ritual of sitting down and drinking it might help. Dave is rambling to her about his project, laying out the magic that he used and how he formatted his spell. He’s just talking for talking’s sake but it lets your mom know that he’s here and that he’s fine. Besides, if any topic can get her interested it’s magic.

When you check your phone you see that the wifi is down. AGAIN. Often when your mother fucks with the barrier it messes with the internet, you’ll have to get Sollux to fix it when he comes back inside. Not that he can do that until your mom calms down.

Dave trades off shifts with you, talking to your mother or just listening to her. It’s emotionally exhausting and there’s no way that you could handle this without him. By dinnertime she’s calm enough that you can cook a frozen lasagne for you all, there’s no question of ordering in. You leaving the barrier or someone coming up to it are definitely not permitted right now. Besides, if Sollux is right it might kill the poor delivery driver if they so much as find the nearest road.

You and Dave end up having to sleep in your mom’s room, something you haven’t had to do much since your early teens. Poor Sollux can’t even come inside, if he tries she spirals into panic again. As you lay there silently in the dark of her room you try to fight down the ugliness welling inside of you.

You love her, you do. This isn’t her fault and you know that. Plenty of people have it way worse but this is so exhausting. A bitter part of you wishes that she’d go back to medicating with alcohol, she was more mentally whole then but being raised by a perpetually drunk adult wasn’t a fun time either. You love her but you hate this, you resent the whole situation and you feel guilty and terrible for doing so.

No one is happy about this.

You sleep poorly and when you awake your mother is a little more coherent in that she gets up and goes straight into her lab and starts running experiments, though she won’t tell you what they’re about.

“Any luck?” you ask Dave as he comes back from her lab and into the kitchen where you and Sollux were waiting for him, at least he’s allowed in now.

Dave stares flatly at you behind his shades and tips a full cup of stone cold coffee into the sink, you brought that down to her hours ago and she’s obviously not touched it at all.

“She’s too focused to do anything else, like talking to me.” he says.

“I can’t even get hold of anyone else to see if there’s actually something supernatural that she’s sensed that might have started this.” Sollux sighs.

“You can’t get through that?” you ask, gesturing vaguely towards the bubble.

“Oh I probably could if I want to be in excruciating pain or die.” Sollux answers you flatly.

“Yeah, don’t do that.” Dave tells him.

“So we’re stuck inside with no idea what’s going on.” you say, this isn’t good.

“And no internet to check.” Dave adds.

“I’m working on it.” Sollux grumbles.

“But surely if mom sensed something you would have too, right?” you ask him, you doubt that whatever this is will turn out to actually be something real.

“I, ah, might have been sleeping in the library. Look, there was a really nice sunbeam don’t get on my case.” Sollux says defensively.

“So you might have slept through whatever this was and then you were paying attention to mom.” Dave says and drops the mug into the dishwasher.

“If there was anything in the first place.” you add.

“Pretty much. I’m gonna keep working on the internet and the barrier, see what I need to tweak to let us get signal without making Roxy lose her shit again.” Sollux says.

It’s not until ten that night that you get the internet back and you have messages waiting for you.

ghostlyTrickster [GT] began trolling  tentacleTherapist [TT]  
  
GT: rose! rose!  
GT: watch this! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWhXUMbmHCA  
GT: look at that dog!  
GT: oh shit i need to show this to jade she loves dogs.  
  
ghostlyTrickster [GT] ceased trolling  tentacleTherapist [TT]

ghostlyTrickster [GT] began trolling  tentacleTherapist [TT]  
  
GT: did you watch it yet? because i'm kind of in a mood to watch the first toy story again now.  
GT: we should all stream it together!  
  
ghostlyTrickster [GT] ceased trolling  tentacleTherapist [TT]

ghostlyTrickster [GT] began trolling  tentacleTherapist [TT]  
  
GT: jade says she's down but i can't get hold of karkat or dave.  
GT: or you.  
GT: are you there?  
  
ghostlyTrickster [GT] ceased trolling  tentacleTherapist [TT]

gardenGnostic [GG] began trolling  tentacleTherapist [TT]  
  
GG: hi rose! june says shes not been able to talk to any of you guys.  
GG: i think she might be a little worried that shes upset you all somehow and i cant actually see dave online either.  
GG: karkat hasnt been getting back to me actually as well.  
GG: um, if you just need some time because something is going on at home then i get that, i really do! just let us know ok?  
  
gardenGnostic [GG] ceased trolling  tentacleTherapist [TT]

ghostlyTrickster [GT] began trolling  tentacleTherapist [TT]  
  
GT: alright even sollux is offline and the only time he's offline for long periods of time is if he's sleeping or gaming!  
GT: and his steam account is offline.  
GT: besides even he doesn’t sleep for over a day straight!  
GT: fuck it i’m going over there!  
  
ghostlyTrickster [GT] ceased trolling  tentacleTherapist [TT]

ghostlyTrickster [GT] began trolling  tentacleTherapist [TT]  
  
GT: rose! i cant get in!  
GT: what the hell is going on?!  
GT: i’m literally here banging on this bubble of nothing and getting nowhere!  
  
ghostlyTrickster [GT] ceased trolling  tentacleTherapist [TT]

That last message was two hours ago, thank goodness Sollux did whatever he did to the barrier. Letting internet get in and out must have turned down the amount that it’d fry a person, thank goodness.

tentacleTherapist [TT] began trolling  ghostlyTrickster [GT]  
  
TT: June! I'm so sorry, mother was having an episode and amped up the barrier around our property and it knocked our internet out.   
TT: I'm really sorry to have worried you.  
GT: oh shit is she okay now?  
TT: She's working now. She's doing so with unhealthy obsession but it's an improvement and Sollux managed to get us internet back.  
GT: thank goodness for that!  
TT: Indeed. I should go let everyone else know that we haven't vanished.  
GT: yeah jade has been worried too.  
TT: I'll go talk to her.  
GT: ok!  
  
ghostlyTrickster [GT] ceased trolling  tentacleTherapist [TT]

tentacleTherapist [TT] began trolling  gardenGnostic [GG]  
  
TT: Hi Jade, I'm sorry for worrying you. We had an internet outage here.   
GG: phew! i figured that itd be something like that but it's good to know!  
GG: you missed a really good movie session with me and june!  
TT: Darn, although in fairness the toy story movies creep Dave out a little, I assume it's an animation thing.   
GG: huh i can see that especially the first one.  
TT: I feel bad as well, June tried to come and check on us and couldn't get in. Not that we could get out either.  
GG: oh i bet that was a lot to deal with!  
TT: How so?  
GG: you being stuck with all those boys who are all over each other! It was one thing when it was just karkat around sollux but with all three of them in the same house as you it must have been nuts!  
TT: Karkat isn't here, he's back in Salem.  
GG: oh but  
GG: he has been offline the whole time that you were  
GG: before that actually  
TT: He has? He's offline now too.  
TT: I didn't get any messages from him when I was away either actually which is unusual because he tends to send me things reasonably often.   
GG: same he sends me pictures of dogs a lot  
TT: Hm. Please excuse me, I have a bad feeling about this.  
GG: oh ok! keep me in the loop!  
TT: I shall.  
  
tentacleTherapist [TT] ceased trolling  gardenGnostic [GG]

tentacleTherapist [TT] began trolling  carcinoGeneticist [CG]  
  
TT: Karkat, are you there?  
TT: Karkat?  
  
tentacleTherapist [TT] ceased trolling  carcinoGeneticist [CG]

He’s not answering, or online.

You look up and see that both Dave and Sollux are buried in their phones on the sofa with you, catching up after being internet deprived for so terribly long.

“Has Karkat messaged either of you?” you ask.

“Uh, nope.” Dave says with a frown and an aura of insecurity so strong that psychics several states away can probably feel it.

“No.” Sollux adds with a glance at his phone.

“Me neither and Jade said he’s been offline longer than we have, no one’s been able to get hold of him.” you say.

“That’s… not good.” Dave says and sits up straighter. He looks over at Sollux who groans.

“No, look, I’m not going to go check on him every time one of you two gets fussy about him. He’s an angel, he can handle being unsupervised for a while.” Sollux grumbles.

“You did get a cookie out of it last time.” Dave points out.

“Half a cookie. And it was gingerbread and I don’t really like gingerbread.” Sollux sniffs indignantly.

“Then why did you steal it from him?” you sigh.

“Just because I don’t like it doesn’t mean that he can have it.” Sollux retorts.

You suppress the urge to scream into a pillow.

“Look, if you go check up on him I will absolutely give you cookies. Please?” Dave asks sweetly. He has a habit of stashing snacks in all sorts of weird places, though you’ve no idea why. You suspect he’s part squirrel.

Sollux looks flatly at Dave and then his resolve crumbles like a sandcastle to the tide. He sighs overdramatically and hauls himself to his feet, then vanishes. It’s only several seconds later when Sollux reappears, his skin ashy with how pale he’s suddenly gone.

“Something’s happened, we need to go.” he says in a rush. He grabs your shoulder and Dave jumps up to catch hold of the back of Sollux’s shirt and with that you’re suddenly in your dorm. Or what WAS your dorm.

The place is completely trashed, so much so that you can’t take it in all at once, you have to look at the details. Your sofa is flipped upside down, your TV pulled off of the wall so it now lays on the floor face down. Every cupboard in your little kitchen is flung open wide along with the refrigerator. Your mugs are knocked over and, amongst others, the mug that Karkat got you for your birthday has been shattered on the floor.

“KARKAT!” Dave shouts and hurries to Karkat’s room.

“He’s not here, I already looked.” Sollux says numbly.

“Who- can you tell who did this?” you ask.

“I can try. I don’t know when this happened though.” Sollux says and floats crosslegged in the air. You walk to the fridge, the thing is still running but the door is wide open. You touch the milk in the door, it’s not really being cooled by the fridge anymore and it’s room temperature now.

“It’s been several hours at least, the milk isn’t cold anymore.” you tell him and Sollux’s expression goes even more grim.

Dave emerges from Karkat’s room and shoves his way into the bathroom. You take your turn going into Karkat’s room.

The mattress is on the ground, bedding ripped apart. His laptop is missing, you’re pretty sure of that and you can’t help but note that the bags of Kankri’s stuff are gone too. The place looks like a whirlwind tore through it, whoever was here wanted to destroy this place. If someone simply robbed you or if someone was looking for something then they wouldn’t go through all this trouble to try to damage or break everything here.

Who would do this to Karkat and where is he?

“Rose?” Dave’s voice draws you out of your horrified contemplation and back out into the main room.

“Your room’s mostly okay, whoever did this was after him.” Dave says and gestures to your room.

“And they were human, I can’t sense anyone from any other species here.” Sollux adds.

“Aside from Karkat.” Dave says.

“No, angels are really hard for demons to track. We’re pretty hard for them to find as well unless they can see us, but if we’re playing human then they can miss us too. I know Karkat pretty well so I can tell he was here but if I didn’t know what he was I wouldn’t be able to tell his species.” Sollux says with a shake of his head.

“Right, that’s why you couldn’t find him before.” Dave nods.

“Well we need to find him now.” you say.

You step into your room and look around. Several drawers are pulled open and your bedding is flipped up like someone looked under your bed but everything else seems fine. On your desk, among your pens, is a single, long, white feather. The one Karkat left for you.

Picking it up, roll it between your fingers, making the lengthy feather turn. You step back into the main room and hold it up.

“Could you find him with this? It’s his feather.” you ask.

“I’m not a- wait! Hellhounds were bred to track people down as well as guard shit. Mituna might have trained Bec how to track. Shit, he’s offline, I’ll just go grab Jade and Bec.” Sollux says in a rush and then he’s gone.

“I’m going to try calling him.” Dave says and holds his phone to his ear. You both wait but eventually Dave takes it away from his ear and shakes his head.

“I didn’t hear it ringing in here though, or anything vibrating. So it may still be wherever he is.” you say slowly.

“Maybe. Can we track it?” Dave asks.

“I gave the phone to Karkat in the box, it’s not registered to me at all. I can’t track it but Sollux perhaps could do some hacking and manage it.” you tell him, kicking yourself for not registering it to you first. That’s absurd of course, it was his phone and it would have been weird to register it to yourself so that you could find him whenever you wanted. Although at this point given how much he gets into trouble you’re halfway considering getting him microchipped or something!

“His laptop wasn’t in his room either, so that’s probably wherever his phone was. I’d say this was a robbery if it wasn’t for your room being almost fine. Which one of us talked to him last, did he say anything?” Dave asks. The two of you compare and your conversation with him was the most recent, it doesn’t tell you anything helpful. He was just thinking about his maker, certainly nothing he said screams that he’s in imminent danger.

“Let’s assume that he went somewhere on his own power. He can fly and scream the place down, if someone startled him here or he interrupted a robbery then surely he’d have been able to escape. Let’s assume he lost his phone and maybe laptop, where would he go? I don’t think he’d be with Kanaya, they had a fight. So perhaps the library?” you say, wishing you remembered the conversation better.

“He had been hanging out with some guy from class, watching movies and stuff but I don’t know the person he was hanging out with. He could have hid there but I don’t know where that’d be.” Dave sighs.

“Why would someone do this? Karkat’s way too nice to people to make anyone want to do this to him, sure he can be rude but no one would ever-” your words choke in your throat, stuck in there so hard you almost can’t breathe.

“Maybe someone figured out what he was and wanted to use him for something. The church, I don’t know.” Dave says quietly.

“Fuck, it could be those speciest assholes that Kankri ran with, if they found out about Karkat then they could do this.” you hiss. Although, again, this raises the question of why he wouldn’t fight back.

Your eyes fall on the feather in your hand and despite how desperately upset you are you can feel those feelings hardening into a resolve, a resolve that when you find who did this you’re going to put them through hell.

Sollux appears in a puff of smoke with Jade and Bec.

Jade looks around the room in horror, her hand tightening on the fur at the scruff of Bec’s neck.

“I don’t know if Bec was trained to do this, but part of it should be instinct at least even if he wasn’t. Rose, give me the feather.” Sollux says and holds his hand out for it.

You turn the feather over to Sollux, he takes it gently and crouches down before Bec. He speaks in an authoritative tone in demonic and holds the feather out to Bec. The eyeless hellhound leans forward and sniffs it intently, snuffling up and down the entire length and width of it.

Bec turns around and starts sniffing the floor of the room and Sollux tucks the feather away.

“How long has he been missing for? If I’d have known-” Jade says in horror.

“We don’t know.” Dave answers in a whisper.

Bec sniffs a patch of the floor by the door intently and barks. Sollux says something to him in demonic again and Bec turns and leaves the dorm, he’s sniffing the floor as he goes with his tail wagging intensely.

“Come on.” Sollux says.

You all hurry out and you make sure to pull the door shut behind you. Bec leads your group down the stairs, occasionally sniffing the handrail as he goes. When he reaches the doors he just teleports outside and Sollux does the same to follow him.

“I guess I’ll just open the door for the rest of us peasants.” Dave mutters and pulls it open. On the other side Bec is sniffing the card reader and even licks it, which makes you feel bad for whoever is going to use that next. Sollux tugs him away and Bec returns to sniffing the floor. He sniffs all the way up to the kerbside and then walks back and forth for a while.

“What does that mean?” you ask as Bec makes another lap.

“He used to hunt down little animals on the island, if he did this kind of thing it usually meant he’d lost them.” Jade answers, you feared that might be the answer.

“So either he got in a vehicle here or he flew upwards.” Sollux concludes.

Bec sniffs the air and then hurries past you all to another patch of floor, diagonally away from the building. He retraces it to the keypad and then follows it back.

“If he left here then this has to be where he came from.” Sollux says. Bec barks at you all and your group hurries after the hellhound.

He leads you all to a bus stop, to the alarm of several people waiting there and sniffs about at the floor. Perhaps he got a bus, but if so then from- oh! Bec bounds across the road and starts tracking a path up the other side of the road. Your group has to hurry along after him all while trying to not be hit by oncoming traffic.

Bec leads you down several roads and eventually stops outside of a reasonably nice looking building, it looks residential.

“So did Karkat come from here or to here?” Jade wonders aloud. Maybe he fled your dorm and is hiding here, or he left here and something happened at the dorm.

“I say we go in there and find out.” you say and march up to the door. The front door is locked but that’s not a problem when there’s a teleporting hellhound and demon with you.

Sollux holds a finger to his lips and creeps up the stairs behind Bec. To his credit the hellhound also seems to have realised that this is a stealth mission because he’s completely silent, sunk low to the ground as he stalks up the staircase.

You pull your needles from your bag, entirely ready to take down anyone you have to.

“Rose, Rose what’re you doing?” Dave hisses at you, but you ignore him.

Bec comes to a stop at a door and points to it, his tail straight, nose towards the door and one paw off of the ground. Sollux pats him on the head encouragingly for his good work.

“So is he in there or was he in there?” Jade wonders, her voice a whisper.

“Only one way to find out.” you mutter with grim determination and move to the doorway.

“Whoa, whoa, get- come on.” Dave hisses, grabbing your arm. He pulls you down the stairs with him, motioning for the others to follow. When you’re all gathered in the stairwell he regards your group as a whole.

“Do we have some kind of plan about what we’re doing here? We need some kind of plan.” Dave says.

“Either Karkat is in there now and needs rescuing or he was there and we go in and find evidence to track him to wherever he is now. We burst in and either destroy whoever took them or force them to tell us whatever they know.” you answer him.

“Makes sense. I think the door is warded against demons though, I’d need one of you to clear that spell for me before I can go in.” Sollux nods.

“I could slip in hidden from sight and do it.” Jade agrees.

“No! I mean- yes to letting Sollux in, but whoever is in there could just be some innocent person that Karkat was hanging out with. It could be Kanaya’s place! I know you said they’d had a fight but that doesn’t mean we need to bust down their door like we’re magical Rambo!” Dave snaps.

“Alright. Best case scenario it’s Kanaya’s place, or that class friend and it’s entirely innocent and mundane. Whoever it is tells us that Karkat was here and left for the dorm which gives us a direction of his travel, hopefully they have some information for us that makes this not a dead end.” Sollux says slowly and thoughtfully.

“Slightly worse case scenario is that Karkat is in there, trapped. But then we can rescue him.” Jade adds.

“Yeah, we go in and kill whoever has him.” you agree.

“Jesus, can we not immediately escalate to murder?” Dave groans, his face in his hands.

“On the plus side Karkat’s hard to kill and I’d know if he was dead because our deal would have voided out. On the negative side, he’s hard to kill which means if someone wanted to torture him they could do shitload of awful stuff without killing him.” Sollux says grimly.

“Still think I shouldn’t kill whoever has him?” you ask Dave sharply.

“Still yes! I still think we shouldn’t immediately murder people, I think Karkat would be on my side with this.” Dave insists.

“I’m not exactly pro-murder here, but if someone took Karkat I’m hardly against it.” Jade agrees.

“You’re all crazy. Whatever, I’ve been thinking about who might have motive to take Karkat and trash his dorm room. There’s a few options that I can think of, maybe you can help me here Sollux.” Dave says, moving on.

“Hit me with it, I’ve been thinking about it too.” Sollux says.

“It could be Kankri’s racist friends and supporters, maybe someone saw you guys and figured he was an easier target to go after than you.” Dave starts, holding one finger up as if to indicate that this is the first idea.

“Could be, but I think it’s a little unlikely. Kankri’s set up in his apartment was pretty basic tech wise so there was no hidden surveillance stuff there, also he’s an asshole and I doubt he had friends. Followers maybe but not friends. For some Human Defense League people to have seen us they’d have had to have followed us from near the alley or the cafe without us noticing. Theoretically possible but very unlikely, plus that’d make them human and Karkat can fly now, not to mention set things on fire at will and bust doors open. If Karkat was being held by regular humans I think he’d have escaped by now and contacted us.” Sollux tells him.

“Could it be demons? Maybe they’re not happy about Karkat’s species?” Jade asks.

“Possible but unlikely. I’ve made it pretty clear that he’s my kismesis and even if someone didn’t want to recognise my authority it’s regarded as a dick move to go after someone’s quadrants out of revenge.” Sollux says with a shake of his head.

“But it could be. Just because it’s a social faux pax doesn’t mean someone wouldn’t.” you point out. Sollux shrugs like he concedes your point but still doesn’t agree with you.

“What about someone from Karkat’s past, or one of the horsemen like Jane?” you ask.

“It’s really rare for any of them to manifest and not cause their thing to start happening. No one around here is flipping their shit and going to war, dropping dead, wasting away or succumbing to disease. Also, if they wanted to take Karkat they’ve each got their own plane, he’d be there and there’d be no point in trashing his dorm. Although Meenah might do that, she’s petty enough. But Aradia’s not one to hold a grudge, Jane’s in enough shit right now without this, Snowman was polite to him and Karkat’s spent time with Meenah in the past and I think she kind of likes him. This isn’t their thing.” Sollux answers.

“What about angels?” Dave asks and Sollux’s shoulders slump.

“That’s more likely. I don’t know everything about angels and Karkat acting human probably kept him safe, maybe him flying or using his angelic powers put him on their radar. He’s not exactly a normal angel, he’s a decent person rather than an asshole like the rest of them. But if some angel takes him back to heaven we’re fucked, I can’t go there. None of us can.” Sollux says, that’s clearly the conclusion that he thinks is most likely.

“How do you fight an angel?” Jade asks.

“The general advice is not to. But I have a knife that can kill them instantly and if I have a moment and the angel’s name I can trap them in a circle. It’s more effective with their true name but I can work with an anglicization and just juice it with extra power, it should work at least for a while.” he tells her.

“So, we go up there. I open the door, Jade sneaks in and breaks the ward on the door. We slip inside, find out what the situation is and rescue Karkat or extract information about his whereabouts. Everyone agreed?” you ask. Jade and Sollux nod so you turn your gaze on Dave.

“I don’t like the implication in the way you said ‘extract’ but we do need to find him. This can’t keep happening to him.” Dave sighs. It’s still an agreement so you’ll take it.

You slip back up the stairs, the only sound besides quiet footsteps around you are Bec’s doggy claws on the wooden floor. Crouching at the doorway you wait for Jade who walks in front of you and then slips from view. You know the spell to unlock doors, your dear mother taught it to you years ago and it’s proved helpful for getting to her when she shuts herself in her lab and forgets to eat. You hear the subtle click of the lock and watch as the handle turns by itself and you feel _something_ slip past you.

Sollux is crouched just behind you, one hand on the back of Bec’s neck. Only his little eyes are open and they’re trained right above the doorway. You watch as his body language perks up and then he nods to you, Jade broke the ward.

Getting up from your crouch but still keeping relatively low and on guard you creep into the apartment with your needles at the ready. You survey the place as best as you can, keeping silent and tactical. Your findings are as follows:

  * Apartment is full of expensive but new furnishings. Whoever lives here has money but hasn’t lived here long, or compulsively replaces their things.
  * The colour scheme is very purple and gold, unlikely to be Kanaya.
  * The apartment itself appears messy, not in the sense that it has been recently raided like your dorm but more akin to the life of an untidy person.
  * By the door there is a coat rack and a rack of shoes, they are designer mens shoes and none are Karkat’s beat up sneakers. One of the coats on the rack is absolutely his and Bec is currently sniffing at it intently.
  * The TV has been shattered and the table is covered in half finished snacks, it appears to be the set up for movie watching.
  * The room is empty of anyone not in your group but there is the sound of running water from an adjacent room and quiet muttering in a voice that is not Karkat’s.

Your conclusions are thus: the shoes all appear to belong to the same person, making the idea of a mob of Human Defence League kidnappers less likely unless they all wear the same size expensive shoes. These are also all men’s shoes and coats and though you wouldn’t wish to limit the horsewomen of the apocalypse as far as you are aware they are all female and seem to dress in a way that could be described as feminine, you assume this holds to those you have not yet seen in person. Therefore it is unlikely to be them, they are also unlikely to rent their own apartment.

You indicate the adjacent doorway with a flick of one of your needles. Dave and Sollux hide on one side and you, Jade and Bec take the other. She motions for Bec to stay and then Jade slips from view once more and you assume sneaks in first. Now that you’re closer you take a moment to listen.

The voice from the next room is absolutely not Karkat. You are familiar with your roommate’s voice and the quiet muttering is neither his tone nor his typical volume. Unlike your brother who sees fit to quietly narrate almost everything he does with mumble raps Karkat doesn’t tend to mutter to himself. Which is not to say that he is quiet or silent, merely that Karkat expresses his thoughts clearly instead of muttering them. This person, a man you think, is muttering and it’s hard to make his words out unless you focus.

“Stupid… blood. Come _off_.”

You get to see Sollux and Dave’s eyes go wide in alarm as you storm into the room, needles raised.

At the sink there is a man, he looks like a student about your age, leaning over the kitchen sink as he scrubs at his hands. He was scrubbing off blood, that’s what he said. You can only assume that it’s Karkat’s at this point. You cram all of your wrath into raw magical power with the light and fire of a sun and shoot it from your raised needle like lightning.

The bolt strikes the man in the shoulder, slamming him into the cupboard above the sink. He smacks into it head first and swears loudly. Sollux flies past you in a blur landing on the counter behind the man who turns and-

Karkat’s wings unfurling is obviously something that you’ve witnessed before. It makes your eyes feel a little strange because they seem to come from nowhere, expanding out of a space that cannot be. His feathers and his wings are soft, bright and beautiful, when they open up for the first time it puts you in mind of those sped up timelapse videos of flowers blooming.

When this man’s wings come out, all three sets, it’s more like those frilled lizards flaring out and hissing as a threat. The feathers in his wings are veined with purple, like some horrible poisonous thing. He snarls, purple dripping from his nose and clearly expects you to cower at the sight.

“Shut the fuck up and tell us where Karkat is.” Sollux says, clearly unintimidated as he points a knife at the man.

The angel’s eyes hone in on the knife and then track up to Sollux himself, then over the rest of you.

“It’s you.” he whispers.

“Yeah, I’m very important. I have no idea who the fuck you are and right now the only thing keeping you alive is that you might know where Karkat is. So tell me.” Sollux demands.

He’s threatening the man with a knife he doesn’t want to use, it could kill him instantly and then you’d have no information at all. You need his name so you can trap him. From the number of wings and what you’ve researched about angel hierarchies you have an idea starting to build in your mind.

“We don’t even know who this guy is, he’s probably some nobody angel that just took Karkat’s coat or something. That’s why the trail led here. This is a dead end.” you lie.

“My name is Eridan Ampora and I am a SERAPHIM!” the angel snaps at you.

Sollux holds a hand behind his back and you can see a glowing red and blue circle etching itself into the floor on your side of the counter, filling in with letters by the moment.

“I am not some NOBODY angel and you will- AUGH!” he yells in alarm as Sollux grabs him by the throat and throws him into the circle on the other side of the counter. Your demon friend casually turns around and sits down on the edge of the counter, tucking the knife back away into wherever he puts things.

“Wow you’re stupid.” Sollux snorts.

“That’s better than killing him.” Dave sighs and walks to the edge of the circle, careful not to touch anything on the floor that constitutes its magical code.

“Listen, man. Eridan. I’m Dave and I’m the only one here who’s on team ‘not murder you’ so you should probably start talking. Sollux’s happy to shank you with that magic anti-angel knife, but I just want Karkat back.” Dave says, you suppose going for the ‘good cop, bad cop’ approach.

“Hey, I want both things.” Sollux protests.

“So it’s you two.” he hisses and looks at Dave and Sollux.

“We’re also here.” Jade mutters.

“No, no, he’s mad at the presence of the two people Karkat is dating. You’re the quote unquote friend from Karkat’s class, aren’t you? The one who invited him around for movies in what I thought sounded date-like.” you say thoughtfully and watch both Sollux and Dave get a lot less benevolent to him all at once. Well, Dave at least, Sollux already wanted to stab the guy.

You walk around and crouch down in front of him, watching his expression very carefully.

“Because we talked about it, me and Karkat. He insisted there was _nothing_ romantic going on and that this was just a friend thing.” you say and, there, a tightening of his jaw and a narrowing of his eyes.

“But that wasn’t it, was it? You had romantic intentions towards him, didn’t you? Unrequited ones.” you go on, your voice smooth and sharp as steel.

“Don’t SAY it like that. I’ve known Karkat longer than you’ve even existed! It’s not some crass thing like YOU’RE making it sound like! I pity him, it’s not about fucking like you people do.” Eridan sneers.

“Oh man, angels and sex, your side sucks. Karkat was never like that, thank fuck, he had no problem with that but some of you people… eesh.” Sollux says with a grimace.

“Suddenly puritan culture makes a lot more sense.” Jade remarks thoughtfully.

“It’s nothing like that, we’re moirails!” Eridan snarls.

“HAH!” Sollux laughs loudly, “The fuck you were. Karkat’s never had a moirail, he told me so years ago!”

“Well we- in all but name!” he protests.

“Delusional too, then.” Dave mutters, it seems he’s feeling less charitable now!

“How can you possibly claim to be his moirail? Where have you been all this time?” you demand as something mean curls inside your belly at the idea of THIS GUY being Karkat’s moirail. You know what a moirail is supposed to be like, you’ve been around Dave and Sollux for years.

“Where have I been? I showed up the moment Karkat wished for me to come here, he contacted _me_ with that stupid toy!” he argues.

“Wait, you were the one he spoke to on the ouija board?” Sollux asks, his eyes wide with surprise.

“That’s what I said, demon.” Eridan says snippily.

“Well then, good job angel, you pushed a silencing spell so far that the board caught on hellfire and if I hadn’t been there to move it you could have killed Karkat and burnt down the whole city. Great “moirail” work there.” Sollux sneers.

“Hey are we just going to ignore that he said that Karkat wished him here? Like a summoning kind of like Kankri did to Karkat? Karkat isn’t his maker, is he?” Dave asks, making Sollux cackle.

“What?! NO!” Eridan shrieks in horror. You think Dave basically just asked the guy if Karkat was his daddy.

A thought steals over you. Eridan showed up because of Karkat, Karkat unwittingly called him, that’s some mysteries explained, but you have others.

“Are you the one who dropped him on Everest?” you ask him slowly.

“That wasn’t my fault.” Eridan says and looks away from you.

“You tried to summon him to heaven?” Sollux guesses.

“It’s not my fault! Only angels are allowed in and the stupid rules of it kicked him out.” he protests.

“Karkat’s an angel though.” Dave points out.

“He didn’t know he was. Your spell relies on you KNOWING that you’re an angel to be allowed in? That’s the dumbest planar security system I’ve ever heard of.” Sollux groans.

You are ice. Cold, smooth and about to SINK this fucker.

“You left him. You left Karkat on the top of a mountain, all alone with no way to contact anyone aside from a deal that he HAPPENED to have. He could have died. He ended up in another plane of dead people and Sollux had to DIE to get him out! We had to go to my mother’s house and do SERIOUS magic to get him out of there. WE cared about him! _I_ cared enough about him to do that, it took DAYS! But you, his supposed moirail, tried to pick Karkat up then dropped him and figured it didn’t matter? He’s a person, not a claw machine prize!” you’re yelling by the end of your tirade and you figure, fuck it, and zap him again just on principle.

“ROSE!” Dave yelps.

“Oh, don’t. It won’t kill him, it’ll just hurt a lot.” you hiss.

“Yes, that’s called torture.” Dave snaps and pulls you away.

“No, if I was REALLY trying to torture him for what he did to Karkat he’d know about it. They’re hard to kill so I could do a lot to him. He’s not even told us where Karkat is now!” you snarl.

“Yeah, maybe you should start there before I see how creative Rose can be.” Sollux says casually.

“This is all your fault anyway.” Eridan pouts.

“See, _I_ care about Karkat, _you_ care about whose fault this is!” you snap and Dave holds you back.

Sollux gives you a strange look and then smiles, slow and wide with lots of fang on display. He turns his grin on Eridan and leans a little further like he’s about to say something confidential.

“I think that diamond is gone by now.” he snickers and Sollux’s inexplicable comment makes Eridan’s eyes fill with tears.

“He was supposed to be mine. I- I told him not to go back to his dorm, it was a trap but he was so mad about stupid shit that he just left.” Eridan sniffles.

“Alright, you two be quiet. We’re getting off track. Karkat was here, for a movie, right?” Jade asks, pushing past you with Bec at her heels. Eridan eyes Bec warily but nods.

“Why did he leave?” she presses on.

“Stupid argument, he got upset about nothing.” he mumbles.

“Let me guess, you made a pass at him and got shot the hell down!” Sollux says brightly, Eridan’s embarrassed anger is confirmation enough.

“Right, so Karkat leaves, without his coat. What then?” Jade asks.

“I followed him, obviously. I figured maybe it was because he didn’t understand that we were the same species and he needed to know. I was playing human because I wasn’t sure if he forgot like the humans down here did and him being here when-” Eridan’s teeth jam together and he looks alarmed.

“Yeah, harder to do that shit where you’re here, huh? Karkat was down here, he lost his memories because of reasons, he wasn’t faking. You were, got it. So you did what?” Sollux sighs.

“I showed him what I was and he got upset because of some stupid human.” he says bitterly.

“You revealed your true form in front of a human that wasn’t psychically equipped to cope with it?” Jade asks, you’re glad she did because your mouth is just open in horror.

“So what? It’s one human. The planet’s crawling with them and they live for, like, five minutes. I care about humanity as a whole but getting Karkat to see what I am is way more important than one human’s sanity. I didn’t even see the thing there.” Eridan huffs.

“Oh, I think he saw what you were alright. So I’m guessing Karkat’s trying to console a mindfucked human, what then?” Dave asks flatly.

“He told me to go so I did. I tried to warn him not to go back but he wouldn’t listen.” Eridan says softly, looking at the floor now.

“I should have stayed.” he whispers.

“What was going to happen back at his dorm?” Jade asks.

“I don’t know exactly. My maker wants him, he knows about Kankri. I saw Kankri’s things in Karkat’s room and I had to tell my maker, I was under orders. My maker was Kankri’s moirail and he was only down here because of Karkat, he thinks it’s all Karkat’s fault. And now he has Karkat and he’s never going to-” Eridan’s voice catches and tears spill down his cheeks.

“You couldn’t not tell him when you knew, that’s fair. But you could have stayed away from Karkat in the first place and not found out the things you’d be obligated to tell.” Sollux says darkly.

“I missed him.” Eridan says in a quiet voice.

“Where is he?” you ask.

“My maker has him.” Eridan says and taps his chest.

“In his void.” Sollux concludes.

“His what?” Jade asks.

“It’s like a pocket dimension, kind of like a bag of holding. Mine’s just full of weapons, tech and snacks or things my maker gave me to hold onto. It’s where Karkat puts his wings, where his weapon comes from. We’re not really physical so you can just do that.” Sollux answers her and pulls a sword out of his chest with ease and then vanishes it away again.

“I didn’t think you could put a person in there. You can’t put living things in bags of holding. Or if you do they’re not living when you take them out again.” you point out.

“Eh, I wouldn’t try to put an organic person in there for any real length of time, there’s probably a finite air problem but you can absolutely put people in there as long as you’re more powerful than them or you have their permission. If a less powerful demon than me did that to me and I wanted out I could in theory explode out of them and kill them.” Sollux answers.

“Like a chest burster?!” Dave says in alarm.

“Sure.” Sollux shrugs.

“But Karkat ISN’T as strong as my maker. He’s a seraphim and Karkat’s a throne, one who kept getting demoted at that. He can’t overpower my maker and get out, he’s stuck in there forever and he’s never getting out. Not unless he confesses.” Eridan says.

“You people and your confession. Listen, I come from Hell. If you torture someone long enough they’ll confess to anything, no matter how impossible it is. If you trap Karkat in an endless void like his maker used to do to him and leave him there long enough then EVENTUALLY he’ll crack and admit to anything to get out. It doesn’t prove shit and Karkat didn’t even do anything wrong.” Sollux sneers.

“My maker won’t see it that way! Not that it matters, either Karkat stays in there because he won’t talk or if he does say what my maker thinks is true and cooperates then he’ll let him out but even then my maker might just… will kill him.” Eridan insists, his shoulders slumping in defeat.

“So we rescue him. If Karkat can’t get out then we get him out.” Jade nods, clearly determined. You’re down with this plan.

“You can’t. You can’t get into that place, only my maker can.” Eridan insists.

“Ehhhh, not true.” Sollux says and hops off of the counter.

“You can get him out?” you ask.

“Ok, here’s how this works. Let’s say that… Latula offers to hide me, puts me in her space. Maybe I need to sneak in somewhere or something. Because I agreed I can leave when I want or when she gets me out. If someone else weaker than me tried to do that without my consent, I can break out. But if it’s someone stronger I can’t break out but it is possible to break in from the outside. I’ve done it on someone stronger than me to rescue my maker.” Sollux explains.

“What? Did that work?” Eridan asks, wide eyed.

“It…” Sollux hesitates. He looks down at the ground and his tails wind around one of his legs.

“I got the space open, found my maker. But I got caught. If I hadn't been caught then it would have worked fine.” Sollux answers quietly and very avoidantly.

“Sol…” Dave whispers, clearly sensing his moirail’s pain.

“What happened?” Jade asks.

“We’re not talking about it.” Sollux tells her in a rather sharp tone that cuts that line of questioning off entirely.

“You can get him out? You can save him? Really?” Eridan gasps and tries to step forward only to to bang into the invisible barrier of the circle binding him in place. He presses his hands to it and you can see that his palms and the undersides of his fingers are stained a deep blue.

“What did you do?” Sollux whispers.

“That looks like fae blood.” Jade says slowly.

Eridan pulls his hands back and stares at his palms. He’d been trying to wash it off when you burst in here.

“I… Karkat was gone and this planet fucking sucked. He always said it didn’t but it does and without him here I-” he falters, clenches his fists.

“WHAT DID YOU DO?!” Sollux shouts at him, getting as close to the edge of the circle as he can.

“You can’t have failed to notice, could you? I know he was void but even still, that heart was a piece of-” Eridan’s teeth stick together again and it takes obvious effort for him to open his mouth once more.

“Fine, I’ll be less specific. You didn’t notice that dark space of a heart? An unholy void where heart should be in a centaur that didn’t even notice it? Did you know they have two? I ripped the wrong one out the first time. I guess you’re too young to be experienced at this stuff.” Eridan says with quiet malice.

Sollux’s expression is one of abject horror, his eyes wide and mouth slightly open.

“Wait, you killed our creepy TA? Equius?” Dave asks in shock.

“Roxy wasn’t reacting to nothing, it was that. He was in MY school and I didn’t- then I slept through- fuck. FUCK. I need to go.” Sollux says in a rush, backing away from Eridan.

You grab him by the arm, he can’t just leave!

“No! We need to find Karkat and get him back, we don’t know how to get him out of this asshole’s maker without you!” you insist.

“We can’t leave Karkat!” Dave agrees.

“You don’t understand! You can’t understand any of this, you don’t ever!” Sollux shouts at Dave.

A charged silence hangs between them and Sollux looks away first.

“I need to go but I’ll come back. If you find his maker and summon me I’ll get him out. You need something purely demonic in nature to pierce into the void. He can help you find his maker so we can crack him open.” Sollux says, gesturing to Eridan.

Sollux turns and looks at Eridan for a moment and then pulls that knife out of his chest once more, Eridan backs up as much as he can when he sees it, which isn’t far.

“I’m going to make you a deal.” Sollux says, his voice flat as he approaches the edge of the circle.

“I don’t make DEALS with demons.” Eridan hisses.

“Either you accept the deal or I kill you, I’m cool with either.” Sollux shrugs. You’re fine with this.

“Sollux!” Dave protests, apparently not cool with this.

“If I just let him go then he goes right back to his maker and that guy definitely murders Karkat to stop us finding him. Do you want a dead Karkat? No. So he helps us or I make him not a threat anymore.” Sollux explains.

“What’s the deal?” Eridan asks through gritted teeth.

Sollux pauses to think for a few long seconds and then crouches at the edge of the circle, his fingers pressed to the outermost part.

“You agree to immediately, unless a defined time constraint is specified, obey every command given to you by Rose Lalonde. You will not cause physical, emotional, psychic, magical or spiritual pain to anyone present in this room at this moment and this will continue to cover these people after we have left this room until I declare the deal is over. Within the terms of this deal ‘pain’ is defined as anything the individual themselves presently considers or would ever consider to be painful. You will provide any and all information asked of you regarding Karkat, your maker or his capture, additionally anything that may possibly aid us in rescuing Karkat. You will not divulge the details of this deal, meeting us or the plan to rescue Karkat either through leading omission, outright divulgence of information through any medium including, but not limited to, written, spoken, or physical gesture to anyone beyond us. You may also not communicate information about this deal or any plan formed by anyone in this room at this moment in any of the aforementioned ways when you believe, suspect, or know that you are being observed by anyone else in any way. This deal supercedes any other commands, orders, or bonds on you before now. You will be released from this deal if and only if I declare that you are free of it with the words ‘Eridan Ampora you are released from the deal’. Both that command and any given by Rose Lalonde are only valid under the condition that they are given freely without coercion or incentives to do so.” Sollux says in one long string of words that you almost can’t parse on one go.

“That is the most absurd, coercive, one sided deal I’ve ever heard of.” Eridan hisses.

“You don’t have to take it, I can just kill you. But if you take it you get to throw yourself on Karkat’s mercy after this and see if he can convince me and Rose to not kill you anyway. This is your one ticket to fixing your mistake and maybe not dying, I suggest you take it.” Sollux says stiffly and waves the knife in his free hand for emphasis.

“You’re a bastard, you know that?” he hisses at Sollux who just shrugs.

Eridan scowls and paces the one step back and forth in his little circle before sighing deeply and kneeling down to touch the edge of the circle.

“I agree to your deal.” he says as begrudgingly as possible.

Blue and red winds up his arm and snaps over his skin, glowing under his shirt so brightly and far up his arm that you can see it reaches his bicep. After a second the glow fades.

“Question: why is he doing whatever Rose says?” Dave asks.

“Yeah.” Jade agrees with a frown.

“Because Rose is a scheming, malevolent and manipulative person who is entirely down with murdering this waste of atoms and cosmic energy as I am. Plus, the more people giving him orders the more chance for conflict and him evading the deal on a technicality.” Sollux answers.

“Thank you for the compliment.” you say dryly.

“I meant it as one. Take this knife. If something goes wrong, stab him with it. Do NOT touch Karkat with it even a little if you somehow find him. If you find his maker you call me, if you stab him with this with Karkat still in there you kill Karkat too. Understand?” he asks, you nod and take the knife.

“I have to go try and… ugh.” Sollux huffs and vanishes in a puff of smoke.

“So what now?” Dave asks as you look at the blade in your hand. Eridan watches you nervously as you handle it.

“We could see if Bec can pick up any other trails of Karkat’s scent. We know he went from here to the dorm.” Jade suggests.

You nod, that seems as good a place to start as any. But you need more. With care you remove Karkat’s feather from your bag and hold it out to Dave.

“I need you to go back home, see if Mom can use this to track Karkat down. You and her can work on the magical angle and we’ll work the physical trail.” you say, holding it out to him. Dave takes it with a frown.

“I guess she won’t let Jade in, much less this creep.” Dave agrees, albeit grudgingly.

“The university should have a port free, assuming it’s not all shut with a murder investigation thanks to _someone._” you say pointedly and narrow your eyes at Eridan.

“Right.” Dave nods. He looks at Eridan and then at you.

“You’re not going to, like, waterboard him the moment I leave you and Jade alone with him, are you?” he asks suspiciously.

“Don’t be absurd.” you tut.

“Right, well. I’ll get on this feather thing. Call me if you hear anything.” Dave nods and leaves.

“I know you’re lying.” Eridan says when he’s gone.

“I am not. Waterboarding you would take far too much equipment, plus from what I understand you don’t need to breathe. Just stabbing you with something nonlethal is far easier.” you say lightly.

“I can’t believe I’m suffering this indignity.” he grumbles.

“This is entirely your fault. If you hadn’t thrown Karkat in danger and then killed one of our TA’s then none of us would be in this mess. You could have just stayed away from Karkat entirely. Don’t get sulky.” Jade says, and she’s entirely right.

You cross the distance to Eridan’s circle and scuff it out with your foot, breaking it and letting him out.

“You are not to turn into any other form around humans. I’m not letting you fry anyone else’s brain.” you order him.

“Yes, fine, whatever.” he shrugs as if he doesn’t care. He probably doesn’t.

As you leave Eridan’s apartment you pick up Karkat’s coat, you’re going to get him back so he’s going to need it eventually. That’s what you’re telling yourself at least. It’s not a long walk back to the dorm but your mind is occupied the whole way there. Karkat has been taken by an angel who is both more powerful than him and means him harm, you have no real way of tracking him besides one feather and a hellhound. You hope your mom can think of a magical solution and run a spell like last time but it’s hardly ideal. Karkat is almost certainly scared if not hurt too. Who knows what that angel will do to him to make him talk?

You just… you need to find him. You have to.

“Why did you kill that TA? Equius was a little weird but he was always nice, he didn’t deserve that.” Jade asks.

“It wasn’t anything to do with who he was.” Eridan answers her, his tone dismissive.

“What does his heart do? Why did you need it and why does you taking it upset Sollux so much?” you ask.

“I can’t tell you.” Eridan says simply.

You pause in the street and run your mind back over the deal. Slowly you turn and look at Eridan.

“This is supposed to supercede all other restrictions you have. Tell me what about removing Equius’ heart upset Sollux.” you order him.

“First of all this isn’t relevant to Karkat, secondly Sollux doesn’t have the authority to overwrite EVERYTHING I’m bound by. I couldn’t overwrite a vow my maker made with him because my maker outranks me. Obviously.” Eridan says with a roll of his eyes.

There’s something there, the shape of an idea that you’ve not quite got your mind around. The spell that prohibits him from discussing something to do with the poor TA’s heart and presumably also whatever Sollux found in Japan was made by someone more powerful than Sollux. That feels like something you already knew, obviously the spell was powerful.

Still, there’s… something there. You need to think about it later.

“Fine.” you say stiffly and go back to walking towards the dorm. Eridan is behind you and Jade is behind him with Bec at her side, you’re both keeping a close eye on him. Deals with demons can go wrong and as smart as Sollux is, it doesn’t make him immune to mistakes. Thinking people are above mistakes is exactly how they happen.

“I wish he’d come back with me.” Eridan says unhappily as you stop at a crosswalk.

“Yes, well, I wish you’d never come down here. If you actually cared about Karkat and knew you were such a risk then you wouldn’t have put him in that situation without his knowledge. Instead you pretended to be his friend and got him kidnapped.” you growl at him.

“What would you know about my situation?! He wanted me here, he called me!” he retorts angrily.

“I wouldn’t show up around Karkat if my presence was dangerous, I would inform him of the risk before and ask if he agreed to putting himself in that situation and even then I would be highly cautious. Because I care about him.” you argue.

“The light is going.” Jade interrupts. You look up and lo and behold the crosswalk light is flashing and you hadn’t noticed at all. Arguing with Eridan is getting you nowhere. You march across the street, knowing that they’re following right behind you.

“You think you’re better than me?” the angel demands.

“Will you two cut it out? This isn’t what’s important right now!” Jade barks at both of you. She’s right, of course but you don’t like to admit that much because her entirely fair accusation makes you feel a degree more petty than you usually would want to admit to being.

The temptation to tell Eridan to shut up is there but he has to obey your orders and malicious compliance is a thing. You certainly don’t want to give him more wiggle room to get out of this deal. A command to shut up could allow him to not tell you vital information and you can’t risk that.

When you reach your dorm building you naturally come to a stop outside of it. Part of you doesn’t want to go back up there and see what happened. Karkat left Eridan and went back home looking for safety and a place to be alone and what he got was so very different.

“We should go get something else of Karkat’s since you gave that feather away, giving Bec something with Karkat’s smell on and taking it with us to refresh his memory might help.” Jade says, which means that you do have to go back in there.

“I have his coat but it’s probably contaminated by now.” you agree.

“Hey!” Eridan protests but you ignore him.

You unlock the door to your dorm with your keycard and pause in thought.

tentacleTherapist [TT] began trolling  twinArmageddons [TA]  
  
TT: Sollux, there's a card reader at our dorm door. Surely there is either a camera in there or over the entrance somewhere. Could you see if you can hack into the system and get footage from it?  
TA: bu2y riight now  
TA: giive me twenty  
TT: Very well.  
  
tentacleTherapist [TT] ceased trolling  twinArmageddons [TA]

Setting foot in your dorm again is harrowing, seeing all of your things broken and tipped over hurts. It’s not the cost of replacing them but rather that the sanctity of your new home has been destroyed.

“I’ll help you clean all this up later, Rose. It’ll be okay.” Jade offers you.

“They even broke the mug Karkat got me for my birthday, look.” you say sadly. You point towards the shattered gift on the floor. Even as you look at it you can remember his face when he handed it to you, that way he can look so angry and determined when being so nice. As if he was daring you and might fight you for not accepting a nice thing he was trying to do. He’s so funny and now… now it’s a shattered mess on your floor.

The urge to stab Eridan rises again.

“Your mug?” Eridan asks with a frown.

“Yes, mine. Karkat gave it to me as a gift, this is my dorm too. I live here with him.” you say through gritted teeth.

“You live with him? That’s just-” Eridan wisely doesn’t finish whatever he was going to say, you suppose the look on your face must have deterred him.

Jade and Bec are more than capable of keeping an eye on Eridan as you go into Karkat’s room alone. It’s every bit as destroyed as before and you soak in the destruction before you settle on doing something productive with it. The last time you were in his room looking for items to help track him down you needed sentimental things, but Dave has that covered with a part of his body. What you need now is something that’ll strongly carry his scent.

Your first thought is the small laundry hamper in the corner of his room but unfortunately it’s empty. Karkat is quite disciplined about tidying up after himself usually and doing his chores. His room isn’t exactly neat as such normally but everything is in the place he has assigned for it and when he launders his clothes they are put away immediately.

No comment will be made about your overflowing laundry basket back at your house or the basket of stuff that you’ve not yet put away. There are more important things in your life than laundry, that’s your excuse at least.

Looking around at Karkat’s room it’s hard to know what’s been touched and potentially compromised and what hasn’t, at least until your eyes fall on something down the side of his bedside table. The drawers have been ripped out of it but you can spy something down the edge that looks like fabric.

You quickly duck into the kitchen, stepping around the broken ceramic shards, and open a drawer to pull out a mid sized plastic sandwich bag. Karkat bought these to take on your hike and had filled a few with nuts and other such snacks because… well, Karkat.

Opening the bag you turn it inside out with your hand and return to Karkat’s room. With your hand protected by the bag you reach down the side of Karkat’s bedside table and pull out a black shirt. You’ve seen this shirt before, it’s one that he sleeps in and you’ll bet that it was tucked neatly under his pillow and ended up down here when his pillow was tossed aside. Right now the pillow rests on the other side of the bedside table, clearly having been ripped off.

So, this may well be an uncontaminated scent for Bec and one that had been against Karkat’s bare skin for hours. You carefully flip the bag the right way out and seal the top. With that sealed up you could just call yourself done and take the bag back to Bec, but as you finish the last of the seal you can’t help but feel the dismay at the state of his room wash over you. All of his precious books are scattered everywhere.

Setting the plastic sandwich bag with the shirt in it on the bed for a moment you bend down and pick some of the books up. Sure, you won’t get them in whatever order he had them in before but they’re not going to be flung about either. When you have an armful of books you set them in a stack neatly in the corner, you lean over to grab another and nearly scream in alarm when a little green head appears out of it.

“Are they gone?” Abraxas whimpers.

“Abraxas! I didn’t know you were in here, are you hurt?” you ask.

“A little. They ripped one of my books apart and stood on some. They destroyed the place so I hid as best as I could.” Abraxas whimpers.

“Did- did you see the people who did this?” you ask it urgently.

The worm nods its head.

“It was a bunch of humans, no one that I’ve seen before.” it answers you.

“What did they look like?” you ask. You have a witness, an actual witness.

“Human. I’m not great at people, I can do species but all humans look pretty similar to me.” Abraxas says with whatever the worm equivalent of a shrug is. It’s kind of an apathetic ripple of worm body.

“Can you tell me what they were wearing? What colours? Did they look like they all had something in common?” you try.

“Blue and black, all pretty similar.” Abraxas says.

You sit up and set the book on top of the stack. Quickly you open Google on your phone and search for ‘police officer’s uniform’ and open the image search results.

“Like this?” you ask, turning it around to the worm.

“I think so.” the worm nods.

“Thank you. I have to go, sorry.” you say in a rush. You grab Karkat’s shirt in the bag on the bed and hurry out to the main room.

“I think it was police. Does your maker have anything to do with the police?” you ask breathlessly, if you’re right this is a real lead!

“He doesn’t work for the police, he’s an angel.” Eridan answers, as if you’re a moron.

“Could he make the police work for him?” Jade asks.

“Of course he could. Police is pretty good actually, they already have authority so other people wouldn’t question him being taken by them.” Eridan admits.

“How? How would he make them do that? Karkat did nothing wrong. Nothing they could prove anyway.” you amend that last part, what with the arson and theft and all. The police wouldn’t have any way of knowing about that, though. Sure, if you had ratted him out they could have worked it out from there but there’s no question that any of you would have done that. There’s no way any police in Georgia could have looked at Kankri’s burnt out apartment and missing stuff and linked it to Karkat and even if they could you’re not in Georgia anymore so there’s jurisdiction issues at the very least!

“Because they’re only human and incredibly easy to influence.” Eridan answers.

“How, though? What did he do?” Jade asks but he just shrugs.

You take a deep breath, lean over and grab Eridan’s scarf and haul him down to your level.

“Tell me the methods which your maker would use influence human police to arrest Karkat.” you order him.

Eridan is compelled and you, for one, hope it hurts.

“Everyone believes things. I don’t mean about gods, but mortals produce belief. You believe and hope in all sorts of things and hope is something me and my maker work with. People convince themselves of all sorts of things. This person loves me, I’m good at this, that person is out to get me. You just have to warp their perspective. She does it too.” Eridan chokes out and flaps a hand vaguely at Jade.

“No I don’t!” Jade protests.

“You hide yourself in other people’s belief that you aren’t there.” he argues.

“I… guess you could look at it that way.” Jade says uneasily.

“He would just have to warp their minds to say that whatever they think about him that would justify what they’re doing is true. Maybe they think they’re taking in a murderer, or a terrorist or whoever. They do what he wants and no one questions it and they do it all themselves.” Eridan explains.

“That’s horrible.” you whisper.

Your phone pings in its charm on your wrist, you take it out and see Sollux has messaged you.

twinArmageddons [TA] began trolling  tentacleTherapist [TT]  
  
TA: ii managed two get iin and have a look at the footage from the camera2 liike you 2ugge2ted.  
TA: good call  
TT: Was it police officers? Abraxas' description of the people who were there suggests that.  
TT: It would also explain how they got access to the building.   
TA: they look liike cop2, yeah.  
TA: bad new2 ii2 that the camera ii2 old a2 2hiit and iit look2 liike people have been touchiing the len2 2o the viideo qualiity ii2 potato  
TA: ii triied but ii can't pull any badge number2 or fiind out who they are  
TA: iif they even are legiitiimate cop2  
TT: Yes, I suppose it could be people dressed as them falsely.   
[twinArmageddons attached file 'kkcam.mp4']  
TT: Normally I would never open a file from you with that file name, knowing that Karkat is your kismesis.   
TT: But in this instance I shall. We'll also go down to the local police stations with Bec and see if he can pick up Karkat's scent anywhere there, I got something else for him to smell.   
TA: 2ure  
TA: ii have two go, tell me if bec fiind2 a traiil at a poliice 2tatiion  
TT: Will do.  
  
twinArmageddons [TA] ceased trolling  tentacleTherapist [TT]

You should go look at that file but part of you hesitates, you’re not ready to see it yet. You procrastinate with another needed task, you message Dave.

tentacleTherapist [TT] began trolling  turntechGodhead [TG]  
  
TT: Dave, where are you right now?  
TG: just leaving the port near home and trying to find a taxi so ill be with mom in about an hour  
TT: Make sure you get out early so you don't harm the driver on mother's barrier.  
TG: right yeah we dont want kentucky fried taxi cab driver  
TT: Indeed we don't.   
TG: have you found anything yet  
TT: We think either the police or people dressed as them took Karkat. I have a sample of his clothes for Bec and we're going to look at police stations now.   
TG: alright be careful   
TG: try not to stab anyone  
TT: I will do my best.  
  
tentacleTherapist [TT] ceased trolling  turntechGodhead [TG]

You move to stand next to Jade and click the video, Eridan also leans over to watch.

The footage is unclear like Sollux warned you it was, but you can see Karkat approach the door even if he is blurry. He’s without his coat and he seems tired and his posture is worn. He uses his card to open the door and goes inside. The footage skips forward to Karkat being hauled out by what looks like police officers. His hands are cuffed tight behind his back and the way he’s being pulled looks painful. There’s just a split second when you can see his face but his expression is frightened.

“Kar…” Eridan whispers.

“We have to find him. If it’s police officers we can go down to their stations or whatever, right?” Jade asks.

“Yes. We will, I got this for Bec to track him with.” you say. You put your phone away and open the bag. Crouching down you offer it to Bec and watch as he puts his face inside, sniffing intently at Karkat’s shirt. When he pulls his head out you seal the bag again and tuck it in your bag of holding.

“I’ve got a route to the nearest police station here.” Jade says and turns her phone to show you.

“Come on.” you order Eridan and the three of you go off towards the police station.

There is, of course, more than one police station in the city of Salem. The first that you get a bus to and check out is a bust. You give Bec Karkat’s shirt again and walk him around the building but he just seems confused about why you’re doing it. Midway through your bus ride to the second station Dave trolls you again.

turntechGodhead [TG] began trolling  tentacleTherapist [TT]  
  
TG: good news mom managed to enchant the feather itself so itll work like a karkat compass and actually move to him  
TG: we even tested the spell with something of mine and i now have an engraved fingernail clipping that follows me around the room which is creepy as fuck but it works  
TT: Horrifying, but you should get back here and help us locate Karkat then.  
TG: yeah bad news the feather isnt working  
TG: or it is working but its not doing anything  
TT: I don't follow you.  
TG: mom says if hes not on the prime material plane it wont move  
TT: Which means that he's locked away as we feared he would be.  
TG: yeah but if he comes out because the asshole wants to question him then we are going to know right away and where he is  
TG: im on my way back now  
TG: also mom says we need to gps track karkat which is creepy as fuck  
TT: And yet I can't help but consider it given his track record  
TG: same and i hate that  
TT: Alright, I'm nearly at the next police station so I'll talk to you later.  
TG: k  
  
tentacleTherapist [TT] ceased trolling  turntechGodhead [TG]

You and Jade hop off of the bus with Bec eagerly following and Eridan looking like he wishes he could be anywhere else at all. As you get off of the bus Bec perks up, sniffing at the air. His body language changes to the tracking posture that he had before, his nose an inch from the ground as he sniffs about. You hurry towards the police station, half following Bec and half leading him in the direction that Jade’s phone points. Only when you arrive you come to a screeching halt outside.

“You.” you say icily.

“Rose.” Kanaya gasps as she looks around and sees you.

“Oh, what do we have here?” Terezi asks with a wide and sharp smile. It says something about how distracting Kanaya is that you didn’t notice a literal dragon standing next to her. Admitted a dragon in a humanoid shape, but still.

“Terezi, what are you doing here?” Jade asks, having been more observant than you.

“Funny you should ask, I got a call on my phone saying that my client had requested that I come in as his lawyer.” Terezi answers her.

“The phone you got from Karkat?” you ask in surprise and Terezi nods.

“I thought it must be about him because why would anyone else have that number? When I asked the officer who the client was she got all confused and asked who I was and why I called her. She called me but insisted that I called her, then she hung up on me.” Terezi explains.

“Something didn’t fit the belief or went against what whoever it was had been told to do.” Eridan supplies helpfully.

“Well, when I called back they said they didn’t have anyone there by Karkat’s name at all and then didn’t remember me asking, so I came down and found Ms. Vampire here who’s been trying to make a missing person’s report all morning.” Terezi adds.

“Oh, so you care about Karkat now? You’re not chasing him out of your home or having your mother threaten to kill him? You’re done not talking to him now, then?” you ask her sharply.

“Wait, she what?” Jade gasps.

“You tried to kill Karkat?!” Eridan snarls.

“You stay out of this conversation, you don’t get the moral high ground here.” you snap at him and he falls silent.

“That was… unfortunate. But my mother and I have had highly traumatic experiences with his species. He knew what he was and didn’t tell me and that was frightening. I’m not proud of how she reacted but I understand it. Needless to say when I looked through Karkat’s door and saw his place so destroyed I feared the worst and came here but they won’t listen to me. I certainly didn’t want anything bad to happen to him.” Kanaya says.

“This is all fascinating.” Terezi chips in happily.

Right, perhaps not the time to have this argument. Sorry, conversation.

“Is Bec sure that he’s here?” you ask Jade, although Bec’s intense focus on the building is answer enough.

“Either he is or he was.” Jade confirms.

“One second.” you say and pull your phone out.

tentacleTherapist [TT] began trolling  turntechGodhead [TG]  
  
TT: Dave, are you in a place where you can check if the feather is doing anything?  
TT: We think we've found the police station Karkat was taken to but I need to know if he's in there now.   
TG: uh hold on  
TG: no its not moving  
TG: my port back should be there soon  
TT: That's something at least.  
TG: hey guess what  
TT: I'm a little busy for guessing games, Dave.   
TG: fair but i was walking away from the house to catch a cab when june and her dad happened to drive past  
TG: june said they got turned around which was probably moms spells doing so they gave me a ride to the port  
TG: june was really worried about karkat going missing so maybe keep her updated too yeah  
TT: How fortuitous.   
TG: rose are you okay im getting ominous vibes  
TT: No, I'm as well as can be expected. Thank you for checking the feather.  
TG: no problem   
TG: see you soon  
  
turntechGodhead [TG] ceased trolling  tentacleTherapist [TT]

Your finger hovers over the bit of your screen with Sollux’s handle on it. You probably should contact him and tell him what you know. And yet…

“Come with me.” you say as your pass Terezi and tug on her arm, her skin feels subtly scaly despite its human appearance.

“Rose what’re you-” Jade calls but you’re already through the door to the police station.

Inside the station there’s a front desk that separates you from the rest of the station beyond what you’re sure is nothing more than a cheap plasterboard wall. The man behind the desk looks up as you walk in, past dying pot plants and uncomfortable chairs in the waiting area.

“My friend has been arrested, this is his lawyer here. Could you tell us if we’re at the right place or if he’s somewhere else?” you ask, projecting with your tone that they had damn well better help.

“Let me see on the system, hold on.” the officer sighs.

“He doesn’t remember you?” you say under your breath to Terezi.

“Doesn’t look like it. Keep him distracted I’m going to try something.” she says back just as quietly.

“I have a picture of him, or do you need me to spell his name out for you?” you ask a little louder than normal. You step a bit closer to the desk, playing up the part of the innocently concerned roommate. It’s all to cover the quiet whisper of magic coming from your dragon companion.

“The name would be helpful.” the man sighs.

“Oh, of course. My name is Rose Lalonde. L-A-L-O-N-D-E.” you say with faux dumbness.

“Your friend’s name, not yours.” the officer sighs.

“Oh, right, sorry. His name is Karkat Vantas. K-A-R-K-A-T have you got that? And then Vantas V-A-N-T-A-S. I have his picture here if you want it.” you go on, trying to drag this out.

“I have his picture here, he’s my roommate. We’re students at Salem University, he’s a good guy, I don’t know why this would have happened.” you go on and pull up a picture of Karkat sitting next to June in the coffee shop and zoom it in on just him. You turn the phone to the officer to show him.

“I-” the officer’s face scrunches up for a moment and he looks as if he’s just woken up.

“I’ve seen him. I think…” he types on the computer for a moment and frowns.

“There’s nothing about him on the system though. Stay here.” the officer says and leaves through the nearby door.

“Wait, no! Ah… shit. Whatever’s screwing with his mind is very strong, I can’t keep it away when he’s gone. He won’t remember this when he comes back, we should go.” Terezi sighs.

“Alright, but at least we know he was here. We’re at the right place, all I need to do is find that man who has him and get Karkat back.” you tell her with fire in your veins. When you find that angel you’re going to even the score for what he’s done.

The pair of you go outside and you’re surprised to see that Kanaya has a chainsaw in hand and is pointing it at an unimpressed looking Eridan.

“Can you not kill him? I need his help to recover Karkat. Also, you’re waving a chainsaw around outside of a police station, that’s hardly wise.” you point out to her.

“It won’t kill me anyway.” Eridan scoffs, clearly baiting Kanaya.

“You think so? Maybe you should have a closer look at the oil on that chain, I think that’d work quite well on you as it happens.” Kanaya hisses at him, her skin flaring with a glow.

“Is that-” Eridan gasps, jerking back.

“Unholy oil, yes.” Kanaya says sweetly.

"Stop it." you snap and shove Kanaya's chainsaw down by the handle, you're lucky that no one is walking by right now or that none of the police inside have come out looking to kill the chainsaw wielding vampire.

"This isn't the place." Jade warns her.

"As much as I'd like to see this piece of shit angel chainsawed in half-" you pause and an idea hits you.

"Wait, how was I able to say what species he is?" you ask in surprise.

"I'm a seer, I know these things. She already has experience with them and is on guard, besides, he's not subtle." Terezi snorts, with a gesture at Kanaya.

"Well, fine. As much as I want to see him killed because he is mostly responsible for Karkat being kidnapped we need him alive and helping us to get him back. If you want to try to kill him afterwards I'm afraid you'll have to get in line, so put that thing away." you tell Kanaya over Eridan's protests that he's not that bad, no one is listening to them. Even Bec is ignoring him.

Kanaya looks at you but it's more like she's trying to stare you down, after a few seconds she breaks first and her chainsaw vanishes into her handbag.

"So we know he was here, what now?" Jade asks, breaking the silence.

"Now I tell Sollux." you say and get your phone.

tentacleTherapist [TT] began trolling  twinArmageddons [TA]  
  
TT: Sollux, I have located the police station that Karkat was being held in. Bec led us there after a little research on our part and afterwards we found Terezi and Kanaya outside. Kanaya was trying to report him missing and Terezi had got a call from a clearly mind controlled officer about representing her client as his lawyer, only to forget the purpose of the call halfway through.   
TT: Dave has got the feather enchanted and is on his way back here but it seems to indicate that Karkat is not presently on this plane of reality.   
TT: Now what?  
TA: alriight  
TA: don't iinteract wiith the poliice, you don't know what they miight have been told two do iif anyone who know2 hiim 2how2 up.  
TT: Too late.   
TA: fuckiing hell ro2e can you not do thii2  
TA: ii'm dealiing wiith enough dii2a2ter riight now wiithout you gettiing iin more!  
TT: I'm fine. The police officers have mush for brains right now, Eridan's maker must have gone hard on them.   
TA: iit'2 not 2omethiing that ii can really do but miind control on human2 ii2 triicky, they're 2o fragiile when iit come2 to people from other plane2.   
TA: go fiind 2omewhere nearby that you can lay low iin liike a 2tarbuck2 or 2omethiing, tell dave where you are and ii'll be there iin fiive.   
TT: Alright.  
  
twinArmageddons [TA] ceased trolling  tentacleTherapist [TT]

"He says that we need to find a place to lay low nearby, a coffee shop or something. He'll be back soon." you tell the others.

"We're keeping an eye on the police station?" Terezi asks.

"I think we should, yeah." you agree.

It's hardly the right time of year to be sitting outside but the cafes and coffee places nearby aren't keen on letting in a clearly abnormal and large dog without a leash sit inside with the rest of you. Nor are any of you keen on going further afield and putting yourself at a greater distance from the police station. Your group sits outside a Starbucks which at least has some little outside heaters and you wait for your order.

Your phone pings and when you pull it out and have a look you see that it’s June.

ghostlyTrickster [GT] began trolling  tentacleTherapist [TT]  
  
GT: hey rose, i heard about karkat.  
GT: have you heard anything more about what's happening with him or have you found him yet?  
TT: Hi June, it's complicated. He's basically been kidnapped.  
GT: yeah, dave mentioned that kidnapping was the theory. this is crazy though, how are we meant to know anything about angel politics?  
TT: Indeed, even Karkat couldn't really remember anything about it.  
TT: But I suppose he's told you about that?  
GT: haha yeah, though it's hard to tell someone all the things you don't remember!  
GT: do you have any leads on where he is, though?  
TT: Well, the angel that took him is hiding in a police department, using the police as cover to abduct him and find information I suppose.  
GT: oh man that's not good, but at least you have a start.  
TT: Yes, that's... that's what I'm telling myself.   
TT: I'll keep you updated.   
GT: ok thanks rose, stay safe!  
TT: I'll try. Talk to you soon.  
  
tentacleTherapist [TT] ceased trolling  ghostlyTrickster [GT]

"Are you okay, Rose?" Jade asks gently.

"I just need to think, give me a minute." you mumble and lean your head back against the glass of the Starbucks window.

It's not as cold as it could be and as the clouds part above you and let the sun stream down on your face it feels much nicer. The sunshine is bright enough that it tints everything even with your eyes shut. You try to centre yourself, you'll be no use if you're too frazzled to think. With care you let your mind settle and wait for your natural mental processes to file all this new information away and hope that it can turn up some new way of looking at all this that hasn't occurred to you before. A moment of quiet can do wonders for problem solving.

There's a sensation that comes over you and it takes you a moment to define it. It's a drifting sort of feeling. There's a pool back home in your house, not a huge one but it's nice nonetheless and sometimes when you had trouble sleeping you'd go down in your swimsuit and do lap after lap to tire yourself out. When you'd fall into bed after that you're not sure if it was how repetitive the swimming had been or perhaps water in your ears but you could lie on your back in bed and still feel like you were drifting on water somehow. You feel like that now, the light of the sun bathing you and the chill making your skin a touch numb, it leads you to that feeling.

You drift a bit.

It's all very bright. Everywhere is so bright. Too bright.

You open your eyes and there's nothing but whiteness around you. Your chest fills with a breath and your mouth opens, your lips and tongue forming words that you don't anticipate or mean but they happen nonetheless.

_"Never gonna give you up_   
_Never gonna let you down_   
_Never gonna run around and desert you_   
_Never gonna make you cry_   
_Never gonna say goodbye!"_

The startled shock at singing Rick Astley at a volume that is almost painful makes you separate. Like oil and water the parts of you and him layer and refuse to mix any more. Your perspective is forced out and you aren't him anymore, he's right there.

Karkat turns around in the endless nothing, his eyes wide?

"Cronus?" he asks, his eyes darting about.

"I'm only going to keep doing this unless you let me out. Once I'm done singing maybe I'll move onto committing as many sins as I can manage to here on my own. I can loudly tell you about what I want to do with my boyfriends, how about THAT?!" He shouts.

You need to reach him, to tell him that you're looking for him, that you're going to get him out of there. You want to reach out and take his hand but you don't possess any kind of physical body to do that.

"Rose?" a hand falls on your shoulder and snaps you back to yourself.

You open your eyes. Again, somehow. It's Dave.

"Dave?" you croak, you're so thirsty all of a sudden.

"Were you having a vision? You were glowing a little." Dave says, gesturing to his shades.

"I- I think so? I was Karkat. He doesn't seem hurt but he's stuck in nowhere." you say shakily.

Your coffee is on the table in front of you, it must have come when you were having your vision. Yet when your fingers touch the cup it's stone cold.

"You're really having proper visions again." Dave says in quiet awe and then before you can react he grabs you into a tight hug that makes you tear up. You really did just have a vision.

"He was rickrolling the angel that took him as loud as he could in that void, I think he was trying to annoy him into letting him go." you whisper into Dave's shoulder and he laughs loudly into your hair.

"Jeez, that's the best thing I've heard, we need to get him back just so I can high five him if nothing else." Dave laughs as he pulls back, there's sadness to his expression but he's determined like you are.

Dave sits down on the bench at your side and looks around at the rest of your group.

"So we're all on team ‘find Karkat and make the people who did it pay’? Except for you Eridan, I'm literally out of fucks to give about what you think about all this." Dave adds that last part quickly. You also are out of fucks to give, there has been a terrible famine in the crop of fucks that you were cultivating. They're all gone and no one will survive the winter from the lack of them. Tragic.

"Karkat asked for legal representation. He's being unlawfully held and denied his rights to legal counsel. This needs to be fixed." Terezi says with a nod.

"I'm surprised that given that you're a dragon you're not just considering burning the building down." Jade remarks.

"Why would you encourage that?" Kanaya groans quietly.

"There could be innocent people in there who also haven't had legal counsel yet." Terezi says firmly.

"None of you are going to heaven, you know that, right?" Eridan says snidely.

"Good. I wouldn't want to." Kanaya snaps back at him.

"Right, well, where's Sollux?" Dave asks.

"I don't know. He said he'd be here a while back." you shrug, you somewhat lost track of time there.

Dave makes a displeased noise and pulls his phone out, typing a message out one handed. With his other he reaches into his bag and pulls Karkat's feather out so he can hand it to you. There is tiny writing etched into the quill of the feather, so small that you can hardly make it out. It reminds you of those things where people get their name written on a grain of rice as a novelty gift.

With a puff Sollux appears looking tired and supremely pissed off.

“Sorry, everything has gone to shit and everyone is losing it. I got tied up.” he explains wearily. Eridan looks deeply smug.

“Yeah, I bet. It was a nightmare getting off campus with how much of it is locked down from the murder.” Dave agrees.

“Ugh. Yeah. Good news? Please?” Sollux asks hopefully.

“I had a vision.” you tell him.

Sollux’s face freezes and one of his eyes twitches.

“Of course. Of course you did. That’s great for you. Why don’t you tell me what thing you saw that you shouldn’t have been able to see?” Sollux asks in a tight voice. He certainly doesn’t sound happy for you.

“Karkat is in some white endless void angrily singing Rick Astley to try to annoy his captor. I suppose annoying Captors is a thing for him.” you say lightly and that at least does make Sollux laugh, it’s almost silent but you can see it.

Sollux looks around for a chair but they’re all occupied so he shrugs and just sits on Dave’s lap.

“The way I see it we have two options.” Sollux says.

Jade opens her mouth but Sollux cuts her off.

“Nope, don’t say it. First option is we go in there and incapacitate everyone we see until we find Cronus and then I can pry him open and rescue Karkat. The downside of that is that it may give him advance warning that we’re coming so he could escape and that would also be a lot of crime.” Sollux explains.

“An awful lot of crimes!” Terezi agrees cheerfully.

“The second option is… riskier but a lot more legal.” Sollux continues.

“Go on.” Kanaya presses him.

“Well, you weren’t here for this but angels and demons both can put people in a void inside themselves. I could do that to all of you, get myself arrested, scope the place out and the moment I see Cronus or Karkat you all come out and we take him out.” Sollux suggests.

“I can’t go in your void.” Eridan says firmly.

“Yeah, no, it’d be a matter and antimatter thing because I don’t really want you there and you don’t want to be there. I don’t want you inside me in any interpretation of that phrase.” Sollux snorts, Eridan glares at him.

“Also it would kill us both.” he says stiffly.

“It’d kill you. I’m immortal. They also couldn’t die from me dying temporarily because my existence isn’t destroyed, I just make a new body.” Sollux shrugs.

“Is there any way that the police could theoretically restrain you?” you ask.

“In a circle or something?” Jade adds.

“Then we’d all be trapped.” Kanaya says worriedly.

“First of all, anything that trapped me wouldn’t trap any of you. Even IF I massively dropped the ball and didn’t notice that happening, assuming they even have the trained people to do it, then I could just let you all out and you could break the circle which would let me out.” Sollux says.

“So you go get yourself arrested as we’re hiding out in some dimension attached to you, we find the dude and… then we can get Karkat back?” Dave asks slowly.

"Surely you need to make sure that your suspect is in there first or else you're just getting arrested for no reason." Terezi says sensibly.

"Is there a way of detecting the presence of angels?" you wonder.

"If there was, I would know about it." Kanaya says with a shake of her head.

"I could go in there stealthily." Jade offers.

"Karkat could see you that way, couldn't he? So Cronus could too." Sollux asks.

"He would absolutely see you." Eridan confirms.

"Our choices, then, are either go with you to try to rescue Karkat or don't." you say simply.

"I'm going." Dave says with a squeeze around Sollux's middle.

"As am I." you agree.

"I can't leave Karkat like that and he'd come after us to help." Jade agrees.

"I have a duty to accompany you in order to save him. Besides, there's other things Karkat needs to do after this that he just can't do in an endless void." Terezi says with a sharp smile.

"Ominous." Dave notes.

"I'm not sure if he'd want me to come and I wish I'd gotten more of a chance to talk to him after we last spoke, but I'm certainly not willing to leave him in the hands of some angel that means him harm. I will also come with you." Kanaya says. You very much want to question her motives but now is not the time.

"Well your hellbeast and I can't go, what's your grand plan there?" Eridan asks and Bec also looks up at the sound of his name, resting his head on the edge of the table by Jade.

"Well, one of you can reliably follow instructions and be trusted to do what he's told, as for you I can order you to come with me. You may as well start a fight with me in the police station and we can both get arrested. If nothing else you'll do as bait for your maker. Bec can sit and wait outside, I’ll tell him to go get Mituna if we're gone for too long." Sollux says.

The process of getting into Sollux’s void space is a little unusual and is best done away from prying eyes. You all finish up your drinks quickly and make your way into a nearby alleyway. You've seen Sollux put things away before and it's always looked a lot like a pretend magic trick, things just vanish from view without any fanfare as if he's palmed something. It doesn't seem magical at all. You've seen him do it to weapons, food, clothing, interesting rocks that Dave has found, all sorts. It's very unsettling to see it happen to Dave. Sollux takes his hand and pulls him close and then he just... isn't.

"I'll try to make it so you can see what I see." Sollux says as he holds his hand out to you next.

You're not afraid or unsettled, you trust him. Still, it's... odd. Your hand slides into his and he tugs you towards him as if you were dancing almost. Then it's as if your whole being is calmly and gently tucked into a pocket. Then you're abruptly elsewhere, right next to Dave.

"Whoa." Dave whispers.

Whoa is right. Calling this place a void would be very much a misnomer, it's full of things. To give Sollux his credit there's a certain amount of organisation in that similar things are heaped in similar piles or floating in specific areas. Over that way are several arcade machines, video game consoles that are a little outdated by now. Over there is a floating row of iphones, ipods, android phones, cheap burner phones, various portable music devices and then a huge stack of neatly ordered records. Over that way, clothes, furniture, confusingly there's a stack of swords at least as high as you are tall.

"Rose! He has a CAR in here!" Dave shouts and waves you over.

Walking around the pile of swords you see a bright red muscle car, just parked there as if it's normal. You have no idea why Sollux would want a car as he can teleport wherever he wants, but maybe he just thinks it's cool.

"This is so cool, I love the colour too!" Dave says enthusiastically as he runs his hand over the bright red paintwork.

Peering in through the rear right passenger window you can see that the car has been used, Sollux didn't just steal it and never touch it again. There's a shirt abandoned in the back on the floor. With your curiosity compelling you, as it so often does, you open the back door of the car and pick the shirt up. The shirt is white and slightly ripped, it appears to be a large child's size and perhaps worn by someone who was not that size. As you turn the shirt the right way out you see that it is sparkly on the front and in glitter, black and red it proclaims 'My first Disney trip' with a little Mickey Mouse face with sunglasses that reflect the iconic Disney castle on them. It is... deeply tacky.

You look around the car for more clues as Dave climbs in the front and turns the ignition on, as he does so the radio comes on, or it tries to at least. There's no radio reception inside Sollux it seems.

"There's a half drunk energy drink in here, yay or nay?" Dave asks from up front.

"Don't drink the abandoned drink inside this car, you don't know how long it's been there or whose it is." you sigh and lean down to peer under the seats.

Under the seats you find a carefully folded blanket or two and a couple of food wrappers that look like they escaped the trash.

"Okay but does an energy drink expire, really? What's even in them?" Dave wonders from upfront.

There's no way he's not drinking that, is there? You look up at the roof of the car and find a few marks. Some you'd put down to trying to put something in the car that's too big and it scratches at the fabric of the roof. Mr Egbert's car, as an example, has two scrapes ever so faintly on the fabric of his car roof on the inside from when he was picking up a desk chair that Dave was giving to him second hand and it wouldn't quite fit without being shoved. In this there are a few uniform scrapes and punctures in the fabric that you recognise from sharing furniture with Sollux. One time as a joke your mom pushed him off of the back of the sofa when he was sleeping on it and he scratched it when he fell.

Something small and white jumps out at you, just peeking out of the woven fabric.

"It tastes the same, I'm not sure if that's praise or indictment for the brand." Dave remarks from up front.

"Indictment and you know it. Look at this." you say and point up at the roof.

Carefully you reach up and pick at the white thing, as it comes free of the roof fabric it's clear that it's a feather. It's a downey fluffy one but far too long to belong to any bird, this is a Karkat feather.

"They did know each other before." Dave points out.

"There's no way this is Karkat's car. Can you really see him owning this?" you say, gesturing to the thing.

"Undercover, or it's Sollux's. Or they stole it. Or he stole it to bait Karkat to track him down like Batman stopping crime or something." Dave says. You want to tell him that's a stupid idea but given that this is Sollux and Karkat you're talking about there's no levels of idiocy to talk to each other that you would put beyond them.

Suddenly you're not so sure you want to be in the back of this car if your guess as to what they might have been doing together is correct.

You slide out of the car with Dave after you. Around the edge of the sword pile you can see Terezi sniffing curiously at the length of a long red blade.

"Hey, hey." Dave says, nudging you with his elbow. He points off to the side and upwards and sure enough there's a floating oval like a projected movie at a drive in. You can see Bec, the view shifts downwards to get closer to him and grey hands swim into view to pet him.

"I can't hear him though." you say.

"Maybe if we get closer?" Dave suggests. It's as good an idea as any so the pair of you walk past Terezi and the sword pile and towards the projected view.

Dave is right, there's some sound but it's faint unless you’re close and weirdly Sollux's voice sounds different.

"We need to go in there and start a fight to get arrested. Don't try and kill me, it won't work." Sollux says.

"You know the bones in your head make your voice sound different to you than it does to other people, I wonder if this is how Sollux thinks he sounds." Dave says thoughtfully.

You watch as Eridan walks ahead to the police station with Sollux behind him, you suppose that he wants to keep the angel where he can see him. It’s quite interesting actually that Sollux’s vision isn’t blue and red tinted despite his eyes looking like they do. As he approaches the police station door the frame of view grows wider. There’s a higher point of view and a colourful overlay suddenly appears over what you saw before. He’s opened his second set of eyes.

Eridan’s body is surrounded by a yellowish glow and the people down the street each have a variety of colours around them. As Sollux looks at the police building the star symbol on the insignia glows a little and there’s also a glowing white line around the edges of the property. You must be seeing the inherent magic instilled in the symbols as well as the demarcation of the boundaries of places.

“Rose, could we talk?” Kanaya asks, her fingers grazing your elbow.

“I need to pay attention to this, we can talk later. Karkat is more important.” you say firmly.

“This DEMON has been FOLLOWING and THREATENING ME!” Eridan shouts loudly, pointing at Sollux. They’re inside the police building now and the officer behind the desk is startled at the sudden shouting, you can see that Sollux is thrown too. Then you almost feel the wave of ‘eh, fuck it’ go through him and you hear him cuss Eridan out and fling himself at the angel with his claws out.

There is a somewhat dizzying first person view of the ensuing scuffle that leads to both of them being arrested and thrown in separate cells. The whole way through Sollux is looking around, keeping an eye out for any sign of Cronus, but you assume he sees nothing. They throw Sollux and Eridan in individual cells, but as Sollux peers through the small slit in the door you can see that Eridan’s cell is across the way, you can just see him along with his faint glow of yellow.

“I suppose they couldn’t put them in the same one.” Kanaya concedes.

“That’s less ‘no fighting, it’s a crime’ and more ‘cage fights only’, which is not really how that’s supposed to go.” Jade agrees.

Sollux leans against the door and his view shifts so he’s looking at his own chest. He presses his hand to and then through it, a sight that fixates you. What does that even feel like?

“Rose, look.” Dave whispers, nudging you.

Turning around you look where your brother is pointing and you can see a translucent red and blue hand floating through the air, it’s about as big as you are. You watch as it flicks a finger to a pile and a notebook flies out of it. The giant hand catches it and holds the notebook to its palm with its pinky and ring finger. The hand pauses then diverts to you so it can ruffle Dave’s hair with one fingertip and then it’s gone. In Sollux’s vision you watch him take his hand back out again with the same notebook in hand. There’s a pen hooked in the spiral binding on the top of the notebook and he starts to write in demonic.

“That would be so convenient.” Dave says and tries to neaten his hair.

“OH!” that’s Terezi off in the distance.

“Keep an eye on Sollux, I’m going to see what she’s doing.” you say to Dave who nods in agreement.

You wind your way through the stacks of things that Sollux has chosen to hold onto. It goes a lot deeper than you’d realised at first but you do manage to find Terezi at last. She’s standing on the plinth of a damaged statue.

The statue is far taller than Terezi is so the scale of the man depicted is larger. The man on the plinth stands with one hand raised above his head and a strange shaped hammer held aloft. What’s weirder is the hammer appears to be metal and has a long point on the top that seems oddly tarnished. The man’s face has been damaged and is nothing more than rough stone but you can make out the long hood flowing behind him and the unusual wavy symbol on his chest. The plinth itself is damaged so the name isn’t legible at all.

“It’s a lightning rod.” Terezi says as she touches the metal hammer.

“Why does Sollux have this?” you wonder.

“He holds things for other people, doesn’t he?” Terezi grins down at you.

“That doesn’t really answer my question, but okay.” you sigh.

The statue isn’t the only thing in this section of Sollux’s not so empty void. There are other smaller statues, some that look like they’re for receiving offerings, all with what appears to be the same male figure on. You find a wooden box of books, some burnt and some just vandalised with the majority of the words scratched out.

“This is all the same figure.” you say thoughtfully. Is this a mythological figure of legend or an actual deity represented here? There are so many minor gods out there as well as demi-gods that it’d be hard to know which this refers to. But why would Sollux have this stuff? He’s made it very clear that he doesn’t like his own deity but you can’t see him taking it upon himself to worship another god, you also can’t see a motive for him hoarding and defacing the representations of some minor god or demi-god.

There’s a tapestry on the floor that appears to be cut in half, or you assume in half, you don’t know how big the original piece would have been. As much as you hate to admit it, you need help with this.

You quickly walk back to where you left the others, Sollux doesn’t appear to be doing much, just looking around his isolated room.

“Kanaya, can you look at something for me?” you ask and beckon her over.

“I remember you saying before that you specialised in fabric, I want you to have a look at this.” you tell her as you take her to the area with the statues and other paraphernalia of whoever this is.

When you reach the spot again Terezi is sitting on the floor sniffing at some carved figurines of the same person.

“This looks very old.” Kanaya notes as she looks up at the statue.

“There’s this too.” you say and crouch down by the cut up tapestry.

Kanaya leans over the tapestry and looks down at it, she pulls on gloves from her bag and gingerly touches the edges.

“What do you think?” you ask.

“It’s very old, the fabric style and the dyes involved as well as the style of depiction puts this… in about the ninth century or so. The figure depicted seems more nordic, clearly a deity, but the style of weaving is more in keeping with the Byzantine empire instead. Not that would be especially unusual, there is evidence that those cultures interacted.” Kanaya explains, her tone academic.

“The _ninth_ century?! What’s Sollux doing with this?” you gasp in shock.

“I have no idea. It’s hard to know for sure but I would say this is half of the tapestry. It looks like what’s being depicted is a religious gathering, a party and a ceremony in one. The key figure is in the middle here, the man in blue. He has a hammer with him but it’s notably different to the hammer you see Thor with, rather it’s more like that one.” she goes on and gestures to the statue with the lightning rod on it.

“It’s a half circle so it stands to reason that the other half of the tapestry contains the rest of the circle. Outside of the circle you can see depictions of storms, rain, lightning, clouds, yet those inside are fine.” she continues.

“Terezi said that statue had a lightning rod on it.” you tell her.

“So most likely this is a weather associated deity. Yet clearly not only that because this circle of revelry is almost analogous to something Bacchanalian or even the likes of Pan. There’s drinking, I would think that these two figures down here would be fighting with this third one if they didn’t all appear to be laughing. The god in the middle is also holding a grinning mask so there’s some other element here. I want to know who the other figure is.” Kanaya says.

“Other figure?” you ask.

Kanaya gestures to the torn part of the tapestry, you can see hints of clothing and the end of a hand still on this side. There was someone else there.

“Do you know who it is?” you ask, you look around but you can’t see any writing anywhere.

“I don’t, but I can try to find out.” she answers and takes several very careful pictures of the tapestry and continues on to the other artifacts in the area.

“Am I correct in thinking that some of these things seem newer than others?” you ask as you look around.

“Definitely.” Kanaya agrees, peering at a smaller statue.

“Terezi, do you know who this is supposed to be?” you ask her, looking around just as she seems about to lick one of the statues. She pauses and looks around at you.

“Oh, for sure I do.” she says brightly.

“...Are you going to tell me?” you ask, already suspecting the answer.

“Nope!” Terezi chirps.

Of course.

“ROSE!” Dave shouts distantly.

You look at the others for just a moment and then break into a sprint back to Dave with Terezi and Kanaya hot on your heels. On the floating field of Sollux’s vision you can see him peering through the slot in the door, through the other side you can see Eridan looking down the corridor.

Dave is practically vibrating with tension and has his accursed skateboard in his hands.

“Why are you-” you start, pointing at the board.

“If we’ve gotta get out of here and after that guy I want to be able to do it _fast_.” Dave insists.

A man walks into Sollux’s field of vision, surrounded by a glow of the same kind of yellow as Eridan. His features are notably similar to Eridan’s own and you know instantly that this is the man that you’re looking for.

“What are you DOING getting caught with-” he snarls at Eridan.

Sollux lurches forward everything vanishing for a split second and then appearing again in the hallway in a haze of red and blue. The same hand from before surges up through the ground below you and pulls you down. The process of reappearing is disorienting and the alarmed screech does nothing to make things less jarring.

You’re on the floor on your butt with your legs tangled around Terezi’s tail.

“Oh fuck.” Dave squeaks.

Looking up you see Dave stumbling back from the tall man that looks like Eridan, you assume him to be Cronus, except he has Dave’s evil skateboard jammed into his chest. You’re not sure if he’s in pain or horrified, possibly both.

“No, that’ll work! Grab him!” Sollux shouts.

Dave and Kanaya lunge for the angel, tackling him to the floor by the shoulders as Sollux pulls on the skateboard like a crowbar. He’s bracing his feet on Cronus’ side and pulling as hard as he can.

“Rose, this is gonna kill him, grab Karkat first! Stick your hand in there!” Sollux gasps. Cronus thrashes and Jade and Terezi rush over to pin his legs down.

You scramble over Terezi, banging your knee on one of her horns. There’s a bright white light coming from Cronus’ chest so you try to do what you’ve seen Sollux do and you plunge your hand inside. Your arm sinks in up to your elbow.

“Just call to Karkat, like in a bag of holding!” Sollux says through gritted teeth.

You picture Karkat, envisioning reaching out and taking his hand… but nothing comes.

“I’m not getting anything!” you say desperately.

“Maybe try for anything?” Kanaya suggests. She has one hand over Cronus’ mouth, stopping him from chanting anything in his own magical language.

You shove your arm in further, up to the elbow this time. Come on, anything, ANYTHING in there.

Something hits your palm and you jerk your arm out instinctively, wrapping your hand tight around it but when you pull your hand out it’s some small black thing, not Karkat. You put whatever it is in your other hand and force your arm back in his chest again. You want Karkat, even if he’s in there and has forgotten who he is, you will take anything.

There’s nothing, your arm is in empty space.

Desperately you dive in up to your waist, now you can see. And what you can see is absolutely nothing, there’s nothing here. There’s no Karkat.

A hand grips the back of your shirt and you’re hauled out with speed. When your head is back outside again you can see Cronus shaking and falling apart in light and feathers. Your hand doesn’t quite make it out in time and the very tip of your middle finger gets clipped by the closing void, enough that the end of your fingernail is completely straight and the top layers of skin at the tip of your finger have been shaved off. That was… way too close.

Cronus disintegrates into nothing but a slip of paper that Sollux burns with a slap of his hand on the ground.

Everyone looks at you in silent horror, you went in for Karkat knowing that if Cronus died with him in there then he’d be dead too and you don’t have Karkat.

“He wasn’t there- there wasn’t ANYTHING in there.” you whisper in horror.

“Maybe he’s in a cell!” Dave gasps and pulls the feather out of his bag. He holds it out palm flat so it balances there, and that’s where it stays, perfectly still.

“You took something out, what was that? Maybe it’s a clue?” Jade asks hopefully.

You open your other hand and look at the first and only thing you took from Cronus’ void in his chest. It’s a sweet. A single, small, black, liquorice scotty dog.


	24. Man On The Moon

You stare in terror at the space that the angel before you once was.

“He’s not dead is he?” Dave whispers.

“He’s super fucking dead.” Sollux says, lifting his hand off of the burnt paper on the ground.

“Is KARKAT dead?!” Dave demands.

“No. He’s… alive.” Sollux confirms with a look at his arm.

There’s a bang from the other side of the cell door that Eridan was in. Sollux startles and turns around to look at it, with a snap of his fingers it swings inwards. Eridan is clinging to the doorframe in obvious pain, his hand clutched to his chest.

“Wait, you never said you had a dead man’s code.” he says in alarm.

“Didn’t. Know.” Eridan grits out through clenched teeth. You can see that he’s starting to dissolve into light.

“I shouldn’t have taken the heart. I- Makara has it. I gave it- tell Karkat I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” Eridan chokes out. He stumbles forwards and Sollux catches him out of sheer reflex. He’s up on his knees reaching up to steady Eridan who is slumping half into Sollux’s hands and half against the doorframe.

“That asshole, taking me down with him. Fuck. Just tell Karkat I’m sorry.” Eridan says again.

“I…” Sollux says. Eridan’s body is coming apart before your eyes.

“He probably- probably wouldn’t forgive me. Don’t deserve it.” Eridan wheezes.

“It’s Karkat. It’s what he does.” Sollux tells him.

Eridan laughs, just once, and then dissipates into fading light. There’s nothing left but a scarf on the floor and a slip of paper drifting to the ground. Sollux catches it out of the air and after a moment of hesitation just pockets it.

“Where is Karkat, then?” Kanaya asks, breaking the stunned silence.

“I don’t know, he was supposed to be there. You really didn’t see him?” Sollux asks, looking at you.

“No, there was nothing in there at all. The only thing I pulled out was this. What does this mean?” you tell him and hold out the liquorice dog.

Sollux stares at the dog in utter horror.

“Sollux!” Jade barks at him.

“Uh. That… well, Slick likes those but there’s someone else who’d leave something like that behind and I don’t think Spades Slick could take Karkat from inside Cronus. The other guy probably could though.” Sollux says shakily.

“Can’t you go and ask him if he has Karkat?” Kanaya points out.

Sollux nods and scrambles to get to his feet, in a puff of smoke he disappears.

“Okay, okay, so Karkat’s alive just not here. We’re now stuck in a police station having just loudly killed the guy running the place and also two of the people just arrested are gone. We have a lot of problems here.” Dave says in a hushed voice.

“I’m actually struggling to see any part of that which isn’t a problem.” Kanaya agrees.

“Well, at least it couldn’t get worse!” Jade laughs uneasily.

Distantly you can hear shouting and doors banging and the faint sound of sirens outside. All of you look accusingly at Jade for jinxing you all.

Sollux reappears in a puff of bicoloured smoke.

“It’s not him, it’s the other guy.” Sollux announces.

“So what does that mean?” Dave presses him.

“It… means that we’re fucked. I can’t go there anymore.” Sollux answers.

“Anymore? What happened?” Terezi asks suspiciously, a suspicion that you feel is warranted.

“I… may have gone there before. To that plane, to see the guy who lives there. I might have lost my temper at something he did and the fact that he wouldn’t answer my questions and I may have destroyed a few things and tried to beat him up with a chair before he exiled me forever.” Sollux says uneasily.

“That’s a lot to take in but how about we get out of here? We can’t stay in this police station!” you point out. Someone is going to come along eventually!

A door opening at the end of the hall makes you all freeze and Sollux groans when two men in crisp black suits come down the hallway.

“You people.” Sollux grumbles.

“You kids need to get up, this building is being evacuated.” one man says and reaches a hand down to Kanaya to pull her to her feet. She doesn’t take it and stands up on her own.

“Evacuated for what?” Jade asks.

“There’s been a gas leak.” the man answers.

“Yeah, you reaaaaally look like you’re from the gas company.” Sollux scoffs.

The man who has thus far been silent presses his finger to his ear and looks away a little.

“Alleman here. Yes… yes ma’am. Right away. Over.” the man says with a nod.

“Dupont, Ms. Roe says the east side is cleared, staff out in the main office. It’s just us and the west block left.” the second man says to the first who simply nods in acknowledgement.

“Please, come this way.” the first man says as he ushers you out of the building.

You don’t really want to go, you also don’t believe there’s a gas leak in this building for even a second, but you also don’t want to stay here. If they’ll escort you out then you’ll go with it. Besides which, Sollux doesn’t seem alarmed by them so you’re probably fine.

As the first man guides you past with a patronising hand on your back you happen to glance at his chest. On the lapel of his suit is a pin, ever so small and subtle, like some people have for flags. Only this is blue and wavy, exactly like the ones you saw on that statue and the other items in Sollux’s void. Looking up at the man’s face you spy the slightest smear of something white in the hint of stubble at his jawline, like makeup or something.

Once outside the two men take you away to a safe distance. There are confused looking police officers sitting on the backs of ambulances, it must be the effects of whatever mind control Cronus had on them suddenly vanishing. There’s more than a few of the black suited people around, almost all men. All of them turn to watch the building and a moment or two after it explodes in a fireball that leaves you crouched on the ground with your hands over your head. Absurdly one of the men in suits whoops in delight at the explosion, only to be elbowed into silence by the one next to him.

“We should- we should get somewhere safe. I’m kind of aware that we just killed two angels right out in the open and if any other angels were paying attention we really don’t want to stay here. We should go back home.” Sollux suggests.

“Mom’s place?” you ask, rubbing your ears until they pop. They’re still ringing slightly.

“I… am not sure she’d let me go there. Hold on I need to find Bec.” Jade says, she turns around and sticks two fingers in her mouth and whistles. In a flash of green Bec bounds up to her, his tail wagging.

“You’re probably right but Joey and Jude’s place is just as safe for you. I’ll take you back there. Terezi already got into the Lalonde house somehow and…” Sollux looks at Kanaya, the only one left.

“I’ll call mom and talk to her.” you say. You’re not happy with Kanaya reacting to Karkat’s species like she did, but she did just risk her life to try to get him back. That counts for something so you’re not going to leave her exposed to potentially vengeful angels if you can help it.

“Wait, could you not just modify the code in the Half-Harley manor to let Kanaya in?” Jade suggest.

“That would actually be easier than convincing Roxy to let someone else in the house in her current state.” Sollux agrees.

“So me and Kanaya go back there, the rest of you to the Lalonde place and then we talk about what to do next and where Karkat is?” Jade asks.

“Yeah, do that. I’ll take you two first, hold on.” Sollux agrees. He puts his hands on Jade and Kanaya, whistles at Bec, and then vanishes. With a bark and a flash of green the hellhound follows after.

“If Karkat isn’t with Spades Slick we need to know where he is now and how we get there. Just because Sollux is banned doesn’t mean that it’s impossible.” you say.

When you turn to look around at Terezi and Dave they have very different expressions on. Terezi looks thoughtful, mentally switched on and like she’s trying to plan what to do next. Dave looks as if he’s trying very hard not to throw up on his shoes.

“What’s wrong?” you ask him.

“MY BOYFRIEND’S BEEN KIDNAPPED AGAIN AND I JUST MURDERED A MAN WITH A SKATEBOARD, WHAT DO YOU THINK!?” Dave yells in response.

You clamp your hand over his mouth as fast as you can.

“Just a little louder around all of the nearby police officers, why don’t you?” you hiss at him.

“A guy just died, Rose. Two, actually. Why aren’t _you_ freaking out about this?” he retorts, at least quieter this time.

“They were angels and pretty shitty people.” you say, reasonably.

“Karkat’s an angel too! He’s still people!” he insists.

“Of course he is. We care about him, that’s why we’re trying to find him. Besides, you didn’t mean to skateboard a man to death.” you say, Dave looks a little ill at your words and cringes backwards.

“I think it was a pretty great way to kill an angel, launch an unholy thing at him at speed and it was a skateboard no less! Hilarious!” Terezi cackles.

You watch Dave’s expression become carefully blank. It happens sometimes around your mom when he doesn’t want her to see that she’s said something upsetting, or whenever he really wants to hide things about himself. It doesn’t work fantastically well because you know it means there’s something there worth hiding.

“It’s the VP!” one of the suited men gasps, running close enough to your group for you to hear. He’s sprinting to the woman in the suit nearby.

“Ma’am, it’s the VP for you.” he says breathlessly and hands the phone over. The woman in the suit sharpens immediately and nervously lifts the phone up to her ear, you edge closer.

“Hello sir, this is Roe here. Yes sir, a gas leak like we said. No, it’s all burnt up now. Are they? Oh good. Yes, yes, they absolutely made it out sir. The demon has taken two and the dog thing the rest are still- no of course not. Really? She did? That’s… it’s an honour sir. Yes, of course I will. Thank you, goodbye sir.” the woman says.

She hangs up the phone wide eyed and doesn’t entirely manage to suppress a delighted squeak. You quickly turn your back to her and watch her in the reflection of a nearby shop window, just in time too because she glances over at you.

“He personally spoke to you, and me.” the man in black who handed her the phone says in awe.

“This is big, this is so big. I can’t wait for the next meeting! Oh, make sure you wave the fire people here when they arrive, the other team is with them, just to be sure everything’s gone.” the woman says in glee.

You hear the familiar displacement of air that signals Sollux’s arrival, not that it matters much as the woman in charge is already starting to walk off to some other people in her weird organisation.

“Rose, come on, let’s go.” Sollux calls to you.

You turn and head over to him. You hold tight to his shoulder and in a flash you’re back in his room in your house. Sollux moves to turn his computer on and pushes the desk chair at Dave who sits down.

“I said I’d video call Jade so we can talk.” he explains as he floats cross legged in the air before his computer.

You wait as he opens up the desktop version of trollian and opens a video call with Jade, when the call connects you get a slightly grainy view of a bedroom with Jade and Kanaya sat side by side.

“Hello?” Jade says and waves.

“Hi Jade, we can see and hear you.” Sollux confirms.

“Same. So, what’s the plan now then? If Slick doesn’t have Karkat then who does?” Kanaya says.

“Whoa, wait, shouldn’t we get June in on this? She’s Karkat’s friend too and I feel bad leaving her out of the loop like this.” Jade points out.

You open your mouth to say that it’d be impossible to bring June into this, there’s too many things that you can’t talk about. Something tingles in the back of your mind and you pull your phone out and check your last conversation with her. She mentioned Karkat being an angel but you never told her that. Terezi and your mom both worked it out themselves, same with Kanaya but the rest of you only know because you saw him. Which means that none of you could have just told June and you can’t see any basis where June could have asked the right questions out of nowhere to guess it. It’s not like Kanaya who seemingly has experience with angels, or your mom who knows about this stuff or Terezi who knows all sorts of dragon-y mysterious shit. June’s just a girl you’ve been friends with for years, who’s only been studying magic at school as long as you have. No way she guessed.

An idea percolates in your mind and a plan drips down into words.

“Sollux, I can’t believe you told June what Karkat was and you didn’t tell Karkat himself.” you accuse him.

“What? I didn’t- you know I can’t and I would have told Karkat if I could have!” Sollux protests.

“Well she already knew and I didn’t tell her, did anyone else?” you ask. Everyone shakes their heads.

“June mentioned it in the car but I assumed… I don’t know. I didn’t think about it.” Dave says slowly.

“Karkat must have said something to June and she must have guessed. It wouldn’t be too hard, especially if he mentioned falling out of Jade’s house but still obviously being fine and- and me and him being opposites or whatever. She probably just got lucky or something.” Sollux insists uneasily.

“Sure, that’s probably it. We should add June, you’re right Jade. I feel bad leaving her out.” you agree.

Sollux leans forward, resting his elbows on his desk and moves the mouse and does everything to invite June to the call. It rings a couple of times before she picks up and before Sollux can say anything you ask your question.

“June! We’re calling about Karkat and how he’s gone missing. An angel took him but then he wasn’t there, I’ve just realised that I don’t remember telling you that’s what he was before but you already knew. How did you find out?” you ask quickly.

“I- oh, Sollux told me.” June says, clearly taken aback.

“Really? Because he said he didn’t and couldn’t have.” you say. You can see muted panic on June’s face, even though she’s trying to force it down.

“Oh, sorry, I mean Sollux told me a lot of the stuff about Karkat going missing and all that. Karkat was the one who said first about being an angel. Or, he said a bunch of weird stuff and I made a lucky guess I suppose.” June amends.

Bullshit.

“How-” you start.

“I don’t CARE! I don’t care how she knows! I want to find him! Can we get back on topic already?” Dave demands.

You’ve lost the momentum for your questions but you’re now more certain than ever that something sinister is going on here. You doubt that Dave will allow you to keep pressing the issue and regardless you are also desperate to find Karkat.

“You said he wasn’t with Spades Slick, why did you think that he would be and what makes you so sure now that he is not? Let’s start there.” Kanaya suggests.

“To get into a void like that you either need to manually do it like we did or be able to open a specific kind of portal. I’m not sure if one of Slick’s doors would qualify but since you could die in there I’d say… maybe? The liquorice dog is a thing he likes but he swears blind it wasn’t him. I also know that Karkat isn’t dead and he pointed out that if he’d brought Karkat into Aradia’s realm again she’d obliterate him. So, not him. He has no motive for taking him either.” Sollux explains.

“And the other person?” Dave prompts him.

“I… can’t talk about it, but I can’t go there and I can’t get him because… the other guy that I can’t go near is there.” Sollux says, clumsily stepping around the spell that holds his tongue on such matters.

“...Right.” June says slowly.

“Can we go there?” you ask.

“It’s a pretty hostile environment for humans and if you survive there it’s only because he allows you to. Not that you could get there, it’s too far away.” Sollux says.

“Can we not teleport? Even if we went without you?” you try again but he still shakes his head.

“What about helping him escape from here?” Dave asks.

“Well…” Sollux hesitates and leans back in the air a little as he thinks.

“If he was allowed to leave it’s no problem he’d just get back here the same way he got out of Cronus, courtesy of that guy I can’t talk about. If he escaped which is…” Sollux hesitates.

“Is this place a whole realm or just one person’s home?” Jade asks sensibly.

“Both.” Sollux answers.

“What kind of security is there?” Kanaya asks.

“There’s fourteen guys there for security. I don’t really know about all of them. I only tossed a few out of the way to get to the guy who owns the place. He also has an… assistant/prisoner. If Karkat was able to get out of that realm then he’s absolutely capable of making it back here.” he tells you all.

“An assistant/prisoner?” Kanaya asks in shock.

“I wasn’t really sure which and I was too busy trying to hit the guy with a chair to make him tell me why he’d-” Sollux’s voice catches and you hear his teeth click together, too close.

“Maybe we can look at trying to summon him back somehow, you could ask your mom for help Dave. Other than that I don’t see much else we can do.” June says.

“There’s seriously nothing else we can do?” Dave asks, looking to Sollux and almost begging him for another answer.

“I don’t know. I don’t. I’m going to ask other people, other demons. I’ll ask Slick, any favours I can call in I will but I don’t know. This isn’t my area of expertise Dave. I’m trying.” Sollux’s voice is tight at the end and it’s plain that he’s just as upset about the words he’s having to say as Dave is to hear them. You all hurt to hear it.

“So what do we do?” Jade asks quietly.

“Stay where you are for now, keep an eye out for anything weird. If anyone besides those weird guys in suits loiters outside the Half-Harley Manor let me know immediately. June should be fine because she was at home the whole time and not involved and we stay here except for me going to ask people about how to get Karkat back. If it looks like no one in heaven noticed the Amporas die or that they’re going to debate it for a hundred years before doing anything then we can leave, until then stay put.” Sollux advises.

“I’ll go tell Roxy what happened.” Terezi says and leaves, simple as that. You swear she walks around as if she owns the place.

“Oh, crap, Dad needs me. Uh- keep me posted, okay?” June says and then hangs up.

“I guess… I guess we’ll go too, then.” Jade says.

You’re all lost and you feel like you’ve lost a battle, not to mention the whole damned war. You leave the room, stumble into your own and fall onto the bed. What if you can’t get to wherever he is? What if he can’t escape and he’s stuck there?

Helplessness rises up around you, like your house is flooding and you’re going to drown in it. But no, you refuse to sit here and do nothing. You’re going to try to do SOMETHING.

You march over to your desk and pull the drawer open, you unpacked a little when you came home and you’d shoved your thus far useless tarot cards out of the way but now you’re going to try to use them. Even if there’s a one in a billion chance that they do anything that’s better than your chances with you simply sitting on your bed feeling sorry for yourself.

Kneeling on the floor you shuffle the deck with angry determination. You’re going to try this like so: what led to the current situation you have in mind, what the current situation is for Karkat, then how it resolves. Not the most typical spread but you’re going for it.

You deal face down, one card, two cards, three cards. The deck goes off to the side. You touch your fingers to the first card, your nail going under the corner ready to flip it. Anything but a blank card. You pray silently to yourself, to Cthulhu if you have to, you need to see the answers here.

You turn the card.

The fool, reversed. You’re not as familiar with tarot as you could be but somehow you know that means being taken advantage of, there are other interpretations of course but it’s as if you KNOW the right one. As your fingers rest on the card your sight drifts.

_Squirming in the dark, the barrier isn’t so strong now. There is gore from behind you, another has fallen but you have other drives. Tentacles squirm under the barrier of the door, as thin as can be, and suddenly-_

_A door opens in the distance._

_“What? Who are… who’re you?”_

_“I think you’d better come inside, don’t you? Unless you’d rather stay there and risk things with your current host, I am a far better one. I assure you.”_

_“...You know what? Fuck it.”_

You gasp as you snap back into yourself. That was a vision, a vision of Karkat or at least an audio vision of him. Desperately you flip the next card but it’s blank and so is the one after it.

Scrambling to your feet you rush out of your room and across the hall to Dave’s. Your mom is in there with him, her hand on his shoulder as she speaks to him.

“They can’t get in here, they won’t find you.” she assures him.

“That’s not what I’m worried about. Rose?” Dave looks around her at you.

“Where’s Sollux? I had a vision about Karkat, he was talking to someone.” you say breathlessly.

“He’s at the edge.” your mother says, pointing to the window.

You jump up onto Dave’s chest of drawers and peer out through the open window. It’s started to rain outside as it so often does around your home. At the edge of your property line you can see people gathered but it’s hard to tell who through the drizzle.

“Give me your skateboard.” you tell Dave, holding your hand out.

“That thing is evil.” your mother says disdainfully.

“Yeah I’m not happy having it either right now. Here.” Dave mumbles and hands it to you.

You haul yourself up onto the skylight window ledge and then jump off with the board in hand. You get your feet onto it with your mind focused on where you want to go and-

The journey there and the horrible things that happen to your physical form, albeit temporary, are ones you’d rather not think of. Suffice to say you jump, you travel, and then you arrive at the edge of the barrier by Sollux. On the other side is a magical circle that’s projecting the image of several demons, it’s not even the demons themselves. You suppose that the barrier might not allow that right now, so a demonic conference call is going to be the next best thing.

“Rose, what’s wrong?” Sollux asks, surprised by your arrival.

You pick yourself up off of the ground and dust yourself off as best as you can, you don’t do a great job, if you’re honest. What with the rain it’s more mud than it is dust, but still.

“I had a vision about Karkat. I think it was the moment he was taken.” you say a little breathlessly.

The demons projected into the circle perk up. Latula, Redglare and Mituna.

“What did you see?” Sollux asks eagerly.

“It wasn’t seeing as such, more hearing. I think it was Cthulhu passing his senses onto me directly, wherever he is unfortunately seems to be going cannibalistic.” you say with a wince.

“That’s not surprising.” Redglare shrugs.

“Worrying, though.” Latula says.

“What did you hear?” Sollux asks again.

“There was a door opening and Karkat asked who it was. The man, I’m pretty sure it was a man, responded that Karkat should really come through the door to him instead of stay with his current host. I assume he meant Cronus, and then he said he was a far better host. Karkat said, and I quote ‘fuck it’ and I think he went through.” you explain and Sollux visibly wilts at your words.

“So, we know where he is. Do you really expect us to put out this half baked order to try to boost this doomed rescue plan?” Redglare asks with a sigh.

“Yes, I do. Latula, Mituna could you… give us a moment? Pass the news on, please?” Sollux asks hopefully.

Latula nods and vanishes but Mituna hesitates.

“He’s going to be better at getting out of places than you think. He got down to see you all the time. It’s not like this is your one shot to shoot.” Mituna reminds him and goes as well.

That leaves Redglare. She folds her arms and looks at Sollux sternly.

“Sollux, we’ve lost at least two shards, perhaps a vessel too if your theory about that box is correct. You can’t keep denying the reality of this situation, you need a plan. Everyone is aware of how little you’re doing to prepare, it undermines your position, regardless of the authority you serve it undermines your own.” she warns him.

“My hands are tied, Redglare, I’m doing all I’m allowed to. I have a mission for you though, if that’ll persuade you that I’m not just fucking around here. It needs to be secret too.” Sollux tells her.

“I’m listening.” Redglare says, perking up.

“Eridan mentioned giving the heart to ‘Makara’, which is pretty concerning since I killed Kurloz. Can you see if any more of them were made or if the name repeats with anyone else? He didn’t- I mean, Mituna would have known if his moirail had made anyone, right?” Sollux says uneasily.

“Mituna was exiled, he only saw his moirail when his moirail visited him. Kurloz could do whatever he wanted without Mituna around. That said, I don’t personally know of him making anyone or anyone else with his name. I’ll look into it, if we’ve got someone working against you then we need to know. I’ll let you know if I find anything.” Redglare nods and disappears.

“What was she talking about a box? The one in the temple?” you ask.

“Yeah, but that’s nothing to do with Karkat and honestly I’m working on trying to get him back first. Tell me if you have any other visions and if you’re able to talk to him then tell him to try to escape out of there and fly back here.” Sollux says and then teleports away.

You’re alone on the lawn now with the rain misting down on you. June is suspicious and, though you believe with absolute certainty that Sollux wants to get Karkat back and will do what he can to achieve that, you know that he’s in on whatever is going on. You’re going to find out the truth.

For the first time since you lost your visions it feels like you’re seeing clearly and you’re not going to lose the chance for that. You take your foot off of the skateboard and catch it as it floats up then walk back into the house. As soon as you’re indoors you let the board go, it’ll float up to the ceiling and then if Dave wants it he can have Sollux fetch it. Although, you think given that he just killed a man with the thing he probably won’t be keen on pulling any unreal skating tricks on it for a while. With that done you head to the library, you have thinking to do.

There’s a notepad in one of the desks and a pink pen in a drawer.

You pull them both out and sit at the desk, it’s time to get methodical with this. Assume nothing, go from what you know and work backwards questioning everything on the way. Then you’ll find the truth.

The first thing you write down is that June knew what species Karkat was without anyone telling her. You believe Sollux’s denial that he could tell her at all, if there had been an easy way to get around telling Karkat what he was with a dumb game of charades you think that he’d have done that with Karkat right away. It would certainly have saved him a good deal of heartache and your brother a lot of solidarity induced sexual frustration at not being able to date him.

So, if none of you told her then June knew some other way.

How else might June have known? Well, given that subtly alluding to Karkat’s species is off of the table, a fact confirmed by Sollux, then it can’t be that. How else, then, might she have known what Karkat was? Well, you have a few sources for that, so you may as well go ask them.

Your mother is, of course, in her lab again but this time she has company by way of Terezi. She’s sitting on a desk as your mother is trying to manually dismember a model of the solar system with little luck.

“What’re you doing?” you ask warily as your mother appears to try to pull a small model of the moon away from the little Earth in her solar system.

“Working on something.” she grunts.

“Try twisting.” Terezi advises and when your mom does so the moon pops off into her hand.

“Mom, can I ask how you worked out that Karkat was an angel?” you ask.

“Oh. Hm. It’s not that hard.” she says absently as she starts looking through a drawer.

“Can you elaborate?” you ask again.

“Demons and angels are very similar, I’m very familiar with demons. Besides I knew Sollux had got down with an angel before, he told me once, then Karkat shows up and he’s surviving things he shouldn’t do. It was an educated guess.” your mom says easily.

“Before you ask me, I’m a seer. I saw.” Terezi chips in.

“So you only worked it out because of the vast amount of supernatural knowledge you'd had before and knowing that Sollux had been romantically involved with an angel before that. And then it was still just a guess?” you clarify.

Your mother makes an affirmative noise and then stands up again, thunking a clear unlabelled bottle of liquid on the desk that she’d seemingly recovered from the drawer.

“What’s that?” you ask, pointing at it.

“Moonshine!” Terezi says brightly.

“What? Mom, no, you’re not supposed to be-” you start.

“Calm downnnnn. It’s for magicking with, not for drinking. I made this stuff in the sub basement sink, it’ll taste terrible and probably make you go blind if you drink too much of it.” your mom says, not that you find that especially reassuring.

“What-” you start.

“Rose, I’m busy.” she sighs. It means ‘go away, daughter’, you know that one well enough.

You leave your mother be, not able to ignore the fact that Terezi was allowed to stay, and return upstairs to go to your room. The last person that you know who guessed Karkat’s species is Kanaya, you’re not sure how wise it is to talk to her but you have to.

The thing is that though you’re offended on Karkat’s behalf for how she reacted it’s a lot harder to keep the girl you’re more than a little interested in at arms length when you’re not in such an immediately tense situation. Obviously you’re still worried about Karkat but you’re not running around the city with a hellhound tracking his scent. You also get the feeling that Karkat wouldn’t demand that you cut her out either.

You pause in the hall when you hear voices and realise that the door to Dave’s room is ajar.

“-should have known something was wrong. That class out of nowhere with Karkat on his own. Stupid.” Sollux hisses.

“Hey, no, it’s not weird that we’d have different classes. You had no way to know.” Dave assures him.

“But I should have known about Equius. He creeped me out and I should have listened to that but no, I should have worked out what was wrong with him.” Sollux groans.

“Dude, he creeped me out too. Just being around him made my skin crawl.” Dave reasons.

“Yeah, but I know about-” Sollux falters.

“Yeah. You know stuff and I don’t, right?” Dave says tersely.

Ooooh, nope, you’re not sticking around to eavesdrop on that. You’re not surprised that Sollux’s outburst from Eridan’s apartment has come back to bite him but you are surprised that it happened at all. It’s not as if Dave and Sollux really fight much.

You slip into your room and gently close the door behind you. It would serve you well to stop thinking about other people’s relationship drama and think about your own. Bite the bullet and message Kanaya already. Your laptop on your desk calls you to this uncomfortable task.

tentacleTherapist [TT] began trolling  grimAuxillatrix [GA]  
  
TT: Hello, Kanaya. I had a question for you and I was hoping that we might be able to talk.   
GA: Oh Rose I Had Started To Think That I Might Not Be Able To Speak To You Again Any Time Soon  
GA: Since You Were So Adamant On Not Doing So Before  
TT: Yes, I did want to focus in the moment. It didn't feel like the time nor the place.  
TT: Truthfully I hadn't come to you this time to speak about what happened between you and Karkat, but rather to ask you a question. But then again my question is quite entwined with that matter so perhaps now is a good time for this.   
GA: What Was Your Question May I Ask  
TT: I wanted to know how you were able to know what species Karkat is without him telling you.   
GA: Is This Related To Your Other Friend Knowing   
TT: June, yes. Her story not matching Sollux's is concerning.   
TT: However, the simplest answer is that she just worked it out and then misremembered that fact. But it seems like the more I learn about this the less likely that is.   
GA: Thus Your Question To Me  
TT: Yes.   
GA: You Are Right In That This Is Very Related To What Happened With Karkat  
GA: Perhaps It Would Be Best To Just Discuss The Whole Matter  
TT: That seems sensible.   
GA: I Shall Just State Some Facts At The Start So We Are All Aware Of Them But I Would Prefer To Not Discuss These In Depth Unless There Is Good Cause  
TT: I can handle some axiomatic statements, go ahead.   
GA: Firstly I Am A Vampire  
TT: A fact you have made me aware of before, yes.  
GA: I Do Remember That

You press your hands to your face and groan as the power of that cringe inducing memory takes ahold of you once more. You can just remember opening your dumb mouth and blurting out such idiotic words in front of the most attractive girl you’ve ever seen. Once more you wish fervently that the Earth might open up and swallow you whole.

GA: I Have Been Around For A Number Of Years And Although I Do Not Feel That Way It Does Mean That I Am Familiar With An Awful Lot Of Things  
GA: Similarly My Mother Has Lived A Long Time But Unlike Me She Was An Adult For Some Time When She Became A Vampire Whereas I Was Only Just Nineteen  
TT: So even though you've been vampires for the same amount of time she still has more life experience than you.   
GA: Yes And Experience With Unusual Things That I Was Mostly Shielded From  
GA: She Has Prior Experience With Several Angels And All But One Of Those Was Deeply Negative For Her  
GA: I Would Like To Not Speak On That  
TT: I've come to understand that angels seem mostly undeserving of the good press that they have and Karkat is somewhat of an exception.   
GA: Quite  
GA: I Am A Little Less Experienced As I Have Only Known One Angel And It Was Positive  
GA: By Which I Mean To Say That For Her That One Positive Experience Was An Outlier  
GA: Given What You Know Of Angels If An Angel Came To You Tomorrow And Announced Themselves As Such Would You Trust Them Or Not  
TT: Likely not, I would suspect they were trying to get revenge or punish me.   
GA: There You Go  
GA: Also It Appeared That Karkat Was Pretending To Be Something He Was Not Which Suggested Deception And Thus Bad Intentions  
GA: Based On That My Mother Reacted  
TT: She was trying to protect you.  
GA: Yes  
GA: And I Had Karkat Leave So I Could Try To Clear Matters Up But When It Became Clear That He Likely Knew What My Mother Had Accused Him Of It Seemed That He Had Been Lying  
GA: He Made No Effort To Contact Me After Either And I Did Not Know If That Was Guilt Or What  
TT: I told Karkat to give you space, that pressing you would have seemed aggressive.   
TT: He felt terrible about it.   
GA: I Also Feel Terrible And I Don't Believe That He Had Poor Intentions  
TT: He only just found out himself, I think he was still coming to terms with it.   
GA: I Wish I Could Have Talked To Him About It  
You can feel you ability to hold onto this grudge fading, and now you’re just left feeling sad. GA: Hopefully He Will Return And I Can  
TT: Hopefully.  
TT: How exactly did your mother know about what Karkat was?  
GA: Ah That  
GA: Really I Should Have Worked It Out Too And I Have A Vague Memory Of It But I Was Just A Child At The Time  
TT: Of what?  
GA: The Vow That He Made To You Is An Angel Exclusive Thing In How It Presents  
GA: Other Species Make Deals Or Bonds But That Is Unique Apparently  
GA: The Angel I Knew Never Made One With Me So I Do Not Really Remember It  
TT: So Karkat outed himself as clearly as if he had grown wings in front of you.  
GA: Yes  
TT: But again, if you didn't have this knowledge beforehand you wouldn't have been able to guess, or your mother would not have been able to.   
GA: I Suppose So  
TT: I see.   
TT: Thank you for this Kanaya, I need to think about this. But though I'm not happy with what happened to Karkat I can see why things turned out the way they did.   
TT: Karkat certainly wasn't holding a grudge before.   
GA: That Is Good To Know Even If It Makes Me Feel Exceptionally Sad And Guilty To Hear  
TT: Sorry about that. I'll... talk to you again later, I suppose. If you want to.   
GA: That Would Be Lovely Especially On A Less Loaded Subject  
TT: Certainly. Well, until then. Goodbye.  
  
tentacleTherapist [TT] ceased trolling grimAuxillatrix [GA]

You close your laptop and cover your face with your hands.

“Well, until then goodbye?! Why? Why did you say that?” you whine to yourself. You’re not reading a radio play in the nineteen forties! Why whenever you talk to Kanaya do you forget how normal people interact? It’s not even like she’s here now to throw you off, this is just words on a screen and you’re still all brain melted from the mere concept of a pretty girl!

Obviously she’s more than just pretty, you watched her threaten an angel with an unholy chainsaw and that… well. God, with your hands on your face you can feel how hot your cheeks are getting.

You need to focus.

June knew what Karkat was, couldn’t possibly have been told what he was by anyone else. Additionally it seems that one can only guess species if there’s a good deal of background knowledge on the subject, essentially enough where any other conclusion would seem silly. You doubt you could have just read out a list of random species that Karkat was until you happened to say the right word, the spell likely works on knowledge.

June is not a foremost scholar and world expert in the supernatural, nor is she a seer or a semi immortal vampire with extensive prior experience with things that only angels can do. So how the hell did June know?

If you come at the problem from another angle you could ask why June wouldn’t have said that she knew. If June had some experience with angels that you don’t know of and had guessed she surely would have said something to Sollux who has been open that he knows just what Karkat is and can’t say. They could have talked about it, she would have said that she also knew but couldn’t say. She didn’t do that though. Nor was Sollux confused that June somehow knew and only panicked when he realised that he had to come up with a plausible lie when you backed him into it, a lie that June then proved false.

Why would Sollux cover for June? Why would June know and say nothing?

It’s suspicious, it’s really REALLY suspicious.

You start thinking back over every encounter but it’s hard to remember if June seemed genuinely shocked by each weird non-human thing that Karkat did. You didn’t think it was weird in the moment so you don’t think you’ve really retained the memory.

Wait. She knew Karkat’s name when she first met him and played it off like some sort of reverse deja vu. That was weird at the time but you think you just forgot about it. Why would you do that?

“Rosie! Sweetie!”

You jump as your mother suddenly appears in the doorway with a glass in one hand and a mess of strings and glass baubles in the other.

“I brought you a drink, drink this. I just need to hang this up here, don’t take it down.” your mother says quickly, pressing the drink into your hand.

“What… is this?” you ask slowly and sniff the drink. It smells like coke and it looks like coke but there’s something else there too.

“It’s coke, just uh- to say sorry for being a little abrupt with you earlier.” your mom smiles, it’s tight and unconvincing.

“There isn’t moonshine or anything in it, is there?” you ask suspiciously.

“I wouldn’t give you that, I don’t want you going blind, do I? Honestly.” she tuts and starts hanging the other thing up from your skylight. It’s like a glass mobile held in a specific arrangement with wire and silk thread. You’ve seen part of her spell for the wards in the attic before many years ago. There’s a lock of your hair in a glass bauble like that, it works as a physical anchor to exclude you from the spell’s defenses. That way no matter what you do and what changes she makes to it the wards on the house will never harm you.

“What’s that for?” you ask, pointing at the magical mobile.

“You mentioned that you were getting your visions back, I think this should boost your ability to see. Perhaps if things are a little more clear you can find that pesky angel, hm?” she smiles.

“You can do that?” you gasp.

“Hopefully.” she nods.

“Why are you only doing this NOW?” you shout, you’ve been struggling to get your vision back for years!

“Things have changed lately, this almost certainly wouldn’t have done anything at all before. But now… maybe don’t tell Sollux about it, okay?” she suggests.

You nod a little numbly as you look up at the glass.

“You’ll spill your drink, come on.” your mom reminds you and in a kind of numb shock you drain the glass.

It absolutely BURNS on the way down and the carbonation is so strong that it burns your nose too, you cough heavily once you’ve swallowed the coke or whatever that was but your mom just pats your back a little then walks off with the glass.

“Gods, that was-” you croak and cough again.

Note to self, maybe don’t drink weird shit your mother gives you unless you’ve seen what it is in advance. After you get up and get a drink of water for yourself you settle back down at your desk and click through to the news in Salem. As you expected the news is covering the explosion at the police station. It’s being played off as a gas leak but thankfully everyone got out beforehand and no one was hurt, the report does mention that the police had been suffering from the effects of the gas for a while and are being treated for the hallucinations and memory loss that have resulted.

That’s a clever way to cover up for what Cronus did to them. You wonder if the men in suits are some kind of men in black force for the angels. But… no, one of them had that symbol on his lapel which you can only assume is associated with another god. Heaven doesn’t seem like the sort of place where they’re happy to outsource things to entities that serve other gods.

Who were those strange people in suits and who was the god depicted in those statues and that tapestry? Your leg bounces for a moment or two as you think and then, on impulse, you open up a message to Kanaya again.

tentacleTherapist [TT] began trolling  grimAuxillatrix [GA]  
  
TT: Hello Kanaya, sorry to message you back so soon I just wondered if you’d had any thoughts about that tapestry and the statues.  
TT: One of the symbols on the statue appeared on a lapel pin on one of the men who escorted us out of the police station.   
GA: Really  
GA: Let Me Check My Pictures  
GA: Would It Be This Symbol As It Appears To Repeat A Lot  
GA: [grimAuxillatrix [GA] attached file ‘1232.png’]  
TT: Yes! That one. Do you recognise it at all?  
GA: I Cannot Say That I Do But I Think It May Be Worth Looking Into  
TT: Can I help at all? If we’re looking for a minor deity or demi-god it could be hard.   
GA: I Imagine That It Would Be Yes  
GA: But I Think We Can Narrow This Down  
GA: There Are Plenty Of Books And Online Articles Regarding Gods And It Seems Like This One Is Connected To Storms  
TT: What about that mask?  
GA: Without More Context That Is Hard To Say As It Could Be That The Figure Participated In Or Was A Patron To Theatre Performers Or Perhaps A More Symbolic Way Of Showing A Shapeshifting Ability Or A Deceptive Nature  
GA: You Really Need More Context To Be Sure  
TT: Could you send me all of the pictures that you took and maybe we can figure something out together.   
GA: That Sounds Like An Excellent Idea  
[grimAuxillatrix [GA] attached file ‘1230.png’]  
[grimAuxillatrix [GA] attached file ‘1228.png’]  
TT: Rather than retreading each other’s work I’ll start a Google Document and we can compile research, that way we’re not reading the same thing over and over.   
GA: That Sounds Like A Plan And As It Is My Forte I Will Have A Look Into The Tapestry   
TT: Excellent, I’ll send you the invitation in a moment.   
GA: Wonderful I Must Admit That I Feel Better To Be Doing Something Even If It Is Not Something Directly To Help Karkat  
TT: It might prove helpful, we don’t know. It’s got to be better than sitting around doing nothing though.  
GA: Agreed  
TT: Well, I’ll get to it then.   
GA: Same  
  
tentacleTherapist [TT] ceased trolling  grimAuxillatrix [GA]

You start looking up weather gods online. It’s… a lot. When you were younger your mom told you a theory about gods. Of course everyone knows about the current leading theory that all creation myths are true and those worlds created all dovetail into existence as it presently is. However, your mother told you of another theory, a nonlinear theory of creation. That the world exists and humanity believes, that belief shapes gods, gives life to some and allows others to wither. A supernatural and holy survival of the fittest, those who make it become strong enough to have their own start or be part of a pantheon retroactively. Of course, there’s no way to prove such a theory, even if you could have ever spoken to a god about that kind of thing there’s no certainty they’d ever tell you. It’s an interesting idea though, that a niche exists and belief fills it, allowing a god to come to prominence.

Weather is one of those natural phenomena that everyone experiences. It is changeable, powerful, mysterious and deeply connected to human survival. No rain, the temperature being too hot or too cold, sudden floods, all these things are inexplicable and potentially fatal. Your crops can wither, your home can be washed away, people dying suddenly. It feels powerful and personal. You can’t stop the rain so people pray. There are more weather aligned gods, demi-gods and entities than you could ever memorize in a lifetime.

This is going to be a needle in a haystack, isn’t it?

However you have a few helpful starting points. You’re looking for someone male, with an association to hammers, you can also probably rule out deities that originate in Africa, anywhere in the Pacific ocean including Australia, and likely pre-colonial Americas. You’re likely looking for European, Asian or Middle Eastern in origin if you’re casting a wide net. Faith tends to spread and just because you have art that indicates somewhere in Scandinavia doesn’t mean that this deity started there.

That only leaves you with approximately eleventy bajillion weather gods and other entities. You fidget in your chair suddenly antsy but you’re determined to focus.

You spend several hours fidgeting and working, you’re so antsy. When it’s time for dinner to take a break and you’re relieved to find that Terezi kindly flew out to the city to get takeout. On the upside you have fresh, hot, New York style pizza. On the downside twitter is freaking out about the dragon flying through Manhattan.

“Did you see the news about the police station?” Dave asks around a mouthful of pizza.

“Oh, you mean the quote unquote gas leak? Yeah.” you scoff.

“What about Equius? Did you see that?” he asks.

“I didn’t look. What did they say?” you admit and you feel a little guilty, the guy was murdered and you just let it go.

“Ongoing investigation, university sends their condolences, terrible tragedy. He and Darkleer were related too, that’s… that’s got to be rough. They’re doing a memorial.” Dave says softly.

“Gods, that’s awful. The poor guy didn’t deserve that.” you whisper in horror.

“I feel so bad that he creeped me out so much.” he says with obvious guilt. It’s funny that Dave pretends that he’s all cool and aloof when he tends to internalise everything really deeply. You would like to say that you’re not prone to overthinking that sort of thing as well but you’d be lying if you said you weren’t as bad.

“It’s not as if him unsettling you caused this, you didn’t do anything wrong and you couldn’t have known this was going to happen.” you assure him.

“I know that.” Dave says half heartedly. He knows, but it doesn’t feel that way.

“How’s Sollux?” you ask, switching tracks.

“Better. We talked. He’s super stressed and it’s stuff he’s magically banned from telling me about so that’s always rough. We’re all just worried for Karkat. I’ve been keeping that feather on my desk the whole time just waiting for it to move, Sollux is watching it right now. I know it’s dumb but-” he shrugs. It’s dumb but there’s literally nothing else you can do.

There’s a silence between you two for a little while as you both contemplate Karkat being stuck elsewhere.

“Wherever he is he’s very near to Cthulhu. He reached under a door to listen to the conversation that I heard.” you say eventually.

“I’m not sure how I feel about Karkat escaping some dude who seemingly can lock gods away.” Dave says grimly. You’re inclined to agree.

“-over the Atlantic Ocean. Meterologists say-” your head snaps around to the TV, still playing on low volume. You can see a storm on the screen and maybe it’s just all the research that you’ve been doing but this seems like something to pay attention to. You grab the remote and turn the volume up.

“-that this unprecedented storm is building up alarmingly fast. Current models are somehow unable to predict where this still growing storm will go.” the newscaster explains.

“Meterologists have been quick to stress that their models are updating in real time and as soon as they know where this storm is headed they will report back on it.” a second newsreader explains.

You squint at the TV as a thought steals over you. You didn’t question why Sollux might have had those statues and other artifacts in his void. A certain amount of the stuff just seems to be things he wanted to hold onto personally, the clothes and electronics for example. Not to mention sentimental things that might be hard to store elsewhere, like the car. There are items that you know Dave has handed Sollux over the years and some things like the collection of swords that you imagine hark back to his time in hell.

So why does he have statues and items for a god? Sollux is pretty anti-authority but even if he was following orders of the Devil himself then it seems a little odd for him to resort to minor vandalism and theft of religious artifacts from what is seemingly a minor deity. There’s petty and then there’s just sad, it doesn’t seem likely that he’d do that. You also can’t imagine that he was trying to restore them. What would be the point with all of the gods gone?

What if you’re not looking for a god at all but rather some primal and powerful elemental force? Death and the other horsemen aren’t gods but they’re powerful nonetheless and Sollux has a connection to those. What if this storm is related? Could Sollux have called in a favour with whoever this man is?

This feels a little like you’re grasping at straws.

“I asked Sollux why someone would want to take Karkat.” Dave says, clearly not overthinking the things that you are.

“Let me guess, there was so much that he couldn’t tell you that the conversation was basically pointless?” you say wearily. This whole secrecy thing is really starting to irk you.

“We got around a lot of it. Sollux doesn’t know the answer but he has a few theories.” Dave goes on.

“Ok, hit me.” you tell him.

Dave stares at you for a second and then kicks you. Naturally this devolves into a kicking match across the sofa for a minute or two before you both call it off and get back on track.

“So the first is that maybe this guy hates Cronus and taking Karkat was a way to piss him off.” Dave starts.

“Entirely understandable, I also hate Cronus.” you nod.

“Sollux said he didn’t have any proof for this one but Karkat’s been around a while, so maybe this person who took him owed him a favour and Sollux just doesn’t know about it.” Dave goes on, gesturing with a pizza crust as he talks.

“But if that was the case why wouldn’t he have come back already or at least contacted someone?” you ask.

“Yeah, that’s what I said. I don’t think he’s just hanging out with an old buddy.” Dave agrees.

“An enemy then?” you wonder and Dave grimaces, that is a possibility too and a much less pleasant one at that.

“Then he just sort of went into a panic about the guy who took him trying to use Karkat as a power source for something and I’m pretty sure he was just getting in some kind of spiral.” Dave adds. Eesh, poor Sollux.

“I suppose we just have to wait and hope.” you say unhappily.

Dave seems about as reassured on this matter as you feel, which is to say, not at all.

“How is Sollux?” you ask him, trying to change the subject again.

“Not great but I think we’re all kinda… I mean I killed a guy.” Dave laughs a little hysterically.

“You didn’t mean to.” you remind him.

“Sollux promised me he’d sleep soon, probably when I go back up. He’s been popping in and out and messaging people this whole time so he needs to crash.” Dave says, not acknowledging what you said at all.

“That’s fair.” you nod.

“I should get back to him.” he adds and hops over the back of the sofa.

You nibble on the crust of your pizza for a bit as you think, you still feel antsy so you jog upstairs and return to your computer. That storm is still playing on your mind so you pull up some weather sites and do a little digging. It seems that this storm came suspiciously out of nowhere with none of the usual lead in to that sort of thing that’s apparently expected. You’re not entirely versed in how people manage to predict the weather, your usual way of predicting the weather is just opening the app on your phone. Who knows how it’s done?

Still… suspicious storms.

tentacleTherapist [TT] began trolling  grimAuxillatrix [GA]  
  
TT: Kanaya, have you seen about this storm on the news? I wonder if I’m just reaching or seeing things where there’s nothing there but perhaps Sollux had those things because he’s connected to this deity or force somehow.   
TT: Perhaps he asked him to do this.   
GA: Why Would He Do That Though  
GA: I Do Not Really See How A Storm Would Help Anything Right Now  
TT: I suppose not, but… I don’t know, the idea stuck with me somehow.  
GA: Maybe It Might Be Worth Making A Note Of It But I Cannot Really See What You Would Do With That Information Now  
TT: It’s just that it’s just sudden and unexpected, apparently no one saw this storm coming. Not that I really know how they predict them.  
GA: The Old Methods Are Probably The Best  
GA: Gutting A Chicken And Reading Its Entrails Like They Did When I Was A Child  
TT: I am not certain if you’re joking or not.   
GA: Your Uncertainty Is Highly Entertaining  
TT: Now I’m a good deal more certain that you are joking.  
GA: Or Am I  
GA: Regardless I Am Afraid That I Need To Excuse Myself To Join Jades Extended Family For Dinner  
GA: Which I Have Been Assured That I Do Not Need To Attend Given My Diet But I Feel That I Would Be A Poor Guest To My Gracious Hosts If I Did Not Go  
TT: Oh, of course. Don’t let me keep you.   
  
tentacleTherapist [TT] ceased trolling  grimAuxillatrix [GA]

Your gaze drifts over to your bookshelf where there may or may not be some semi-questionable romance stories that may or may not involve vampires. You should probably ensure that no one ever knows that you have those. Dave knows of course but you have just as much dirt on him to dissuade him from telling. Sollux on the other hand is harder to blackmail, he has no shame.

Still, you’re managing to have conversations with Kanaya now and it’s not so stressful. Likely because you have a common goal in mind and you’re not just talking to her because you think that she’s beautiful. You can try to focus on the subject at hand for something to say rather than risking embarrassing yourself.

The rest of your evening passes with you researching. You become acquainted with many myths around many weather based gods but nothing seems to fit at all. When midnight passes you figure that it might be best to sleep on it and try again in the morning, working with fresh eyes as it were. You still feel antsy and highly strung even as you wash your face and brush your teeth. As you turn out your light and get into bed you can’t help but toss and turn under the covers. It feels like your heart is racing and sleep feels like the very last thing that’s going to happen. After an hour of facing one way then the other, flipping your pillow over repeatedly, trying breathing exercises and the like you eventually give up and get out of bed.

You take a walk around the house, get a glass of milk from the kitchen, stretch and return to bed. You’re still too wired to sleep. Actually, you’ve been on edge all evening haven’t you? It’s not just the idea of looking for Karkat but you feel physically jittery. Like you’ve downed ten coffees or energy drinks or-

...what was in that drink your mom gave you?

After another hour of not sleeping you resolve to not take drinks from a magically inclined woman who was no doubt trying to help give you energy to research but lacked the common sense to moderate her potions.

You try swimming to tire you out and then sleeping, it doesn’t work. You try calm movies, it doesn’t work. You even spend an hour chatting with Sollux over trollian as you send each other links to things, but no. You can’t sleep. By daybreak you’ve given up so much that you’re just back to researching. You’re exhausted and you wish you could sleep but it’s not happening.

In your tiredness you just google ‘unexplained storm’ and click the first thing you see.

_Last night an unexplained storm hit the eastern and central regions of the country which seems to have served as a perfect cover for a flashmob destroying statues and other iconography in graveyards-_

You lift your head off of your hand and frown at the screen. This was from the beginning of the school year. You figured at the time that it was Sollux destroying statues of his ex under cover of the storm, but that storm had come out of the blue hadn’t it?

You go back to the google search results and see that it’s also pulled up the storm that battered Japan. Right when Sollux was there looking for this mysterious shard.

First storm, Sollux destroys statues of his ex. Second storm cover for what he was doing in Nara. This storm… who knows?

You feel more awake now but you don’t know what to do with this information. You feel like you have a good number of puzzle pieces but you have no idea what the picture is on the box or how many bits you’re missing. It also should be noted that correlation doesn’t imply causation, even when it really REALLY feels like it does. You don’t know yet how or if this relates to the statues or if this is just your stressed and sleep deprived mind finding connections that aren’t there. You may well look at all of this when you have next had a night’s sleep and think it’s all the work of a crazy person.

It’s probably best that you don’t share this with Kanaya just yet. There’s also no point talking to Sollux. If you say he is involved in whatever this is then he’s unlikely to crack and tell you everything and if he’s not he’s just going to think you’re deranged.

The day wears on and your exhaustion weighs you down. As it comes to midday you’re reduced to laying boneless on your bed in the hope that being still and on your bed will somehow give you some rest just by how it’s vaguely close to sleeping.

The sunbeam from your window slowly shifts enough that the light is shining in your eyes through your new and glittery glass mobile that your mom put up. Moving is too much effort so you simply close your eyes and stay there.

You’re… so tired. Sleepy and drifting.

_You reach your hand across the small and dainty table, careful of the tea set. You take her hand in yours._

_“There has to be some other way.” you tell her._

_The woman looks away, her long red eyelashes sweep gracefully as she lowers her gaze. With a sigh she takes her hand back._

_“I can’t. As long as he lives I have to stay here.” she says unhappily._

_“Yeah, that would be slavery and false imprisonment. You don’t have to take that, we can find a way to all escape.” you insist._

_“Not me.” she says with a shake of her head._

_“...Damara.” you whisper sadly._

_“No. I have to stay, but you don’t. You need to ignore what he says when he finally talks to you, he is not on your side.” she insists._

_“I generally assume that people who lock me up aren’t.” you snort and lean back in your chair. This room is so green, everything is so green._

_“You also need to avoid the… try and… Crowbar…”_

Thunder rolls and jerks you awake. Above you rain is beating down on your window and the sky is almost black. Dave sticks his head around your door and gestures upwards.

“That came on SO fast!” he exclaims.

“What…?” you mumble, rubbing your face with your hand.

Were you dreaming?

You look at your hand, it’s not the same hand you had a moment ago.

“I think… I think I was just having a vision.” you breathe in shock.

“Wait, really? What did you see?” Dave asks and walks over to sit on the edge of your bed.

“I think I was Karkat. He was in this green room talking to this woman, she wasn’t human but I… I don’t know. It’s slipping away from me.” you groan and rub your face. You feel groggy like you’ve been woken at the wrong point in your sleep cycle.

“Is he okay?” Dave asks worriedly.

You run the memory of your vision through your mind once more.

“I think he was trying to encourage someone else to escape with him, the woman he was talking to. He was worried about her.” you say slowly.

“That… that sounds like Karkat. He could be trying to escape himself but you know he’s not going to leave other people behind.” Dave groans.

Lightning flashes so bright that you blink away spots from your vision and the thunder rumbles almost immediately after.

“This is some storm. The news is going crazy about it, it’s over the whole ocean.” Dave says in awe as he looks up at the skylight.

The rain is coming down so hard on your skylight that you’re almost having trouble hearing Dave.

“We’re getting a lot of unexplained storms. That night where all the statues got broken, the one that hit Japan with the clowns, this.” you say as lightning and thunder strike again.

It can’t be later than the afternoon but as that strike hits the power dies, plunging your room into a darkness that you could only charitably described as twilight level of light.

“That’s fantastic, I’m thrilled about this.” Dave says entirely deadpan.

“KIDS?” your mom shouts up from downstairs.

“WE’RE FINE MOM.” Dave shouts back.

The two of you leave your room. It’s not wholly unusual for the power to be knocked out in an incredibly big storm, the house has its own private generator thanks to the vast amount of weirdness that is this property and it can be a little finicky at times. You wouldn’t say it’s incredibly frequent but it happens a few times a year. Dave flicks his phone light on and leads the way down the stairs to your mom and Terezi, she’s currently blowing fire over the gas powered fireplace in the main room. It catches with a FWOOMPH and illuminates the room in warm flickering light.

“Where’s Sollux? He’s on the property.” your mom asks.

“Uh, my room, last time I saw him.” Dave answers.

“We’ll go get him.” you say and pull Dave away.

Your mom seems calm now but the power going out tends to put her on edge, as if it’s a sign of an impending attack on the house. It’s better and easier if you can find Sollux and prove that none of you have been attacked. The generator tends to come back on by itself so you can all just stick together and wait it out.

Dave’s room however is empty.

“Good job watching this.” Dave mutters and picks Karkat’s feather up off of his desk. It’s motionless right now but that’s not the point.

“Sollux!” you call out over the pounding of the rain on the skylight.

“Man, where are you?” Dave mutters, sticking his head out of the door and peering down the hallway.

You look upwards at the rain on the skylight and jump when something flicks over it, you keep staring and see it again, a flick of grey. With a quick smack to Dave’s arm you point upwards as the tip of one of Sollux’s tails trails over the skylight.

Dave heaves a sigh and tosses his phone and shades on the bed, he then hops up onto his chest of drawers and pops the skylight open leaving you to clamber up after him. The rain plasters your hair to your head in an instant and Sollux is no better, water is dripping off of every part of him as the rain drenches him entirely. You’re stunned that he’s out here, normally he detests the cold and the rain.

Sollux’s brow is furrowed in concentration, he’s leant over slightly with his elbows on his knees and his legs crossed. His hands are clasped together around something and he’s mumbling something so quietly that you can’t hear him over the rain.

“Sol? Are you ok? Why are you out here?” Dave shouts over the rain.

Sollux keeps mumbling and you and Dave share a worried look. Dave hauls himself out onto the ledge of the skylight and reaches out for his moirail. Before he can even touch Sollux, all of the demon’s eyes snap open and he stares up at the sky.

The wind whistles in the trees and a gust of wind blows so strongly that you grab onto Dave out of fear that he might fall off of the roof. Then in the distance there’s a flash and a distant rumble. All at once the rain stops, the wind stops and the clouds clear like time lapse footage. Something searingly bright blue streaks up through the sky, like a comet in reverse.

Sollux is staring unblinking at it, still whispering, almost chanting over and over.

“What is that?” Dave breathes as he stares up at the streaking light too. It’s going up and up, higher and higher still.

In your vision with Karkat everything was green. And… the dream you shared with Karkat before the moon was huge in the sky and it was _green_. Sollux freaked out when you talked about the moon before but it was nothing to do with the moon landing was it?

“It’s the moon, Karkat’s on the moon.” you say slowly.

Sollux’s words catch and his gaze snaps away from the sky to you.

“I’m right, aren’t I?” you ask him challengingly.

Sollux opens his mouth to answer only to be cut off by a blinding flash from above. Sollux scrambles to his feet, staring upwards as the light fades. His phone rings and he answers it without looking.

“Yeah, I saw. Do you know where- yeah. Okay. Thanks anyway, really. Later.” Sollux hangs up with a miserable look on his face.

“Sollux, what was that? Tell me.” Dave urges him.

“A rescue attempt. Didn’t work though. I have to go.” Sollux answers and then he’s gone.

Dave stares in shock at the spot that Sollux had been just a second ago and then looks at you.

“What the hell was that? What did you mean about the moon?” Dave asks.

“That dream I had with Karkat that night, the moon in it was huge and green. It was the same in one of Karkat’s other dreams as well and the vision I just had everything in it was bright green. Karkat’s somewhere magically powerful that Sollux can’t get to. It just made sense.” you tell him and duck back inside, your hair and shirt are both soaked.

“That’s kind of a leap but it’s not like anything you said doesn’t make sense in a way.” Dave admits and pulls the skylight closed after him as he comes inside the house again as well. You both look like someone tried to drown you.

The lights flicker and come back on again, as quickly as it came the storm is gone once more.

Supernaturally fast, one might say.

“What the hell WAS that?” Dave asks as he ducks into his bathroom and grabs a towel for his hair.

“I wish I knew exactly but it was highly suspicious. I’m going to go look online and see what the news outlets are saying. I may also go and change my clothes first.” you add that last part with a wince, you can feel everywhere that your shirt is sticking to your skin.

Dave makes a noise of agreement from below the towel that he’s scrubbing over his head so you leave him to that.

You change into something clean and dry back in the privacy of your own room and carefully twist your own hair up in a towel specifically for that. It’s no longer so dark in the room now and late afternoon sunlight is once more shining through your skylight and glittering through your mother’s newly installed mobile.

The moon, huh?

You sit on your bed and stare up at the glittering glass mobile, filled with light and… and…

_”Jesus Christ what WAS that?!” you yelp._

_You pull open the door to the room you’ve been left in and hurry out into the hallway. The building shakes again with some ominous rumbling. You run, lost and uncoordinated, but soon enough you find a window. You lean against the ledge and stare out. The sky is pitch black except for where streaks and waves of cobalt blue scorch in the air above the green city, it’s like a monochromatic and terrifying northern lights._

_Breathlessly you stare out at the green city and beyond it barren whiteness with a pure black sky._

_Behind you a door creaks and you spin around on the spot, your heart leaping into your throat with fear. There’s an old man peering around a gap in the door, he looks like he could be ninety years old._

_“Hello?” you say in a whisper and the man cringes back slightly._

_“Hey, no, no, I won’t hurt you. Are you ok? What’re you doing here?” you ask gently, trying to keep your voice soothing._

_“What are you doing here?” he asks you back in return._

_“A man with a… a big round white head brought me here.” you tell him, not sure how else to describe your ‘host’._

_“Scratch.” the old man whispers. His eyes dart about but he opens the door wide enough to allow you admittance._

_You step into the room and see that there’s another old man in here. Both of them are wearing white bodysuits and there’s actual space helmets on a nearby green dresser. Your jaw drops as you work out their age, where you are and who these men are all at once._

_“You’re Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong, aren’t you? This is the moon.” you whisper in awe._

_The two old men exchange a look and nod._

_“I’m Karkat Vantas, I came here from Earth through a lot of… well, magic fuckery. There must be a way to get back, to get you two back to Earth.” you say desperately._

_“He’s never letting us go, he only needed to send one person back to get the message across that no one should come here.” one of the men says, you don’t know if it’s Buzz or Neil._

_“Well, fuck that. I’m getting you out of here, as soon as I work out how to get out of here myself. I won’t leave you behind.” you promise them._

_The door you came in through bangs open to reveal an angry looking green man. He’s wearing a green tuxedo suit and wearing a green top hat with a prominent ‘6’ displayed on it. He stuffs his hand into his jacket and pulls out a pin. Both Buzz and Neil gasp and shuffle back even more._

_“You shouldn’t be here.” the green man hisses at you._

_“Hey, I was just looking around. No one told me anything was off limits and I’ve not seen the guy running this place since I got here so- whoa!” you jerk back when the green man whips a small doll out of his jacket, it’s very plainly meant to be you, it even has glittery white wings on the back._

_“Do what Die says, those voodoo dolls are real.” one of the astronauts advises you in a hushed whisper._

_“Voodoo doesn’t actually use- AUGH!” your explanation about voodoo dolls is cut off by a horrible pulling sensation in your back._

_Die is glaring at you as he pulls on one of the doll’s wings, making pain bloom in your back right where your wings attach when you have them out._

_“Okay! Okay!” you gasp and he lets the doll’s wing go._

_Die steps away from the door and stares at you._

_“I won’t leave you here.” you promise under your breath as you shoot one last look at the two old astronauts. Without much other choice you leave the room, walking past Die to do it. When you’re out he leaves with you, shutting the door to the room the astronauts are still in and then marches you back to your own room. As soon as you’re inside he slams the door shut behind you._

_A plan is starting to form in your mind. You need to get out of here. If Damara can’t come with you then you can at least rescue the astronauts. You don’t need to breathe but they do and you’re going to assume that you can fly in space, as Sollux put it before the wings aren’t strictly what makes you fly. It’s not just a physical thing but a magical one too. There has to be some way you can protect them and get them back to Earth as well as yourself._

_You’re tempted to call Sollux but what if you trapped him here too? No, you can handle this by yourself. All you need to do is work out the math for how much air those men will need and how fast you’ll need to travel to get them back to Earth in time. You don’t know jack shit about any of that but you bet that Buzz and Neil know enough about things to help with that. You’ll just need to get back in there at some point without getting caught._

_You can feel the plan coming together alright._

Your eyes flicker open, it’s just getting dark now and there’s a familiar glow in your room, a bicoloured glow. You push yourself up on your elbows and look around dazedly to see Sollux sat on your desk chair with Karkat’s feather on your desk.

“You’re back.” he says, sounding tired.

“Where’s Dave?” you ask and scrub at your eyes with your hands, immediately regretting it when you see the mascara transferred to your hands. Damnit.

“Dinner.” Sollux answers simply.

“I saw Karkat.” you tell him.

Sollux sighs, shuts his eyes for a moment then nods.

“Tell me?” he asks.

“He’s on the moon, he found Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong locked up there and some woman named Damara. There was a green man with a top hat using a doll to force Karkat to leave them alone. I also saw a sort of blue northern lights being deflected off of the green city, which I suppose is whatever that thing you were trying to do not working.” you explain.

“It wasn’t really me, I was just helping.” Sollux answers you wearily.

“None of this seems especially surprising to you.” you point out. Sollux shrugs one shouldered, a little apathetic.

“I didn’t know all of it but none of it is massively surprising.” Sollux says with a sigh.

“You don’t seem pleased that I’m seeing again. You didn’t seem happy about it at the cafe or at Jade’s.” you say, trying not to sound like you’re accusing him of anything but it does still sting.

“I am and I’m not.” Sollux says and pinches the bridge of his nose.

That doesn’t really tell you much, does it?

“Imagine that it’s your birthday and you do those floating candle things. You know where you light the candle in the lantern and it floats off and looks all pretty?” Sollux says and looks at you again.

“Those ones notorious for causing forest fires?” you ask.

“Yeah. This is like that. I’m happy it’s your birthday and you’re doing something cool but I’m really aware that we live in a forest and I’m worried everything is going to catch fire. That’s sort of how this is.” he tells you.

You can kind of understand that. Sollux has been a friend for ages and he knows how badly you wanted your second sight back, he wouldn’t act like this without reason and you believe his conflict in this situation.

“Karkat’s working on an escape plan.” you tell him.

“Yeah?” Sollux asks.

“He’s considering flying back here from the moon. Can he do that?” you ask.

“He doesn’t need atmosphere to fly. I’ve raced him out of the atmosphere on Earth before, not as far out as the moon but enough to know he can do it. He kicks my ass when it comes to speed.” Sollux’s smile is fond as his fingertip just touches the edge of Karkat’s feather on the desk.

“Uh. Don’t tell him that.” Sollux says hastily, seeming to realise just what he said.

“I’m sure I don’t know what you mean, I remember nothing incriminating.” you smile.

Looking at the unmoving feather on the desk you suppose that the moon must be a physical place but also its own pocket of reality. That’s not wholly unusual, there are places where the fae realms intertwine with this one and those spots are tied to physical locations. The moon is a place of great magical importance, it makes sense that it would be like that.

You wish you could ask Sollux about what he was doing on the roof but given that it was connected to that storm you suspect he either won’t or can’t tell you.

“I wish I could do more than just watch what he’s doing. I wish I could help.” you say quietly.

“Yeah.” Sollux agrees.

One of his claws brushes the edge of the feather, tracking up and down it.

“When I was in your void I saw that car.” you say and Sollux pauses.

“There was a little feather in it. Well, I say little, it was still this big.” you laugh and hold your hands up to show the length of it.

“I guess I forget sometimes that you two had this whole relationship and history before this year and you were carrying around that car that the two of you obviously had been in together. It must have been really hard without him.” you say softly.

“It’s not like I didn’t look for him after The Event but things were different and he wasn’t where I thought he might be and I had so much to do right after it. Karkat’s capable of looking after himself, he’s been around longer than me, you know? But I looked and I couldn’t find him so I thought he’d gone back up there to deal with things or his maker had called him back because of all the chaos.” Sollux explains.

“You can call up demons though, mom used to do it all the time. Couldn’t you have called him?” you wonder.

“It doesn’t work like that with them. We’re trying to have contact with people to tempt them, we’re obligated to answer if people call in the right way. Angels don’t give a fuck. Even if I had a feather and some way to initiate contact can you imagine what would have happened if I’d spun that roulette wheel? Connect to him right in front of his maker or anyone higher than him? Hell, anyone lower than him either, they all snitch up there.” Sollux sneers. His contempt for pretty much all angels is quite clear.

“Angels don’t get prayers?” you ask in surprise.

“Well, eh. Sort of. Technically they all go to… you know.” Sollux says, waving a hand upwards.

“God?” you ask and Sollux wrinkles his nose but nods.

“Right, but it’s sort of disseminated out across angels and they discuss things. If you’re a person of interest then you’ll get a direct line to your… eh, case manager I guess? For the most part things just go up there like the ‘contact us’ form on a website. A person prays and it goes up there. Maybe Karkat could stumble across it and find a way to sneak off and help if he could, which he did way more than he was supposed to do, but you couldn’t pray to Karkat specifically. No direct holy email address, more of a ‘to whom it may concern’.” Sollux explains.

“But if I’d wanted to contact you specifically I could do that. As well as just casting out for anyone who happened to answer.” you nod.

“We have a much better system.” Sollux nods.

“That sucks.” you sigh.

“Yeah. Although even if they did have the same system we’d be banned from it. We’re banned from submitting prayers. We kind of got IP banned millenia ago for spamming the shit out of heaven.” Sollux says with a grin.

“That sounds fair, I’d have abused that system too. Are you banned from every god?” you ask curiously.

“We might be with some, not all. No one’s calling up Thor like ‘hey we can totally outdrink you, pansy, come fight me’. I’d bet no one else LISTENS to us because of, well, everything about demons but we don’t care enough about other gods to piss them off that bad.” Sollux shrugs.

An idea forms in the back of your mind.

“So you could pray to another god, sincerely I mean?” you ask him innocently.

“Yeah. Wouldn’t normally have any reason to. Speaking of higher powers I did promise your mom that I’d tell you to go eat when you woke up.” Sollux says, subtly shifting the conversation.

“Right, of course. Thank you Sollux, keep an eye on that feather would you?” you remind him. Sollux nods and waves you off as you leave the room.

What Sollux was doing on that roof looked an AWFUL lot like prayer to you. Praying to a storm. Given how often other weather events have aligned with things he’s involved in, you can’t help but feel more and more sure that Sollux is tangled up with this storm god.

As the days pass several things become clearer. First is that no angels are hanging around to attack any of you and Sollux has concluded that either they haven’t noticed that Cronus and Eridan are dead, or they consider it fair given that they were likely acting without authorisation, or the final option that they’re still deliberating on what to do and you’ll have probably died of old age before they work it out.

The second thing you’ve noticed is that every meterologist going is confused as hell about what happened with that storm. It came out of nowhere, became ocean wide and then some in no time at all, and then instantly cleared. More than that an awful lot of people saw the light that came from the storm that looked like something going from Earth upwards into the sky. Explanations have ranged from very weird lightning, weird interactions between the storm and the upper layers of the atmosphere to just a straight up denial that anything was there.

Needless to say the internet is awash with conspiracy theories and some people are even wondering if perhaps this is a sign that the gods are returning. Out of amusement you did a trend search on google and all the things you’ve been searching for storm gods have massively spiked in search traffic.

On top of all of that it has become apparent is that your visions only happen during the day now and usually only in direct sunlight and they’re clearest when you’re underneath that mobile your mother made. You’ve seen Karkat talking to this Damara woman a few times, it’s pretty plain to you that she isn’t wildly enthused about talking to Karkat but he’s being friendly in that hard to ignore way that he often does and you think he’s winning her around. He’s also been talking to the astronauts and they’ve told him roughly how big of a bubble they’d need to have a given number of hours of air. They also still have oxygen tanks that they turned off when Scratch abducted them, so they have extra time in there.

You’re also starting to get a feel for when you have a vision coming on, enough to get yourself settled on your bed in the sunshine. You close your eyes against the warm light and think that you kind of get why Sollux enjoys sunning himself so much in the beams of light that go through the library.

_You sit on the provided bed that’s wildly uncomfortable and try to focus. You need to protect those astronauts, they’ve been here so long and suffered enough. You’re not going to let them suffocate or explode in space! You really hope that you won’t explode in space, or freeze to death, but you’ll deal with that when you get there. You push the barrier around you out but it’s really hard to form when you’re not actively doing it to protect anyone._

_The doorhandle turns, startling you and ruining your concentration. It’s not any of the leprechauns that you’ve come to know as The Felt, rather it’s someone you’re much more pleased to see._

_“Damara!” you say brightly and get to your feet._

_“He wants to see you now.” Damara says glumly._

_“Scratch?” you ask in a whisper and she nods._

_“Right.” you nod and walk to the door. You don’t know where you’re going so you can only assume she’ll lead you there._

_Damara hesitates at the doorway and then looks at you, biting her lip._

_“Do you really want to help get me out of here?” she asks._

_“Of course I do, it’s evil as fuck for him to keep you locked up in here and trapped.” you insist._

_“If you do what he says then I’ll be stuck here forever, but if you just change one thing this whole place will be destroyed and everyone trapped here can leave, me included.” Damara says and catches you by the hands. She holds them between you, your hands held in hers as she looks you imploringly in the eye._

_“I mean- fuck this place, you know? What do I have to do?” you ask._

_“There’s a clown, on Earth. Not a- he’s sort of a demon. Scratch will tell you to leave him alone, run away, let him do whatever. But you have to destroy the clown, he’s evil.” Damara urges you._

_“Kill someone? But- how would I even find some demon clown in the first place? Which, by the way, is the worst thing I have ever said in my life.” you say with a grimace._

_“He’ll be looking for YOU.” Damara hisses. Well, that’s horrible._

_She jerks up straight and starts to pull you down the hallway._

_“Not a word.” she whispers as she brings you to a door. She knocks twice and then opens it, she swings the door inwards and gestures for you to go inside._

_“Please do come in.” a voice comes from inside._

_The look Damara shoots inside is one filled with loathing and you can’t leave her here without trying to help. You squeeze her arm and nod, then step inside the room._

_“Ah, Karkat Vantas. So sorry that I couldn’t meet with you sooner, I’m afraid I’m having quite a few troubles with some of my more unruly guests at the moment. Rather took up my time and unfortunately ruined my shirt.” a voice comes from behind a folding screen._

_“Oh.” you say. What else could you say to that?_

_“Please do have a seat and help yourself to some of those little treats in the bowl if you’re so inclined, I’d hate to be a bad host.” the man says._

_You eye the little table. It’s a dark green with a pale lime doily on it and a jade bowl with little black dog shaped candy things in it. You’ve heard more than enough stories about eating food in other realms and getting stuck there to take him up on that offer. You do sit down though, just to be polite. To be on the safe side you’re going to by the rules of etiquette that you would for a full blooded fae trying to trick you, don’t say anything that counts as agreeing to a contract, don’t put yourself in their debt by admitting wrong, asking for favours or forgiveness. Be smart._

_“I do appreciate you taking me away from Cronus, but I’m pretty curious to know how you did that.” you ask carefully._

_A green shirt is tossed over the changing screen and you can see that it’s torn to ribbons._

_“Well, I have my ways of seeing things and I’m quite handy with getting access to places. But I did want to speak to you specifically so really this has worked out quite well.” he says._

_The man steps out from behind the screen, buttoning his cufflinks. You were expecting it but seeing that large and perfectly round white head is still jarring._

_“Right. What was that the other day? The thing that caused all the shaking and that blue light?” you ask quickly._

_“An uninvited guest.” Scratch says with a note of displeasure._

_“Right… okay. You said you wanted to talk to me and I’m s- I don’t actually know you. The Event on Earth took away a lot of my memories. All of them, really, I don’t know if you know about that. So if we’ve met before I don’t remember.” you say, ever so careful not to say sorry._

_Scratch adjusts his bow tie in the mirror and makes a thoughtful noise._

_“No, we’ve never met. I just know who you are. I needed to have a chat with you about-” Scratch turns to you and freezes._

_He doesn’t have a face so you don’t know how you can tell but you feel the very distinct sensation of a frown come from him._

_“Sorry about this but you have something on you that you shouldn’t.” he says slowly._

_“What?” you say in surprise. You can’t think of anything you have on you that you shouldn’t, you’ve not been wandering around this place stealing things._

_Scratch reaches out, one deceptively strong hand closing on your shoulder._

_“Stay still.” he tells you, his other hand reaching for your face. You try to pull back as his thumb moves to your eye. You squeeze your eyes shut out of reflex as his thumb presses into the corner of your eye, like you might do if you were trying to get sleep out of it when you’ve just woken up._

_“There you are.” Scratch says and-_

You screech, clapping your hands to your eyes and flailing off of the bed. You shudder and just manage to not lose your lunch at the sensation of someone’s physical being inside your second sight. Shaking, you get to your feet and stumble to your mirror. You stare back at your own face and grimace to see that your eyes are unbelievably bloodshot. You tug your bottom eyelid down on your left eye and hiss to see just how red they are. It’s like you’ve not slept for a week and then used straight chlorine for eye drops. They sting too, enough that your eyes are watering.

You take a step back towards your bed and grimace at the awful smell, it’s like nail polish remover and horrible vodka. As you look up you see that the mobile your mom made you has shattered. That’s moonshine on your bed, and there on the ground is the tiny model of the moon from the solar system she was taking apart before. She made you a focus to see what was going on all the way up on the moon.

The thud of sprinting footsteps reach your ears and quick as anything Dave skids around the door.

“What happened?! Are you ok?” he asks, obviously alarmed. He must have heard you yelling earlier.

“Where’s Sollux?” you ask him as you roll the small model moon between your fingers.

“Oh, sure, I haul ass across the house to check that you’re ok and the first thing you say is ‘where’s Sollux?’ I see how it is.” Dave huffs. He’s playing up his hurt but you can tell that he actually is a little offended, he’s just covering it up with fake offense because he’s Dave.

“Sorry, I just had a question for him about the man on the moon.” you say thoughtfully.

“Fine, he went off somewhere but I’ll message him.” Dave grumbles and takes his phone out.

He types for a little while and then Sollux appears in a flash of blue and red.

“What happened on the moon?” Sollux asks you in a rush.

“God, I’ll just go. I’m so not needed here.” Dave says, throwing his hands in the air and walking off. Sollux hesitates but doesn’t follow.

“I saw Scratch, but worse, he saw me. I was watching through Karkat’s eyes and he literally scratched me out of there, it broke the connection and look at my eyes.” you tell him and lean in to show him.

“That’s nearly as red as mine. Pretty concerning that he caught you though. I’m not sure if you’ll be able to see through Karkat now when he’s there, he’s probably going to be blocking your connection.” Sollux says grimly.

“I’ll see about that.” you tell him stubbornly.

“You do that, I’m going to find Dave. Soothe his bruised ego.” Sollux says with a roll of his eyes. You’ve always been jealous with how much more effective rolling your eyes is when you have four of them.

You touch your own still stinging eyes and IMMEDIATELY regret it and curse loudly because you still had moonshine on your fingers.

“Rose are-” Sollux calls.

“I’M FINE NOTHING HAPPENED.” you shout back. Ah, god that hurts.

Your dear mother is understandably concerned about Scratch seeing you and agrees with Sollux’s assessment that your psyche will likely now be as banned from his realm as Sollux is physically. She suggests that you’ll just have to hope that Karkat can escape on his own.

The reassuring nature of your talk is somewhat overshadowed given that it happens poolside and you’re watching Terezi swim through the water with miniature dragon wings as she manages to splash water everywhere.

You’re not good at sitting idly by and just hoping. You pass the time as best as you can by messaging Kanaya, updating each other on the progress of your research. You even end up doing your homework because you’re so desperate for distraction. Days pass this way with you, Dave and Sollux passing Karkat’s feather off to each other so someone is always watching it, but it doesn’t move.

Until it slowly starts to drift up off of your desk.

You stare in utter shock as it floats up past your eyes.

“THE FEATHER!” you shriek at the top of your lungs.

You hear a thump from across the hall as Dave and Sollux trip over each other in their haste to get to you but moments later they’re hurrying through the door together.

“Look! It just- look!” you say desperately waving your hand above you as the feather floats up to the ceiling.

“You beautiful bastard you actually did it.” Sollux hisses in glee and floats up in the air. He snags the feather from your ceiling and zips out of the door.

You and Dave hurry downstairs as Sollux flits into your mother’s lab. There’s a spell already inked out on the floor, just waiting for when Karkat would get back onto this plane of existence. Sollux pins the feather to the edge of the circle with his hand and chants. The ink on the floor lights up and the globe within the circle starts to spin.

A second passes and the globe freezes in place, a white light slowly moving through the air towards the globe.

“There you are.” Sollux whispers as he leans in close to it.

“Where’s he going to land?” you ask and crouch down.

“I swear if he ends up in Georgia we’ll hear the scream from here.” Dave snorts and Sollux snickers in amusement. It would be just Karkat’s luck to end up there, wouldn’t it?

“Based on how fast he’s going, the atmospheric conditions, speed of the Earth… carry the two… he’s goin’ real fuckin’ fast and I think we’re looking at Western United States. Unless he misses and hits the ocean.” Sollux says as he runs his claw over the globe, as if you can’t identify the west without his help.

The three of you watch as the light that indicates Karkat gets closer and when it starts getting right over Nevada Sollux breaks the spell. He sets one hand on your shoulder and one on Dave’s, then just like that you’re gone.

You appear on a suburban but desert-y street with cacti, palm trees and green lawns grown with sprinklers and stubborn defiance. Sollux holds Karkat’s feather by the very tip of the quill and allows the rest of the feather to angle itself in the right direction. Thus begins the angel edition of the ‘hotter/colder’ game.

The three of you teleport all over the place trying to pin Karkat’s location down but soon enough you can see him hurtling towards Earth in a ball of fire. He speeds overhead and Sollux has to once more teleport you further along to find him.

The crater in the ground is sizeable and as far as you can tell you’re in the middle of fucking nowhere in the desert, although perhaps Karkat was trying to avoid hitting anywhere populated.

“Karkat!” you shout and sprint towards the edge of the crater.

“I have never seen him land that bad.” Sollux mutters.

“What the…” Dave whispers as he stares down into the crater.

Aside from the melted rock, several immolated cacti and other signs of Karkat’s crash the crater contains two men. Two fully suited astronauts. One shakily pushes himself up on one arm and then flicks his helmet open, showing a face you recognise from looking through Karkat’s eyes.

“We’re… on Earth.” the man- Neil, you think- says in awe. His wrinkled face crumples in relief and joy and he openly sobs as he other astronaut is wrestling his helmet off.

It’s very touching, but there’s no Karkat here.

You jump into the crater, not caring about how hot some of the melted rocks may be at the edges. You skid and stumble your way to the astronauts.

“Where’s Karkat?!” you demand and both men stare at you.

“Karkat! The guy who rescued you! He flew you here, where IS he?!” you shout.

Dave and Sollux jump in after you and Sollux lets the feather in his hand go. It floats for a second before drifting forward on a breeze that isn’t there. It slides through the air until it gets to the far side of the crater where several small rocks have slid down.

You pull them loose until you see a flash of white. Ever so carefully you take one more rock away and something tiny and white falls down. Out of reflex you catch it and see that in your hands is the smallest snow white hummingbird you’ve ever seen.

“Fucking moron.” Sollux groans.

“What- why is he a bird?” you ask, he’s not even the size of your thumb.

“Because I bet instead of shielding himself as he landed at however many thousand miles an hour that was he protected these two and then ate dirt at speed. He’s a throne, they’re hard to kill but that’ll about do it. That’s as close as he can get to not losing his body and still staying down here, it’s the same thing as when I was a snake for a while.” Sollux groans.

“That’s- fucked up and weird but I think we should go. Now.” Dave says tightly.

“What?” you ask, still holding the Karkat bird in your hands. His enchanted feather is poking you in the back of the hand trying to get to him.

“See those lights in the distance? That’d be the military because Area 51 is apparently that-a-way according to Google. Not that I know why that’s on Google Maps.” Dave says, pointing over the edge of the crater to what you can indeed see is approaching lights over the horizon.

“Yeah, gimme a sec.” Sollux says slowly and walks towards the two astronauts who are getting to their feet.

“I think I pretty clearly explained why we don’t really have ‘a sec’ to give right now.” Dave says in an exasperated tone.

In your hand Karkat’s tiny bird form shifts and his wings flutter, scraping your hands as he does so.

“Careful, you’ll hurt yourself.” you warn him gently, not wanting to scare him.

Sollux saunters over to the astronauts and comes to a stop before them.

“That guy just saved your lives, do you know who he is?” Sollux asks.

“Karkat Vantas. Where-” one of the astronauts starts.

“Great, he gave you his last name too. Idiot. Do you know who I am?” Sollux asks. You suppose that you had run in shouting Karkat’s first name but seemingly Karkat had told them more than that. You think you remember that, maybe?

The two astronauts share a look and shake their heads.

“Ah, well.” Sollux says lightly and starts to grow bigger and bigger, his body starts to grow spikes and glows in an ominous fashion. He grows until he’s double their height and looms over them in a monstrous way. Quick as a flash he has both astronauts floating in the air, bound in psionic power.

“I am the demon who will hunt you down and drag you into hell if you so much as think of telling anyone about Karkat. In fact unless you both swear to me now that you’ll never mention Karkat then you’ll find out that I’m so much worse than Scratch. I won’t just lock you up in a room for years.” Sollux growls, his voice deep and feral. In your hands Karkat flutters harder and you have to carefully cage your hands around him to stop him escaping, you suppose that he might not approve of Sollux threatening two very elderly astronauts who have obviously been through a lot.

“You will never mention Karkat Vantas’ name to anyone, or provide enough description that anyone could work out who he is. Swear.” Sollux snarls holding out a giant clawed hand.

The two terrified astronauts swear and are bound by Sollux’s deal and immediately he goes back to his normal form.

“I’d say you have maybe… two minutes to think up a story about how you got here that doesn’t involve him. Good luck with that.” Sollux says casually and saunters back to you and Dave.

“Was that really needed?” Dave asks with exasperation.

“Do you want the government tracking him down? No. Come on.” Sollux says and puts a hand on your shoulder and a hand on Dave’s, then in a flash you’re back home.

A sigh of relief escapes you and ever so carefully you open your hands up. Karkat’s tiny bird body is cradled in your palms, his wings tucked against his back and his short tail feathers spread up your palm. Dave peers over your shoulder to see him.

“He’s a tiny hummingbird, just like Sollux was a little snake. It’s… wow.” Dave says in awe.

“Mmm, yeah. I’m going to try to get him something to drink that’ll help, he’s not going to have as easy of a time with it as I did.” Sollux says distractedly as he types on his phone.

“How do you mean?” Dave asks.

“No maker to lend him power, his side is all MIA. Having you two around will help, you’ve just gotta feed him.” Sollux answers.

In your hand Karkat clumsily moves over your fingers, tripping over one in an effort to climb but he eventually gets to the edge.

“Like, flowers and stuff? Wait, can he even understand us right now?” Dave asks.

“You could do that but I meant feed the things that he’s made of, the things that he was made from. If you do that around him for him it’ll help him recover.” Sollux explains and pockets his phone.

“But we don’t know what those things are, we’d only see that if he died.” you point out.

“Right, but you can guess. Be a self-sacrificial idiot, throw yourself at every charity case going, feel immediately guilty about everything, be stupidly obsessed with trash romance movies and- HEY!” as Sollux starts talking Karkat launches himself out of your hands with a blur of white wings and flings himself at Sollux’s face like a dart.

Sollux jumps backwards only to have Karkat continue to chase him.

“Well, I guess we know that Karkat understands us then.” Dave says flatly as Sollux leaps the sofa to escape the itty-bittiest revenge in the world.


	25. Hand me my shovel, I'm going in!

“He’s so tiny and I think I’m going to die.” Dave says deadpan as he holds Karkat up to his face with Karkat perched on Dave’s finger.

“An entirely valid response.” you agree and your mom snaps a picture with her phone.

“Why is it that when there’s something so small and cute you see it and part of you just wants to eat it?” your mom wonders.

“That’s how I feel about most things.” Terezi agrees.

Dave gives both of them a wary look and takes a step away with Karkat still safely on his hand. Karkat makes the smallest little hummingbird peep and you’re pretty sure your heart melts. It’s not your fault, you’re not made of stone.

“I think I’m going to go see what’s going on at NASA.” your mother declares and wanders off with Terezi following her. You don’t know how she’s going to do that but it’s almost certainly illegal so you’re just going to not ask.

“Hey, I’m in the kitchen.” Sollux shouts from across the house.

You gesture for Dave to go first so he carries Karkat across the house into the kitchen. When you get there Sollux is just landing with a tiny saucer in hand from one of your teacups. Sollux places the saucer on the kitchen island and then pulls an ornate bottle out of his chest. He sinks his fangs into the cork, pulls it out, and spits it across the room. He pours a measure of it into the saucer and you get to see the moment when he realises that he’s going to have to go find that cork again to seal the bottle once more.

“That looks familiar, like the drink you gave Karkat to recover from Famine’s work, and at that club.” you note as you peer at it.

“That’s because that’s exactly what it is.” Sollux says flatly and psionically picks the cork up and puts it back in the bottle.

“Tell me what it is, it’s gotta be something powerful to help him, right?” Dave asks eagerly.

“It’s- ugh. Ok so when all the gods suddenly _weren’t_ we demons may have realised that a lot of things were suddenly not as guarded as they usually are. A few enterprising demons may have… creatively acquired a few things.” Sollux explains.

“And what is this?” you ask and watch as Karkat looks repeatedly from the saucer of something stolen to Sollux and back again repeatedly. You’ve never seen a hummingbird look judgemental before but he’s managing it.

“Ehhh, nectar of the gods. Look, it’s not my fault the Greek pantheon didn’t have people guarding Olympus in ways that’d actually stop us. Besides, it’s good for anything directly made by a god. Angels were created by one. Karkat himself wasn’t but he’s not that many steps removed, it’d work more if he was an original angel but whatever. Anyway, hummingbirds drink nectar so it’s fitting.” Sollux explains.

There’s a few seconds but Karkat does flutter down to the counter top and then awkwardly flutter and hop to the saucer. Dave is already filming this.

“Oh shit, we need to tell the others that we found him.” Sollux realises and pulls his phone out.

“No! Don’t tell them!” Dave gasps.

“What? You don’t mean that.” Sollux says in surprise.

“I absolutely do. Don’t tell them. We can take Karkat down to June’s tomorrow and be like ‘we found Karkat!’ and then, surprise, bird!” Dave laughs.

Karkat looks up from drinking the nectar to give Dave a judgemental look.

“Oh come on, she’s always pranking us.” Dave points out.

“She might actually strangle you if you do that.” you warn him.

“Might is being charitable.” Sollux grumbles.

“I can’t believe you’re agreeing to this.” you say in surprise to Sollux, usually he’s able to talk Dave out of ideas as terrible as these but seemingly not this time.

“Me neither.” Sollux says, obviously annoyed. You suppose he must be more in favour of pranking June back if he’s going along with it despite his protest. Normally you’d be against this but this is interesting enough that you’re willing to just watch and see what’s going to happen.

“So he really won’t just get better on his own?” you ask, shifting the conversation back to Karkat.

“Angels need permission to get their bodies back but there’s no one to give him permission now, unless that was devolved to other angels and then that’s not something we want to ask. But lacking any… divine intervention we can, you know.” Sollux shrugs.

“Feed him by doing Karkat things.” Dave fills in.

“Yeah, if you have faith that he’ll get better and exhibit his traits and stuff it should work. This just helps.” Sollux says as he waves at the saucer.

“But why was it so much easier for you? You’ve died and come back loads. Or, I guess it wasn’t easy but you were like that because you were out of energy. We didn’t have to do anything for you though.” Dave points out.

“Well, my maker’s not dead for one so I could get energy there. Also Hell never had the same bureaucratic rules about getting your body back, you just got it. With Hell out of action it’s all done up here so it’s a little weaker. Besides, I had my stuff being channeled to me just fine.” Sollux says vaguely.

“Do you know what you’re made of then?” you ask in surprise.

On the table Karkat perks up from his little saucer of nectar and starts squeaking and flapping about.

“No one asked you, bird brain.” Sollux snaps at him.

Karkat’s little body puffs up and he pokes an unexpectedly long tongue out of his beak at Sollux, which of course only escalates to Dave trying to take more pictures of Karkat’s tiny bird form.

You decide to oblige Dave’s dumb idea to not tell anyone that you’ve found Karkat, if only because you kind of want to see June try to kill him. You spend the rest of your evening trying to work out how to feed Karkat’s core makeup, or whatever you want to call it. It’s hard to know exactly what makes him up as a person. Certainly you would say that you know Karkat quite well by now and you could describe him to others but how could you ever be objective enough to not put your own interpretation on things? You see Karkat as you see him, you’re sure that Dave and Sollux see him differently. Which of you would be right? Could any of you ever be?

At one point in the evening you sit down at your desk with Karkat using the top of your laptop screen as a perch.

“I should really catch you up on everything since you’ve been gone. I did get to watch some of what you were doing when you were away, my vision came back somewhat.” you tell him.

You cover your discovery of him being missing, the murder of Equius that set your mother off. You tell him about hearing him rickroll Cronus which makes Karkat hide his head under his wing in embarrassment. You explain about tracing your way back to Eridan although you go a little light on the details of just how much you threatened him and hurt him, that likely is not something that will fuel Karkat. He looks notably sad when you explain that Eridan is dead. As much as a hummingbird can look sad anyway.

“He sold you out, Karkat.” you point out a little offended on his behalf, but he still just seems sad.

“Still, after that a bunch of suspicious men in suits escorted us out of the…” you stop talking as Karkat peeps and chirps, fluttering his tiny wings so hard he nearly falls off of your laptop.

“I really wish you could talk, but… yes and no.” you say and indicate the left side of your laptop for ‘yes’ and the right for ‘no’.

“Have you seen those men in suits before?” you ask and Karkat immediately flutters over to the left side. He has.

“Do you think they’re suspicious too?” you ask and at this Karkat emphatically taps his beak on the left of the screen.

“I think they’re connected to some god, some weather god. Do you know anything about that?” you question him, eager for answers. Karkat just looks at you, his head tilted to the side and then flutters to the ‘no’ side. Your shoulders slump, you’d really been hoping for answers.

“Hey, Rose. Stop hogging my beloved bird boyfriend, benevolently bestow him upon your brother instead.” Dave says sticking his head around your doorway.

“Did you just start talking, realise you were doing alliteration and then just ran with it?” you ask Dave suspiciously.

“B...berhaps.” Dave answers.

“Berhaps.” you repeat.

There is a tiny tapping sound that turns out to be Karkat bonking his beak on the edge of your laptop. You assume that’s the closest he can get to facepalming without any palms. He shakes his head, squeaks at you and takes to the air in a blur of white wings. He flies off to Dave and makes an uncoordinated landing on his chest.

“Whoa, careful there. Huh, I guess hummingbird wings work a little differently to your angel wings. Probably takes some getting used to, right?” Dave says gently as he carefully holds Karkat up in his cupped palms.

You watch as Karkat makes tiny bird squeaks at Dave and the look of adoration and wonder on his face spreads a smile across your face. You know that what Sollux and Dave have is a relationship but it’s very much two players on the same team, they work together and look after each other. It’s sweet and nice for both of them. But both you and Dave have been quite sheltered through your lives, you couldn’t really bring people home and there was always the matter of your mother. Going off to college was the first time he had the freedom to get into anything else with anyone.

You’re happy it’s Karkat too, both of them deserve to be happy and it’s hilarious how simultaneously overjoyed and disbelieving they both are about the other being into them. Dave’s holding him up now and chattering away to him so blatantly smitten. You did have more questions for Karkat, more things to tell him, but you don’t have the heart to break up this little conversation.

All of you agree that Karkat shouldn’t be left alone in the evening. He’s having trouble perching on things for long periods of time so you’ve quickly knitted him a little nest out of yarn you found under your bed. You place it on your bedside table ready for Karkat to sleep there as you sleep in your bed.

Dave, however, feels that Karkat should sleep in his room seeing as he and Sollux are the ones “actually dating him”, which is absurd. He’s _a bird_ what difference does who he dates when he’s human shaped make?

You are not backing down.

Dave is not backing down.

Sollux is, and you quote “Switzerland in this, stop asking me”.

A compromise is found. You sleep in Dave’s room but closest to the bedside table and Karkat’s little knitted nest. Sollux lounges on top of a bookcase with his phone in the dark, the dim light from the screen and his eyes the only illumination in the room.

You’re used to hearing Sollux move around the house at night. Usually he sticks close to Dave but even when you were growing up Sollux would still sometimes come check on you. Which is to say that him moving around when you’re on the edge of sleep is not alarming at all and wouldn’t have stirred you up to wakefulness if you hadn’t heard him speak.

“Hey, wake up.” he says low and quiet. There’s a small hummingbird squeak.

“Shh. Look, I… you helped with me when I was stuck like this with your faith that I’d be strong and everything I’m made to be. So I’m going to return the favour, so we’re even.” Sollux says just above a whisper.

You keep your eyes shut and listen.

“It’s not that I didn’t think you’d make it, I know you were getting yourself out of danger long before my maker was even a thought in _his_ head, let alone me being around. It’s just Scratch can do things. You could have lost yourself, I could have lost you. Again.” Sollux whispers.

There’s a soft squeak and a flutter of feathers.

“No, don’t. Shut up. That’s not it, that’s not what I was saying. I. I don’t think you’re weak. I hate you, so obviously I don’t. But I wanted to protect you. I tried so much shit to get up there or get someone else up there for me because I couldn’t leave you like that. I know what it’s like being left at the mercy of some psychopath without any. I know how if you’re dealing with someone who’s creative that there’s no end to the shit they can put you through. And I- ugh, it hurt to think about you like that, I wanted to protect you even if you could have survived it or got out on your own because you’re not on your own. Because I hate you.” Sollux says that last part in a rush.

There’s a flutter of feathers and a breeze against your face.

“Really? Look, we’re even. You gave me faith, I give you protectiveness and… emotional vulnerability. Whatever that part of you is phrased as. We’re even. Don’t peck the horns. Get off you little- agh.” Sollux hisses and there’s another flutter of wings.

“There. We’re square. I think I’m coming out in hives from that.” Sollux mutters and you hear him bound away.

Yeah, Karkat. It’s not like he likes you or anything! You shouldn’t laugh at Sollux, he’ll know you’re awake if you do.

When you wake up you can’t see Sollux, but more alarmingly you can’t see Karkat.

“Dave, Dave, where’s Karkat?” you hiss, shaking your brother awake.

Dave groans and squints at you as he opens his eyes, reaching up to his headboard where his shades are hanging. He puts them on and sits up with a yawn.

“Wha?” he mumbles.

“Karkat. He’s not here.” you repeat. Dave looks around.

“Sollux ain’t either, but look.” Dave says, pointing up. You look up at the skylight and you can just see a sliver of Sollux sitting off to the side of it, his elbow, knee and tails just visible at the edge of the glass.

Dave climbs up there first with you second and pushes the skylight open.

“Sup?” Sollux asks, looking down at you.

“Where’s Karkat at?” Dave asks and Sollux points away from the house.

There’s a flash of white through the air and you gasp to see a white bird flapping through the air around your house, far bigger than a hummingbird.

“They’re awake!” Sollux shouts and the bird curves in the air, changing course towards you. As he gets closer you see he’s far bigger than yesterday. His all white wings flutter and spread out, slowing him down as he lands on Sollux’s knee.

“He’s… a little parrot?” you say in shock.

“A conure I think, like the green cheek ones but all white.” Dave says in wonder and reaches a finger out to gently stroke Karkat’s chest feathers. Karkat trills a little and turns his head to properly look at Dave.

“Oh… oh fuck he’s too cute. I can’t. I need to go get my phone and take a thousand pictures brb.” Dave gasps and ducks back into his room.

“So I guess what you fed him worked then.” you say innocently to Sollux, who freezes.

“Uh.” he says as Karkat looks up at him.

“The nectar? He’s a bigger bird now so I assume that’s progress.” you say lightly, but you know he’s wondering if you know somehow. Not that you’ll let him know.

“Right. Yeah.” Sollux says awkwardly.

Dave pops up again with his phone and starts immediately taking pictures with it. He encourages Karkat to spread a wing so he can photograph his flight feathers fully extended, he gets a picture of Karkat’s little bird feet, his face close up to the camera. He’s having a great time.

“Why is he not a hummingbird anymore though? You just became a progressively larger snake.” you ask.

“I’m not sure a giant hummingbird would work flight wise.” Dave points out.

“True. Plus angels always add extra steps and make things difficult.” Sollux says casually and pets Karkat’s back. Karkat promptly turns his head around and bites him. Sollux hisses and tries to pull his hand back only to find that Karkat isn’t letting go and is in fact hanging on with his beak and scrabbling for a hold with his feet too.

“Is this meant to hurt?” Sollux asks mockingly, though you can see he’s not a fan of the feeling.

Karkat opens his beak to squawk at Sollux and promptly loses his grip, falling off in a graceless flutter of feathers. Sollux, of course, laughs at him.

“C’mere.” Dave says and holds his hand out for Karkat to climb on. Karkat does and Dave pulls his hand up to his face and very tentatively strokes down Karkat’s back. He’s still a smaller bird but he’s not so terrifyingly fragile as he was when he was a hummingbird.

“Does this mean he’s just going to be a series of successively larger birds as he gets back his power before going back to normal?” you ask Sollux.

“That’d make sense.” he answers you although you suspect that he doesn’t know for sure.

“So… what? Conure to chicken to swan to… cassowary?” Dave wonders and scritches the feathers on Karkat’s cheek, making him tip his head to the side. His little birdy eyes shut in clear delight at the sensation.

“What’s a cassowary?” you ask.

“Basically a dinosaur.” Dave says, pauses for a moment and then gasps, “Wait does that mean he’s going to be a feathered dinosaur at the end!? That’d be so cool!”

“If he gets to be a dinosaur I’ll be seriously pissed.” Sollux says flatly and you believe him, his envy over the idea is palpable.

Dave ducks inside again and Karkat flutters off of his hand to land on the back of Dave’s computer chair. Dave pulls his wardrobe open and starts taking clothes from inside it, tossing them across the room to his bed.

“We should get ready and go see June, she’s going to flip!” Dave says eagerly.

Karkat looks at the clothes on the bed, then at Dave and promptly flies to and lands on the handle of Dave’s bedroom door. Unfortunately for him he doesn’t have anything near the weight required to move the handle.

“Is there any way I can talk you out of this incredibly dumb idea?” Sollux asks hopefully, leaning in through the window.

“Nope!” Dave answers him brightly and pulls his shirt off.

Karkat squawks and Dave seems to realise that just because he’s physically a bird right now doesn’t mean that said bird is not still Karkat and may have thoughts about a shirtless Dave Lalonde.

“Well I shall go get dressed as well. I’m sure you can be trusted in the rest of the house, Karkat. Maybe just stay away from Mom just in case.” you advise him. You hold your finger out to Karkat who happily hops up onto it. You open the door and let you and him both out at the same time.

Before you get to your room Karkat flies off with a birdy screech and you retire to your own bedroom to change. You brush your teeth, wash your face, dress warmly and meet Dave and Sollux downstairs. It takes you a moment to notice Karkat’s presence as he has decided to tuck himself in the neck of Dave’s hoodie and is just peeking out with his little bird feet holding onto the neck. It’s unfairly adorable and you take a picture.

The three of you let yourselves out of the front door, you assume that Dave or Sollux has already told your mother where you’re going, or at least that you are going out. She can always call you if there’s some problem.

“The field’s still pretty strong, Uber really can’t see us in this.” Dave sighs as he stares at his phone. You look up at the barrier around your home that is barely perceptible to the eye right now but very much in effect.

“Do we need to get an Uber?” you ask as a thought steals over you.

“If this is your way of asking me to teleport you there you can get lost. I’ve been all across the country in the last twenty four hours with you two, I’m not doing more.” Sollux grumbles.

“Aw, it’s ok.” Dave says sympathetically.

“I was actually thinking about that car you have stashed in your void. We could drive, couldn’t we?” you ask.

You and Dave don’t know how to drive but you assume that Sollux can if he has that car. He probably doesn’t have a license but that’s another issue.

“We… could. I don’t usually drive it or anything but I can.” Sollux says in obvious surprise, he clearly hadn’t even thought of it.

“Can we? That’d be so cool!” Dave says eagerly.

“Sure. We can do that.” Sollux says softly, aw, how sweet.

You keep your observations about the pair of them to yourself and lead your way through the woods and eventually down to the road. You don’t pay much attention to the chatter of the boys behind you, or the occasional bird noises that mix into that. Instead you’re very curious to see what’s going to happen when you get to June’s place.

When you reach the road you all look at Sollux expectantly. You’ve thought before that him taking things out of his void looks like a magic trick but you’re a little disappointed that this one seems to happen with nothing more than a blur of red and then suddenly a car where there was no car before. You were hoping for mind melting physics effects, not a cartoon smudge frame that was gone in an instant.

You watch in amusement as Sollux walks around the car to get in the passenger side, realises what he’s doing then slides over the hood of the car like he’d meant to do that the whole time.

Dave hops in the back and spreads his arms across the back of the seat once he’s buckled in, as if you and Sollux are nothing more than his chauffeurs. From the grin on his face you think that’s just the idea that he’s trying to get across too.

Sollux turns the key in the ignition and the car comes to life with a mechanical purr. The radio clicks on and you see that it’s set to 6.66 DM, instead of AM or FM. The last strains of some song are fading and a slightly slow and drawn out voice comes on.

“Hey there, welcome back. Got a song request vibe coming right from the blood pusher of our very own number two so I’ve got just the thing, even if it ain’t mine. Word.” the voice says lazily.

“Fuckin’ Cirava.” Sollux snorts in amusement and adjusts the seat, despite his words his expression is fond enough.

“Someone you know?” you ask.

“Mmm-hmm. Runs the station, takes psychic requests, sometimes does news.” Sollux answers distractedly as he fixes the rear view mirror. Clearly whoever drove this car last wasn’t him, interesting.

“Wait, he psychically knows what you want to play?” Dave asks eagerly.

“They know, yeah.” Sollux corrects him.

On the radio a song starts to play and a few seconds in it seems that Sollux recognises it and snorts in amusement.

_“This song goes out to my good friends_  
_Especially the ones I had before_  
_The Grammy Nominations of 2003_  
_And to all the girls from back in high school_  
_Who actually spoke to me even though I was a fat kid_  
_And a marching band geek”_

Sollux gets the car going with a quick check over his shoulder to be sure nothing is coming.

_“I hope this song finds you well_  
_And I hope that you're doing fucking swell_  
_I hope that you're back up_  
_If you've ever been down_  
_And I hope you got the fuck out of our hometown!”_

Sollux snickers to himself as you drive along.

“So how do you request something then?” Dave asks curiously.

“You just- ok if you want something specific you have to hold it clearly in your heart or whatever and Cirava can pick up on it. They won’t take every request of course and they kind of have to bias towards the more powerful-” Sollux starts.

“They said number two, is that you? You mentioned before there’s only one person who outranks you.” Dave interrupts.

“Yeah. Hopefully it stays that way.” Sollux adds that last part under his breath.

“So you specifically requested this?” you ask, seeing as Sollux has lost the thread of what he was talking about.

“Ah, no. So they tend to get a feel for the mood of the people who are listening and they know a lot about a lot of people. This is just them skimming off of my vibe of ‘fuck where I’m from I’m glad I’m not there and no one else should be either’, they’re just being funny.” Sollux explains.

“That’s so cool. Let me-” Dave starts and reaches forward. Karkat flutters out of Dave’s hoodie and onto the back of Sollux’s chair at the movement. Dave is reaching for the volume control but Sollux smacks his hand away.

“Hey, nope. If you’re not driving you don’t get to touch the dials. You wanna play with them then YOU drive, that’s the rules.” Sollux reprimands him.

_“You know I can't count how many times_  
_I've heard people say_  
_Heard people say_  
_Be proud of where you're from_  
_You're gonna put us on the map_  
_But where the Hell were you back in the day?_  
_Back in the day_  
_No one came to see us_  
_So we got the hell out of there_  
_So there_  
_You have it”_

“That’s so cool, also, ow.” Dave says and shakes his hand out.

“That didn’t hurt. Karkat- Karkat cut that out I’m driving.” Sollux says tightly and you look around to see that Karkat is climbing up Sollux’s hair with his beak and grabby little claws. Karkat, of course, does not stop until he’s happily situated between all of Sollux’s horns.

“You’re the worst.” Sollux informs Karkat who squawks back at him.

The song finishes up and the same voice as before comes back on.

“I…” Cirava hesitates, “have a song from the man at the top. Or for him anyway. For you, sir.”

They sound hesitant, surprised at the words they’re having to say. Nonetheless a song starts. This one you know, it’s ‘Sabotage’.

“Aw, hell yeah, Beastie Boys.” Dave says cheerfully.

“Hell is right.” Sollux says.

This song was requested by the only person more powerful than Sollux? Moreover Sollux seems neither surprised nor alarmed to hear that, which presumably means that he doesn’t have an antagonistic relationship with whoever his superior is. Interesting.

You start pulling close to June’s house and you can’t help but note that her road is unusually busy at the moment, leaving Sollux no choice but to parallel park to get a space. When Sollux bumps the car behind him it makes you jump, and when that car’s alarm goes off Karkat squawks and flaps about the car until he lands clumsily on your skirt.

“In fairness, I don’t have a license.” Sollux says with a wince as the alarm blares behind you. He straightens the car up, turns it off and hops out.

The other car is basically fine, Sollux just banged the bumpers together and set the alarm off.

Mr Egbert steps out of his house and you see his eyebrows raise in surprise as he sees you.

“Sorry, I set the alarm off on whoever’s car this is.” Sollux says before any of the rest of you can say anything.

“Ah. That’s one of my coworkers who owns that. We were having a little out of work social in the den, I’ll just get him.” Mr. Egbert says and nips back inside.

A few moments pass and Mr Egbert comes back to the door with an equally boring looking man in a white button up and a black tie. If he was wearing a jacket he’d look awfully like the men in suits that you’ve seen so much of. But perhaps you’re just reaching, a suit can just be a suit.

The man half jogs, half walks to his car and turns the alarm off and has a quick check that no damage has been done.

“Sorry about that.” Sollux apologises, not that he sounds massively sorry or sincere.

“Well that’s some of the surprise gone. Can we come in and see June? We’ve got a surprise!” Dave asks and gestures to Karkat who is now riding on your shoulder.

“Oh, well, she’s a little… under the weather at the moment.” Mr. Egbert says and the other businessman chuckles a little, though that seems an odd thing to laugh at.

“Can we come in and see her anyway?” you ask politely.

“If she’s sick then…” Sollux trails off, clearly hoping to leave.

“Dad?” a croaky voice comes from upstairs and Mr Egbert turns at the sound of it.

“It’s your friends, they’ve come to visit you. If you’re not feeling up to it-” Mr Egbert cuts off and you can just hear the edge of June’s voice from upstairs but you didn’t catch what she said. It must have been inviting you in because Mr Egbert steps aside and waves you into the house.

You and Dave head up the stairs with Sollux trailing behind you, when you glance back at him you see that he and Karkat are shooting each other evil looks. Boys.

June’s room is far from unfamiliar territory for you but it is surprisingly chilly, all of the windows are cracked open and there’s a fan blowing a stiff breeze through the room. June is sat on her bed in blue PJs with bunny rabbits on them, her undereyes are blue underneath with how pasty and clammy her skin looks and her hair is a bird’s nest. Speaking of birds, Karkat squeaks loudly and flaps his wings.

“Why do you-” June pauses and squints at Karkat.

“Can you guess who it issss?” Dave asks teasingly.

“Is that _Karkat_?! Is he- like Sollux was a snake?” June gasps and then looks sharply at Sollux who winces, one hand over his mouth.

“It is! He was a hummingbird yesterday, I have pictures.” Dave laughs.

“YOU GOT KARKAT BACK AND YOU DIDN’T TELL ME?!” June shouts, she looks at all of you accusingly.

“And _you_ of all people, I thought you’d tell me instead of keeping something like that secret!” June accuses Sollux, although why him you don’t know.

“For the record, I thought this was a bad idea.” Sollux says, taking his hand from his mouth to speak.

Interesting, she really didn’t already know. So whatever means she had of knowing Karkat’s species it didn’t give her knowledge of Karkat’s current location and state. Karkat jumps down to June’s knee and chirps at her, in the background some comedy movie runs a laugh track, somewhat discordant to the current vibe of the room.

“It’s pretty unbelievable though, isn’t it? Showing you Karkat’s current state is far easier and we headed down here as soon as we got up this morning.” you say diplomatically, smoothing out the situation.

“We didn’t tell anyone else before you either. We were going to tell you.” Dave says quietly, realising just how far off the mark his little joke has landed.

“I’ll do that now.” Sollux says quickly and hops up onto the windowsill and starts typing on his phone.

“I’m really glad you’re ok.” June says softly and strokes Karkat’s back ever so carefully.

Karkat chirps and bounces up and down on her knee. His birdy antics pull a smile onto June’s face no matter how annoyed she might be.

“Don’t take this the wrong way man but you look shit, what’s wrong?” Dave asks awkwardly.

“Just run down, you know, you go off away from home and do a lot of stuff and then when you stop or burn yourself out enough you get a little sick. Plus if I gotta be sick I’d rather it’s in close proximity to my dad’s chicken noodle soup, so, you know.” June answers with a shrug.

Dave sits down on June’s bed right by her and starts to apologise but you have other things on your mind. You don’t know what you’re looking for but you are looking for something suspicious. Your eyes drift outside to the lawn and June’s little balcony with her telescope on it. It’s funny, if she’d pointed it at the moon she could have been looking right at Karkat without knowing it.

Hm.

“Hey, June, did you see that big blue light that went up into the sky the other day?” you ask her suddenly. Karkat squawks and jumps up and down insistently on the bed, enlightening no one about anything.

“That ball lightning, weather balloon, northern lights whatever? No, I didn’t.” June shrugs.

“We should have told you he was back from the moon, I’m sorry.” Sollux interrupts.

“Well, I’m just glad he’s okay. Even if he is a… parrot? I assume that’s temporary.” June says and carefully reaches her hand over Karkat. Instead of letting him hop onto her finger she just picks him up whole, her hand wrapping around him and carefully lifting him up. Karkat’s tiny face looks as startled as it’s possible for a bird to look and his little bird feet are wrapped around June’s little finger.

June holds Karkat up to her face and looks closely at him.

“You know, maybe this isn’t because he got hurt like Sollux did. Maybe this was some curse, like a price to pay for escaping.” June says slowly.

“Wait, really?” Dave asks and looks at Sollux.

“It’d make sense, right? Karkat would be the one to pay some dumb price, right?” June asks, also looking at Sollux.

“Does Karkat do dumb and self-sacrificial things? Yes.” Sollux snorts.

“Maybe it’s a classic spell, the kind that true love’s kiss could break.” June says in wonder and looks at Dave.

“What?” Dave squeaks, his face going red.

This is one hundred percent bullshit.

You are one hundred percent in.

“That is a pretty classic spell condition for a reason. It appears all throughout history, an animal transformation broken by a gesture of love. Everything from regular animals to a rumoured cure for lycanthropy.” you agree, ignoring that said cure doesn’t work for that.

“It’d be the kind of shit Scratch would pull.” Sollux agrees oh so very sincerely. Far more sincere than he ever would if he genuinely agreed.

“See? You need to try it Dave, it could be Karkat’s only hope. You have to kiss the bird!” June insists and holds Karkat out to Dave.

Dave is oh so very red. He hesitates but you watch as he does indeed lean in and smooch Karkat’s little beak to a squeak of alarm.

Karkat remains a bird, of course he does. June carefully sets him down on the bedsheets.

“It didn’t…” Dave says, looking down at the stunned Karkat.

June leans in with a smile.

“Now we’re even.” June whispers, just loud enough for you to hear. Sollux must have heard too from how hard he’s cracking up. Dave is clearly mortified and June looks a lot brighter for being able to get up to some mischief, it is what she thrives on after all.

“That was incredibly entertaining, I’m going to go use your bathroom lest any of your other pranks make me laugh too hard.” you say deadpan and get up.

“That would be an inconvenience for me to clean.” June nods sincerely.

Leaving June’s room you go along the hall to near the top of the staircase where the bathroom is, but as you reach it you hear several voices from downstairs that make you pause. You weigh up your not desperately pressing need to use the bathroom against the value of potentially snooping and decide to snoop instead.

There’s several school pictures of June on the stairway wall that you pass as you descend, some that even include young teen versions of you and Dave. There’s one near the bottom of the four of you at June’s thirteenth birthday party, she’d taken you all to a laser quest and in the picture Sollux is still wearing Dave’s sunglasses. He had to or else he stood out clear as day in the dark room.

By the door there’s a rack of keys and a barometer on the wall, you also can’t help but note that there’s multiple jackets on the coat rack that look to be a few different sizes, along with a good number of hats. How many people did Mr. Egbert say that he had over?

You sneak along the room towards Mr. Egbert’s office, trying to keep light on your feet. The door is shut but as you get close you realise that the voices have more of a rhythmic nature to them and you’re pretty sure that they’re not speaking English either. Suddenly all of June’s jokes about her dad actually being the leader of some weird cult don’t seem so outlandish after all. He’s always had the vibe of a religious man and made offhanded comments to holy holidays that June had to be back for or vague mentions of church but you’d always put the rest down to June’s imagination. Not so much now.

The fear of being caught wells up in you and you back away from the door and hurry up the stairs, you slip into the bathroom, conscious of your excuse for leaving in the first place. Your thoughts race as you wash your hands. If this weird business cult is really connected to June’s dad then that means the god they’re praying to is the one you’ve seen statues of. What is going on?

Wait. Those times that June has known things that she shouldn’t, like Karkat’s status as an angel, is it possible that her father somehow managed to give her that information? But if that’s the case then how would he have done that and why wouldn’t Sollux have just said so? What’s going ON?!

You can’t let anyone know that you’re suspicious, not more than you already have. You can’t tell Dave because he’ll tell Sollux and Sollux is clearly involved. You certainly can’t ask June after what you’ve found out about her father. You’ll just have to work with Kanaya and maybe Terezi. You would say Jade as well but Jade is June’s roommate, they’re closer with each other than she is with you, her loyalties could well be more to June.

There is of course Karkat but as he presently can’t communicate in any useful way he’s off the table for the meantime. You just need to… to act like everything is fine. Play off your earlier worries at just infighting because of your stressed state. Then you can get to the bottom of this.

You hope.

When you get back you figure that Dave has about negotiated his way back into June’s good graces, judging by the Nic Cage movie that’s currently playing. Sollux has curled up at the foot of June’s bed next to Dave who is leaning against the wall with Karkat sat on his stomach. You take a seat next to June, moving her pillows out of the way and discover that the movie in question is National Treasure. You’ve seen it before, like you have most of this dumb man’s movies. You’re pretty sure that half of the reason that June likes them is how irritating Dave finds them.

You settle in but find yourself pulling your phone out before too long.

tentacleTherapist [TT] began trolling  grimAuxillatrix [GA]  
  
TT: Did Sollux tell you about Karkat?  
GA: Yes Although I Am Surprised That You Did Not Immediately Declare To Everyone That You Had Found Karkat When He Arrived  
TT: Well, I had my reasons for that. For one I wanted to see if June would somehow know already.  
GA: Are You Always This Suspicious Of Your Friends  
TT: My friends don’t usually give me this much cause for suspicion. We showed up at her house today and the same group of men who escorted us from the police station were here and I heard them chanting something in June’s father’s office.   
TT: She joked about her father being part of some cult before but now I’m pretty sure that she wasn’t just joking.  
GA: That Is Suspicious  
GA: But It Does Come After You Deciding To Not Tell Anyone About Karkat  
TT: Alright, fair. But my suspicions were proven correct.   
TT: I don’t know what’s going on here but it has some connection to that storm god, I know it does.   
GA: Much As I Should Disapprove Of This Suspicion I Feel It As Well  
GA: I Think I Will Continue To Look Into This God  
TT: I really do appreciate it.  
GA: Well You Are Welcome  
GA: How Is Karkat Doing Anyway  
TT: He’s currently a bird. He was a hummingbird yesterday and now he’s a small bird that I believe is in the parrot family.  
TT: He is unreasonably cute. Let me take a picture for you. 

You flip your phone over to the camera setting and lean up around June to take a picture. Dave now has Karkat laying on his back on Dave’s tummy and is gently petting Karkat’s chest feathers with his thumb as his little feet hold onto one of Dave’s other fingers. Karkat’s eyes are shut in delight and relaxation and it’s the single cutest thing you have ever seen. You snap the picture and send it to Kanaya immediately.

GA: Oh  
GA: My  
GA: I Have Been Alive For So Long But I Cannot Recall A Single More Adorable Thing I Have Seen Than That  
GA: I Did Not Even Know That Birds Could Rest On Their Backs Like That  
TT: I am never deleting this photograph. Ever.   
GA: Good  
GA: Do You Think That You Could Perhaps Take Measurements Of Karkats Body Or Send Me A Picture With Him Next To A Common Item For Scale  
TT: I could probably do the ‘to scale’ thing, but I have to ask why.  
GA: I Have A Desperate Need To Make A Tiny Bird Sweater  
TT: What a coincidence, I also have a desperate need for you to make a tiny bird sweater for him. I’ll take a reference photo or two as soon as I can find the chance and send you my address as well.   
GA: Fantastic I Await Your Response Eagerly  
  
grimAuxillatrix [GA] ceased trolling  tentacleTherapist [TT]

As you close the window on your phone you realise that you’re not the only one looking at it, June’s been peering over your shoulder and for a moment you’re worried about how much she may have seen.

“I want that picture.” she whispers to you. Oh, right, she must have just paid attention after you leant over her to take the picture of Karkat and Dave.

“I’ll send it.” you whisper back and quickly do just that.

“So you and her, huh? Been… talking, huh?” June asks with a wiggle of her eyebrows.

You make a noise that you hope suggests that it’s not a big deal and you don’t know where any of that is going anyway or if it is actually going anywhere. Besides which you need to talk to Karkat to see if he’s still hurt about Kanaya and her mother’s reaction to him before you can agree to even thinking about anything more than platonic with Kanaya. Out of solidarity of course.

Whether all that was communicated or not you don’t know.

The five of you breeze through a few Nic Cage movies with a June who’s looking much brighter and healthier than she was when you came in. Eventually you collectively decide to leave because there’s only so much Nic Cage anyone who isn’t June can take. You also realise that you could do with some groceries and now that you have a car at your disposal you ask Sollux to drive you all there.

This time Karkat is riding around on Sollux’s shoulder.

“It’s not going to rain, right?” Dave asks you as he peers at one of the shelves.

“Who knows?” you say flatly, with the weather as magically influenced as it seems to be these days it could rain fish for all you know.

“We could grill stuff outdoors, maybe see if Terezi wants to get all fiery on food.” Dave suggests.

“Hm, maybe.” you concede.

“Excuse me, sir, you can’t have a… a parrot in the store.” a woman says behind you. You turn around to see another shopper addressing Sollux who still has Karkat on his shoulder.

“He’s my seeing eye parrot.” Sollux says without missing a beat. Karkat squawks indignantly and bites Sollux’s earlobe.

“He is _terrible_ at his job.” Sollux adds brightly and walks off with no input from Karkat at all, leaving the baffled woman behind.

You and Dave look at each other and both crack up in silent laughter, alas, you’re the one that makes it audible first and it’s only because the woman looked at you as if you had any answers on the parrot matter.

Dave fetches things for the cart as you go across the store. Every now and then you run into Karkat and Sollux, usually when Sollux is taunting Karkat with a cartoon parrot on the box of something or the other. You actually take a moment to consider that perhaps Karkat’s bird form could use something a bit more substantial than nectar and so you pick up plenty of fresh fruit, vegetables and nuts.

You even manage to snap a picture of Karkat sat on your wrist as you hold a coke can in your hand, at a few different angles too. That’s sent off to Kanaya right away who should be able to extrapolate Karkat’s size from that.

Dinner ends up being an outdoor grill up just as Dave had wanted. Your mom enjoys the evening and Sollux spends a good deal of time putting out fires that Terezi starts. Karkat makes himself a little nest in Dave’s hair and only gets out at the tempting offer of cucumber slices. It’s a nice night and you go to bed prepared to sleep well now that you know Karkat is fine and nestled in Dave’s hoodie on his desk.

You sleep, and unfortunately, dream.

The whole dream has a quality to it that feels like you’re underwater, you walk without meaning to, almost as if you’re running on a track. The music in the air has the discordant sound of many tinny tunes playing at once and as you walk through the crowd it reminds you of circus music.

The lights around you are bright and blinding as you pass by various stalls, you don’t see the details of any of them until you come to a stop before one in particular. It reminds you of the build-a-bear workshop that you’ve seen in the closest mall to you.

The sign above the stall reads ‘Build-A-Boy’, an obvious play on the familiar shop. Inside there are two men working over a bench together, on which rests a large noodle limbed doll. The walls of the stall are lined with glittering thread in all colours, toy stuffing and jars with all sorts of things in them. There’s another doll splayed out over the counter but your eyes are stuck on the one in the bench.

You stare as the faceless men slide a large shard of black glass into the head of the doll and then click it closed, its face is hard plastic with its mouth stuck in a frozen rictus of amusement. It puts you in mind of ventriloquist dolls. Next the men move to the soft body of the large doll and lift its shirt up. The chest of the doll is open already with fluffy white stuffing poking out.

“Grab that.” one of the men instructs the other.

You stand and watch the second man walk to the counter, as he goes to reach for a jar he brushes the doll on the counter and the thing slides off onto your side.

“Oh, sorry miss. Could you pass me that? It’s a return, bad children don’t get to keep their toys.” the man says.

Mechanically you bend down and grab the doll.

It’s large, as big as you are and as you touch it you find that it's entirely fabric and incredibly soft, not like the stiff plastic of the other doll. As you look at the grey fabric of the doll you see that it’s worn, not in the sense that it’s damaged or defective but more like how a toy looks when a child has carried it everywhere for years and years. There are little tears here and there on the doll that have been carefully mended and the smile on its face is warm.

It has four shiny buttons for eyes in red and blue.

You pick the doll up and gently put it on the counter, only then realising that it has a huge rip in its side where white stuffing is spilling out alarmingly. You look up at the man, intending to ask what happened to the doll and if it’ll be fixed. Only as you look up you see the man pulling something horrible from a glass jar, something meaty. He turns to you, a dripping blue heart in his hand that twitches as it still beats.

You scream.

You scream so loud in fact that you wake yourself up, flailing around with your limbs tangled in your blankets.

You’re shaking all over, your skin cold with sweat and your adrenaline is so high that when Sollux opens your door you nearly jump out of your skin.

“Rose? What’s wrong?” he asks, peering around the door.

“Nothing, just-” you force down a wave of panic, “-just a nightmare.”

Sollux slips into your room, closing the door behind him and silently crosses the floor on bare feet. He perches on the edge of your bed and looks at you with concern, his smaller set of eyes just squinting open at you. The vision of button eyes floats up into your mind again and you shudder.

“Not a premonition or anything?” he asks.

“No, I’m pretty sure it was just a nightmare. All the usual marks of one. Gore that doesn’t really make sense, a setting that didn’t look like anything. It’s just my brain scaring itself I think.” you admit and give him a shaky smile.

“Things have been pretty stressful lately, makes sense that your mind is trying to react to it or something.” Sollux nods understandingly.

“Yeah, I’m probably just processing it.” you agree.

“Want me to stick around? I’m pretty sure Karkat was going to come in and see if you were okay but he can’t talk yet and also he doesn’t have thumbs to open doors, loser.” Sollux laughs meanly. You roll your eyes at their childish games of spite.

“I know you’re awake at night but I feel a little bad waking Karkat up, he was sleeping wasn’t he?” you ask and Sollux nods.

“Maybe he’s just attuned to you specifically.” Sollux says slyly.

“And why would that be?” you ask him, not in the mood to play games.

Sollux smiles at you as if you’re both in on some secret and leans a little closer to you.

“You know, because of your diamond.” he says surreptitiously.

Your tired brain hangs on that nonsensical sentence for a moment or two, it’s maybe a good thirty seconds before you remember that ‘diamond’ is a word that you’ve heard Sollux use to refer to Dave before. It’s the symbol of their relationship like the spade is for Sollux’s one with Karkat and heart is for everyone else’s regular relationships.

“Moirallegiance?” you ask and Sollux nods.

He thinks that you’re dating Karkat.

“Sollux. I’m gay, you know this.” you tell him with a groan.

“Tch, yeaaaah. For your concupiscent quadrants, obviously. Everyone knows how gay you are. In a thousand years people will be all ‘Sappho who?’ and instead you’ll be the reference.” Sollux says and flashes you a grin.

“And yet you’re saying I’m romantically involved with Karkat who is male.” you say as plainly as possible.

“Moirallegiance is a conciliatory relationship, not a concupiscent one. It’s different.” Sollux sighs.

“Do you know how language works, Sollux? Language works because we both agree that a sound or a symbol carries an agreed upon meaning, if you start just throwing other things in randomly you’re not communicating with language, you’re making noise and nothing more. I am a lesbian, attracted exclusively to women. Though gender is a nebulous thing and not everyone fits into a binary and so on I feel very confident in saying that I have no romantic nor sexual attraction to men, a group that Karkat and I both put him in. Moirallegiance is a romantic relationship, you’ve made that plain in all the years I’ve known you, therefore I do not see how it’s an exception to this rule.” you tell him sharply.

Sollux gestures vaguely with his hand and then sighs.

“Look, this works better in demonic. English isn’t really built for this so when I say romance and relationship it all ends up in the same word. Demons don’t really have orientations in the same way, gender and anatomy are both way more complex and way simpler for us. You just are what you are and what you want to be, you like who you like it’s just-” Sollux makes a frustrated noise and shakes his head.

“But you put things in English and it gets weird. I mean my body is how it’s supposed to be and yeah I can shapeshift it if I want but my default is technically closer to ‘female’ by human anatomy standards which is dumb because _I’m_ not-” Sollux groans.

“No, I get it. Demon anatomy doesn’t even fully correlate with human and with four quadrants and genders being as numerous as they are I can see why applying English language human orientations to demon concepts is perhaps unhelpful.” you agree.

“Right, but it’s not entirely wrong. There are still people you’re not going to be attracted to because they’re part of a certain group or whatever. For us it changes with quadrant too. Maybe you wouldn’t date someone pale because you’re not attracted to that but go flush instead and you are. Having different attractions for conciliatory and concupiscent is entirely normal for us.” Sollux goes on to explain.

“Because of it being sexual or not?” you ask.

“I don’t- you can be red or black with someone emotionally without ever fucking them. It’s not entirely like that.” Sollux says with a frown. This does sound complex.

“I’m not a demon, though.” you point out.

“No? Really?” Sollux gasps overdramatically and clutches a hand to his chest as if he might have a heart attack and die from shock. Naturally you pick up your pillow from behind you and smack him in the face with it, knocking Sollux flat on your bed.

You take your pillow back and glare at him for his sass but he just stays on his back looking up at the ceiling.

“Look, maybe I’m wrong but I don’t think I am.” Sollux says softly. “You’re really protective of him and I know you are with all of our friends but him especially. When something happens to Karkat, LIKE IT KEEPS DOING, it’s not just that you’re really motivated to get him back or whatever but you’re personally motivated to get revenge on whoever did it.” he says.

“Like you weren’t with Eridan.” you retort.

“I didn’t really care if he lived or died beyond the practical considerations of him ratting us out to anyone. I cared more about getting Karkat back from wherever he had been taken to. YOU cared about getting him back and making Eridan pay for it. You were outraged that he considered himself Karkat’s moirail.” Sollux points out.

“You thought that was ridiculous too!” you argue.

“Because it was, it was funny how wrong he was. You were livid.” Sollux counters.

“Oh come on! He claimed to be his moirail and he was nowhere to be found this whole time. Karkat was alone and that guy never showed up. He maimed a human and acted like it was nothing and seemed surprised that Karkat was horrified by that, he clearly didn’t know who Karkat really was at all!” you snap.

“Not like you.” Sollux says.

“Right! I mean-” you hesitate, Sollux grins.

“I’m not saying anything about it, it’s just you two clearly like each other. Maybe I’m seeing this as a demon but it looks to me like you two give each other advice more than friends would, you trust each other, you get angry at the thought that someone could claim to be that close to him. Again, it could be me seeing diamonds because I’m a demon but-” Sollux pauses, grimaces a little and goes on, “-but I’m not wrong. C’mon Rose I’m basically a genius and I know diamonds when I see them.”

“So modest.” you say dryly.

“False modesty is dumb as shit. I’m great and you’re the best seer there ever was, do YOU ever pretend to not be all that? No, it’s bullshit.” Sollux retorts.

You want to point out that you’re hardly a seer anymore but that’s been changing of late, hasn’t it? Sollux looks away from you and sits in silence for a moment and when he speaks next his voice is a little softer.

“You don’t have to stop calling yourself whatever you like. It doesn’t have to be a huge deal or something that you freak out over. Like you said English doesn’t always play nice with quadrant stuff. Just don’t insist I’m wrong because of it or whatever. It’s not part of human culture and Karkat might not remember anything about how it’s supposed to go but it’s still something he’s hardwired for as an angel. So just… think about it.” he says.

You’re not really sure what to say to that. The first thing that comes to you is to deny that you and Karkat are anything more than friends, your whole joke about him being your hypothetical husband is just a dumb joke. Besides which you’re not into men so it’s not possible. But… it’s not often that Sollux brings something like this up. You trust him and you’re close but you don’t have deep emotional talks about much beyond your mother, it’s got to be something exceptional for him to say all of this.

“I didn’t even come in here to say any of this, I only came to check on you to make sure you weren’t being murdered or anything.” Sollux mutters.

“I appreciate it.” you tell him and let him draw his own conclusions about what, specifically, you appreciate.

He looks at you for a moment and then nods. He stands up and leaves, closing your door gently. You settle back down into bed and if you dream after that it’s nothing you remember when you wake.

In the morning Karkat joins you for breakfast a good five minutes before Dave and Sollux come down, presumably Karkat excused himself from your brother getting dressed. In the time that he’s alone with you he sits on the kitchen counter as you cut up fruit for him and put some nuts in a bowl. It all seems very domestic in a way that leaves you a little paranoid when Sollux shows up, but your demon friend doesn’t comment.

“Did you think about it any more?” Dave asks and you’re completely at a loss as to what he means until Karkat chirps and you realise Dave was speaking to him.

“You’re ok with it?” Dave asks.

Karkat lowers the walnut he has held in his foot so that his foot is on the ground again and nods his whole head and upper body.

“What’re you two doing?” you ask curiously and pick up the small dish of fruit and nuts as you bring them to the table. Karkat transfers his bit of walnut to his beak and flutters over the distance so he’s with the rest of you.

“I wanted to take pictures of his wings and feathers and that, maybe try sketching them. I figured that maybe paying close attention to him and giving up time for him would be enough of a Karkat thing to feed him.” Dave answers you.

“Dedication, working for others and… yeah, that’s about right.” Sollux nods and then yawns.

“What’re you doing today, Rose?” Dave asks.

“Oh, I see how it is. Don’t ask my plans for the day.” Sollux gasps in mock offense.

“I know your plans for the day. Have secret conversations with other demons about important things and have a long nap in a choice sunbeam.” Dave says flatly and then telekinetically pulls a box of poptarts over to himself, making Karkat shriek in birdy alarm. Did he forget that Dave can do that?

“I’ve actually upgraded, now I have stressful conversations with other demons about things going wrong IN choice sunbeams.” Sollux says and sticks his tongue out.

“Well, now I know. Rose?” Dave says with an amused shake of his head.

“Oh. Research.” you say vaguely.

“Not, gasp, actual homework?” Dave says, actually saying the word ‘gasp’ instead of just doing it.

That provides a perfect cover for the illicit research you intend to do. Good cover story, Dave.

“If I must.” you say with a long suffering sigh. Perhaps between all of your research you could squeeze in some homework. Well, maybe.

You watch as Dave finishes up his poptarts and then holds his finger out to Karkat who carefully steps up onto it and then carries him off.

“You hear that?” Sollux asks with a yawn.

“Sunbeam calling you?” you guess.

“Good to know I’m not just hearing things.” he says with a nod and wanders off.

You have a few moments on your own before your phone pings, it’s Kanaya.

grimAuxillatrix [GA] began trolling  tentacleTherapist [TT]  
  
GA: Hello Rose I Just Wanted To Let You Know That I Am Back Home Now And I Have Put Karkats Sweater In The Mail For You  
GA: It Should Be There Today  
TT: Oh, wow, that was fast.   
GA: The Benefits Of Not Having To Sleep I Suppose  
TT: Our mail doesn’t arrive until after midday but as soon as it’s here I shall pick it up and get Karkat into it.  
GA: And Furnish Me With Pictures Of The Result Of Course  
TT: But of course.  
  
tentacleTherapist [TT] ceased trolling  grimAuxillatrix [GA]

Despite your insistence on homework as a cover it probably wouldn’t be a terrible idea to actually work on your projects for school, especially the one requiring a long term spell in Basilisk. You really ought to have done that one before now.

Armed with coffee you meander back to your room, pausing only at one of the shelves lined with nick nacks and various decorative items that your mother has acquired from who knows where. A snow globe stands out to you with a ballerina inexplicably dancing in the snow. On impulse you pick it up and head to your room. Setting both items on your desk you think for a moment and then cross the hall to Dave’s room.

Once inside you find Dave sat at his desk with Karkat perched atop his monitor with one white wing spread out.

“Sorry to intrude on your avian affections, do you have any more of that board that you set your Basilisk spell up on?” you ask, gesturing to his ticking pendulum which is set up above a board so that he can easily transport it while preserving the spell.

“Uh, yeah. Sollux cut it in half for me, he ran his spell in a sphere of glass because he can I guess. I think I kicked it under the bed.” Dave says and scoots his desk chair over to his bed, leaving his camera on the desk.

You sidle up to Dave’s desk as he rummages under his bed and take the chance to pet the tiny feathers on top of Karkat’s head.

“Got it, here ya go.” Dave says and shuffles back over to you, dragging his chair with him across the floor rather than getting up and moving it. He hands the square of sawed off plain wood to you and picks his camera up once more.

“Thank you, enjoy your photography.” you tell Dave with a wink, just because it’ll fluster him and that will forever be funny to you.

Returning to your room you set the slowglobe down on the board and draw a circle a little way out from it. It ought to be a good enough test to have your spell stir up the liquid in the snow globe, making the fake snow inside shift as proof.

You sit down and start writing out how you think the spell should go, focusing more on the language of what you want it to do before you fuss around with the part of your homework that’s asking you to use multiple sustained powers. You want it to agitate the liquid but you’re not silly enough to insist that it move only water because it’s likely not just water in there and even if it is it’s not going to be pure water. Simply stating that it’s the liquid you want to move and making no mention as to solids ought to suffice, according to what you’ve read it’s usually fine until you get into things like non-newtonian fluids. You make sure to define the area of the spell to the dimensions that you want, no need to go stirring up clouds or-

Well now, that’s a thought.

You quickly finish off the spell, powering it on sunlight and the perpetual darkness of the ocean. The regular pattern of night and day will suffice to show your ability to tether to a fluctuating power source and to use multiple tethers. Homework done. You activate the spell and watch the snow inside gently shift and swirl inside the snowglobe.

That’s not what you’re interested in though.

You take your eraser and take out the section for the tethers, with that cleared you grab your phone and look at the picture that Kanaya sent you, the one on the statues of that god. With care you copy the symbol down into the space where your tethers were, making sure to be as accurate as you can.

This is the symbol of a god, it has meaning. You touch your fingers once more to the edge of the circle and hold in your mind the idea of storms, of changing weather, rain and hail. You cling to your knowledge of the unexplained storms and you _believe_.

The spell catches.

You open your eyes to see the subtle shifting of water in the snowglobe, twisting the fake snow into whirls and eddies of white. Your jaw hangs open in shock. This is holy magic, holy magic which is powered by a god that shouldn’t exist anymore. All of the gods are gone, they’re not powering anything! Everything powered by a god broke after the event, but this god… this one works?

Desperately you scramble for your phone and start recording video of this. This is unbelievable, this god is still powering magic and he’s still around!

You stop the recording, erase the wavy sign of the storm god and write in Cthulhu’s name instead. You try to cast the spell again with all your faith in your dark patron god, but as has been the case ever since the event it’s useless.

tentacleTherapist [TT] began trolling  grimAuxillatrix [GA]  
  
TT: Kanaya, I have big news and I’m so shocked by it that I hardly know what to say.  
GA: What Is Wrong  
GA: Or Is Something Wrong   
GA: Is This Good News  
TT: I honestly don’t know if it’s good or if it’s bad.  
TT: Sorry, sorry, I’ll start at the beginning. I was doing my work for my Basilisk class, running long term spells on multiple sources.   
GA: Ah Yes I Remember Learning That But I Must Say That I Am Not The Biggest Fan Of That Language  
TT: Not the point, I made a spell to agitate a snowglobe I own and it worked.   
GA: Congratulations I Suppose But Is That So Shocking  
TT: No, not by itself, I am merely establishing that the spell worked.  
TT: I then erased the tethers that I had used and put in the symbol we took from the statues of that god and focused my mind on the storms we’ve seen lately, all of the unexplained ones.   
GA: But Holy Magic No Longer Works  
TT: Yeah that’s what I thought. But look at this.   
TT: [tentacleTherapist attached file ‘231.mov’]  
TT: Look at the symbol at the circle.  
GA: What  
TT: I know! Afterwards I erased it and tried the same again with Cthulhu instead and it didn’t work at all, the gods aren’t suddenly back but I think this one has been here this whole time!  
GA: I Dont Know What To Say About That  
GA: Its Incredible Of Course But I Would Hardly Describe Myself As Pro God So I Wouldnt Say That I Am Celebrating Here  
GA: But If You Are Right And There Is A God Wandering Around Then Surely People Need To Know  
TT: I think people do, or at least those people in suits did. One of them had the symbol on a lapel pin, remember? They’re clearly an organisation.  
TT: More than that I saw similar people worshiping and chanting together at June’s house.  
GA: You Think That June Is Involved In This  
TT: I don’t know. There’s so much that’s not adding up here and I don’t know what’s going on but I’m suspicious as all hell about it and on the case.  
TT: I don’t think that I want to tell people about this god, that would be showing my hand, wouldn’t it?  
TT: Better to know all that we can about him before we make any kind of move.  
GA: That Is Fair  
GA: Gods Can Be Capricious Fickle And Cruel  
TT: Not to intrude but do you want to talk about this? It seems like there’s something to these statements.   
GA: It Would Be Intruding And I Do Not Wish To Talk About It  
GA: Not To Be Impolite About It But Firm I Suppose  
TT: Oh. Well, of course you have every right to set boundaries and this sounds like a personal issue. But should you change your mind I am willing to listen.  
GA: I Appreciate The Gesture  
GA: Unfortunately I Must Go Now As My Mother Wants My Attention And I Am Trying To Convince Her To Stick Around Long Enough To Apologise To Karkat When He Comes Back To Town  
GA: Partially Because It Is The Polite Thing To Do And Also Because I Do Not Think That She Could Hold A Conversation Of Any Real Length With Karkat And Continue To Feel He Is A Threat To Me  
TT: That’s understandable. I would say that she should just call and talk to him but Karkat is tragically a small parrot at the moment and I would classify that as being somewhat of a communication barrier.  
GA: Quite  
GA: Do Send Me A Picture When You Get That Sweater  
TT: Of course!  
TT: Speak to you later then.  
GA: Until Then  
  
grimAuxillatrix [GA] ceased trolling  tentacleTherapist [TT]

You look back at your snowglobe experiment and narrow your eyes at it. Just to make sure that you’re not going crazy you erase Cthulhu’s details and set up that storm god symbol again. Once more you focus on storms and weather, the spell activates once more.

You stand and lean over the snowglobe, watching the flakes dance inside.

“I’m onto you.” you whisper to the snowglobe, which does nothing more than silently swirl. Because it is a snowglobe.

“I know you’re still around, weather god. You know what? Gods are just men and the more powerful they are the farther they have to fall and I’m going to…” you falter. Below you the water in your snowglobe is swirling and churning faster and faster. When you see the water in it start to bubble you back the hell up as quick as you can.

You get four steps back before the glass part of the snowglobe violently pops off from the base, sending steaming water down your desk and onto your floor. Your breath catches in your chest as you stare at the destroyed snowglobe, that… that can’t be good. Perhaps you should not taunt the god.

The sense of unease from your snowglobe incident does not leave you, even as you find a new one and set the experiment up as it should be for your class and leave it alone. You decide to track down Terezi, as far as you’re aware she has no particular allegiance to June. Though you would be hard pressed to describe her answers to your questions regarding the statue as ‘helpful’ she’s certainly not antagonistic to you.

Your search for Terezi leads you outside where she’s sat on a deck chair near last night’s grill and coal filled fire pit. She’s holding a lump of charcoal in her hand and eating it like an apple. You have no idea if that’s normal for dragons or not but you suspect that Terezi doesn’t abide by anyone’s conception of normal even if they are the same species as her.

“Hello Terezi, I had some questions.” you say as you approach her and take a seat on another deck chair so you’re facing her.

“That’s good. Question things.” the dragon nods sagely and keeps chewing.

“I assume you remember the statues and other paraphernalia in Sollux’s void, of that god. You said you knew who he was.” you say.

“Not a question.” Terezi points out.

“Fine. Who is he?” you ask.

Terezi shrugs one shoulder and chews a little more, when she talks her tongue is black.

“Who someone actually is is a pretty big question. The kind of thing only that person could tell you, I’m not really interested in that. It’s a boring question to me.” she answers you and takes another bite.

“It’s not boring to me.” you reason.

“So? Ask better questions.” Terezi says with her mouth full.

You grit your teeth, she’s not very helpful. But perhaps you can be smart about this.

“I have reason to believe that those statues and such represented a god. A god with a wavy kind of symbol. I just tested a spell and that spell worked, powered by a god. That shouldn’t be possible with the gods locked away in the moon and I tested with Cthulhu and it didn’t work, so I can only conclude that this god is roaming free. I want to know who he is so I can find out why he’s outside and the others are locked away.” you explain.

“That’s not a question and you’re still boring. Ask a good question.” the dragon groans.

“Fine! Did this god lock the others away and if so, why?” you snap at her.

Terezi rolls her whole head and tosses the chunk of charcoal in her mouth in one. She snaps it with her sharp teeth and swallows.

“You light-bound people, you just grab for knowledge like greedy little kids. Whether this deity did or didn’t do this is irrelevant, the answer won’t change anything for you. You just want to know because it sounds like the kind of things you should know or would be good to know. As for why it was done if it was done the answer would just be that how things are now is preferable to how they were before or were going to be, the same reason anyone does anything. Bad questions.” Terezi tuts.

You pause, immediately annoyed but then her words sink in.

“Things are different now to then.” you say slowly and Terezi tilts her head to look at you but remains silent.

“People don’t remember some things, the other gods are gone. Magic is different because of that, seers don’t work anymore.” you say slowly, if you list out the things that are different you can probably start to put together a motive.

“Don’t they?” Terezi asks.

“Well- human ones at least all have their sight gifted by a god, that’s where you get visions. I don’t know if it’s different for dragons. But with no gods no one’s been having visions.” you clarify.

Terezi looks at you.

“Or… I have. Karkat has. But he’s probably different with being an angel and I’ve seen through Cthulhu’s senses so that’s still the same.” you say.

“How do you know you’re seeing through him? What’s that like?” Terezi asks.

“It’s…” you struggle to put into words the way it feels when your patron gifts you knowledge, “it’s hard to describe. The slithering consuming madness, cold like the deep ocean and the gaps between stars, ever shifting and nebulous in terrifying form. Visions from him feel distinct.”

“So they all feel that way?” Terezi asks.

“Well they did. I’ve had a few lately that didn’t. A dream I shared with Karkat about the moon, but I think that was a memory and a prediction in one. I could see through his eyes on the moon as well. Was he gifting me vision?” you ask as the idea steals over you.

“Better question. I’m sure some angels can do that but not his kind. He can likely show you what he sees if you have a bond like blood with him, such as your dream, but not gifting visions like your tentacled tutor used to.” Terezi answers. So she will answer your questions, if they’re ones she likes.

You lean back in your chair a little and let the thoughts swirl around in your head like a sommelier sampling a wine.

“Where am I getting visions from?” you ask.

“Better question. Exclude the dream with the angel, think about it before asking me something. Don’t make it boring.” Terezi warns you.

“I… had my first vision of Karkat at home. It was daytime, I was tired from being awake all night. There was that mobile that my mother made, the one that was a focus. Filled with moonshine and a symbolic moon to guide my vision but… I suspect that didn’t magically gift me sight. Mother said that the conditions weren’t right for it before so I’m going to assume it was more of a signpost than the catalyst.” you say thoughtfully.

“I was asleep in the sunshine, I slept in the sunshine a lot. I wonder if the focus was powered by the sun. The visions seem tied to them and Sollux has alluded to my magic being ‘light’ oriented before by demon standards and your insult earlier indicated the same.” you go on.

You hesitate, you could ask if the focus had more to do with your visions than you thought but that feels like the wrong question. What deeper questions can you ask on this subject? She said Karkat wasn’t giving you the visions, it wasn’t Cthulhu, so what is it then?

“Was the time of day relevant? Or rather being in daylight?” you ask.

“At this stage, yes. Though perhaps by now not exclusively required.” Terezi nods. An interesting answer, it implies that at a later point it won’t be relevant.

So you needed to be asleep to see at the right time of day.

“What was in that drink Mom gave me?” you ask warily.

“Coke. And several five hour energy drinks, enough to disrupt your sleep.” Terezi grins sharply.

No wonder you were so antsy and couldn’t manage to drift off that night. No wonder that drink tasted so terrible!

“The goal was to make me sleep at that specific time rather than at night. So whatever is causing this is something she knows about.” you say, it’s not a question, it’s the only logical explanation for this situation.

Terezi looks away from you and picks up another lump of charcoal and turns it around in her hands a little.

“She knows things, just doesn’t know why she knows them or always understands them or… she’s fractured now. If you ask her she might not know, and even if she did she might not tell you anyway.” Terezi answers quietly and then bites into the charcoal.

You knew this already, of course.

“She must be very different from how she was when you knew her before all of this.” you say.

“Not really. She’s still Roxy. Still smart and cunning. It’s… a mirror’s still a mirror even if it gets a little shattered in the frame.” Terezi answers with a shrug.

That’s… nice. It’s nice that your mom can have a friend who still sees her as the same person.

“I do wonder sometimes if the reason she is the way she is now is in part because of me and Dave. There was some accident and then there was us. Pregnancy is hardly easy on the body anyway and people without Mom’s magical power end up with psychological fallout sometimes. Postpartum depression or psychosis, things like that. I wonder if it was us.” you admit. It’s not something you like to think about but it is a thought that comes to you at night when you can’t sleep, a little worry that you did this. That you ruined the greatest magical mind of a generation.

“There was no accident.” Terezi says bluntly.

“What?” you whisper as shock floods your system like ice.

“But it wasn’t anything you or Dave did either. Tell Roxy I’ll see her around.” Terezi says and stands up, she strides away from the deck chairs and with a ripple her form shifts until she’s a huge dragon again.

“Wait! I still had questions!” you shout, rushing after her.

Terezi’s giant head swings around towards you and her nostrils flare.

GO ON TH3N.

“I…” you hesitate. Make it a good question.

“This… deity that we were talking about. The one the statues were for. Is that the only god that avoided being locked away?” you ask.

The dragon’s mouth splits into a smile with sharp teeth the length of your forearm.

GOOD QU3ST1ON! NO, NOT TH3 ONLY ON3.

With that she takes to the sky with an almighty beat of her wings and flies off, no doubt to terrify a whole lot of people between here and wherever else she’s going.

There’s more than one god out here. You need to find out who they are and why they escaped.

It’s almost a laughable contrast. On the one side you’re discovering that there are other gods still around, but on the other you have to go to the mail and pick up a tiny bird sweater. Your life is very strange.

It’s quite a walk to your mailbox but you honestly welcome the chance to clear your head. You feel like you have too many ideas rattling around and they’ve not yet settled into their proper places, as if this whole thing is a jigsaw and you're earning the pieces back bit by bit. Kanaya’s package is in the post box just as you thought it would be. You feel somewhat bad for the days when the mail had to be sent between sorting offices by truck instead of teleported. Of course it’s still delivered by smaller trucks out to the individual mailboxes across town but it doesn’t have to travel so far by vehicle. Just thinking of all the traffic that might cause otherwise is enough to make you shudder.

Carefully cutting through the tape on the package you open it up on your walk back to the house. Inside the box is dark green tissue paper, expertly folded and neatly arranged. You have to crouch down and balance the box on your knees so that you can unwrap the prize inside. The teeny tiny bird sweater is of course sleeveless, what with Karkat’s present lack of arms. It affixes around the back with velcro and you’re utterly delighted to find that it has a hoodie pocket and a large hood as well!

You hurry back to the house and up the stairs to Dave’s room, when you get in there you find Dave gleefully photographing Karkat hanging from the string that moves his blinds. You’re not sure if he’s there deliberately or not but when he sees you he chirps happily and flaps his wings so he swings about merrily.

“Kanaya sent me something for Karkat.” you say and toss the outer packaging with your address on in Dave’s little wastepaper basket.

“Ah, I see. Rose and Kanaya sitting in a tree S-C-H-E-M-I-N-G.” Dave says without looking up from his camera.

You open the little box again and pull the tiny bird hoodie out. You hold it up so Dave can see and you know the very moment that he’s laid eyes on it from his delighted gasp. Karkat sees it and squawks, letting go of the cord for the blinds and flying off onto Dave’s record collection. Or at least the amount of his collection that he left behind when he moved to Salem.

“Karkat, we need to put you in this tiny hoodie as soon as is humanly possible!” Dave insists and takes it from your hand and hurries over to Karkat. Karkat flares his wings and hisses at Dave which isn’t something you knew he could do.

“Are you sure you don’t want to wear it, Karkat? Aren’t you aware of how very naked you are right now? Are you a tiny nudist, Karkat?” you ask teasingly and he shrieks at you in a way that makes you glad he doesn’t have his usual volume.

“No, wait, listen.” Dave says and kneels down by his record collection and whispers to Karkat for a minute.

“Kanaya’s gonna want you to send her pictures of this, right?” Dave asks, looking up from Karkat.

“She did make me promise to send her the results of her work on our lovely avian model here, yes.” you agree.

Dave grins and goes back to whispering to Karkat who waddles closer to Dave with obvious reluctance. Dave carefully puts the hoodie on Karkat, slipping the neck opening over him and when Karkat spreads his wings he fastens it neatly around his back with the velcro. Then at the very end he carefully pulls the large hood up over Karkat’s head.

It is the most adorable thing you have ever seen and you immediately take pictures for Kanaya and, of course, for yourself. Karkat shakes his head and manages to flick the hood back down. He takes an experimental flight around the room, just a lap or two, but it seems that Kanaya’s design doesn’t restrict him at all.

“You should probably show those to Kanaya.” Dave suggests and you happily go off to your room to do so. Surprisingly Karkat sits on your shoulder and goes with you. You sit down and open up your laptop, it’s easiest to just open the conversation on your phone by sending her several of the Karkat pictures. Karkat makes a low birdy grumble which isn’t a noise you knew birds could make but it very much fits Karkat’s present attitude. You close the message on your phone and turn to the laptop, waiting for Kanaya to respond, which she does almost instantly.

grimAuxillatrix [GA] began trolling  tentacleTherapist [TT]  
  
GA: That Is Delightful  
GA: Does It Fit Well  
TT: Yes, he can fly in it and everything! I’m really very impressed with your construction of it, have you made one before?  
GA: No I Have Not But I Found Patterns Online And I Am Very Familiar With Sewing  
TT: Well, consider me even more impressed.  
TT: It is really very adorable and Karkat must like it as well as he hasn’t undone it yet or demanded to be let free.   
TT: He’s right here with me and he’s not trying to destroy it or anything like that.   
GA: Oh He Is There With You Now  
TT: Right on my shoulder.  
GA: Can He Read As A Bird  
GA: I Know That Sounds Like A Strange Question But I Have No Idea How This Works  
TT: Honestly, neither do I. I think he can though, I’ll ask him. 

You look at Karkat, perched on your shoulder. It takes a moment to repress your reaction at how adorable a bird in a tiny hoodie is and move onto your question.

“Can you read?” you ask him.

Karkat bobs his head up and down in a clear ‘yes’. You consider this answer.

“Do you want me to tell her that you can read?” you ask and again get an affirmative answer.

TT: He can indeed read, I can only assume that his bird form doesn’t limit him in any way, which is good to know. We had assumed as much but still the reassurance is nice.   
GA: That Is Good  
GA: I Feel At A Loss For Where To Start  
GA: Is Karkat Aware That I Came Looking For Him  
TT: I did mention it as my explanation for why you were involved, yes.   
GA: Karkat I Am Very Sorry For How My Mother Reacted And For Not Reaching Out To You After That Sooner  
GA: We Dont Have Pleasant Experiences With Your Kind And We Assumed That You Having Not Told Me Meant That You Were Trying To Deceive Me To Harm Me

On your shoulder Karkat squawks and hops up and down.

TT: I would say he seems upset by that prospect. Karkat never had anything bad to say about you and he’s quite a sensitive person, I doubt he’d deliberately have deceived you for nefarious purposes.  
TT: And if he didn’t tell you what species he was it was likely for your protection or worry that something would go wrong.  
TT: Which it did.   
GA: I Am Sorry About That  
TT: [;’  
GA: I… What  
TT: Sorry, Karkat attempted to bite my ear. I assume for calling him sensitive.   
GA: Is He  
GA: Sensitive  
GA: About That Issue  
TT: Now he is squawking angrily, so I assume so.   
GA: I Am Very Sad That I Cannot See This In Person  
GA: Oh Dear I Feel Like I Have Just Made Excuses For What Me And My Mother Did Rather Than Really Saying Sorry

Karkat lets out a soft whistle and flutters down from your shoulder to the top of your screen. He turns around so he’s facing it and tries to peck at Kanaya’s green text.

“Look, how about we make this easier. We can do the yes and no thing from before? Yes here, no here.” you suggest and tap on the edges of the screen.

“Are you upset with Kanaya?” you ask and Karkat immediately hops over to the ‘no’ side.

TT: I’m doing a yes/no thing with Karkat since he can’t speak for himself in any way I can transcribe. I don’t speak albino conure.  
TT: Besides, I doubt ‘cheep, cheep, chirp, squawk’ would be especially meaningful for you.  
GA: Emotionally It Would Be But In Terms Of Understanding The Actual Context Of What He Is Saying Less So  
TT: Quite. I just asked him if he is upset with you and he said no. Do you have other yes/no formatted questions I can pass on to him?  
GA: Oh I See   
GA: Ah I Suppose You Could Ask Him If He Is Upset With My Mother As Well  
TT: He says no.  
GA: Does He Still Want To Work With Me  
TT: He hurried over to the yes section of my laptop screen so fast he nearly fell off. So, yes.  
GA: Oh Dear I Hope He Is Okay  
TT: Just his pride dented.  
GA: Did  
GA: Sorry I Meant To Delete That And Did Not Get All Of It  
TT: No, what question were you going to ask?  
GA: I Was Going To Ask If He Was Afraid  
GA: That Me Or My Mother Would Hurt Him

Karkat hesitates but he shifts into the no section of your screen. You suppose that in giving him a binary option you eradicated any chance for him to convey that he was a little frightened. Which, to be honest, given that you saw Kanaya threaten to cut an angel in half with an unholy chainsaw you think at least a little fear is the sensible reaction. Still, he likely doesn’t want to make Kanaya feel bad and you’re not here to editorialise his answers.

The thought occurs to you almost intrusively and it’s hard to shake, like a splinter under the skin. If you were a demon or an angel would this be pale? Helping your friend in a weakened state to communicate with someone he cares about?

You’re not thinking about it, you’re the president of the club of not thinking about it.

TT: He says no.  
TT: I did witness you threaten to chainsaw an angel though so perhaps he is just very trusting that you mean no harm to him in particular.  
TT: How would that have worked by the way?  
GA: Oh It Is Quite Silly  
TT: Do go on.  
GA: Well I Assume You Are Familiar With The Concept Of Holy Water In The Catholic Faith Although Many Other Religions Have Blessed Or Anointed Waters And Oils Etc  
TT: Yes, typically made holy by the practicing of some ritual, usually by someone granted that power by divine mandate by proxy from their organisation.  
TT: Although no one can make any anymore. I would have assumed that the same would be true of unholy equivalents.   
GA: Yes And No  
GA: I Am Unsure If Satanists Have The Structure In Their Organisation That Means You Have To Pass Certain Tests To Do It But Even If They Did You Are Correct In Saying That They Could Not Now  
GA: However Living Entities Of A Certain Faith Are Usually Imbued With Enough Holy Or Unholy Energy To Perform Such Miracles Be They Holy Or Unholy  
TT: Such as demons?  
GA: In This Case Yes And It Also Helps That The Reagents For This Particular Oil Are Laughably Easy To Find  
TT: Well you can’t say that and not tell me, I’ll die from curiosity. It killed the cat, Kanaya, who knows what it may do to me!  
GA: I Shall Spare You Such A Fate And Just Tell You  
GA: It Is Merely A Citrus Oil A Specific Kind But Not Hard To Find At All  
GA: Then You Just Require A Demon To Curse It For You  
GA: I Made A Bet With A Demon At Night Many Years Ago That I Could Sit Outside As The Sun Rose And Not Run Inside For Ten Straight Minutes If I Survived He Would Give Me A Lifetime Supply Of Unholy Oil  
GA: Of Course Were I A Regular Vampire I Would Be Dead By Then But Regardless I Won And Got My Oil Cursed  
TT: Ingenious. Was the demon in question annoyed about this?  
GA: Oh No He Seemed To Find It Quite Funny Actually And He Made It So The Jar Of The Stuff That I Have Refills Each Time I Close It Instead Of Overflowing And Drowning Me Or Something Sinister  
TT: That’s really cool. So you just grease your chainsaw with it and it’ll kill an angel?  
GA: That Is The Theory Though I Must Admit I Have Not Had The Chance To Test It Yet  
GA: But Based On What I Know I Feel Confident That It Would Or At The Very Least Destroy Their Body Buying Me Time To Get Away

A blur of wings startles you out of your conversation with Kanaya and you look around to see Karkat flying away and out of your room. You suppose that your conversation had drifted away from the topic of talking to her on Karkat’s behalf. Really the business of your conversation has passed and you could go, but you feel a little like you’d happily listen to Kanaya talk about wall paint.

Your crush might be a little embarrassing at this stage. Regardless you end up talking to Kanaya for… a while.

The next day you camp out on the sofa researching minor gods on your laptop, or at least you are until Dave comes down with Karkat sat on the top of his head as if Dave was his royal palanquin.

“Rose, where’d you put my board?” Dave asks.

You vaguely gesture to the high ceiling of the entryway where Unreal Air has since drifted. Dave looks up at it, tipping Karkat off of his head with an offended squawk.

“Sorry Karkat. How am I meant to get that down, Rose?” Dave asks you accusingly.

“You have a magic, flying, moirail.” you point out.

“He’s sleeping in the library I don’t want to- oh, ok.” Dave looks as Karkat takes off in the direction of the library.

“It’s amazing how Karkat still feels the urge to annoy Sollux even as a bird and moreover how he can do so without the power of speech.” you remark.

“Mmm. Maybe if I throw something at it?” Dave wonders.

“Don’t throw anything you’re not willing to see glitch through the building and possibly get stuck there.” you warn him.

“So, anything of yours then?” Dave retorts.

Your witty comeback is cut short by loud bird shrieks from the direction of the library, not unusual but the loud smash that follows it is. As is the way the bird noises immediately stop and Sollux starts shouting.

“Oh shit! Karkat!” Sollux shouts, his voice must be loud for you to hear it from here.

As one both you and Dave take off running for the library, Dave is a little ahead of you because he didn’t have to get a laptop off of his lap and get off of the sofa.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” Sollux shouts desperately.

You and Dave hurry through the door to see a smashed over bookcase that Sollux is desperately pawing through.

“What happened?” Dave asks a little breathlessly, it was quite the sprint.

“I- he woke me up. I was dreaming and I just lashed out and-” Sollux gestures helplessly at the bookcase.

“Did you hit Karkat THROUGH a bookcase?!” you demand, rushing over there and trying to find any sign of him.

“I didn’t mean to! I didn’t know it was him, I was having a nightmare and I just. I wouldn’t hurt him deliberately, not like-” Sollux stumbles over his words, pulling books out and tossing them behind him.

“There!” Dave exclaims, he jumps over you to the other side of the shattered bookshelf and lifts a book.

There’s a quiet caw and Dave picks up- whoa.

Not the small conure sized creature he was a moment before, but now a pure white parrot that’s easily the biggest you’ve ever seen. He looks as bewildered as the rest of you are and fluffs his feathers up and shakes himself off.

“Oh thank fuck, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to do that, I really didn’t.” Sollux says hurriedly, scrambling closer to Karkat and Dave.

“Are you okay?” you ask him and after a second Karkat nods his head.

Karkat jumps from Dave’s arm to land on Sollux’s shoulder, he’s big enough now that he really only needs to flap his wings once to cover that distance and even then not fully. Sollux cringes a little as if he expects that this will go badly but Karkat just nudges his head against Sollux’s cheek.

Sollux sits back a little and looks at Karkat in surprise. With his far bigger beak that could now certainly do some real damage Karkat leans over and gently nibbles the very tip of Sollux’s nose and then bumps his beak against it. Like a little bird kiss.

“Why did hitting him through a bookshelf help though?” you wonder. Surely that can’t be the recommended procedure for healing from this kind of thing. There’s no way the advice would have been to drop kick snake Sollux off of the roof to get him better right away so it can’t possibly be that this is good for Karkat.

“Maybe it was Sollux’s worry and remorse? Being able to admit you did something wrong? Something of that has got to be feeding Karkat.” Dave says with a shrug.

“What were you dreaming about? You don’t normally wake up like that.” Dave says gently and kneels down opposite him.

“Just-” Sollux hesitates, Karkat is preening his hair now.

“You’ve had a few since we started school actually, is it stress or…?” Dave goes on.

“Something like that. Bad memories. The usual nightmare fuel I’ve told you about before.” Sollux says, glossing over it. You assume because he’d rather not divulge that in front of you and Karkat, or at least in front of you.

“What kind of bird is Karkat now?” you wonder, trying to shift the topic a little.

“A white parrot maybe?” Dave suggests and reaches out to touch Karkat’s beak.

This seems to startle Karkat and out of nowhere a crest comes up on his head, you suppose that it doesn’t come from nowhere then but it was so flat before you didn’t see it. Underneath are bright yellow feathers that remind you of Karkat’s halo.

“I take that back, a cockatoo that’s like African Grey parrot sized. Somehow. Magical shenanigans I guess.” Dave says in shock, although you can already see him going for his phone to take pictures.

“You’re also more naked than you were before.” you point out.

“Do you need to say it like that?” Sollux groans.

“Yes. His sweater must have come off when he upgraded his form, I hope it didn’t rip but I’m also glad it didn’t strangle him.” you say.

“Well now I’m not worried about crushing my kismesis to death…” Sollux waves a hand at the books that suddenly clump together in a neat pile. You figure that if Karkat had still been in there that could have crushed him. As he sets the books down you spy the grey fabric of Karkat’s little sweater and pull it out. All of the velcro has popped open and there’s a few feathers stuck inside from it presumably popping off of his head as he got bigger. Although perhaps he doesn’t scale up like some terrible animorphs book cover, maybe it’s immediate and anything that would have restricted him is moved elsewhere. The only way you can find out is to get Kanaya to make another bigger bird sweater and then follow Karkat around constantly until he changes again.

Maybe that won’t happen, this could be his final form.

No, you don’t think this would be his final form, upon consideration.

As it happens your mother takes Karkat’s new form in stride. You’re not sure if she always understands that the bird in her house is Karkat and that there’s a reason for him getting bigger or if she doesn’t and just thinks that it’s perfectly normal for you and Dave to be owning increasingly larger birds. With your mother, who knows? Despite her rigid rules about guests in the house and what is and isn’t safe she’s a remarkably lax parent in other areas. One time she tried to buy you a pony because she somehow got the idea that you’d love it. She was all ready to set up stalls on the property and everything. You almost felt a little bad letting her down on that.

You keep researching storm gods even though you know you’re not supposed to, but you can’t just ignore something like this when you’ve seen what you’ve seen. It’s not right. So, you research. It’s not really getting you anywhere yet but it is meaning that you and Kanaya end up talking to each other at length which is… nice.

“Mom, what do you know about gods?” you ask as you sit on the kitchen counter looking at the tapestry photos on your phone. You’re waiting for the water to boil for your tea and trying to see if there’s any details you might have missed.

“Too much. They’re bad news and I’m glad they’re gone.” your mother says vehemently and shoves the dishwasher shut.

“But… let’s say you were trying to work out who a god was from an artifact. You don’t know where it came from, it just appeared so you’ve no one to ask about its origins. What would you do?” you ask.

“Not really my area of expertise, that was more my mentor’s deal.” your mom says with a frown.

“But you must have read plenty of his work, right? Humour me.” you ask.

“Look at the material used, the style it was made in, any symbols you find on it, any writing. That sort of stuff. Take it to an expert.” your mom shrugs and starts hand washing the few things that couldn’t go in the dishwasher.

“But if you only had photographs and not the artifact anymore? And how would you go about working out the symbols?” you press her.

“Then show the photographs. I’d say work out what the symbol looks like, some are pretty abstract but sun symbols look pretty identifiable, at the same time they’re unique to cultures and time periods too. Work out who used similar symbols for the same kind of stuff and when.” she says and sets a wine glass on the drying rack. Not that they’re ever used for wine anymore but you still keep them in the house. Sometimes Sollux pours mountain dew into them and drinks it that way for… comedic purposes you suppose?

You open your mouth to ask her where would be the best place to reference such symbols when you hear an improbably loud bird screech from outside that doesn’t sound like the kind of noise a parrot would make. Your mom’s head jerks up and she squints out of the window.

“Well, that just isn’t natural.” she sighs.

You try to peer out to see what she means but your view is slightly cut off. Instead you hop off of the counter and hurry outside. As you approach the source of the noise you see that Karkat is indeed no longer a cockatoo or a parrot but rather now a large pure white peacock.

“That’s so weird!” Dave says in utter delight.

“Not really, it’s closer to what he really looks like.” Sollux says flatly.

“What do youuuu oh.” you cut yourself off when you see it.

Karkat has his tail feathers fanned, which given that he’s been looking at Dave and Sollux you shan’t comment but you’re not surprised. What is surprising is that even though his feathers are white the pattern on his tail feathers are not. The regular pattern of peacock feathers is meant to mimic eyes, or so you read somewhere. This is not mimickry however. On the snowy white feathers are hundreds of little yellow and red eyes, but what’s more unnerving about them is that they move. The red pupils of the eyes shift inexplicably on the feathers as you come close.

“His real form is covered in eyes, that’s what he really looks like. It’s okay Karkat, don’t let their unrealistic beauty standards get to you.” Sollux grins.

Karkat makes a loud bird screech and tries to bite Sollux who quickly jumps behind Dave, presumably under the idea that Karkat won’t bite Dave. Which seems to be true but he can, you know, walk around him. Eventually Sollux just floats up in the air with a smug grin.

“Can’t get me now.” he taunts Karkat.

“Can peacocks fly?” you wonder. With Karkat’s current size it seems unlikely, but Karkat normally is far bigger than that and he can fly.

Dave scrambles out of the way and watches the ongoing experiment with you. It turns out that peacocks can sort of fly but not much or that far but by God spite and goading does a lot for their lift.

“What’s your bet for his next form?” you ask as Karkat chases Sollux around the grass.

“Emu, cassowary, ostrich, one of those. My question is does it stop there or do we get feathered dinosaur Karkat?” Dave says eagerly. You remember his younger teen obsession with dinosaurs, now it’s just spread to all remains of things but you suspect that dinosaurs still have a place in his weird heart.

You watch as the sunlight glints off of Karkat’s white feathers and an idea comes to you. Why spend all this time trying to research sources on this god when you are your own source? You bid Dave a quiet goodbye and head back up to your room. You lock the door and drag your mirror across the room so it reflects light from the skylight onto the bed. You go to your laptop and put on one of those stormy ambient playlists you settle down onto your bed and angle your head so that your face is pointing right at the sunshine, your eyes are awash with the warm glow of sunlight that even you can’t block out through your lids.

You listen to the rain from your laptop and count your own breaths as you slip into a meditative state, all the time keeping in mind the statue, the tapestry, the symbol, and the god. You breathe.

_You stand outside a stone building, the rain is pouring down but the moment seems glitchy and strange like it’s poorly buffering. A man flees outside with a tapestry in his hands, he is pursued by other men and several women. A blonde woman is trying to make peace but a red haired lady with her hair braided back elaborately makes a gesture at the man you know to be obscene._

_They’re arguing but about what is unclear, the tapestry seems to be a point of contention but you can understand that it’s symbolic for the real subject of their argument. The man with the tapestry holds it up and gestures to it angrily, his finger stabbing at the male figure woven there._

_You move around the crowd now able to see the other half of the tapestry. Opposite the man you’ve already seen is a woman in the same clothes with a smile on her face and a similar mask in her hand. The revellers continue in a circle around the two figures as Kanaya predicted, they’re drinking, laughing and one appears to be tripping another up._

_The other men and women are trying to get the tapestry back off of the man but he’s shaking his head and pointing angrily at them, you watch as he argues and then when he gets to one word everything glitches. Like a bad video game error his whole face becomes pixellated and weird for a second and then it’s back to normal._

_He grabs a knife from his belt and the crowd reacts in horror but they can’t stop him before he’s cut the tapestry in two, severing the two identically dressed figures. The man starts to chant a name as he backs away but whatever it is glitches and scratches over and over. Then, he flees._

_Everything shifts, you’re outside on a grassy mountainside with a younger Sollux. He looks the age he was when you first met him, his features softer and his height so much less. For the first time ever you’re taller than he is. He’s holding a slip of paper in his hand and frowning._

_“Oh come on, stupid… who builds a fucking temple all the way out here?” Sollux mutters and shoves the note back in his pocket before you can read it. You watch as he wanders about the mountainside kicking rocks and jumping up and down on things, occasionally pulling the note out quickly to check._

_You’re wondering what he’s doing until he steps back and the ground abruptly gives way under him, sending him toppling down with a shriek of alarm. Rushing after him you slide down what is an obviously carved tube in the ground and get into an underground cavern where Sollux is just rolling to his feet off of what appears to be a giant sized whoopee cushion that self inflates like some air mattresses you’ve seen before._

_Predictably Sollux looks incredibly unamused._

_“Okay, okay, what’s the list?” Sollux mumbles to himself as he pulls the paper out. This time you get a look at it and see that it's basically an itinerary of everything he had in his void from this god._

_You get a look at the statue before Sollux finds it but the face and the nameplate are as glitchy as the man’s face was._

_“Ooh, yeah that’s not gonna work.” Sollux mutters to himself and blasts the statue into the form you saw it in._

_He tucks it away in his void and time starts to go a little odd, like a timelapse movie you see him picking up some things in the place and leaving others, consulting his list as he does so. Clearly these pieces were taken for a reason but you don’t know what reason that might be._

_It slows down again as he lingers in the middle of the room, scanning down the list and nodding to himself as he goes._

_“Alright, no kill like overkill but ehhh.” Sollux mutters as he puts his hand in his chest and pulls out what looks like a giant bomb. Only this isn’t a bomb like you see in movies, not unless those movies are looney tunes movies. It’s basically a cartoon bomb._

_Sollux crouches down, touches a finger to it and waits to see the fuze hiss and then he’s out of there. Thankfully you’re pulled with him and you float invisibly in the air so you can see a massive crater blown out of the mountainside. Sollux whistles in awe as dirt and rocks rain down in a hole that’s now hundreds of metres deep and wide._

_There is… a rumble._

_You don’t place it right away, only looking when you see Sollux react. Snow is hurtling down one side of the mountain towards a small town below. Sollux flings a hand out and you watch as the avalanche slows down enough that it’s petered out into almost nothing by the time it gets to the town._

_Sollux sighs in relief and vanishes, as he does-_

-you awake.

Jerking up in bed you scramble for your laptop. You know the year you met Sollux, you search for ‘mountain explosion temple’ and narrow the results to that year. You don’t get anything for that search exactly but google removes the word temple and flashes up a news story.

Just the one.

Mount Kerling in Iceland exploded that year putting a sizeable crater in the side of it, luckily although the explosion caused a small avalanche no one in… how the hell do you say that? In Akureyri was hurt. The article seems to debate whether or not this was a volcanic event. Iceland is a pretty volcanic place but apparently that specific place was not supposed to be. Some seem to argue it was a gas explosion of some kind. Volcanologists argue for some weird volcano shit. A few witches put in the idea that it might be that some spell had malfunctioned as plenty of spells were doing at the time but it doesn’t look like anyone really concluded anything.

The pictures of the exploded mountainside are just as you remember them.

So, the question is why was Sollux spending the early days after the event stealing very specific artifacts from a temple and then blowing it up? It wasn’t like he sold them or gave them away, he just hung onto them for years. Why do that?

tentacleTherapist [TT] began trolling  grimAuxillatrix [GA]  
  
TT: Kanaya, I just had a vision. The artifacts came from a temple in Iceland. In Mount Kerling but Sollux took the things from a list he had and then blew the rest up with a comically shaped bomb.  
GA: Comically Shaped   
GA: Do You Mean Conically  
TT: No, I mean it was shaped like a bomb in a kids cartoon.   
GA: Hm Well Google Does Say That There Was An Explosion There  
GA: That Is Perplexing  
TT: Iceland is a little further out than I had considered but it’s still Europe so we were close. Of course it might not be where this god started but still.   
GA: I Am Not Going To Get Into The Political Nature Of What Is And Is Not Europe   
GA: Especially As Iceland Technically Is Part Of The Arctic Circle And Not Part Of Europe Or North America In Tectonic Terms  
GA: Whether They Participate In Eurovision Or Not Is Neither Here Nor There  
TT: I also saw the tapestry in full before it was cut in two. It showed a woman dressed the same way as the man.  
GA: The Exact Same Way  
TT: Yes.  
TT: What are you thinking?  
GA: It Could Be A Sister God Like A Twin Perhaps   
GA: One Would Expect A Wife Of A God To Be More Distinct In Form To Show They Are Different People   
GA: Alternatively You Could Be Dealing With A Shapeshifting God Like Loki  
TT: I suppose there are many gods that have multiple forms. The people in my vision seemed to be arguing about it and it was like there was one word I couldn’t hear. I wonder if it was the name of the god or something.  
GA: Perhaps  
GA: I Have Never Had Visions So I Am Afraid That I Do Not Really Know Enough To Comment There  
GA: But It Does Narrow Down The Field A Lot  
GA: And Also Widen It Up In Different Ways  
GA: Ah Research  
TT: Oh dear. Well I will keep looking as well.  
GA: Thank You  
GA: And Make Sure To Write Down What You Saw In The Document We Share While It Is Still Fresh In Your Mind  
TT: Good idea, thank you Kanaya.  
  
tentacleTherapist [TT] ceased trolling  grimAuxillatrix [GA]

You dive into research and you don’t come up for air for a very long time. You start narrowing your focus of gods to Iceland specifically which is a pain because you don’t speak the language at all so you have to rely on sources in English. When you’ve got nowhere with that you sidestep and take a look at gods with alternate genders throughout history. It’s a hard and frustrating field of study, partly because it’s often hard to know what people mean with their writing and art from so long ago.

There are tales of gods incarnating as a different gender to do something or another but it’s not clear if this is meant to be some disguise by looking like a completely different mortal or an expression of who they are. It also isn’t helpful when all of this is taken through the lens of historians at the time who often have a quite set view on these things. There have been plenty of obvious accounts of same sex attraction throughout history and yet so many historians and archeologists have been like ‘no it’s not gay they’re just friends’.

It’s hard to be clear. Even in visual representations it’s not always clear cut. In ancient Egyptian mythology Hapi was responsible for the flooding of the Nile and the carvings and paintings show female anatomy and male indicators like a beard. Are you to assume that Hapi took both male and female forms and this is a representation of that like the animal heads the gods are shown with? Or should you interpret this with a less binary view? As Sollux has pointed out demons hardly conform to ‘normal’ human standards so why should the gods?

It’s… complex.

It is also four am and you have a peacock sleeping at the foot of your bed so you should maybe just call it a night and go to sleep.

The next day you look more into Loki and end up in a discussion with Kanaya about Sollux’s possible motives for blowing up the temple. Destroying places of worship and the people who follow a particular god is an effective way of cutting the power of that god or even potentially eradicating them. Perhaps Sollux was attempting to do that. If this god escaped whatever happened to lock the others away then maybe he was finishing the job.

It doesn’t feel like it though and that’s not really the sort of thing you can see Sollux doing. Besides, he saved many of the statues and other items and seemed to be following instructions, if destruction was his goal he would just have blown everything up. Not to mention there was no one inside but him.

Something is going on here but you don’t know what. Also you’re more and more convinced that this storm god is involved with the clowns in Nara, what with the whoopie cushion in the temple. You try to explain this to Kanaya but she just asks you when the last time you slept was.

turntechGodhead [TG] began trolling  tentacleTherapist [TT]  
  
TG: this is the most calm i can imagine myself ever being when i send you this message but  
TG: rose there is an ostrich in our kitchen  
TT: Oh, has Karkat changed forms again then?  
TG: no rose i managed to get an entirely unrelated albino ostrich into our kitchen because why not  
TT: It does seem a little unlikely but not wholly impossible for you.  
TG: are you going to come pet karkat or not because he is giant and fluffy  
TT: I will be right down.  
  
tentacleTherapist [TT] ceased trolling  turntechGodhead [TG]

When you come downstairs you find an empty kitchen with an empty bottle of the nectar of the gods. You’re mildly tempted to see what happens if you drink it but it’s pretty much all gone and you’re not going to lick the thing. Bluh, you shudder to even think of it. The kitchen is also absent of dumb boys and dumb birds.

Taking a wild guess you go to the back door and find Dave leaning against the doorframe looking at his phone. Before you can ask where this promised ostrich-Kat is you see Sollux zoom by in the distance outside, chased by the largest bird you’ve ever seen.

“Apparently his eyeballs are larger than his brain.” Dave tells you without looking up.

“I’m sure Sollux would say that has always been the case.” you remark.

“They also can’t fly at all, which seems like a bit of a downgrade from the peacock form.” Dave adds.

“If he turns back from this he has to be going down in height, surely. Is this procedure working on body mass? Do ostriches even have hollow bones?” you ask.

“Oh, good question. Mmm, no, apparently they have regular non-hollow bones. He probably weighs more now than he normally does.” Dave says.

You watch as Karkat jumps to try to catch Sollux and misses, kicking up a huge spray of dirt as he lands.

“Almost certainly. I know he’s going to go back to normal soon but-” you pause. Karkat has stopped running.

“Wait, is he turning back? He’s only been an ostrich for, like, ten minutes!” Dave says in shock.

“Maybe he also realised that this form wasn’t needed?” you suggest.

Distantly you see Karkat’s all white feathers fluff up and his proportionally tiny wings flap about. Sollux draws closer in the air, seemingly wary that this might be a trap. Then, all at once, there’s an explosion of feathers and something hits the ground.

You and Dave run over and as you do you have the worrying thought that you’ve been teasing Karkat for being naked without his little bird sweater but now he’s going to be humanoid in shape. So… does that mean…?

Karkat flails upright out of the pile of ostrich feathers and you’re relieved to see that he’s dressed after all, but you’ve no idea what it is that he’s wearing. At first you’re put in mind of the suit you’ve seen Sollux wearing when he’s in his largest and most intimidating state, but this doesn’t cover his whole body. It seems to be a single black garment, reasonably tight to the skin that stops a little way under his underarms, like a strapless ballgown might. You can just see a red symbol on his chest peeking out over the red edged hem of his outfit at the top. Perplexingly he’s also wearing a cloak with a hood that’s currently pushed back and resting most impractically between his wings. His feet are encased in plain black boots and the whole look is thoroughly odd, but at least he’s not naked and at least he’s humanoid again!

“You’re back!” Sollux says in delight and throws himself at Karkat.

Karkat hits the ground with an ‘oof’ and smacks Sollux in the head with his wing on the way down, though who can tell if that was accidental or not?

“Hey, how’re you feeling?” Dave asks him gently. Karkat opens his mouth and screams a human sounding scream for the first time in a while, although it’s thankfully at human tolerable volumes.

“That’s fair.” Dave nods.

Sollux shifts back so he’s sitting on Karkat’s knees and with a little effort and leaning on one wing he pushes himself upright again.

“I’ve spent all week being a successive series of birds, I was on the moon, before that I was a prisoner in a nightmare void, then before that I was illegally arrested because my friend betrayed me and apparently he’s now dead! What the fuck?! What the fuck is how I’m doing!” Karkat says loudly and throws his hands in the air.

“We also got an awful lot of pictures of you.” you add helpfully.

Karkat groans, covers his face with his hands and falls back onto his back again. You look up at the darkening clouds above you in the sky and feel uncomfortably watched.


	26. I would

Your name is Karkat Vantas, a name that you can now finally say out loud. You don’t think you’ve ever appreciated not being a bird as much as you do right now. Think of all of those foolish hours that you weren’t grateful to not be a bird, what carefree halcyon days those were. Not like now, now you are filled with the crushing awareness that at any moment you could be hurt badly enough to be stuck as a bird again. The bird of damocles hanging above your head forever more.

“Are you just going to lay there dramatically in a pile of feathers for the rest of the day or do you have other plans?” Rose eventually asks you, leaning over you and blocking out your view of the grey clouds above you.

“Maybe that is my plan. Perhaps my plan is to lay here reasonably processing what happened to me in a way that could not possibly ever be described as dramatic!” you retort.

“You do everything dramatically.” Sollux snickers.

You push yourself up on your elbows and focus on pulling your wings back into wherever so they’re not dragging you down, with that done you lift one hand and point it right at Sollux with the appropriate amount of glare on your face. Which is to say a lot.

“Don’t think that my lack of beak will deter me from biting you.” you warn him.

Sollux’s expression shifts into something more… suggestive.

“No, stop that. Stop being into it, it’s not a threat if you’re into it.” you grumble.

“That’s his secret power to defuse all of your threats. Although maybe not, you’re pretty creative with those.” Dave says thoughtfully.

“Okay I want out of this conversation more than I want to appropriately and not at all dramatically express my feelings. Get off my legs.” you say and manage to pull one leg out from under Sollux and use it to shove him off of you.

“Also, what the fuck am I wearing?!” you demand, gesturing to your entire body.

Jesus Christ, this thing stops partway up your chest for no understandable reason at all. It’s not as if it’s to let your wings out, it’s higher than them. You also have a cape, what the fuck?

“Be glad you have clothes at all, I was slightly worried that the only clothes we’d have for you would be something of Dave’s or your bird sweater.” Rose remarks lightly.

You will not speak of the sweater. Honestly, the things you do to help your friend talk to her crush. If you weren’t already an angel you should be sainted for that.

“We should probably go inside and talk now that that’s a thing you can do.” Dave suggests.

“Yeah, okay. As long as your mom is going to be okay with me being there.” you say somewhat warily.

“She was perfectly fine with a sudden menagerie of birds in her house, I think she’d be cool with you as you are now.” Dave says with a shrug.

He leads you back towards the house, Rose goes along after glaring up at the sky for some reason. Sollux, however, lingers behind a little.

“Hey, uh.” he says quietly, making you pause.

You stop and look at him, he’s looking away even though his body is turned to face you.

“About the bookcase thing-” he starts.

“No, it’s fine. It was an accident and I woke you up anyway.” you assure him. You thought you’d made your opinions on his guilt perfectly clear before. He clearly hadn’t meant to hurt you and actually it worked out in your favour anyway.

“You should be able to wake me up without being afraid that I’m going to throw you through furniture.” Sollux says a little sharply.

You’re not afraid of him, he can’t think you are. Can he?

“I’m your kismesis, I know there’s a certain amount of hurt that goes into that because pitchness but I care about you and I’ve said this before but if someone cares about you they don’t do shit like that. It doesn’t matter if their motives are to make you better or whatever it’s not right!” Sollux snaps.

This isn’t about you. It’s very plainly not about you.

“You weren’t doing it because of any of that though, it was just an accident. I’m not saying I had it coming or it was my fault for waking you up. It was just a dumb accident and I’m fine now. No harm no foul, really.” you assure him.

Sollux nods a little numbly and then he freezes, his mouth ticking up in a smile.

“No harm no… fowl?” he asks with a dangerously wide grin.

“I-” oh, you wish you’d been able to study that recording of ‘I hate you’ in demonic more but you’re not quite there yet and you want it to be perfect. This would have been a great moment, though. Think of something else to say.

Your hand goes to the pocket that you don’t have and then to your wrist where your phone charm isn’t anymore.

“What?” Sollux asks, looking at you a little like you might have lost your mind.

“The police have my phone and laptop-” you start.

“We’ll replace anything.” Sollux assures you.

“That’s nice and starting to form a worrying pattern but I’m not concerned about that right now. I’m… trying to remember if I backed everything up recently.” you continue.

“Your emails will be, anything that you sent to anyone they can send you back and you’d be surprised what your browser history remembers. If you lose a few photos of things you ate or whatever then so what?” Sollux says with a shrug.

“It wasn’t that, it was a video and it’s important.” you tell him and regret it as Sollux perks up with interest.

“Of what?” he asks.

“It doesn’t matter now, I’ll get into my account and restore whatever and just hope it’s there.” you mutter and start walking towards the house again.

“Hey, no, what was it?” Sollux prods at you, if only you’d kept your mouth shut because you’re absolutely not telling him about the video of you speaking in demonic. Not yet anyway.

“Not telling you.” you sigh.

“You could tell me.” Sollux points out, following you closely.

“I could. I won’t.” you say back and open the door.

“I can drive you crazy until you tell me. You wouldn’t believe how irritating I can be.” Sollux says and shoves the door shut.

“I absolutely believe you, but still no.” you say and pull on the door.

Sollux isn’t letting this, or the door, go. The pair of you go through another few rounds of ‘tell me’ and ‘no’ before you finally come out with something that you think will get you somewhere.

“I’m going to erase all of your video game saves.” you threaten. Sollux looks suitably horrified at that prospect and you take the chance to wrench the door open and march back into the house.

Rose and Dave are already in the main room on the sofa, you guess they didn’t need to stand outside waiting for you. In fairness Sollux had started with a sincere thought that really did benefit from being expressed in private but he then went on and was an asshat, like normal. You take a seat on the sofa and Sollux sits on the raised fireplace in the middle of the room, uncaring about his tails occasionally swiping through the flames.

“So you got kidnapped.” Dave starts.

“Again.” Rose adds.

“At this point I’m starting to think the universe has it out for me.” you sigh in agreement.

“You remember the things I told you before when you were a bird? Or should we just start at the beginning again?” Rose asks.

“No, I remember.” you answer her. Now that you’re sat down everything feels so heavy, your limbs weigh down into the sofa and the gravity of everything that’s happened to you recently drags you deeper into the furniture. Even trying to put it in order by starting at the beginning hurts. You start with Eridan and he…

“Eridan. Is he really dead? I mean- I’m not saying I think you were lying or anything Rose but I just can’t wrap my mind around it.” you ask her. You hope that Sollux will explain something like, no he’s not dead, he’s just… what? Gone somewhere?

“He’s dead and I won’t be shedding a tear over it.” Rose says, her voice like steel.

“I might, I’m kind of responsible seeing as I launched a skateboard through his maker’s chest and killed them both.” Dave says quietly.

“You didn’t know and it was an accident. Even Eridan didn’t know that’d take him out too.” Sollux reassures him.

“But he’s really, really dead?” you ask again.

“Karkat! He betrayed you, he sold you out to his maker!” Rose protests.

“I know but… we don’t know what he was compelled to do or not and I can’t ask him now. We were friends, or I thought we were, at least until he made things weird and acted like an asshole.” you tell her. He was always nice to you before, you enjoyed his company even if he could be a little annoying sometimes but who isn’t? You understand why he didn’t tell you what he was, after all you didn’t tell him either. The idea of him hurting that man still makes you angry and you intend to find out how he’s doing as soon as you can. Still, it seemed like an exceptional circumstance, you don’t think he goes around acting like that all the time, did he really deserve to die for that?

Something of your feelings must show on your face because Rose’s expression continues to sour.

“I’m going to go tell mother that you’re your usual self again instead of a bird.” Rose says and leaves before you can say anything.

“I… think I should go damage control that impending disaster, brb.” Dave says and hurries after her.

You watch the both of them leave, Dave walking quickly to catch up with his twin who you know all too well can really cover ground fast with an angry stride. You know you should be pissed at Eridan, livid at him betraying you but you feel emotionally tapped out. All you can muster is sadness.

“She’ll cool off. Here.” Sollux says quietly and hands you a strip of paper.

“Wait, is this Eridan?” you ask in surprise.

“Yeah, or what’s left of him. I don’t know what angels do with dead angels, demons just burn what’s left so I didn’t think about it when we left Kankri to go up with the fire in his apartment. Though I guess it’s not like you remember either. Whatever, it’s your choice what you want to do with him.” Sollux shrugs.

You look down at the folded strip of paper in your hands. You could open it maybe but you don’t know what that’d risk. Besides, seeing the core of Eridan like that feels way too personal.

“How come you’re not mad?” you ask as you look up at Sollux who is just watching you calmly.

Sollux does a kind of half shrug again with just one shoulder which tells you absolutely nothing. Thankfully he elaborates.

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a fan of the guy and I’m sure as shit not sad that he’s dead. I’m pissed that he stabbed you in the back like that but given that he’s dead and used his last breath to ask me to apologise to you I’m kind of neutral on the subject. Besides, I know what you’re like.” he says.

Eridan’s dying words were an apology to you? Oh, yeah, now you’re REALLY just sad about this whole thing. There’s something else though.

“What? You ‘know what I’m like’? What’s that supposed to mean, huh?” you ask him skeptically.

Sollux sighs and rolls his eyes.

“I know you. I don’t know him but I can see just how that played out. You two were friends before, he thought you were moirail close which you weren’t. That tells me that you were always nice to him because of what you’re like with people, so you were at least friends. You also have this horrible habit of forgiving people who don’t deserve it and entirely overlooking signs of danger, I’d bet anything you’ve forgiven him for stuff in the past so I’m not surprised that you’re not holding a grudge now. You’d forgive someone if they stabbed you.” Sollux snorts.

You’re about to protest when you remember that one dream you had after halloween. You’d put it down as a guilt thing but now you’re not so sure.

“I think… I think I remember something about that.” you say slowly.

“About Eridan?” Sollux asks, obviously surprised.

“No. I thought it was just a dream- I mean I was dreaming but I think it might have been a memory.” you tell him.

“Go on.” Sollux prompts you.

“I was walking along a road by the woods one night, it was completely dark-” you begin.

“If this is going to end up with Shia LaBeouf then it was a dream from a song, especially if he’s a cannibal.” Sollux interrupts you with an irritating grin.

“No, it wasn’t. I wish I could revoke your talking privileges sometimes. I was walking along looking for someone and I came across this car, this sort of red muscle car, like from classic era American movies. Only no one was in it and clearly whoever had been had left in a hurry, so I went down into the woods looking for… whoever I was looking for and then you were there. Ominously waiting all crouched and glowing in the dark and then you stabbed me through the chest. This was right after we’d kissed at Halloween and it had gone oh so well so I thought it was guilt but I’m not sure. Was it?” you ask.

Sollux looks away from you, his face a little uncomfortable.

“Like I said, you give people way too many chances when they’ve shown you that they mean you harm. I can’t really complain about Eridan when I benefited from that trait of yours too.” he says quietly.

“So it wasn’t a dream?” you ask in surprise.

“Nope. First time we met.” Sollux says and looks at you again, you think he might look just a little sentimental.

“Why did you attack me? Or- ah, I guess it was the angel thing, right? You thought I was there to hurt you or smite you.” you guess, he nods.

“I can’t really blame you.” you shrug, your side aren’t strictly the ‘good guys’ are they?

“I stabbed you in the chest. Yeah I was doing it to protect me and my maker because your side is dangerous but you got your body destroyed and was like ‘hurrrr i guess I’ll just keep doing this’ even though it KEPT happening. You’re an idiot with no sense of self preservation with people!” Sollux accuses you.

You stand up and lean towards Sollux with a smile, kind of backing him into the fireplace a little, not that it’s of any harm to either of you.

“I think that kind of worked out for both of us though, right?” you point out.

“You have poor judgement and terrible taste.” Sollux mutters, looking away.

You take the chance to kiss him on the cheek, delighting in the startled squawk of indignation. Dave comes in the room again just as you’re sitting down once more, having properly ruffled Sollux.

“I am not getting in the middle of that.” Dave says and hurries back towards you.

“Me and him?” Sollux asks in surprise.

“No, Mom and Rose. Rose is pissy and ended up picking a fight with Mom just to have someone to argue with and nope, nope, hashtag NOEP.” Dave says, you can hear him misspelling it ironically. Dave jumps over the back of the sofa and sits down next to you.

“Is she mad at me?” you ask, with worry building in your gut.

“Nah, I think she’s just pissed that you’re not as angry at him as she is because if she’s angrier then it… I don’t know, says bad things?” Dave shrugs.

“Oh, it says something alright.” Sollux mutters but he doesn’t seem inclined to explain what he means. At least Dave seems just as lost, that makes you feel a little less dumb at least.

“So, you were on the moon then? Rose said that she was sneaking in on your vision up there every now and again. What was that like?” Dave asks, moving on from whatever Sollux was alluding to.

“Well I wasn’t aware that she was doing that at the time, so that’s a little disconcerting. She did tell me what she saw when I was a bird so I know she didn’t see me doing anything weird like having a shower up there or whatever.” you say. Honestly the idea that Rose could be watching you at any time is a little weird but you know she wouldn’t go looking if you hadn’t been literally kidnapped, your privacy is pretty safe.

“The idea of someone watching me without me knowing is just…” Dave shudders visibly and Sollux’s expression morphs into one of concern.

“But, uh, I guess you’re the only person who’s ever showered on the moon!” Dave says quickly in an effort to distract himself.

“Pretty sure the astronauts at least were doing that, and Damara.” you point out. You’re not sure about Scratch or The Felt, you’re not sure how physically real any of them are. You’d also sooner not picture any of them naked in the shower, although now that you think that the image of Scratch with a shower cap over part of his cueball head is an image that’s going to be stuck in your brain for the rest of eternity.

“So aside from moon showers, that sounds like a euphemism but I’m not sure what for, what was the moon like?” Dave rambles towards something approximating a question once more.

“Confusingly green.” you answer.

“That’s just his domain, the actual moon itself is just normal moon colour.” Sollux says casually as if this is something everyone should know.

“It wasn’t fun. I’m not going back if I can help it.” you say, at a loss for what else to tell Dave.

“Gonna leave a bad yelp review? Zero out of five stars, staff were rude and although I stole the complimentary astronauts I would not return?” Dave suggests.

“Let’s maybe not tip the government off that you were the one who brought them back, yeah?” Sollux sighs.

“You didn’t have to do that to them, you know. They weren’t going to tell anyone after I rescued them.” you say with a frown.

“Oh yeah, those government military officers when recovered won’t say a thing about you. Suuure. Dumbass. You’re WELCOME.” Sollux snorts. You shake your head, he’s impossible.

“What did the guy even want with you? No offense. That sounded weirdly demeaning which isn’t what I was going for.” Dave says.

“He was talking about some demon clown that he says I should stay away from. Although I’m not sure I trust him and Damara said to do the opposite and kill the guy to free her.” you tell him.

“Wait, wait, what? Demon clown? Rose didn’t mention that.” Sollux says looking more than a little alarmed.

“Yes, and demon clown is the worst two word phrase I think.” you agree.

“Yeah it’s… it’s something alright.” Sollux says, his voice going a little higher and tighter.

“Are you ok?” Dave asks warily.

“Yeah, yeah, for sure. I need to go.” Sollux squeaks and vanishes.

“That’s concerning.” Dave says after a moment.

“Really? What ever could be concerning about that? I entirely bought his statement that nothing at all was wrong and I am one hundred percent reassured. The only way I could be more laid back about this statement is if someone snapped my spine over their knee and I was forced to recover in bed for a year.” you say flatly.

“I am as sold on this legitimate product as that dude who bought that fake bridge was. Just handing over money for sweet fuck all, that’s how convinced I am.” Dave agrees.

You slump down a little further on the sofa morosely, pulling your stupid booted feet up onto the sofa and then realising that you’re being rude so you take them down.

“I need to get some new goddamn clothes, I look like a particularly niche stripper turned superhero.” you complain and gesture to your entire getup.

“I don’t know, I think skintight, strapless, black, whatever material that is actually looks pretty cool on you.” Dave says in what you think passes for seductive with him.

“I think you need your eyes tested is what I think.” you mutter.

Dave slides his shades down his nose and looks at you over the top of them and damn do you hate that him doing that makes your pulse leap. That’s the thing, he does seem to actually be into you for some unknown reason. He’s legitimately not lying. Hell, you’ve kissed him on this couch before.

...You really shouldn’t have thought of that.

“I have no idea what you see in me.” you admit, not looking at Dave but at your knees.

“Karkat…” Dave says quietly, almost concerned in his tone.

“I don’t. I’m this weird supernatural disaster from a species that isn’t great and I keep getting into trouble and just spent a week as a bird. Now I’m like this and-” you flail your hands around as a general expression of your entire being.

“HMMM.” Dave hums in what you can tell without even looking at him is faux thoughtfulness. He taps you on the shoulder and you look around only for him to kiss you before you can react.

He pulls back before you can even think to do anything and then smiles at you.

“I like you plenty. And I’m real glad that you’re back and safe now. Okay?” Dave says in a low voice that means you only process the way he sounds and not a damn thing he said.

You could ask him to say whatever he just said again but you are dating him, an example of shockingly poor judgement on his part, so you can just kiss him instead. You kiss him because he’s so genuinely lovely, because he carried you around when you were a bird and still talked to you, because he kept looking for you, you like him so badly. The thing is that when you kiss him and he kisses you back, his hand in your stupid cape thing and yours just touching his fluffy white hair with your fingertips as the rest of your hand holds the side of your face it feels like you’ve done this so many times. Like it’s not whatever number kiss this really is since you got together, instead it feels like the thousandth. How you’re able to tilt your head just so and fit together perfectly.

This is entirely inappropriate for how the two of you are just out on his sofa in the middle of a public room in his MOTHER’S HOUSE but still your hand is slipping up the inside of his shirt anyway. His skin is so soft and warm and for some reason you’re allowed to find that out. Your hand moves to his hip and pauses there for a moment as Dave shuffles himself closer to you, nearly climbing into your lap in the process. As you kiss him you let your hand move again and pay attention to the details, the curve in and out from his hip to ribs, more pronounced than you might have expected but still wonderfully available for you to run your hand over.

You count his ribs as you move up, not that they’re super pronounced or anything, you’re just being diligent. Thorough. Something, something, excuse to have your hand up your boyfriend’s shirt. You go over the first and shift to kiss the corner of his mouth, with the second you change your path to his jaw. The third and fourth get you to Dave’s neck and and a particularly wonderful whisper of your name. You go up again and Dave’s hands tighten on your stupid cloak thing, when you hit six Dave decides that he’s going to participate in the kissing process once more. Also there’s his arm in the way now, also you’re way more invested in feeling up parts of Dave that you are interested in and not, you know, his armpit.

Dave has plastered himself to you and seems to be contemplating the benefits of just straight up getting into your lap, something you’re all for to be honest. At least until a door bangs and Dave launches himself away from you onto the sofa, pulling his phone out at a speed that is so quick it’s blink and you’ll miss it speed.

Roxy storms past both of you angrily, entirely oblivious to what the two of you had been doing mere moments before. After that Rose stomps up the stairs equally irate and it’s only when they’ve both gone that you and Dave dare to look at each other and immediately start giggling in sheer dumb relief at not getting caught.

You swear that the pair of you are so dumb, especially around each other, in fact your proximity to one another makes you both progressively dumber. As much as you’d like to give Rose shit for her obvious thing for Kanaya and how flustered she gets over her you know you’re just as bad.

Dave takes you back to his room and you end up talking about your Basilisk homework and he shows you his, a ticking pseudo clock thing. What’s really neat is that he’s tethered it to the concept of time, obviously something that lends itself well to a pendulum. You’ve been habitually sticking to storms just because it’s the first thing that you got to work and you’ve had experience seeing their power.

“I use time a lot because it’s everywhere, universal, you know? Just because you can’t see it doesn’t mean it’s not there. Plus, Sollux says it’s my aspect so I guess that lends itself well to me.” he explains, rocking back in his computer chair as he talks.

“What did he tell me mine was again? Blood?” you wonder aloud as you try to recall it.

“Yeah, he told me about it. Rose is light, Mom is void, apparently those are opposites which I guess explains why they clash a bunch with magic stuff sometimes.” Dave nods. That’s pretty interesting actually.

“What can I do with blood though? Tether something to the… what? Beat of people’s hearts across the globe? The movement of sap in plants or whatever? Actually that sounds like it could work.” you say, the idea occurring as you try to dismiss the very concept.

“I was going to say that sounded pretty legit. You’re also not just tying it to one person so you’re alright with it being reliable. I’m not sure if it’s ethically sound to power a spell on just one person’s pulse but using it as a reference like some kind of heart monitor could be cool.” Dave says thoughtfully. Yeah, you’d hate to power something with the energy of someone’s pulse, something that should be using its energy for keeping a person alive. When you’re pulling from everyone it’s more the concept that you’re using, but Dave has a point on its practical uses.

“I’m almost tempted to ask if you want me to make one for me for whatever catastrophe happens to me next.” you snort.

“That could be helpful, but I wonder what the range on that would be. I also question if you have blood when you’re in your ringy-eyebally-wingy form.” Dave says with a vague wave of his hands meant to allude to the shape of that form.

“I honestly have no idea about that. Sollux would probably know more, apparently we didn’t have the greatest first impressions when we met each other before the event, he might know if I bleed in that form.” you shrug.

“Yeah well he-” Dave pauses and then looks at his bed only for Sollux to suddenly appear a foot above it and bounce face down onto it with a dramatic groan. Since you’re sitting on the edge of said bed he very nearly bounces you off and onto the floor.

Sollux groans dramatically, face down on the bed still. Dave scoots his desk chair over and sympathetically pets Sollux’s hair. Sollux pushes himself up onto his elbows and sighs.

“I hate everyone.” he declares.

“Well, shit. I thought I was special.” you say flatly, only to be smacked in the arm with two spade tipped tails. It gets you right in your bare arm because your useless cape is flopped over your other side. You don’t think you have anything against capes exactly but this one is stupid and really capes should be over armour, not whatever fashion crime you currently are beholden to.

“Ow.” you mutter and rub your bare arm.

“Do you know what I miss?” you ask Dave.

“Feathers?” Dave guesses.

“He still has feathers, you just can’t see them.” Sollux says, muffled by the pillow that he’s face down in still.

“Yeah, that. No, not feathers. I miss sleeves. I miss my actual clothes.” you complain.

“I know, I could lend you something of mine you know. Or we could go out to shop to buy you some replacements, Sollux has a car.” Dave suggests.

“Not a red muscle car by any chance?” you ask, narrowing your eyes suspiciously at Sollux who rolls over onto his back to look at you.

“Yeah! Did he tell you already?” Dave says.

No, no he did not. Sollux looks wildly unburdened by guilt, he could have mentioned that he still had that car that you saw in your dream/memory thing.

“You don’t need to buy clothes.” Sollux says.

“Whaaaaat are you suggesting? Just out of curiosity.” Dave asks.

“What I mean is that those clothes are the clothes you were made with. It’s like a god given power from whatever god you happen to serve, they default to what you were made with like mine.” Sollux explains and his clothes shift to that black and yellow suit thing that you’ve seen him in before and then back again before you can really take it in.

“You can still change them, this is all god tier clothing. I wear other things too but this is all me. You can summon them and take them off whenever you like and make them look like anything you want.” Sollux explains.

“And they go around my wings just fine.” you say slowly.

“Well obviously.” Sollux shrugs.

You point your finger in his face, an inch from the tip of his nose and glare at him.

“You let me go around shirtless after I got my wings without mentioning this?! You let me look like this for ages without mentioning any of that?! Why?!” you demand.

“I plead not guilty because of extenuating circumstances.” Sollux says.

“Are the circumstances ‘shirtless Karkat’ by any chance?” Dave asks.

“...Yes.” Sollux answers him.

“I can’t convict this man, he’s used the ‘Karkat hot’ defence. It’s bulletproof.” Dave tells you solemnly.

“I’ll forgive you if you tell me how to change them.” you offer him, you’re willing to cut a deal with this criminal.

“Just picture it really clearly in your mind, the feel of what you want, how it looks, all of that.” Sollux suggests.

Hm, that sounds a little like just getting you to close your eyes and focus real hard on something dumb so that he can laugh at you for it but you’ll try anyway. You imagine one of your generic plain black t-shirts that you got for cheap, then the far nicer and softer sweater over it that warms your neck and encases your bare arms in cosy heat. You make sure to imagine underwear and then one of your interchangeable similar pairs of grey jeans. Lastly you try to focus on your regular shoes but it’s hard to hold all of that in your mind.

When you open your eyes you’re no longer in a strapless bodysuit with a dumb cape. Instead you’re dressed like a normal person.

“Huh.” Dave says thoughtfully.

“What?” you ask, worried that something’s gone wrong.

“Your shoes.” Dave elaborates.

You pull your foot up and look down at it only to see that though at first glance your shoes appear normal that illusion fades when you look at it more. They look like a low res knock off version of your normal shoes, all branding garbled into vague shapes and the laces don’t even work. The things are just strips that go across and in no way could tighten a shoe at all.

“You lost focus, try again with just them.” Sollux suggests.

After another attempt you have normal person shoes again!

“Alright, I suppose I can forgive you for now.” you admit grudgingly.

“Aren’t you an angel about things? All benevolent and shit.” Sollux scoffs at you and flops back on the bed.

You experimentally get your wings out once more and find that they do indeed clip through your sweater with no problems at all. And then because you’re not all that angelic and forgiving you drop one wing to the bed right on Sollux, making him splutter and flail about. After that you put them away again because you don’t really have the room here and you’d hate to damage any of Dave’s things.

“So are people giving you a hard time?” Dave asks, shifting the conversation back to whatever caused Sollux to come in here so dramatically.

“Pff, yeah, sort of.” Sollux blows a small feather off of his face, it’s a little downy feather that’s more of a halo of fluff than anything.

“How so?” Dave presses him.

“I need information about something and Redglare’s trying to investigate for me but it’s not going too well because losing another shard has… upset things politically.” Sollux explains, clearly unhappy with having to say all of that.

“Are people not listening to you anymore or something?” you ask him, Redglare was warning him about that before wasn’t she?

“I’m not talking about it.” Sollux says defensively.

Dave looks concerned and you wonder if Sollux feels weird talking about this with you here. You hope not, you’d hope he trusts you enough but maybe there’s cultural baggage with admitting that you’re losing power that you’re not grasping.

“I think I’m going to go check on Rose.” you announce suddenly and get up.

Dave seems a little surprised at your sudden exit but as you’re crossing the threshold of his room you can already hear him quietly talking to Sollux again, you were probably right on the money there. Sollux might tell you about it later, you hope so at least.

You may as well actually do the thing you said you were doing. You head across to Rose’s room, the door is shut but you knock and given that she seems pissed at her mother you say who you are.

“Come in, or…” Rose’s voice trails off into a mumble after that so you can’t make it out, but you caught the part that was permission.

You let yourself in and step inside her room, it’s kind of messy as always but it’s a familiar kind of clutter.

“Close the door after you.” Rose says.

She’s sat at her desk with her laptop open and staring unblinkingly at the screen with an intensity that is honestly a little unnerving. You do close the door after you and warily make your way over to her.

“What’s… uh… what’s up?” you ask, shooting for casual.

Rose turns around on her chair quickly and stares at you.

“Are you working on something?” you guess, glancing at her screen. It seems to be full of weather data for some reason.

“Yes. I want to talk to you about- actually, put a pin in that. I need to talk to you about something else.” Rose says with a frown and pats the bed.

She seems pretty concerned about something so you settle down on the edge of Rose’s bed, it’s covered in a knitted throw that’s a lot nicer to be on now that you don’t have tiny bird talons that get caught in the wool.

Rose looks at you, at a loss for where to start but eventually she does manage to start talking.

“You know I’m gay, right?” Rose begins.

“No. Really? I thought you were the straightest person ever to straight, all that you and Kanaya stuff was just gals being pals.” you say as flatly as you can, pouring the sarcasm liberally over every letter of that sentence.

“Karkat, I’m being serious.” Rose says with a frown.

“Obviously I knew, you told me yourself, we’ve talked about it a bunch. Are you trying to say that’s not the case and you’re something else instead? Because if that’s the case then I get it, I don’t even fully understand what label I’d have and this stuff changes for some people so, you know.” you shrug.

“No, it’s definitely not changing. I’m very gay, very not interested in men in any way, shape, or form. Not at all.” Rose tells you firmly.

“Alright? I already knew that so I’m kind of confused as to why you’re telling me again if it’s not in question.” you say slowly. Is she testing your memory or something?

“But you’re alright with that?” Rose presses.

“Completely. Did I say something or give you the impression that I wasn’t?” you ask in alarm. You can’t imagine that you would have but maybe she heard you saying something sarcastic out of context but even so you can’t think of an example and you’re hardly subtle with that. Besides, you’re dating her twin brother and her male friend, it’s not as if YOU’RE straight, is it?

“No, no, you’ve never said anything like that.” Rose says.

...What?

“So is there any reason we’re having this quiz on shit we apparently both knew and there’s no problem with or what?” you ask. You’re completely bewildered by this whole exchange.

“And you’re not… interested in me? Romantically?” Rose asks.

“Whoa! No! I- no offence of course, you’re great. You’re pretty and fun and all but you’re not- I mean, if you were a guy and more of a disaster I would but that’s literally why I’m dating your twin brother. Not that you’re not great but I’m just- we’re friends, right? Oh shit, is this about that joke about us being married? It was only supposed to be a joke, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable or anything!” you stammer out in horror.

Rose winces, probably as mortified by this whole exchange as you.

“No, no, it’s fine. I find it funny too. I don’t want to date you either and I didn’t think that you wanted to either. I just… need to know that you know that I’m gay and not romantically interested in you. Not that you said or did anything to make me worried about that or anything, it’s not anything that you said.” Rose says quickly and holds a hand up to stem the tide of your panicked babble.

“Are we still friends?” you ask quietly and Rose looks like you just wrenched on her heart.

“Of course we are. Sorry, this was stupid. I just worry that maybe friendship wasn’t enough and it’s not as if I could or would progress to anything romantic and I don’t really know. Sorry.” Rose mutters and looks away.

“You’re my closest friend.” you tell her softly.

You can’t really bear to look at her so you look down at your imagined shoes instead.

“It’s not like I had any friends before I came to Salem and obviously I’m dating Dave and Sollux and I know you shouldn’t rank friends or whatever petty high school shit that is but I mean it. I’m really close to Kanaya because we work together but if I had to pick who I was closest to I’d say you. Maybe that’s stupid, I’ve not known you all that long and I’m sure you’re closer to June and Sollux from knowing them for so long but it’s true. I like our friendship and sure as hell don’t want to do anything to fuck it up.” you tell Rose. And also your shoes.

“You didn’t do anything to fuck it up. Sorry, it’s just a stupid idea. Sollux is effectively family to me and I’m not really used to being emotionally close to someone that I couldn’t have a romantic interest in at least theoretically. But you’re happy with how things are now, you don’t want more?” Rose asks you warily.

“No, I can’t even think how you could make something more than this. I was going to say without dating someone but that kind of idea perpetuates the notion that you’re not friends with people you date and that friendships are less meaningful which is an idea that can go die in a fire because fuck that.” you tell her hotly, that sort of bullshit is what leads to wedding cake toppers of brides dragging miserable grooms to the altar. Like ‘ha, ha, I hate my wife/husband’ as if that’s in any way supposed to be normal!

“What about moirallegiance? Like Sollux and Dave?” Rose asks.

“Bold of you to assume that I actually get how that works. I can see it works for them and I think I vaguely get it in theory, but when I read about it it just seemed kind of odd. Not that I have a problem with it or anything, it clearly makes them happy and it’s sweet to see. I don’t know, I guess I’m just not a demon and don’t get it.” you shrug.

“Angels do that too.” Rose informs you.

“Well too bad I remember sweet fuck all about being an angel, huh? I literally had to relearn to fly and I think we can both agree that I’m still not great at even doing that. If I can’t master basic motor skills of my species there’s no way I’ve worked out how to consciously do the emotional bullshit too. If you wanted to be my moirail and if you were asking I’d just say that I’ve no idea how to do that or what it entails in any practical sense at all, I’m certainly not here angrily pining for you in some romance way that I don’t understand. Or maybe I am and I’m oblivious! All I know is you’re my friend and I like being your friend and I’d sooner fly into a wind turbine than make you feel gross and uncomfortable about any of this!” you say and throw your hands up in the air.

“That’s… good to hear I guess. I know demons have complex orientations and humans aren’t really the same and so on but, I don’t know, I guess I worried I was giving you the wrong idea? Or implying things I didn’t mean to, leading you on paleways if that’s a thing.” Rose says with a helpless little shrug.

“Okay, well, first of all I’m starting to get the idea that either Dave or Sollux put this idea in your head or started it at least so just let me know which one I need to yell at. Second of all, and yes Sollux doesn’t get to be the second point because I may be pissed at him for this if it was his fault, even if you had been ‘leading me on’ for morailship or whatever that wouldn’t have entitled me to shit anyway. That argument is bullshit and you’re way too smart to make that kind of statement.” you tell her.

“I know, I just… I don’t know.” Rose mumbles and smooths out her skirt, trying to do something to distract herself you guess.

“You know but you don’t know. So clear. Look, alright, let’s just agree that neither of us really gets this whole moirail thing even though we’ve seen it in action, right?” you ask.

“I feel bad admitting that after so many years living with them, but yes. I’ve not grown up in a culture where it’s shown and I’ve only seen one example in person so it’s not exactly comprehensive.” Rose agrees.

“And I don’t remember my past, so, no one knows anything. I also don’t know if dating someone that way would matter for you being gay or not but it seems like it’s bothering you and I don’t want that. So if the way things are at the moment is I’m happy with us being friends like we are now and you are too then can we just do that and if things get weird or one of us is suddenly struck with weirdass yearnings for… hugs? I don’t know, I don’t think my book was reliable. Whatever, we can just talk if something is a problem, right?” you suggest.

“Perhaps in a more tactful and coherent fashion than this conversation.” Rose nods.

“Right. So, we’re still friends, you’re still gay, I’m still whatever, no one gets moirail junk and we can just go back to living our lives. If something changes or there’s a problem we can talk like adults about it, seem fair?” you suggest.

“It does, yes. Sorry, I feel incredibly dumb about all of this now.” Rose admits awkwardly.

“No, shut your face, your feelings are important.” you snap, making Rose laugh quietly for a moment.

“Alright, I felt concerned because I didn’t want to upset things between us and you’re my friend so I didn’t want to hurt your feelings either. Also, don’t be mad at Sollux, he was genuinely trying to help.” Rose says. You KNEW it was him, damnit!

“I don’t think he’d actually do this maliciously but, Jesus, this was a mess.” you grumble.

“Mmm, I don’t know, perhaps if this was a movie for demons they’d be shouting at the screen at how obvious this is or what have you but I’d sooner not think of it. At least not now.” Rose says with a little shrug.

“Fuck other people’s expectations. Do what you want to do, call things what you want to call them, don’t do shit just because you’re supposed to.” you tell her with defiance running through your veins.

“I get the feeling that sentiments like that might be why you weren’t a very good angel. Too anti-authoritarian.” Rose smiles.

“Hey, fuck the man. Or metaphorically if you’re not that way inclined.” you grin.

“I resent that, women can be totalitarian leaders. Women can be gods. For all you remember your god could be female and everyone could be misgendering her due to them being misogynistic and generally terrible.” Rose tells you.

“You’re absolutely right. Fuck the man, woman, power, whatever. Fuck everything.” you declare and fall backwards on Rose’s bed, more emotionally exhausted than you were before.

“Well, alright then.” Rose says.

There’s a moment of quiet as you stare up at her skylight, not really taking any details in.

“Does this mean that we can’t make that joke about us being fake married anymore?” you wonder aloud.

“You can pry that joke from my cold dead hands.” Rose tells you emphatically.

“Are you leaving it to me in your fake will?” you ask.

“If you wanted it you should have put that in our fake theoretical prenup. Too bad.” Rose tuts.

“I know a fake lawyer who might help me.” you muse, as far as you know Terezi doesn’t have any legal qualifications besides being a big fucking dragon which does tend to stop people asking questions about things.

“I’m leaving everything to our beloved son, how dare you try to circumvent that?” Rose gasps in faux horror. You get the feeling that the two of you are testing that things are still okay between you, but even if you hadn’t guessed that you wouldn’t let an opportunity like that pass you by.

“If it’s for our son I suppose I can live with that, that poor child is the only thing holding this marriage together at this point.” you sigh dramatically.

The moment hangs just long enough to seem serious before the two of you start giggling at the same time and it feels like a weight has been lifted off of your chest. Rose smiles and puts her black socked feet onto the bed next to you, they have little purple bats on them.

“There was actually something else that I wanted to talk to you about, but it’s a secret, okay?” Rose says and leans back in her computer chair and steeples her fingers ominously.

“Very unsettling, go for it.” you nod.

“June knew that you were an angel, you didn’t tell her, right?” Rose asks.

“I didn’t, I figured that kind of conversation would be better face to face, mood over text can be hard and I’d rather just talk to her and not overanalyse every ‘okay’ she says to see if she meant it or not. Besides, I’m not sure I CAN tell people if it’s some magical secret. I don’t know how it works, everyone else who’s found out so far worked it out, I’ve not actually told anyone.” you tell her.

“Well, see, I asked Sollux if he’d told June before we talked to her and he hotly denied it and said he couldn’t tell someone who didn’t know even if he wanted to. He hadn’t been able to tell us or you, after all. Then when June spoke to us she knew and when I asked her how she said Sollux had told her even though he’d just said he hadn’t.” Rose explains.

“That’s… weird. I wonder if Sollux was compelled to lie or something, some weird clause in this secrecy spell maybe?” you guess.

“Maybe, or he’s conspiring with June.” Rose frowns.

“Conspiring with June? Really. The only thing those two would conspire on is dumb pranks and…” you trail off as you remember something.

“What?” Rose prompts you.

“Actually, me and Jade caught Sollux talking to Latula, Redglare and Mituna about demon stuff and these shards but June was there too. They were all talking together about it. Then they saw through Jade’s glamour and June played it off and took Jade back to the cafeteria.” you say slowly.

“See! That’s suspicious as she could possibly be! And these weird men in suits took us out from the police station-” Rose starts.

“Wait, weird dudes in identical suits all with fake names that are like… placeholder names?” you ask, remembering the weirdos outside of the Half-Harley Manor all too well.

“Yes! There was a woman with them too, but they were all very generic and dull if it wasn’t for the fact that they definitely blew up the police station. What’s more, one of them had this pin on it with this wavy symbol and I found that same symbol on a bunch of statues and religious paraphernalia inside Sollux’s void, on top of that when I tether that symbol to a spell it WORKS. It’s a god and June’s dad had a bunch of similar men in her house worshipping what I can only assume is this god, this god that’s somehow NOT locked up with all the other gods!” Rose exclaims.

You frown and shift back on the bed as you try to think.

“So… Sollux and June are collaborating on this shard thing that he’s super concerned about, she also knows what I am without being told, she’s connected to this shadowy organisation and some god that’s somehow free.” you say as you try to arrange everything you just heard in your mind properly.

“Right. You can’t tell me that’s not suspicious.” Rose insists.

“No, it’s certainly weird as hell. But… alright, let’s say that there’s this god that’s free and maybe they’re trying to lay low so that Scratch doesn’t realise that he’s missed one or something. Gods need faith so if these people are followers and June’s dad is important it makes sense that their god would reward them as payment for that. Maybe what they were rewarded with was not losing their memory in The Event. June knew my name when we first met, remember? Maybe we met before all of this.” you reason. How else could she have known if not that?

Rose frowns a little and leans back in her chair. She stays silent for a few moments as she seemingly thinks your words over.

“That makes sense, I just don’t think that’s exactly it. I entirely believe that she knew you beforehand somehow and maybe she didn’t say what you were before for the same reasons Sollux didn’t, that’s fine. But why would she have met you?” Rose asks.

“I don’t know, I don’t remember enough about my life to tell you what I usually got up to besides the idea that it wasn’t what I was probably supposed to be doing.” you say with a shrug.

“Will you help me find out more about this god? Me and Kanaya have already worked out that he had a temple in Iceland so he may well originate there. I want to find out who he is and what June has to do with all of this and why she couldn’t just tell us. Please help and don’t tell Sollux or June about it.” Rose asks, well, pleads. It’s clearly important to her.

“Yeah, I’ll help. I also kind of think keeping it secret is a good idea, much as I normally think that keeping things from people is a bad idea. If Sollux and June are in the know then I would guess that this spell affects what they can do and say, we don’t know if letting them in on what we know could cause bad effects or not. I don’t want to get them in trouble or hurt them. I also don’t think that June is part of some evil conspiracy either, she’s our friend and she’s been your friend for way longer.” you point out. You don’t want Rose isolating herself from her friends, that’s a terrible idea.

“I don’t like being kept in the dark, I don’t trust people who hide things from me deliberately.” Rose mutters.

“Sollux does that sometimes and he can’t help it, you trust him though, right?” you point out.

“Will you stop poking holes in my logic?” Rose huffs and narrows her eyes at you.

“No, get better logic or deal with it. I’m saying I’ll help and I’m saying I’ll keep it quiet as well, just don’t go all tinfoil hat on me here. Deal?” you offer her.

“Fine. I’ll agree to that, or I’ll try at least. But this is suspicious, I’m not letting it go and I will get to the bottom of it. But I can appreciate that part of my enthusiasm and vigor for this particular project might have been redirected frustration from not being able to reach you.” Rose admits grudgingly. That’s probably the best you’re going to get from her, she can be… somewhat stubborn.

“Let me show you what I found in Iceland.” Rose says eagerly and scoops up her laptop so she can sit next to you on the bed and show you everything she’s dug up so far. Her research is really comprehensive although you think you may be a little late in asking her to call off the tinfoil hat wearing, that point may have already passed.

Rose fills you in on all the detailed research that she and Kanaya have done and you offer to dig around the library for anything else related as soon as you get back to work. Eventually Rose has told you everything she has researched about this and the two of you end up in an endless spiral of youtube videos on dumbass storm chasers.

You guess you doze off at some point, worn out by your change of form and of the emotional exhaustion you’ve been put through already this morning. You jolt awake when Rose comes back in the room with two mugs of tea and you realise that somehow she switched herself out for a giant cat plush toy on her bed. No longer are you leaning on Rose’s shoulder napping but instead you’re squishing the ear of what you think is the black cat from Sailor Moon.

“Sorry, I guess I was more tired than I realised.” you apologise.

“I will admit that I drifted off a little too, my sleep schedule has been thrown off a lot by my visions. I’ve been using the sun to see.” Rose tells you and sets the mugs on her desk.

“I also use the sun to see because that’s how eyes work.” you tell her as straight faced as you can.

“I guess both of these drinks are for me then.” Rose says back.

Of course she doesn’t drink your tea and when you’re both done you take the mugs downstairs and decide on a whim to check out the Lalonde library again. The bookshelf Sollux hit you through has been repaired and you’d never even know anything was wrong. You still find yourself looking through the titles on it with curiosity though.

“Come on, we’re going.” Rose declares suddenly, looking in at you from where you had been innocently inspecting the books in the formerly broken shelf.

“Going where?” you ask.

“Home.” Rose says.

You look around Rose’s actual home and then back at her. Mission accomplished?

“No, our home. Salem. We’re going to see what needs replacing in the dorm.” Rose tells you and rolls her eyes.

You’ve got the immediate instinct to protest that she doesn’t need to do this, but you doubt that Rose will listen to you so it’s probably just easiest to do what she says. Besides it’s not as if you don’t want your stuff fixed. You hope that Abraxas is okay as well, maybe you can find a new book to add to your collection to feed him as a way of making up for all those police officers throwing things in your room around and no doubt disturbing it.

“How are we getting there?” you ask her, going for a question that’s likely to get an actual answer.

The puff of displaced faux apple air announces Sollux’s sudden appearance behind you well enough but if it hadn’t then him leaning over and talking right into your ear in a low voice would have.

“On your favourite ride.” Sollux all but purrs into your ear.

“In your dreams.” you retort, elbowing him and turning around to glare at him.

“Regularly, yeah. Let’s go, then.” Sollux says brightly and walks out of the room past a slyly smiling Rose.

As you pass her you’re tempted to point out to Rose that if the two of you were somehow pale dating or whatever it’s called then she wouldn’t delight in Sollux irritating you this much. But, then again, you have seen Dave and Sollux irritate each other for fun and laugh at each other’s public embarrassment. Perhaps that doesn’t really hold true then, best not to point it out.

Sollux leads you into the main room where Dave is sat on the floor by the coffee table carefully fiddling with something.

“What’re you doing? I thought you were ready to go.” Rose asks.

“Yeah, I was, then I sat down on the sofa and got mildly stabbed.” Dave grumbles.

“Should I be more than mildly concerned?” Sollux asks.

“Mom’s doing weird magic again, this was between the sofa cushions.” Dave says and gets up and holds his hand out. Sat in his palm are a knight and a bishop from a chess set that appear to be stuck together.

“She’s putting things together now? Normally she divides things.” Rose says in surprise.

“They’re magnetised.” Dave says by way of explanation.

You take the chess pieces from his hand and try to separate them but the more you try the harder it gets until the two pieces snap back together so hard that you only just manage to not catch your fingers between them.

“Impressed that your mom managed to magnetise wood, something notoriously not magnetic. But there’s more to it than that and I can’t make it out, it’s not all in demonic.” Sollux says and peers at the two pieces with his little eyes.

Now that they’re together again you look at them more.

“This is…” you frown as your dream comes back to you.

“This is like my dream. Your mom separated her queen into two pieces, these two pieces. I think- Rose hold this one.” you say and hold out the stuck together chess pieces to her, offering the bishop to her. She takes it so she’s holding one and you the other.

“Dave, you grab the other one.” you tell him.

“Weird request but I’m curious enough to be game for this.” Dave says and steps closer. He reaches out and takes the knight piece where it’s still stuck and you let go entirely.

“OH! Take them apart!” Sollux gasps.

Dave and Rose share a look but with a mutual shrug they pull the two pieces apart, only now there’s no resistance at all. Dave even opens his hand so his little carved horse piece is just sitting there in his hand.

“Now swap.” Sollux insists, waving his hand at them.

The twins swap pieces as instructed and both react with surprise.

“It’s kind of pulling a little, but not like before. It’s way more subtle.” Dave remarks.

“If I hold my hand flat it moves almost like a compass needle. Is this like the spell Mom put on Karkat’s feather?” Rose wonders aloud, moving her hand this way and that so Dave’s piece moves in her palm.

“It must be. What an unusual thing to do though.” you say in wonder.

“Cool. Free Rose tracking totem, never know when that might be handy.” Dave says and tucks his bishop in his bag of holding. Rose seems to come to the same conclusion and puts hers away too.

“Actually, I think I might get a scarf. One moment.” Rose says and heads off to a cupboard near the front door.

“Eh, I’m gonna grab a coat too.” Dave says and follows her.

You take a moment and picture your second winter coat, you’ve only got the two and you’re pretty sure you left that one behind at Eridans and you were only wearing that one because you abandoned your main coat at Kanaya’s. God, you lost both of your coats from making a hasty retreat from bad situations at friends houses. Not a good precedent. Still, you hold the mental image of the coat in your mind and feel it form on your body.

“That is really cool.” you say in quiet wonder.

“It really is. One of the perks of not being from this plane of reality.” Sollux grins.

Sollux casually wanders to the gas fireplace and switches it off, which is sensible. If you’re all out and it’s just Roxy here then it’s probably wise to not just leave a fire on, to say nothing of the cost of fuelling a fire for no purpose. He clicks the switch and the fire dies but he doesn’t leave right away. Sollux pauses and then reaches into the glowing coals and pulls something out.

“Another chess piece?” you guess based on the size of it.

Stepping closer and looking around him you can see that it is indeed a chess piece, the king if you’re not mistaken. Before you can ask about it Sollux crushes it in his palm and then scatters ash over the coals.

“Let’s go.” he says flatly and shakes his hand off.

What the hell was that about? You look at the fireplace but it’s not giving you any answers, not that Sollux is likely to either at this point. Great, another mystery to add to the growing list. You hurry after Sollux and find him at the front door with the twins.

Without much fanfare Sollux teleports you but you’re not in the destroyed dorm that you saw before, instead you’re in Dave and Sollux’s dorm room.

“Oh, oops. Habit.” Sollux mutters.

“I’m sure the walk down the stairs will be fine. Come on.” Rose says and gives him a reassuring pat on the arm.

“Thanks for taking us here.” Dave says as you all go out of their dorm and out into the hallway.

“It’s fine, it’s not a problem.” Sollux shrugs.

“Yeah, but you’re not our personal taxi. I just wish I could repay the favour, you know?” Dave says and pulls their door shut after him.

“We’re cool, don’t worry about it.” Sollux tells him with a smile. Ugh, they’re so cute together you can’t take it!

“Oh, OH _no_. Our collective coolness, not even an issue. Not so much as a footnote in anything, that’s how much of a non issue it is because no one would question our coolness.” Dave asserts.

You share a look with Rose and go about ignoring Dave because not only are his words dumb but you’ve heard something to this effect before. As you go down the stairs and to your doorway the pair of them are just going back and forth on this absurd bit on their coolness, dumbasses. God, you have terrible taste in men, don’t you?

“The door’s locked.” Rose says in surprise.

“Was it not before? Did the cops just really leave our place unlocked and open? Fuck.” you groan. You hope that people weren’t around much because otherwise anything they didn’t break would surely be stolen by now.

“Maybe the building noticed the door and fixed the lock.” Dave suggests.

Rose makes a thoughtful noise and takes the key out of her keyring, you groan and the thought of all the keys you’re going to have to replace now. You’re going to have to get a new dorm key, you don’t care about your apartment in Georgia but that’s about the only key you have that you don’t care about. Ugh and then your government issued ID, your student ID… why this?

Rose turns the key in the lock and opens the door, she steps inside and you actually run into the back of her as she freezes just inside.

“What.” Rose says flatly as she stares inside.

You’re every bit as stunned as she is, the place is pristine. Rose walks inside more, looking around and you follow. Your little kitchen is tidy with all of the doors shut and nothing broken, the furniture is all upright and whole, even the TV is back. Curiously you make your way over to the TV and see that it’s brand new, the edges still have the plastic cling on it that it would have had in the box. There’s even a tiny scrap of styrofoam stuck to the back from static electricity.

“This isn’t our TV, this is new.” you say in shock.

“The mug’s been fixed.” Rose whispers.

Turning around you see Rose holding the mug you got her for her birthday in awe, Dave is peering at it too.

“It’s been glued back together, see just here?” he says and runs his finger over one spot.

You hurry into your room and find that your room is just as clean and mended. Your bed is made and on it is your bag of holding, your keyring, your phone and its charm.

“No fucking way.” you whisper and then say it again far louder.

You snatch up the phone and tap its screen, it’s dead but when you connect it to the charger at the wall you only have to wait a few seconds for it to boot up. A few more seconds and your phone comes alive with your background on it, your passcode opens it and when you open up your camera roll, your email, everything is the same. You hurriedly check that the video of you speaking in demonic is there, though you don’t risk playing it with Sollux around. This is absolutely your phone. You grab your keyring and put it on and find you can immediately draw out your key to this room and every other key you can think of. Your bag has your things in as well, this is all yours.

Standing up you look around your room, your desk chair is different and your desk looks like it’s been repaired. The air smells faintly of wood glue as well, which is another clue that it’s been put back together or mended somehow. As you look over your books you cringe to see that they’re in the wrong order, you’re just kneeling down in front of the stack on the floor when Rose sticks her head in your room.

“It’s all fixed in here too?” she asks as she looks around.

“Yeah, and that’s my stuff! My phone, my bag, everything!” you exclaim, pointing at it.

“But that must have been in the police station and that place blew up. How…” Rose trails off at an obvious loss.

“No clue but something tells me I don’t have cops to thank for this.” you snort.

“That’s pretty unlikely.” Rose agrees with a grimace.

“Abraxas?” you call, turning back to your books and tapping on their spines.

Your little worm friend peeks out of one of your favourite books and looks up at you.

“Karkat, you’re back. I thought you might be dead like the last man whose collection I lived in.” Abraxas says and your heart aches for the poor worm, you can’t imagine how hard it must have been when Jake Harley didn’t come back in the room ever again.

“No, I’m back. Sorry if I scared you, I’ll get you a new book to make it up to you, yeah? Do you like that one? It’s my favourite.” you smile at it.

“I do like it, actually. It’s very interesting.” Abraxas nods.

“Okay, another book on time travel it is. Did you see who came in here and fixed everything after the cops took me away?” you ask and gesture to your pristine room.

“A bunch of humans in suits, they took a long time putting everything back but they didn’t notice me.” Abraxas answers.

People in suits? Oh no. You exchange a look with Rose and see that she’s got fire in her eyes, the mystery around here is only deepening. Although this does suggest that the weird men in black aren’t working against you. They were keeping an eye on the Half-Harley Manor but that doesn’t mean that it was sinister, they rescued your friends from the police and erased what you can only assume was a lot of damning evidence against you and now they’ve put your dorm back the way it was. In fact you imagine they only knew about this place because June told them, or told her father and he told them. So maybe there’s a weird cult around with a god that’s escaped, it’s not exactly a bad thing, right?

Sollux sticks his head into the room and looks around with both sets of eyes open and a suspicious frown on his face.

“Nothing in here was fixed with magic either, this is really weird.” he says.

“Abraxas says it was those suspicious men in suits who did it.” Rose says, watching Sollux like a hawk. Sollux seems genuinely surprised by that information.

“Is that your bag?” he asks, pointing to it.

“Yeah. I got it back, I got everything back.” you nod.

“What? That’s… it’s great but what the hell?” Sollux says.

“I know, right? I wish I knew who these men in black are so I could thank them. The ones Abraxas saw, I mean. Not to be confused for Will Smith, greatest and most attractive actor the world has ever seen.” you say.

From the next room you hear the TV suddenly come on and then turn off.

“Whoever did this didn’t know how to set up an audio system but it’s working now. I also hear someone egregiously mispronouncing Justin Timberlake in there.” Dave’s voice drifts over to you.

“Fuck you, no.” you retort.

“Sollux, you’re attracted to men. Am I just too gay for this or is this every bit as absurd as it seems to be?” Rose asks.

“No, they both have terrible taste.” Sollux says solemnly and both you and Dave protest loudly at the same time, although him in defence of the far inferior Justin Timberlake.

Your dumb argument continues for a bit before naturally tapering off with Dave sitting on your bed as Sollux snoops around the place checking that nothing magically suspicious has been hidden in your dorm.

“You know, if it wasn’t for the fact that Abraxas saw who did this I’d almost think it was Kanaya who put your place back together. She felt really bad about what went down with you two and she and Rose have been talking a lot.” Dave tells you, continuing the sibling tradition of ratting your sibling out on their crush.

“For one thing Kanaya is a vampire and she cannot enter a space uninvited, so that wouldn’t even have worked. I’m going to go check the rest of my mugs to see if they’ve been broken and subsequently repaired.” Rose says and immediately walks off in a way that isn’t at all casual, despite how she was obviously intending it to come off.

“Oh she has it bad, and she used to get on my case about you.” Dave says with a soft laugh and a shake of his head. Part of you wants to investigate that statement but thinking about Kanaya leads you in a different direction.

“I should tell Kanaya about this.” you say and get onto the bed with Dave. Your phone is still charging but if you leave it plugged in you can message her anyway.

carcinoGeneticist [CG] began trolling  grimAuxillatrix [GA]  
  
CG: HI KANAYA.  
GA: Oh Karkat Hello I Assume You Are Back To Normal Now  
CG: FOR WHAT PASSES AS NORMAL FOR ME, YES.   
CG: ROSE, SOLLUX AND DAVE ACTUALLY TOOK ME BACK TO SALEM SO WE COULD SEE MY DORM. WE WANTED TO SEE THE DAMAGE BECAUSE THE COPS HAD REALLY TORN THE PLACE APART.  
GA: Yes Rose Told Me About That At The Time And I Am Very Sorry About It  
GA: If You Need Help Reupholstering Anything Or Even Just A Hand With Cleaning Me And My Mother Would Be More Than Happy To Help  
CG: THAT’S REALLY NICE OF YOU BUT ACTUALLY A BUNCH OF THOSE GUYS IN SUITS APPARENTLY BROKE IN HERE AND FIXED EVERYTHING. THEY EVEN GOT MY THINGS BACK FROM THE COPS SOMEHOW.  
GA: You Lead A Very Strange Life  
CG: DON’T I FUCKING KNOW IT.   
GA: Actually Would You Still Be Interested In Meeting Up I Know That My Mother Wants To Talk To You To Apologise In Person  
GA: Perhaps Somewhere That You Would Feel Comfortable Such As The Noodle Bar Near The Library  
GA: They Do A Bubble Tea There Which I Am Quite Fond Of And I Am Told The Noodles Are Nice  
CG: SURE.

“Oh, oh, invite the rest of us. I cannot go on living without seeing Rose being awkward around her crush with said crush’s terrifying vampire mom there.” Dave urges you with evil glee.

“You raise a good point, I’d also like backup in the event that Kanaya’s mother decides to try to turn me into a kebab again. Or is it a kebob? The one you stab.” you nod.

“Yeah, I would absolutely try to protect you, the person with the strongest magical shield known to man. I also want noodles and to embarrass my sister so, you know.” Dave says flatly.

“I keep forgetting that’s a thing I can do.” you mumble and go back to messaging Kanaya.

CG: ACTUALLY WOULD IT BE ALRIGHT IF I BROUGHT THE OTHERS WITH ME? I’D FEEL A LITTLE RUDE DITCHING THEM AS THEY TOOK ME ALL THE WAY HERE AND WERE GOING TO PAY TO REPLACE MY STUFF.    
CG: ALSO DAVE IS DESPERATE FOR NOODLES.   
GA: Were Those His Exact Words

“Tell her I’m horny for noodles. Tell her I lay awake at night lusting after the thought of noodles.” Dave urges you.

“On behalf of humanity I’m revoking your talking privileges, I am absolutely not telling her that.” you groan.

“Dude, you’re not even human.” Dave pouts.

“Consider it a divine judgement then.” you mutter.

“You’re no fun.” Dave tuts.

“I’m the president and CEO of fun. I’m so much fun that I’m in the process of suing Disney because any place that I am is legally the happiest place on Earth, that’s how much fun I am. I’m still not going to tell Kanaya how much you want noodles on a ranking scale of sexual interest, Dave. I won’t do it.” you retort.

“I’d love to go to Disney, you know how much I’m into tacky ironic shit and they’re STUFFED with that stuff. It’d be on my bucket list of things to do for sure.” Dave sighs wistfully.

You make a noise of vague agreement and return to messaging Kanaya as Dave hums what you think is the music to ‘it’s a small world after all’ under his breath.

CG: MORE OR LESS. I WILL SPARE YOU HIS EXACT WORDS, YOU’RE WELCOME FOR THAT.   
CG: BESIDES I’M SURE YOU WANT TO SEE ROSE IN PERSON. I SAW HOW MUCH YOU TWO WERE MESSAGING EACH OTHER.   
GA: I Am Certain That I Do Not Know What You Mean  
GA: We Could Meet There In Half An Hour If That Suits You  
CG: THAT’D BE GREAT, I’LL GO TELL THE OTHERS.  
GA: See You There Then  
  
grimAuxillatrix [GA] ceased trolling  carcinoGeneticist [CG]

“I’m going to go update the others.” you tell Dave, shuffling off of the bed and leaving your phone there to keep charging.

“Noodles!” Dave says with a level of enthusiasm that’s just… yeah, no.

As you step towards the door you can hear Sollux’s voice, it’s low and he’s clearly trying to be quiet but he’s getting louder every so often.

“-can’t be right. I would have known about this.” Sollux insists.

You watch as he paces a little, his free hand massaging his temple as the other holds his phone to his ear. The bathroom door is shut so you can only assume that Rose is in there.

“No I know I asked you to look but- right. I’m just saying that whoever this is has to be Kurloz’s creation and not-” Sollux pauses, presumably listening to whoever it is on the other end of the phone. Dave joins you in the doorway, shooting a concerned look at his moirail as he paces about.

“There’s no way in hell that the fucking _Prince of Hell_ himself made ANOTHER person and I didn’t know about it! ...Yes, I know how secretive he was! I had to live with that lunatic! Given the name don’t you think it’s WAY more likely that Kurloz made him on the sly and fucked about with the records so Mituna or Latula wouldn’t- I’m not telling you how to do your job there’s just no way that’s right, I would have known. I- well, no. ...I mean, yeah he was-” Sollux squeezes his eyes shut and stands there listening for a minute.

“Yeah. Show me what you have in person, I’ll be right there.” Sollux says and hangs up.

“Problem?” Dave asks and Sollux looks around sharply.

“Yeah, I’m just trying to work out how much of a problem. I gotta go. I don’t know when I’ll be back but you can stay here or port back to Roxy’s if you need to, right? I really need to figure this out.” Sollux says quietly.

“What’s going on? Can we help at all? You’ve done so much to help me, if I can help you out in return I’d be more than willing to.” you offer.

“It’s hell politics and trying to unpick the psychology of my maker’s batshit insane maker, not really something you can do anything about. Thanks for the offer I guess but I’m not going to parade an angel around a bunch of demons trained to kill your kind, I’d prefer you alive.” Sollux says and shakes his head.

“You say the sweetest things.” you snort.

“Message me when you get a moment so I know you’re okay. This doesn’t sound like regular politics stuff, so I’m kinda worrying here.” Dave says.

“Sure, I’ll do that. I’ll be back when I can.” Sollux nods and like that he’s gone.

You can tell that Dave is concerned, the light heartedness from earlier is gone.

“More noodles for you I guess.” you say a little weakly, trying to bring the mood back.

“But at what cost? The monkey’s paw curls another finger today.” Dave says a little less cheerfully than before but he’s trying. The two of you sit down on the sofa and after a few minutes Rose comes out of the bathroom with eyeliner so sharp it could stab a man.

“Were you just in there playing with makeup?” Dave asks her.

“First of all I wasn’t ‘playing’ with it. Some of my makeup got broken when the police came here and these people just replaced it all. That’s not cheap and it’s all the real thing. Where’s Sollux?” Rose asks and looks around the room.

“He’s not here.” Dave tells her.

“No, I can see that. That observation on my part was what prompted the question as to his location, keep up.” Rose shoots back.

“He had some serious demon stuff going on that he had to leave to deal with, he doesn’t know when he’ll be back. But we’re all going out to meet up with Kanaya and her mother, so we should probably all get going.” you tell her and stand up. You don’t want to be late after all. Rose certainly seems like she doesn’t want to be late and wants to be as presentable as possible, you catch her fussing with her hair and artfully arranging her scarf on the way to the noodle place.

When you arrive you spot Dolorosa at a table on her own and as you come closer you see Kanaya up at the counter. She perks up as you get closer, seemingly sensing your presence and looks up at you wide eyed.

“Karkat.” she says seemingly startled, you hope that Kanaya didn’t bring her here without telling her you were coming too.

“I- I really must apologise for what I did, for how I reacted. I should never have attacked you like that, it was completely wrong of me.” she says before you can get a word out.

“What? No. Absolutely not.” you tell her and pull a chair out.

“I don’t remember anything much about what I am or where I’m from but I’ve so far met three other- three other people who are the same species as me and all three of them were… yeah, your reaction was entirely fair.” you snort and sit down, having to work around the word ‘angel’ in earshot of people who don’t know.

“What? That’s… not the response I expected.” she admits.

“I’ve kind of come to terms that my people aren’t exactly the good guys and from your point of view I’d just come back with you and your daughter so I knew where she lived and was in an enclosed space with both of you. Frankly I’m sorry for whatever experience with my kind you’ve had before.” you apologise. You don’t think that Kankri was physically dangerous to anyone like Cronus or Eridan seemingly were but you wouldn’t wish his brand of self esteem and sanity ruining talk on anyone.

“I think I’ll go get food and drink.” Rose says smoothly and glides away to the counter where Kanaya just happens to be.

“Oh, right, shit. Sorry, this is Dave, we’re dating and that’s his sister and my roommate Rose.” you say hurriedly.

“That’s Rose? Ah, I should have guessed. I’ve heard a lot about her.” Dolorosa- no, Porrim smiles slyly and looks over at her daughter who has spotted Rose and now the two of them are deep in conversation.

“Yeah, hi and all. Glad you didn’t kill my boyfriend. You know he only just recently found out what he was as well, right? He wasn’t lying to Kanaya or anything.” Dave adds, taking a seat next to you and staring Porrim down through his shades. It feels strangely protective and very sweet.

“What are you planning now that you do know?” Porrim asks.

“Well for a start I don’t think I can tell people what I am, there’s this weird spell keeping it a secret. I could show people but I’m aware that ends badly, not that I’ve hurt anyone that way. Besides, I don’t want to go around getting involved with all that.” you tell her.

“With ‘all that’.” Porrim repeats.

“You know, religion.” you shrug.

“Isn’t that somewhat your field, though?” she asks.

“Oh, fuck that.” you say on instinct and then realise that you just swore in front of Kanaya’s mother.

“Uh. Sorry, excuse my language.” you apologise quickly.

“Darling, I am far too old and can speak far too many languages to give a single shit about cursing.” Porrim says flatly and next to you Dave poorly disguises a startled laugh as a cough.

“Sorry all the same.” you apologise again anyway.

“But on the subject of religion, you were saying…” she trails off meaningfully and waits expectantly for your answer.

“I don’t know, it’s not something I’d even considered. I’m sure not all churches are bad but a lot of them sure as hell are. There’s a catholic church in town and that place is decked out in valuable stuff and there’s people sleeping rough in Salem, not to mention all the shit that catholic priests have been caught doing. Or if you don’t want to pick on that denomination then there’s those mega churches that demand all these tithings and shit and use it to buy private planes, or ones that put people through conversion therapy or-” you stall out, so angry you can hardly find the words.

“All I’m saying is that if I show up as proof that ‘their’ side is back, even though that’s not the case, then how is that going to change things? What if people get hurt because of that? Or they demand that I act as some sort of spokesman for them? I don’t want that. I don’t know what I’m going to do after I graduate but I want to try to help people, not spark some holy conflict or anything. This whole thing is a mess.” you sigh.

Rose and Kanaya return to the table with drinks in hand.

“They’ll call our number when food is ready. Did we interrupt something?” Rose asks, looking between you and Dolorosa.

“Karkat was just giving his thoughts on organised religion. You know, like you do with people you barely know.” Dave tells her brightly.

Rose looks mildly concerned, but Kanaya looks far more so as she glances between you and her mother. Porrim is just looking at you with a strange expression on her face but after a few long moments she speaks.

“You remind me of my son.” Porrim says quietly.

“I didn’t know you had a brother.” Rose says to Kanaya before you can silently indicate that she shouldn’t say that very thing.

“He’s dead.” Porrim says bluntly.

Rose’s face freezes in an expression of utter mortification rivalled only by her first conversation with Kanaya.

“I said so, didn’t I? He’s always helping people at the library, he gets comically furious at people being terrible. Karkat’s just like him, or with a little more shouting at least.” Kanaya agrees with a slightly bittersweet smile. She sits down and slides one drink to her mother and keeps the other for herself.

“I can see that, yes. What is in that?” Porrim asks, frowning at Kanaya’s drink.

“It’s bubble tea.” Kanaya answers evasively.

“That’s not an answer.” her mother points out.

“It’s boba, it’s made from… don’t look at me like that.” Kanaya mumbles, glancing away from her mother.

“It looks like food, it’ll make you sick.” Porrim warns her.

“Actually, through trial and error I have worked out exactly how much I can consume without becoming too unwell at all.” Kanaya protests.

“But you will be at least somewhat unwell though, you admit that much.” Porrim says, the disapproval clear on her face.

“Oh, this is like those people who are lactose intolerant but still eat ice cream or cheese pizzas anyway.” you say as the light dawns on you.

“In fairness that’s an entirely understandable decision.” Dave nods, letting you know full well that he would also be that dumb.

Kanaya pointedly sips on her drink and then very visibly bites into one of the bubble things with one of her sharp fangs. Rose’s face goes through several very interesting expressions that you’ll be gracious enough to not comment on right now.

When your order number is called Rose hurries off to get food and you figure that you’d better help her or else she’s going to be carrying three peoples food alone.

“I am so mortified.” Rose whines quietly when you reach her side at the counter where they give the food over.

“You didn’t know, they seem fine about it.” you assure her.

“And what about you? Being told that you remind your friend of their dead brother has got to be weird.” Rose asks, shooting a look at you. The person behind the counter hands your food over and you let Rose hand you two of the bowls as she gathers the last one and other things like napkins, salt and the like.

“I’m pretty sure they mean it as a nice thing. I’ve never noticed Kanaya being put off by me so I guess I don’t look like the guy, he must have just also been mad about people being dicks. Which is entirely understandable, that should piss everyone off. Now I’m getting vaguely mad about the mere concept of people being terrible.” you tell her as you feel the scowl forming on your face.

“I find myself perpetually amazed at how you can be so nice and so sweet to people sometimes but so filled with tiny fury the rest of the time. I know I’ve described you as aggressively nice before but I think it’s the best term for you.” Rose says as the two of you walk back to the table.

“No, but it makes sense.” you insist and set the bowls of noodles down on the table, “People have all this potential to be good and kind to each other and they fuck it up and make things worse! I know situations can be complicated and sometimes people have bad days and I’m sure as shit not perfect but just don’t be an asshole, how hard is that?! Maybe don’t cold call people to scam and defraud them, maybe don’t abuse your position of authority, maybe don’t kick the shit out of people just because you can. It’s not fucking brain surgery!”

Kanaya and her mother exchange a knowing look with each other and you get the feeling that whatever resemblance you have to their departed family member you just did it again.

“I can’t believe I missed the beginning of another vantrum.” Dave sighs.

“A what?” you ask.

“Vantas tantrum, obviously.” Kanaya says and sips at her bubble tea again.

“Hey, she gets it.” Dave grins.

The three of you decide on who is getting which dish as Rose didn’t actually ask either of you what you wanted when she went up to order, presumably because all she was thinking about at the time was Kanaya. All the same you’re not a massively fussy eater and it seems that Dave is pretty easy to please as well so all three of you end up happy with what you get.

“So,” you say as you snap your chopsticks apart and look over at Kanaya, “Can you help me convince Ms. Paint to let me back into the library again to work?”

“Well, we were worried about you reacting badly to the death of that family member…” Kanaya says uncertainly.

“You know what he was because you know what I am and trust me, he sucked. Sure it’s a little complicated but I’m over it, I just want to come back. Please?” you beg.

“Alright then.” Kanaya smiles slyly. Fuck yeah, a Christmas miracle!


	27. Honeybee

You’ve never had a family and until you came to Salem you’ve never had friends either, not that you have real memories of anyway. So it’s a surprise when Roxy Lalonde insists that you stay with them over the holiday break, or what remains of it. You don’t know if this is out of her being genuinely kind or a worry that something terrible might happen to you AGAIN if you’re out of sight but nonetheless you stay.

Rose has a double bed and you end up sleeping there because sharing with Dave or Sollux is… inadvisable. It’s not like you don’t get distracted making out with them over the break but you’re not going to go so far as to sleep with them in their mom’s house, so it’s best that you stay with Rose.

One morning you wake up to white light shining through Rose’s room, only to realise that overnight it snowed and the light is tinted from the snow on the windows and blanketing the world outside. June comes over right away and under the suspicious eyes of Roxy Lalonde you all have a snowball fight. On the plus side June declares it a girls v boys match, which means that Rose and June work together, hopefully reminding Rose of why they’re friends and lowering her suspicions. Unfortunately June is some kind of beast at snowball fights and her aim is always true with the wind never blowing any of her snowballs off course.

The fight turns a little when you, Dave and Sollux retreat. Dave makes a huge stack of snowballs and has you hold them in your arms. You unfurl your wings and fly into the sky to attack Rose and June from above. That goes well for a while until June somehow nails you in the face with a snowball fifteen feet up in the air, making you crash into a pine tree. When the cold gets too much you go inside for hot cocoa and marshmallows on sticks over their gas fire, which certainly isn’t what the thing was intended for. June has to leave after a bit, when it becomes clear that Roxy is becoming increasingly agitated with her presence.

On New Years Eve you get to see exactly how much explosive mayhem the most powerful witch of her generation can cause, which turns out to be a lot. You think you still have after images when you blink thanks to her magical fireworks. Dave takes pictures of them with glee and you can’t help but wonder if people outside the bubble of the Lalonde property can see these, you’d assume not and it makes it feel that much more special that you get to see them.

It’s not all great though, despite being back for your little snowball fight and harassing you when you least expect it, Sollux is gone for a lot of the break. When he is back he’s either asleep or obviously very occupied with something. Despite all that he won’t tell you what’s wrong, or at least not more than he already has. You doubt that he’s going to open up about it if you pester him about it endlessly and he already knows that you’re willing to listen so you try to just be there for him. And if being there for him means having stupid arguments that turn into kissing and suspicious hickies on your neck then, well, that’s a burden you’re willing to carry.

Like all things your break has to end and June’s dad very kindly gives all of you, minus Sollux, a ride back to the port. Your first night back in your dorm is actually a little weird because you’re sleeping on your own for the first time in a while. Your schedule has got all changed up as well, you’re guessing from Equius being murdered. Your school email informs you that Darkleer has taken an understandable leave of absence.

The downside of this for you is that your class with Mindfang has been moved to an early morning slot, leaving you and Rose sitting in barely caffeinated silence on your sofa as you both wait for the coffee to hit you.

“Eight am is too early for Mindfang.” Rose groans as the pair of you leave your dorm at seven thirty with the aim of at least grabbing breakfast to go before hitting your class.

“Additional thought: any time is too early for Mindfang.” you tell her and Rose nods in sleepy agreement.

Whether it’s too early for her or not you still have to see Mindfang. You’re sat between Rose and Dave in the classroom portion of Mindfang’s building. On Dave’s other side Sollux is rapidly typing away on his phone under the desk. You guess that’s the convenient thing about having two sets of eyes, Sollux’s head is only slightly tilted and his upper set is open as well, he could easily claim to still be watching and paying attention.

“A key magical sense that you all need to develop is the sense of when you are being watched. I have here on my desk a stack of charms that I want you to wear for the next week and will become warm when someone is observing you without you observing them, this will train you to become more aware of this without these charms.” Mindfang explains, gesturing to a box on her desk.

“That’s easy.” Sollux says under his breath.

“Of course, to test your progress I will be assessing your skills beforehand and after.” Mindfang continues.

“Oh no.” Sollux says, his head jerking up.

“We will be testing your awareness of multiple ways of observing you and noticing them all will require some very robust defenses. Firstly, a sense of self.” she begins and turns to the board.

“We are more than just our physical bodies that we occupy now, in order to remain properly vigilant we must protect all areas of ourselves. Firstly is the obvious, is someone looking at your physical body without you knowing. Most humans have some sense of this from just an evolutionary basis. Second is a sense that your person is being observed or scrutinised, that sense that people are talking about you in detail. Thirdly a sympathetic sense, when someone is using parts of your physical body to channel an observation spell. Some species of course have their true names give a sense of awareness of them but I’m sure we won’t need to test that.” Mindfang shoots a look at Sollux who literally bristles, his hair shifting like a defensive cat or character in a Ghibli movie. Of course that true name thing most likely would work for you too, but Mindfang doesn’t know that.

“So how do we resist these attempts or become aware of them? The key is self awareness, the ability to define who you are and who you are not so you can detect the other’s intrusion into you. Some people find the core of their being and work out, others view themselves as a feeling, a personality or a symbol.” Mindfang continues.

Curiously you raise your hand and she looks at you expectantly.

“A symbol, like… a tarot card?” you ask curiously.

“That could work if you’ve attached a meaning to it, in fact if you have a solid sense of someone else’s sense of self represented like that you can tell if that person is observing you. That is if you’re able to become especially advanced.” Mindfang nods.

You make notes as Mindfang continues to elaborate on how you centre your entire being, how to extend your senses out and so on. She eventually decides that she’s done and you think it’s more that she’s got bored of what she’s saying and instead wants to move onto the practical part, rather than the lecture being actually over.

The setup that Mindfang has is a series of person sized mirrored boxes, the doors of which have silencing spells on them. They’re one way mirrors however, appearing to be clear glass from the outside and then surrounded again with a curtain. Each student is invited to move into the box, then the box is sealed. In the middle on the floor is a button, when the student senses that someone is watching them they press the button. On the outside of the box a ‘volunteer’ grad student will be recording the moments that they are observing the student through various methods with a press of their own button. Then the two button presses will be compared and the student will be scored on accuracy.

You and Rose are among the first few students tested, there are several boxes so you’re all able to go through at a reasonable speed.

The grad student behind your curtain is a tired looking guy with a bandaged cheek.

“Oh, are you ok?” you ask, pointing to his cheek.

“Research field work, sometimes the field work gets you back. You’re not claustrophobic, right?” the guy asks.

“Not really.” you say. You’re not a fan of being locked up for obvious reasons but this is a literal glass box in a classroom, it’s not the same as where Kankri and Cronus put you. You’re pretty sure you’ll be fine.

The grad student gestures inside and leans around the open door as you settle down on the floor and sit cross legged before the button.

“So, I’ll give you a minute and then the button will buzz and we’ll start. Use your time to do whatever, centre yourself or however you want to work.” he suggests.

You nod and the guy shuts the door. The sudden silence might unnerve you if it wasn’t for the fact that your dorm does the exact same thing. Seeing yourself reflected in every direction is really weird and you waste a few seconds moving this way and that and watching the endless lines of reflected versions of you move. It’s like when you go to public bathrooms in movie theatres and things where they have the long mirrors above the sinks on both sides and it’s endless reflection.

Wait, you’re supposed to be preparing for your test. Shit.

You close your eyes, take a deep breath and gently rest your fingers on the button. You call to mind your true form. Your body tingles slightly in what you can only guess is your anatomy’s equivalent of the microsoft paperclip asking ‘Hey! It looks like you wanted to change form, can I help you with that?’

No, no you can’t. You don’t want to out yourself and drive the poor grad student out of his mind. You also call your tarot card to mind, the Knight of Cups. For extra measure you remember how your name sounds when your friends call you, and you recall the way Kankri used to say your name too.

A buzz fills the otherwise silent room and at first you feel nothing but then that feeling on the back of your neck starts, like all the hairs starting to stand on end. You press the button. You feel seen, and weirdly itchy when it happens now that you’re paying attention to it. Sometimes though you’re not sure if you’ve sensed anything or if you’re just hitting the button for no reason.

After a few minutes, maybe five at most, you’re let out.

“How’d I do?” you ask curiously.

“I don’t do the results, there’s some other people doing that, but you seemed pretty good.” your guy tells you and you leave the curtained area with an air of hope around you.

You join up with Rose who is waiting off to the side. Jade takes your place in your booth with an eager spring in her step.

“That was fun.” Rose smiles.

“You are a seer, it’s pretty much exactly your thing.” you point out.

Wait, no one is supposed to know that Rose can see again.

“I mean FORMER seer, since you can’t see. Because no seers can, since The Event.” you add hurriedly.

Rose raises an eyebrow at you and leans forward to you.

“Karkat, that was way more suspicious.” Rose whispers.

“Sorry. But won’t you getting an amazing score out you to everyone?” you whisper.

“Please, I deliberately threw ten of their points. That way at the end I can calculate exactly what my real accuracy was and I can play off my awareness as a feature of my seer ‘past’.” Rose explains with a casual little wave of her hand.

“That’s actually really smart.” you say in surprise.

“I have my moments.” Rose smiles slyly.

You look around the room, a lot of the students look nervous which is to be expected before a test. A couple look quite anxious and you’d guess that they’re claustrophobic. To your surprise the worst student looks to be Dave who seems to be within a hair of throwing up on his shoes out of nerves. Sollux looks a little more composed but his tails are flicking about in a way you’ve come to interpret as stressed.

Sollux steps into a booth before Dave and you sit there waiting for him to come out. In the meantime June and Jade both emerge within a few minutes of each other and head over to you and Rose to talk about the test.

“I could really feel some of them but not others, or there were massive pauses in parts. Maybe I’m just too used to being observed.” Jade mutters that last part.

“You mean not used to being observed, right? You grew up on a deserted island, didn’t you?” June says with a frown. You suppose that tells you that Jade hasn’t revealed the details of what Jake was up to yet, you have to assume that you’re still the only other person who knows it all.

“How do you think you did?” you ask June, changing the subject.

“I don’t know, but I’m excited to see.” June says brightly.

You watch as Sollux exits the curtained area a few minutes later, he still looks unhappy and when Dave passes him to go inside you can’t help but notice the way that Sollux’s tails quickly wind around his leg and then let go as he passes. Sollux doesn’t come over to your group, instead he waits on the edge of the curtain for Dave to get out.

“Is Dave claustrophobic?” you ask.

“No, I’ve seen him in way too many tiny forts for that to be it. Not to mention how many times he’d hide in tiny places to try and win hide and seek at June’s house.” Rose says and shakes her head.

“Aw, the idea of June and Dave playing hide and seek as little kids is so cute!” Jade gasps in delight.

“They were fourteen, but sure.” Rose snorts in barely repressed laughter.

“He seems pretty uneasy with the whole test though.” you point out, although you absolutely will bring up the hide and seek thing with Dave later because that is GOLD. It’s no use trying to tease June with it though, she has a chronic lack of shame. Not that you’re jealous of her self assured manner or anything.

When Dave steps out he seems incredibly shaken and only then does Sollux return to your group, guiding Dave there the whole way.

“Are you okay?” you ask him softly.

“Hah, yeah, I’m cool. It was just unsettling is all, I’m- I’m usually the coolest dude in the room and. And suddenly there’s infinity of people as cool as me, it unsettled the whole balance of the universe.” Dave says, his tone flat but he’s clearly having trouble getting all of his words out.

Sollux is sat next to Dave with his arms wrapped around Dave’s middle and his chin resting on Dave’s shoulder, he couldn’t be much closer without actually climbing into Dave’s lap. As the last of your class go through their tests Mindfang scuttles about handing out the little charms on plain leather bracelets. You presume they’re personalised as they all have tags on them and she appears to be giving them out to your class in alphabetical order.

Rose is helping you tie yours on when you notice the grad students hurrying over to Mindfang and pulling her into what looks like an urgent conversation. You watch as they gesture to their notes and then look over at your group, Mindfang follows their gaze and then returns to conversation with the grad students. A couple of them shake their heads and insistently show her some paper. Mindfang stares at it for a while, leafing through a few sheets.

She turns and walks towards your group on her unsettling spider legs.

“How did you do it?” she asks, looking down at Dave and Sollux especially.

“Sorry?” Dave says nervously.

“You and him, you both got perfect scores. No one gets perfect scores, she’s supposed to be the seer, right? She got an eighty out of one hundred which should have been top of the class but you two both got one hundred without even any false reports. How? How did you do it?” Mindfang demands.

So Rose really got a ninety out of one hundred but somehow Dave and Sollux _both_ got full marks? How is that possible?

“I don’t know. I just… don’t like being watched.” Dave mumbles.

Dave doesn’t seem to have a better explanation and Sollux doesn’t say or do anything no matter how hard Mindfang stares at them both. Seemingly deciding that she’s not getting an answer she scuttles back off to her grad students.

You got a good score, a seventy four, Jade was less good at a forty five and June got a solid fifty. The interesting part comes in when you find out where you scored. You did alright on people physically watching you, pretty bad on the parts that relied on parts of your body being used to watch you and then better again with the more abstract magical ways of watching you. You’re going to guess that Mindfang used the blood she took from you before to make the physical parts of the test and you wonder if your true form probably not having blood makes it a weaker connection. Jade’s results are almost a complete inverse of yours, her worst part is noticing people just looking at her. A sad thought rises up in your mind that she’s probably too used to it to notice.

Mindfang wraps her class up a little while after that with instructions for how to practice raising your awareness between now and the next class. Dave and Sollux bail right away, which doesn’t surprise you with how clearly they disliked that test.

“Maybe we could test each other or something.” Jade suggests as the remaining four of you leave.

“You mean secretly sneak up on each other and spy on one another?” June asks, holding the door open.

“It sounds unsettling when you say it like that.” Rose laughs and steps through it.

Outside of the building there’s a cluster of your classmates lingering around looking at something with a lot of concerned sounding chatter going on.

“We should call someone.” one girl says.

“I mean it looks fine… despite… you know.” a guy shrugs.

Jade and June are ahead of you both and spot what the group is looking at before you do.

“Bec! You were supposed to stay in the dorm!” Jade exclaims.

You hear a bark, get a flash of green, then Bec is the other side of the group and standing before Jade with his tail wagging delightedly. Still it seems that Jade can’t stay mad at her misbehaving hellhound and is petting him almost immediately.

“Is your dog blind?” one of the other students asks warily.

“Well, he has no eyes.” Jade concedes.

“Better than having no nose.” June says with a grin.

“But then how would he smell?” Jade asks, but her own matching toothy grin tells you that she knows just where this is leading.

“Terrible!” June says loudly and the pair crack up.

It seems that the crowd of students though curious about Bec are not willing to sit around and listen to jokes that bad to know more about him, a feeling you can relate to all too well.

“Well, hearing that made me need to lie down and have a nap. I’ll see you later.” Rose sighs.

“Oh man I didn’t want a nap until you said it but I’ve got two hours until my next class and now I really want a nap.” you say, filled with sudden envy.

“Come on then, it’s a free dorm.” Rose laughs.

“Wanna come for a walk with me and Bec? I think he might be wanting company.” Jade asks June as Bec delicately bites the end of June’s sleeve and tries to pull her towards the path.

“You think? Yeah, sure, let’s go.” June laughs.

Hmm… nap in your warm dorm or cold early January hellhound walks outside? Such a hard decision. Not.

You and Rose hurry back to your dorm and Rose makes chamomile tea. The pair of you bury yourselves under the knitted blanket on the sofa blowing on your tea and sipping it when you can. You don’t mean to drift off on the sofa but it’s just so comfy so surely you’ll be fine if you just rest your eyes for a moment.

_You sip at your drink and wait, you don’t have to wait all that long though. Rose always knows when to be somewhere. Sure enough she shows up, sauntering up the dirt path with her black boots kicking up little puffs of dust as she walks. It’s been a dry year, you’ve heard a lot of prayers for rain go by but unfortunately that kind of thing isn’t your department. Although you may have been subtly nudging the people who can make those kinds of changes, though you doubt it’ll do much good._

_“Hey.” you call out to her._

_“Did you stop at a gas station to get a drink on your way here?” Rose asks you skeptically._

_“I wanted a drink, what’s unusual about that?” you say defensively and take another sip._

_“You didn’t drive here for one. Did you land, walk there, get a drink and then take off again?” Rose asks._

_“That’s exactly what I did. Look, heaven is boring for indulgences, so sue me.” you tell her._

_“What did you get, orange crush?” she asks with an evil grin._

_“Oh yeah, I do love to set my mouth on fire.” you snort and stick your tongue out at her._

_“Well, in any case we have a bit of a walk ahead of us. It’s on the trail for a while then off the beaten path.” Rose tells you. She takes her black sunhat off and combs through her purple tipped hair._

_“The purple is so nice! When did you do that?” you ask eagerly and hop onto your feet._

_“Thank you, I did it a few weeks ago, I felt like a change.” Rose smiles and tucks her hair behind her ear._

_“It looks good. Now, I don’t know why you wanted me to come on this hike with you but lead on I guess.” you say, gesturing to the trail ahead._

_“I have my reasons.” Rose says mysteriously._

_You follow her along the trail, sipping at your cool soda as you do so. The birdsong is nice, the smell of the wilderness is nice. That evergreen smell with wild forest flowers perfuming the air. Earth has its flaws for sure, plenty of things that you’d like to take back to the drawing board of the almighty for review but by and large you’ve always enjoyed the natural beauty of the place. Still, you don’t know why you’re here exactly._

_“Not that I don’t enjoy your company, it’s very nice that you’d ask me to come on your hike as a favour to you. I especially appreciate the favour of your sight that you promised me in return-” you start to say._

_“Oh please, we both know that you’re only going to use that favour to track down the same two people as you always ask for. I wonder how many times you’re going to get stabbed before you get more than half a sentence out.” Rose laughs._

_“Is next time going to be the time that happens?” you ask hopefully._

_“Very unlikely.” Rose answers. Great._

_“What about the next time after that?” you ask._

_“Don’t you think knowing spoils the fun?” she asks and ducks under a branch._

_“You say fun, I get stabbed in the throat with several ugly swords.” you complain and follow her._

_“All a matter of perspective.” Rose shrugs._

_“Will you at least tell me why I’m here?” you ask again._

_“I have a box to bury.” she says and pats her bag of holding._

_“No, that’s why you’re here. Why am I here?” you ask again._

_“You’re blood, you’re about bonding. This memory needs an anchor. If we’re both here we both remember this and it’s easier to access.” she explains._

_“This is one of those times where I understood every individual word that you said and yet I have no idea what you’re talking about at all.” you say with a groan. Rose can be like that, her prophecies are cryptic to an absurd degree at times. That said she is an absurdly strong seer and were she not so otherwise affiliated you’re sure that your side would have tried to snap her up._

_You and Rose come to a stone bridge that’s fallen down over a small stream and feels an awful lot like bad magic. You unfurl your wings and offer a hand to Rose. She takes hold of it and you fly the pair of you well over what was definitely some creature’s magical trap. You don’t exactly begrudge that creature trying to catch food, everything has to eat, but you’d sooner it didn’t try to go for you and Rose._

_“Alright, how about you tell me what’s in the box?” you ask._

_“It’s…” Rose trails off and comes to a stop._

_You watch bewildered as she looks down at herself, almost like she doesn’t recognise her body._

_“Rose, what’s in the box?” you ask again, sure that she’s supposed to answer something that’ll be sly and unhelpful like she is so often with her answers._

_“I don’t- I don’t know. Where are we?” Rose looks around. She stares at you and then, all at once, vanishes._

Rose jolts awake next to you, startling you awake as well. For a moment you don’t know where you are or what’s going on at all, but then the details of the dream sink back into your mind again.

“Was that?” Rose gasps and looks at you.

“Did we have the same dream again?” you ask.

“Walking in the woods? You drinking something from a gas station and me carrying a box in my bag?” Rose checks, you nod.

“So… was that a vision or a memory?” you ask slowly.

You watch the indentation of the sofa seam on Rose’s cheek shift as she grimaces a little.

“It wouldn’t be a memory, it has to be in the future.” Rose says.

“I don’t think so. We were talking about me trading favours for your seer abilities so I could find two people, one of which stabbed me. That’s Sollux, that’s how he and I met.” you point out.

“There’s no way it’s a memory, it must be someone else. You didn’t SAY Sollux, so it can’t be him. Besides I only just got the ability to see at all back, if we’re talking before then when I could see I would be under thirteen. Even if we’re assuming that I just looked the age I do now I know I wasn’t wandering the woods of wherever with angels before The Event. I also would have remembered that, you’re the one who doesn’t remember anything before then, not me.” Rose points out.

You hesitate, that does make sense but it still doesn’t feel quite right to you.

“So… what was in the box?” you ask.

“I have no idea, but it does seem like being near you helps my visions, at least when they’re visions of you.” Rose says thoughtfully.

“Yay, I’m helping.” you say, probably without the required amount of enthusiasm.

You shift uncomfortably because you’d just shoved your phone in your pocket and not back in its charm and sleeping on it at a weird angle has made it dig into your leg. After fishing the damn thing out and rubbing the dead spot on your leg you look at the screen and feel your blood freeze. You have three minutes until your alchemy class, you know, the one on the other side of campus!

“Fuck! Late!” you yelp and struggle to your feet. No way can you run there in time. But… maybe you don’t have to run.

You snatch your bag up from the ground and sprint out of your dorm but instead of running down the stairs you sprint up them to the roof. As you burst through the roof door like a shitty kool-aid man you clutch your bag to your chest and look around. Thankfully the roof is otherwise unoccupied so you focus very hard to vanish from view and then take to the sky in a powerful beat of your wings.

It’s hard to calculate your speed when you’re flying, you’re not that great at it yet. You want less speed than you came back from the moon with but more than your casual fly around with Sollux has been. Aside from a few setbacks you get there in good time and hurry into your class and quickly scurry to your seat.

“Was that big bang you hitting the building?” Sollux asks with a sharp grin.

“I don’t know what you mean.” you lie and casually look into your bag for your stuff instead of at him in the hope that maybe that will stop him noticing your deception.

“You have a brick imprint on your face, like, mortar and everything.” June says, indicating her cheek.

“That actually looks really painful, are you alright?” Dave asks, touching your cheek. It might be a little bit sore from you not breaking in time and MAYBE smacking into the wall of the building.

“I’m fine. I got here in time.” you mutter.

“Did you oversleep?” June snickers.

“Yes. Shut up.” you hiss at her.

“What about you, how are you doing?” your question is directed at Dave but you glance at Sollux too. Dave was clearly most thrown by that test but Sollux looked rattled as well.

“I’m fine man, it was just spooky is all. I’m not digging this bracelet though, although fun fact it seems to only ping when it’s people you’re not aware of observing you. So just being in a room where people can see you doesn’t set it off, it also doesn’t go off with you three looking at me because I KNOW you’re doing that. It’s really cool, well, it’s not cool, it’s creepy and I hate it but it’s a well made thing I had for a thing I don’t want to do I guess.” Dave rambles. You think this is more of a nervous ramble than the ones where he’s excited about something or where his mind is just wandering and his mouth is along for the ride. He’s not fine but he’d rather you didn’t know that.

“I guess I was so focused about getting in the room on time that I didn’t…” you trail off as the charm on your wrist gets hot. You look up and see that your teacher is looking at you, his gaze sweeps around to a few other students in the hope of getting them to be quiet so class can start without actually having to call for silence. It works, certainly on you.

Your scatterbrained alchemy teacher seems unusually focused today and also pretty eager.

“I hope everyone had a great holiday break now who can name any of the states of matter? I’ll just write them down over, uh, ah over here.” your teacher fumbles for a pen and turns to the whiteboard. Okay, reasonably focused for him.

Your class starts listing off solid, liquid, gas, some smartass even says about non newtonian fluids. You’ve all done basic highschool science so you all know about this stuff. Your teacher writes these on the board and turns to the rest of you.

“All matter goes through these states, or at least they can do. If we take this normal room that we’re in now then the hydrogen, oxygen and so forth in the air are gasses at this temperature. This water is a liquid at room temperature, that’s its state in this current environment. It has a certain amount of energy that informs its physical structure, it gets this energy from the warmth of the room which comes from the sun, us being nearby, the heating here, all that stuff.” he explains as he plunks a half full beaker of water on the table.

“But I can turn water into a gas, watch.” he goes on.

He sets a black slate onto the desk and on it is a flask of water with a deflated balloon stretched over the top. He touches the edge of the spell that you can’t see and the water within the flask rapidly starts to boil and the steam begins to fill the balloon.

“It is a fundamental rule that energy is neither created nor destroyed, merely changed in form. I’m boiling this water, giving its molecules more energy and changing its state from one to another but I’m getting that energy from this spell’s tether, in this case it’s geothermal energy. The multiplanar universe is a closed system, we can take or give energy beyond planes, and before we could be granted things by gods but that energy all came from within the same system.” he explains.

You watch as he lets the spell go and plucks the balloon from the lip of the flask and holds it up, the steam whirling inside of it.

“This has more energy than this liquid water. Plasma has more energy than this gas state. Solids have less energy than liquids. Now, here.” your teacher bends down and pulls a block of ice out of what you assume is a small chest freezer under his desk, judging by the sound of that type of door shutting. He sets the block of ice on the desk and looks at you all again.

“Are you going to show us plasma too?” one of the other students asks eagerly.

Your teacher hunches his shoulders and looks a little bitter.

“Unfortunately no. The faculty has explicitly said that I’m not allowed to do that after the… incident a few years ago. BUT we have these three. Magic is a form of directing energy in very specific ways and when your magic veers into the elemental realm you need to be aware of and understand the physics behind this, failing to account for changing the state of matter of any of your ingredients will throw off the power of your spell. It might not seem like a lot and in many cases it isn’t, but when you’re dealing with medicine, or highly specialised machinery, any kind of healing magic… you need to know this stuff. If you’re trying to warm someone up and you don’t account for the behaviour of fluid then you might accidentally boil their blood in their veins or freeze it if you go out the other way. Not to mention this kind of knowledge can literally save your life.” your teacher explains.

He quickly knots the balloon and places it on the table and then picks up the beaker of liquid water in one hand and in the other he holds a plain lightbulb.

“We had a student once, a half selkie. She could transform into a seal but for her it took a lot more energy. This was after the gods had vanished. She was on a boat trip and there was an explosion in the engine and she was the only person to make it off of the boat, she had nothing to write on and in her human form she would die of hypothermia within the hour. She managed to change the state of matter of ten square feet of water into ice, giving her something to sit on and using the energy to fuel her own change into her seal form.” he explains.

The water in the beaker starts to freeze at once, expanding upwards to just fill the top of the beaker. In his other hand the lightbulb glows.

He just froze water to power a lightbulb, that girl used it to power her transformation. Slowly you look around at Sollux. Hell is frozen. You’d figured that maybe the literal devil being out of action like the other gods would be the reason but what if the heat in hell had been used as part of a power source? Sollux seems to sense that you’re looking at him, of course he does, he aced that test on knowing when people are watching him after all.

You mouth ‘like hell?’ at him and subtly point downwards. Sollux stares at you, his face perfectly blank and then returns his attention to the teacher. That wasn’t a ‘no’ but nor was it a ‘yes’, that seemed like as much of a non-answer as you could possibly get. Wouldn’t that mean that he’s not allowed to tell you?

Who would do that though? Who would make hell uninhabitable for the sake of a spell? Well, presumably someone who either didn’t like or didn’t care about hell. Sollux clearly didn’t have a good time there but he does also put a lot of time into trying to keep things running when it comes to demons, so it could be him but this just seems like he’s making a lot more work for himself for no reason. Plus, he lost you in this spell and is clearly frustrated a lot by the limitations that it’s put on him, you really don’t think that Sollux did this.

No way was it your side who sacrificed hell for this because they lost as well, not to mention it’s the kind of drastic action that doesn’t seem to be characteristic of heaven or angels. Besides, demons wandering around among humans and ALL gods being gone seems like a loss in their column.

So who benefitted?

Slyly you pull your phone out from under your desk and find yourself grateful that you can touch type.

carcinoGeneticist [CG] began trolling  tentacleTherapist [TT]  
  
CG: ROSE I NEED TO TALK TO YOU ITS AN EMERGENCY I HAD NA IDEA  
TT: What? Are you okay?  
CG: I CANT LOOK AT WHAT YOURE WRITING IM IN CLASS I HAD A THOUGHT ABOUT STATES OF MAYYER  
TT: ...What?

You chance a glance down at your phone. Shit.

CG: MATTER   
CG: I MEANT STATES OF MATTER   
TT: Alright, what emergency about the states of matter could you possibly be having?   
CG: YOUR GOD   
CG: THE ONE THAT ESCAPEDTHE EVETN    
TT: The storm god that we've been looking for. Okay, what about him?   
CG: HELL IS FROZEN   
CG: OBVIOUSLY SOLLUX DIDNT DO IT   
CG: DEVIL WOULDNTVE    
TT: That contraction pained me. You think that the storm god froze hell, why?   
CG: HELL WAS HOT SO IT HAD A LOT OF ENERGY   
CG: TAKE THE ENERGY AWA IT FREEZES

Another glance. Okay, you’re better at touch typing on a laptop but you think you got the message across.

TT: Holy shit.    
TT: Wait, no that can't be quite right, the event must have required some other power source to start it but I can see the heat of hell being another one that could fuel the continued imprisonment of the gods.    
TT: But it could be a continual power source, much as I suspect the moon itself may be, after all we've had more luck with visions and the like when the moon is at its weakest which suggests its involvement.    
TT: This is very interesting. I'm going to see if I can find out anything about this. 

tentacleTherapist [TT] ceased trolling  carcinoGeneticist [CG]

You put your phone away and pay attention to the rest of the lecture, your teacher’s on form today. After that you and Dave start working on the practical experiments to change the matter state of water. It’s a little tricky but once you’ve kind of got the feel for it then it’s not that hard.

Sollux is ignoring everything for his phone, letting poor June take the brunt of the work all on her own.

“If you keep doing that you’re going to get in trouble eventually you know, at least be subtle.” you hiss at him after it’s gone on long enough to really annoy you.

“No I won’t.” Sollux says.

“You won’t get in trouble or you won’t be subtle?” you ask.

“Yes.” Sollux says without looking up from his phone.

“I don’t know why I keep walking into that.” you groan.

“I was thinking the same thing. Okay, check it.” Dave says. You turn your head just in time to see him switch out the beaker of water for a half empty bottle of coke and freeze it before you can stop him.

“Look!” Dave says cheerfully, pointing to his frozen coke.

“So now what’re you-” you start.

“No, no, don’t. I wanna see where he’s going with this.” June interrupts you.

Dave looks at his bottle of iced coke for a few seconds in silence.

“I didn’t really think about what I was going to do afterwards.” Dave admits.

“That would be the subtitle if your life was a movie.” you say flatly.

“Oh! I could turn it into a gas, coke vape!” Dave gasps.

“What? No. You’re banned.” you hiss and smack his dumb hands away from the experiment.

“From what?” Dave asks, elbowing you back.

“From everything. From life. Sollux, you’re his moirail, aren’t you meant to talk him out of stupid shit? Tell Dave not to make a coke vape!” you demand, knowing that you’re really reaching rock bottom when you’re asking Sollux to be the sensible one.

Sollux lowers his phone finally and looks at Dave. There’s a second or two of silence.

“Remember when we did that mentos and coke thing?” he asks.

“Yeah.” Dave says.

“Remember when your mom was like ‘that shit’s for pussies, have some potassium’?” Sollux continues.

Somehow you’re pretty sure those were Roxy’s exact words.

“Yeaaaaaah? It exploded, there was a fire, it was very cool.” Dave says slowly.

“It’ll be bigger than that. Those of us who are super hard to kill or don’t stay dead for long will probably find it REALLY funny, everyone else not so much.” Sollux shrugs and goes back to his phone. Very importantly you can’t help but note that he DOESN’T tell Dave not to do it!

“That’d be a… bomb, right?” Dave says.

“In fairness I think a lot of stuff they teach you in chemistry and alchemy is how to not accidentally make a bomb. And coke isn’t the same as water, there’s probably stuff in there that you’d just be straight up sublimating into a gas especially if you’re not applying heat and boiling it like he said to but actually just- boop! You’re a gas now!” June explains.

“You’re probably right.” Dave sighs, clearly very bummed out about this.

You need a distraction, but thankfully there’s something that’s been on your mind lately. You wait for June to go back to doing all the work and Sollux to go back to tapping away on his phone.

“Dave… what’re you doing tomorrow night?” you ask him.

“Dude, we’re in all of the same classes. You have all of the same work that I do. You know full well that I should be doing reading that night for Mindfang’s class.” Dave says without inflection, just staring you down with his impenetrable sunglasses.

“I know what you should be doing, what are you actually going to be doing?” you ask him.

“Oh, well, probably playing Metal Gear Solid. Sollux has been messing with the texture packs on the game with me and we’ve broken the shit out of it, it’s hilarious.” he grins.

“I… don’t doubt that. Would you be-” you start.

“Wait, shit, are you asking me on a date?” Dave says a little too loudly.

The charm on your wrist warms as the weight of other people watching you heats it. You don’t need it to tell you though, you can feel Sollux and June watching even though they’re pretending they’re not.

“Yes, I did say I was going to do that. Unless you don’t-” self doubt starts eating at you.

“Nope, you can’t back out now. We’re in this now, you and me Karkat, what’re we doing?” Dave asks eagerly, shooting that doubt down.

“It’s a surprise. If you’re free tomorrow evening we’ll go.” you say.

“Ohhhh, so you don’t know. You just brought it up to stop me making a bomb and now you’re just winging it. I see.” Dave teases and pokes you in the shoulder.

“Mmhm, because he never overthinks things.” Sollux mutters but not so quietly that you don’t hear. You flip him off but otherwise ignore him.

“No, I actually have a bunch of plans that I could deploy at any moment, I’m like a highly sophisticated romance generator.” you inform Dave matter-of-factly. You won’t have your credentials doubted like this. Despite your total lack of experience in this area that you can remember you’ve spent WAY too long thinking about romance to not know what you want to do.

“You’re like romance Batman, but instead of smoke pellets or whatever in your utility belt it’s just date plans. Oh, wait! Fuck! Not Batman, KATman!” Dave gasps.

There’s a loud snort of laughter and then a choking sound. Looking around you see June slumped over the table with her beaker of water knocked over and her shoulders shaking with laughter that shifts from silent to wheezing and back again. Sollux is biting his lip to keep from laughing, you hate him both for laughing at you and for looking kind of appealing like that. You hate him twice!

“Dave, you broke June.” Sollux says, trying to keep his voice level.

“Yuh-huh.” Dave mumbles, writing something on the slate that his frozen coke is currently on. He touches it and turns it back into a liquid again, not that it looks great now.

“_KATMAN_!” June gasps out, lifting her head from her arms.

“Are you picturing a mask with little kitty ears too?” Sollux asks.

“I am NOW!” June cackles.

“You both suck.” you tell them.

Dave pours some of his now liquid sort of coke into the bottle cap and sets the bottle aside and then edits the circle again.

“I’ve changed my mind.” Dave says, not looking up.

“On the date?” you ask and feel your heart sinking in your chest.

“No, that’s still on. Obviously. I change my mind that a Karkat romance superhero wouldn’t still have smoke pellets.” Dave says.

“Why-” that’s as far as you get.

You feel the pull of magic catch and then you’re blasted with a shockwave of air, you can’t see through the steam and when you cough and splutter everything smells vaguely of coke and burning sugar. Very deliberately you stop breathing because there’s no way this is good for your lungs and instead you just focus on fanning away the fumes. After a few seconds they clear and you find that there’s no Dave there at all, just the alchemy equipment, his abandoned drink bottle and the empty cap for it.

You expect Sollux to be gone but he’s sitting there looking equal parts surprised and delighted, even as June continues laughing at his side.

“I’m so proud of him.” Sollux whispers in awe.

Right. Romance with Dave apparently involves weaponsing soda for the purposes of making a ‘cool and stealthy’ escape. You’re putting that mentally in quotes because it was in no way either of those things, no matter how much he thinks it was. God, you have terrible taste in guys, don’t you?

carcinoGeneticist [CG] began trolling  tentacleTherapist [TT]  
  
CG: ROSE, WHY AM I ATTRACTED TO MEN? THEY'RE ALL TERRIBLE.   
TT: It's perfectly normal to have flaws Karkat, it's okay.  
CG: BUT YOU DON'T HAVE ANY FLAWS, HUH?  
TT: Absolutely not. Lesser mortals would be worried about hubris being their downfall if they were as perfect as I am but luckily for me I am not them.   
CG: HMM.  
TT: Dearest husband of mine, are you implying that I have flaws?  
CG: BY YOUR OWN LOGIC WOULDN'T THAT MAKE ME ONE OF YOUR FLAWS?  
TT: Hmm, perhaps. But you have a job and I don't so as soon as the life insurance kicks in you can have a tragic accident on the staircase and I can stand there and convincingly weep to the police and collect all of your money.   
CG: YOU'RE GOING TO BE VERY SAD WHEN YOU SEE MY BANK ACCOUNT THEN. ALSO I THINK THE LIBRARY LIFE INSURANCE ONLY PAYS OUT IF I'M KILLED BY A BOOK SO THAT'S NOT GOING TO WORK.   
TT: Hm, darn, I shall have to work on my plan then. I suppose I can keep you as a flaw for now then. Oh how the mighty have fallen.   
CG: ROSE.  
TT: Yes?  
CG: THIS ENTIRE CONVERSATION IS NONSENSE.  
TT: Don't point it out, you'll break our suspension of disbelief.   
CG: FAIR. ALSO I THINK MY TEACHER IS CALLING CLASS EARLY BECAUSE SOME ASSHOLE MADE A SMALL COKE BOMB.  
TT: Coca cola or cocaine?  
CG: COLA. JESUS, A COCAINE BOMB WOULD BE SOMETHING.   
CG: I WONDER IF THAT'S HIGHLY FLAMMABLE LIKE FLOUR IS SUPPOSED TO BE.   
TT: Well now I'm going to have a google search history that I'd rather not explain.  
CG: I'LL LEAVE YOU TO THAT.   
  
carcinoGeneticist [CG] ceased trolling  tentacleTherapist [TT]

When you open the door and toss your bag on the floor Rose doesn’t even look up from her book.

“Dave likes Mexican food, right?” you ask.

“He once delivered me a thirty minute rap on the subject of Mexican food.” Rose answers and flips a page.

“I’m pretty sure that given the right motivation Dave could write a thirty minute wrap about almost anything, so that doesn’t really answer my question.” you point out.

“You should tell him that sometime, he’d be flattered. And maybe he would rap to you for thirty minutes about you, that’d be fun for me to watch. But yes, he loves Mexican food.” Rose says, still in her book.

“Good, great, can I borrow a blanket tomorrow night?” you ask.

Rose lowers her book and looks around at you.

“On your head be it, don’t you dare damage it. I know where you live.” Rose says.

You look around at your shared dorm, the one you live in with her. Together.

“Shit, you sure do. Alright, I’m going to go study.” you snort and scoop your bag back up.

Once in your room you shut the door and kick your shoes off, with that done you crawl on your bed and take your earphones and phone out. You settle into place and open that video you recorded.

Demonic words come out of your mouth and you very carefully repeat them, keeping the English meaning of them firm in your mind as you do so. Maybe you are the romance Batman because no way will Sollux see this one coming. That’ll show him!

Eventually you do need to leave the dorm if you want to get supplies for your date with Dave, you’ve got candles in mind, the kind of snacks he likes and anything else unreasonably tacky that you know he’d want. You’d ask Rose if she needs you to pick anything up but she’s in her room with the door shut so you won’t disturb her.

As you walk you pass the bus stop that Eridan mind melted a man at. You wish you knew how that poor guy was doing but there’s no way you can find out without breaking medical confidentiality laws. It’s not like you can just-

Hmm.

carcinoGeneticist [CG] began trolling  twinArmageddons [TA]  
  
CG: ON A SCALE OF ONE TO FOUR HOW BUSY ARE YOU?  
CG: ONE BEING NOT BUSY AT ALL, TWO YOU'RE KIND OF BUSY BUT YOU CAN STOP FOR SOMETHING, THREE BEING YOU'RE SUPER BUSY AND CAN'T STOP WHAT YOU'RE DOING AND THEN REDUNDANTLY FOUR THAT YOU'RE TOO BUSY TO EVEN READ THIS MESSAGE.   
TA: ii want two 2ay two but ii feel 2omewhat liike you're baiitiing me iintwo iit.   
CG: PERHAPS.   
TA: fiine, two.  
CG: COULD YOU DO ME A FAVOUR?  
TA: ii don't do favour2 for free.  
CG: YOU HAVE LITERALLY DONE THAT BEFORE BUT GO ON. WHAT DO YOU WANT?  
TA: hmm, tell me what you want fiir2t. gotta 2et up a rea2onable exchange rate, duh.   
CG: RIGHT. SO THE NIGHT EVERYTHING WENT DOWN WITH ERIDAN HE WENT INTO HIS FULL ANGEL FORM AROUND A HUMAN GUY AT A BUS STOP WHICH HAD THE EFFECT YOU'D EXPECT. I MANAGED TO STOP HIM HURTING HIMSELF AND CALLED AN AMBULANCE FOR HIM, HE SEEMED CALMER WHEN THEY GOT HERE BUT I DIDN'T GET HIS NAME AND I'M PRETTY SURE HIS DOCTORS WOULDN'T TELL ME HOW HE IS ANYWAY. PRIVACY LAWS AND ALL.   
TA: and you want two know how he ii2?  
CG: YEAH, IS THAT DOABLE?  
TA: iit ii2 but ii can't really a2k anyone el2e two do iit riight now, ii'm dealiing wiith enough 2hiit wiith demon2 a2 ii2.  
TA: 2o ii'd have two do thii2 my2elf...  
CG: OH, SO IT'S NOT REALLY SOMETHING YOU CAN DO? OBVIOUSLY YOU'VE GOT A LOT GOING ON RIGHT NOW EVEN THOUGH I DON'T KNOW ALL THE DETAILS IT'S PRETTY CLEAR.   
TA: ii diidn't 2ay that ii couldn't do iit, or that ii wouldn't.  
CG: YOU JUST WANT SOMETHING IN RETURN. WHAT IS IT?  
TA: ii'm gonna call you.  
  
twinArmageddons [TA] ceased trolling  carcinoGeneticist [CG]

Before you can even think much about it your phone rings, it’s Sollux, of course.

“Hello?” you say.

“So, here’s what I want.” Sollux says slowly into your ear. You like how his voice sounds sometimes and what’s worse is how much you like it now and how much you can also tell that he’s not TRYING to sound appealing. It’s not like him fake flirting with you to get a reaction, this is all you.

“Yeah?” you manage, kicking your brain cells into working.

“You’ve actually had some success with your tea leaf reading, your dreaming and your tarot stuff. I want you to do that. Not the ouija board though.” Sollux says that last part hastily.

“I can’t do that anyway, you drop kicked my board into the frozen wasteland of hell, remember?” you snort.

“Yeah, I remember making you cry too.” Sollux mutters, clearly unhappy at having to recall that.

“In hindsight I can see that you were probably desperately trying to pitch flirt with me without explaining shit.” you say as you walk on, one hand in your pocket to ward against the cold, the other holding your phone to your ear.

“I take issue with the word desperate.” he protests.

“How sad for you. What did you want me to do?” you ask.

“I’m… I’m losing a lot of ground here. My maker is the one who’s meant to be running things now and I’m just standing in, I have the authority to do that but usually when you have someone like me they’re acting out the orders of their maker. Usually recent orders. But it’s not worked out that way for me and…” Sollux hesitates.

“People are questioning the legitimacy of your position?” you guess.

“Yeah. I mean I understand, I don’t really want this job either and it’s not what I was made for. I need to know if this change is because I did something, or if it’s just how long this has gone on, or if someone else is trying to overthrow me and my maker. Can you use your methods to try to see something?” he asks.

“I can try. If this is anything like the Japan thing then I might get stuff that I don’t understand at all but at the very least I can feed all the raw information I get back to you, maybe it’ll mean something.” you say with a nod that he can’t see.

“Thanks. I’ll go looking for your guy.” Sollux sighs with some relief.

“Thanks, I hope he’s okay.” you say. He really didn’t seem alright at the time but you hope you helped at least a little.

“You’re way too nice.” Sollux tuts.

“And you’re a lot nicer than you pretend to be.” you retort, because you know that’ll get to him way more than just saying he’s a jerk. He’d be proud of being someone that you find irritable, but saying he’s not so secretly NICE? The horror.

“I hate talking to you, I don’t know why I do it.” Sollux mutters.

“Hate you too!” you tell him cheerfully and delight in the way the call disconnects. Haha, you win!

You pick up what you need to in town and then walk back, detouring through the library to check what new shifts that Ms. Paint has put you down for since Kanaya actually did do you a solid and get you back on the rota. You’ve no idea what she told her but whatever it was it worked.

When you return to your dorm you find that Rose is still in her room so you knock on the door and wait. A few moments later she answers.

“Everything alright?” Rose asks. Over her shoulder you can see her laptop open and the familiar green text on her screen, wisely you say nothing.

“I’m doing a tea leaf reading thing, do you want one too?” you ask her.

“That actually sounds really good.” Rose nods.

“Cool, I’ll make it, just leave the door open so I can carry them both and not have to knock by kicking your door.” you tell her.

“Yeah, I’d prefer it if you didn’t kick a hole in my door.” Rose agrees.

“Hey, maybe a whole bunch of mysterious guys in suits might come by to repair it if I do.” you snort and walk over to the cupboard that holds all of your drinks. You have more than enough to choose from and eventually you pick out a chilli chai tea. It’s probably not ideal as the little dried chilli pieces are a good deal larger than the tea itself but fuck the rules, right?

You give Rose’s tea to her and retreat to your room. You shut the door and dim the lights a little. The tea is still a little too hot to comfortably drink, just because you’re fireproof doesn’t mean you want to go chugging boiling tea.

carcinoGeneticist [CG] began trolling  twinArmageddons [TA]  
  
CG: I HAD A THOUGHT.  
TA: ii 2hall alert the ma22e2, iit'2 been 2o long but fiinally the waiit ha2 paiid off.   
CG: LAUGH IT UP CHUCKLEFUCK. I WAS GOING TO SAY THAT I'M ABOUT TO DO THE TEA AND TAROT THING FOR YOU, AS PER OUR AGREEMENT AND MAYBE IT'D BE EASIER IF YOU WERE ACTUALLY HERE AND COULD SEE WHAT'S GOING ON IN REAL TIME SO I CAN ASK YOU QUESTIONS.

“That’s not actually a bad idea.” Sollux says all of a sudden from behind you.

“FUCK!” you yell in alarm, glad that your room is silenced. When you turn around Sollux is rubbing one ear and wincing, serves him right.

“Do you have to be the absolute worst at every possible opportunity?!” you demand.

“Only for you.” he says teasingly.

“You’re the worst.” you tell him and shove him on your bed. He seems surprised but not uninterested. Well, too bad for him that what you have in mind is more card reading and less… that. You grab your tarot deck from your bag and shove Sollux up the bed so there’s room for you to sit on the end and the cards to go between you.

“Alright, so, rather than doing a ‘what does the future hold’ type thing I was thinking of just asking what’s happening now, since that’s more what you’re after, right?” you ask and start to shuffle and rotate the cards as you go.

“Right.” he agrees.

“Unfortunately I don’t know a spread for that so I’m going to make one up. It’s all made up anyway so who cares if it’s me or someone from hundreds of years ago?” you shrug.

“A what now?” Sollux asks.

“Right, so, the cards have meanings but also the positions they’re in have meanings too. So I’m going to say that this is the subject of your question… this is the person responsible and this is what they’re doing or their motive.” you say as you set the cards face down.

Sollux watches and you can’t help but notice the alert and interested way that his tails slice through the air back and forth as he watches the cards. You flip the first.

“Of course, it’s you.” you say, entirely unsurprised.

“What?” Sollux asks.

“The two of swords, it’s basically just the card I’ve come to associate with you. Dave is the Knight of Swords, I’m the Knight of Cups, Rose is the High Priestess and Roxy is the Empress.” you explain.

“Do they all mean other things?” he asks curiously.

“Obviously, but we’re getting off topic. Next card.” you say and flip it.

Knight of Swords. Dave… what?

“That doesn’t make sense, Dave isn’t doing anything. Maybe it means he’s the subject of what’s going on but… that doesn’t make sense either. Do…” you trail off when you look up at Sollux, his expression is grim. Alright… moving on.

“Last one?” he prompts you.

Uncertainly you turn the card but as you do it slips from your fingers and lands face up but sideways, neither up nor down. Sollux leans over to look at it then back up at you.

“What does that mean?” he asks.

“Fucked if I know, the cards have different meanings if they’re facing me or away from me but sideways isn’t a thing. I’ve also not had this card before so I need to look it up, the minor arcana is so damn hard to memorise.” you grumble that last part and grab your phone, deciding to just look it up online.

“Could sideways be both meanings? Or something from each?” Sollux suggests.

“I’m pretty sure that’s not how it works but also if that’s what’s leaping out at you then sure, do that. Alright… the card is the three of cups…” you say as you thumb through the website on your phone.

“Okay, upright it seems to be community, friendship, happiness, all that social stuff.” you say.

“Not sure about the other stuff but community I can see.” Sollux nods. You’re not sure how this applies to Dave but maybe Sollux means HIS community rather than Dave’s, so demonkind perhaps?

“Reversed it’s gossip, scandal, group discord or jealousy.” you tell him.

“Ohhhh. Yeah, I understand that. I pretty much already knew that but I guess the confirmation helps.” he nods.

Yeah, he’s not going to explain any of that, is he? Maybe it’s that demons aren’t cool that Sollux is spending all of his time with Dave and not ruling hell? That’d make perfect sense, after all it’s really weird that someone in his position is fucking about at school for a lot of stuff he already knows how to do, but even though it mentally checks out it doesn’t FEEL true at all.

Instead of asking Sollux questions that he won’t answer you pick up your now slightly cooler cup of tea and start to drink. Sollux takes a photo of your cards and then looks back up at you from where he’s leant over them.

“So I just sit here and watch you drink tea?” Sollux asks.

“I’m eager to hear how you think you can _help_ me drink tea.” you say flatly and drink some more. It’s a nice fruity tea but with a really nice kick of heat, you really like this one for the cold weather you’re getting these days.

Sollux seems to concede this point and carefully puts your cards back in the deck and the deck in its box. It’s a nice gesture, a mindless kind of care for your things. You know he’s not doing it with much thought because he seems like he’s a million miles away.

“So I did some crimes and I know a little more about your guy.” Sollux says slowly, turning the box around in his hand.

“Yeah?” you ask eagerly.

“He doesn’t remember what he saw that fried his mind but he swears he was helped by an angel, protected by one. He’s in outpatient therapy at the moment.” Sollux explains.

“But I looked human at the time, how would he know that?” you ask in horror.

“My guess is that you did something angel-y that protected him from Eridan’s brainfuckery and he was able to tell what you were. His doctors have put it down to a trauma response, they don’t think there was literally an angel. Just that he’s projecting onto the ‘nice young man’ who called the ambulance. You saved him, you know that, right?” Sollux asks.

You sip your tea and frown.

“It’s my fault he got hurt in the first place.” you tell him.

“You did a good thing, stop being an idiot about it.” Sollux retorts, as if he’s fed up with you doing this kind of thing. He probably is, he has a whole bunch of experience that you don’t remember after all.

You’re getting near the end of your tea so you really should be concentrating on the question that you’re trying to read for. What’s happening with the demons that’s causing such unrest? You get close to the end so you snag the saucer for the tea cup off of your bedside table and flip your cup upside down. When enough of the remaining tea has dripped out you flip it back over.

“...Huh.” you say thoughtfully.

“What?” Sollux asks, leaning over on his hands so he can try to see into your tea cup. He’s kind of on his hands and knees now and the angle means you can look right down his back to where his tails join to his spine or so you presume. They’re flicking back and forth like a thousand youtube videos have shown cats doing right before they jump on something.

“Whaaaat?” Sollux demands petulantly.

“Sorry, it’s… look.” you say and hold the cup out.

“It’s a three strand winding… thing. Maybe a rope or tree roots? A river? Does it mean anything to you?” you ask him.

“I don’t think so. Maybe you could say it’s you me and Dave all tangled together on the same path or whatever but that’s not an answer to the question.” Sollux says with a frown.

“Maybe I got distracted? I don’t know. Nothing’s coming to my mind yet, but maybe I just don’t have the information to understand it yet. That’s what happened last time.” you shrug.

“That’s not really helpful.” Sollux says and sits back.

“Well I’m SORRY, it’s not an exact science and I’m new at it!” you snap.

“Not a science at all.” Sollux says and lays back on your bed like he owns the place.

“Well fuck you very much, I’m going to look up a guide. That way I can see if I missed anything.” you say and start googling, you find a pdf and start scrolling through common signs you can see in tea leaves to-

Hold up.

“This is a list of common things in tea leaves.” you start.

“Uh huh.” Sollux says, clearly not interested.

“One of the things is ‘cock’. Do you think they mean a cockerel or…?” you raise an eyebrow at him.

“Man, I know Dave’d get that. ‘What’s in your tea, Dave?’ ‘DICKS!’ What does it mean anyway?” he snickers.

“Uh,” you check the list, “apparently it’s ‘much prosperity’. So there’s that.”

Well at least that entertained Sollux a good deal, he’s got his face buried in your pillow now to muffle his laughter at least a little.

“The closest thing on this list is wavy lines but I’d say these are more interlocked than just wavy. So I don’t think that’s right.” you conclude.

“What does wavy mean?” Sollux asks, looking up from your pillow.

“Uh, it’s… not important?” you try but he pins you with a look.

“I really don’t think it’s the right interpretation but it’s, and I quote, ‘losses and vexations’.” you tell him, albeit reluctantly. Just like with the cards you know you’re missing something here.

“You just don’t want me to have a bad reading.” Sollux accuses you.

“No, if bad things were going to happen I’d rather you knew in advance so we can fix it.” you counter, accusation defeated! Take THAT Sollux.

“Yeah, well.” Sollux shrugs.

“Oh that changes everything.” you tell him with as much sarcasm as possible.

“Shut up. Look, let me know if you dream anything useful, alright?” Sollux says and stands up with a stretch.

“I can’t promise it’ll happen but I’ll do what I can.” you say. As he stretches his shirt rides up a little and you give into the impulse to touch the stripe of skin that the motion revealed. He looks down at you with a look that he’d probably deny is fond but definitely is.

“Have fun on your date tomorrow.” Sollux says and leans down quickly to kiss you. He pulls back and you’re about to say something smart, probably, when he bites your lip and vanishes in a puff of fake apple smoke.

You cough and wave your hand through it, licking the stinging bit of your lip where he got you. That asshole.

For the rest of the evening you just kill time, researching a few things for your date, getting some reading done for Mindfang’s class, looking more into tea leaf reading. Despite all that you know that you’re just killing time. When your head hits the pillow that evening and you slip the charm under your pillow that’ll ensure you wake up from a dream you’re completely focused on getting something helpful for Sollux.

You close your eyes and sleep.

_It’s cold where you are, bitterly so. Snow coats impacted mud and thick coats wrapped tight around the men around you do more to keep fleas and body lice warm rather than the men in them. It’s cold and miserable and you hate it completely. You walk along the narrow paths wrapped in the fake outfit of an officer with a skin tone that’s not your own just so you’ll blend in._

_As you walk you think, you try to decide what to do when your hands are so incredibly tied._

_“Why are you here?” she asks._

_You’re alone, or you were anyway. An unused little corner of the dug out warren of dirt and misery, no humans around. She wasn’t here a moment ago but you suppose that in this place she is everywhere. You turn, boots crunching in the bitter snow and look at her. She’s not bothering to hide who she is, there’s no one around to see her and if anyone really did then they wouldn’t be around for long._

_“Meenah.” you say, polite, respectful._

_She tilts her head as she looks at you, her long braids dangling almost to the floor. Strung through them are trinkets and talismans, spoils of wars throughout time from every culture going. Even some that don’t exist anymore have their final traces in her braids._

_“What’re you doing here?” she asks again._

_“The usual.” you shrug._

_“You’re not allowed to interfere in this, you can’t stop this whole thing. Me and Snowman are killing it out here. Fuck, we all are. Even Aradia’s up to her eyes in work here and Jane started this whole thing just as much as I did.” Meenah says, her eyes gleaming with a fire from inside her._

_“I know. It’s all predicted, I can’t stop it. Even if I actually could I’d be kicked out for interfering that much.” you concede._

_“So why’re you here?” she asks, a third time._

_“If you’re so sure there’s nothing I can do then why do you care? You’re putting all these people through this, aren’t I allowed to see it up close?” you ask._

_Meenah surveys you, like she’s suspecting that you’re up to some kind of trick. Her eyes finally drift from you over to the top of the trench._

_“Do you know what they’re calling this? The war to end all wars. Like I’d just go away.” Meenah laughs._

_“That’s pretty optimistic of them.” you shrug. You wish it was right but… no, you know what humans can be like. War, like Death, Famine and Pestilence are constants for a reason. There’s a reason that they’re the things that will be there at the end of it all. As much as you love humans they have these things baked into them and their world, but they’re not just those things._

_“It’s not going to be the end. There will be more like this, once people know that I can be THIS… it’s going to be great.” Meenah shudders in glee._

_“Bye Meenah.” you sigh and walk off._

_She doesn’t follow you, she knows that you’re not able to beat her on this. But she is underestimating you._

_You walk through the trenches and find a group of tired, muddy soldiers with beaten down hearts. They’d all been told that this would all be over by now but you’re pretty sure that this war won’t be done with any time soon. You’re not great at healing, it’s not really what you do. What you can do is reaffirm their bond to something or someone. If you wanted to you could remind them of ‘King and Country’ and get them fighting like Meenah wants, but even if that’s something you could do it’s not what you want._

_You slip from view and peek over the top of the trench, feeling the not so distant souls of the men on the other side. They’re every bit as tired and beaten down at the men on this side. They have more in common with each other than not. They’re just regular people dragged into a fight they have no choice in and they certainly can’t leave now that they’re here. They’re made to fight and risk their lives as the people in charge on either side stay well away from the whole thing. They’re just people, just human._

_You slip back down into the trench and think for a moment. That’s something you can do. You don’t like to manipulate, not like Kankri and Cronus teach you to, not like Eridan keeps encouraging you to do. There’s no way that you’ll put anything in their heads that wasn’t there before, that’s just wrong and defeats the whole purpose of this. But a little nudge? A little reminder so they can see themselves as you see them? Yeah, you can do that._

_Besides, a little encouragement never hurt. You magic a convincingly battered football into existence and casually roll it over that way. Reaching into all of them you find what you know they all have inside. They’re just people and so are the men on the other side. If they met one evening in peacetime and spoke the same language they’d probably get on just fine, they might have drinks with each other, share food and tell stories. It’s only chance that has half of them on one side and half on the other. They’re all cold, tired and miserable. They’re more alike than they know and maybe just today they can act more like it. You look up at the sky and the gentle snow that’s falling and remember the last detail._

_It’s Christmas, isn’t it?_

_You remind both sides of the same things and then wait._

_The men seem melancholy, contemplating the things you’ve silently reminded them of when one spots the football that you rolled their way. The young soldier (God, he must be what… nineteen?) bends down and carefully picks it up. He contemplates it for a few long moments and then turns to the ladder that leads over the top of the trench. He climbs up, peeks over, well aware that looking over the top could mean a bullet to the brain but he doesn’t know that the soldiers on the other side are feeling the same thing that his side are. Emboldened by not being shot he pulls himself up and warily holds the football out to the side so they can see what it is, he kicks it once ever so gently just to prove that it’s not some kind of bomb. The other soldiers on his side have scrambled up, ready to pull him or perhaps just his body back down. Across the other side, over no man’s land, the other soldiers are watching too. Watching some young man, still a teenager, pick the ball up again and walk closer. They start to climb up as well._

_Slowly both sides leave their trenches, climbing onto the top together. They don’t speak each other’s languages, not really. They’ve picked up the occasional word, sure, but not enough to communicate. Even so they manage to get a game going. You stand and watch them playing together, several officers gather at the sides of the impromptu match and swap parts of their rations or cigarettes with each other._

_“What are you even doing?” Meenah demands, suddenly at your side._

_“I’m not doing anything.” you say innocently._

_“You know this won’t stop the war.” she tells you sharply._

_“It’s one football game, I’m not that optimistic. Your war will go on.” you say with a sigh. You shove your hands in your coat pockets and watch the soldiers on both sides as they kick the ball around._

_“So… why are you doing this?” she asks after a minute of silence._

_“Because people are obviously going to know all about your war. Everything you and the others made this thing into, everything the humans did to each other.” you start._

_“Hey, we didn’t MAKE the humans do anything. Me and Jane just bring out what’s already in them.” Meenah says defensively._

_“No, I know. They’re like that. But I just did the same, they’re like this too. People will remember what you did but maybe they’ll hear about this too, see that humans are still more than the worst parts of themselves.” you say and nod to the temporary inexplicable truce going on before you._

_“Well, look at you. Winning the battle and losing the war.” Meenah grins. You look around to see her holding a braid over her mouth to try to cover the amused grin on her face. There’s a purple heart pinned through the part against her lips._

_You shrug, you’re doing what little you’re allowed to, you suppose._

You jolt upright in bed, flailing as you startle into wakefulness. The charm did its job, that’s for sure. Scrambling for your phone you call Sollux, you’re too out of it to type. You sit up in bed as it rings but he does pick up, nevermind that it’s four am.

“Yeah?” he says because he has no manners at all.

“Just dreamt, woke up.” you manage to get out, you’re trying to hold onto every aspect of the dream that you can.

The line goes dead but before you can pull your phone from your ear Sollux appears right next to you.

“Tell me everything.” he insists.

So you do, you recount the details you can remember about the trenches and the woman you spoke to and as you start to describe her Sollux’s face blanches in horror.

“Meenah?” he whispers.

“Yes! That was her name. She had these long braids and- hey!” you protest as Sollux shoves you and then pushes his phone towards your face, he seemingly took a picture of your cup from your earlier reading and at once you spot the intertwined strands of tea leaves for what they are, a braid.

“Who is she? I obviously knew her but I can’t… it’s kind of gone.” you admit. Whatever spell works on your memories must be trying to reclaim the details.

“My phone’s dying, I’m stealing your charger.” Sollux says and muscles you out of the way so he can plug his phone in instead.

“That’s not an answer.” you remind him as he drops it on your bedside table. Sollux sighs and gets to his feet.

“She’s a horseman.” Sollux answers.

You’ve met Death, Famine and Pestilence. You were talking to Meenah on a battlefield, so…

“War. She’s war.” you whisper and he nods.

“So what does this mean for you?” you ask.

“People always had questions about the legitimacy of this whole thing, like I said. But if Meenah’s getting involved she can make people angrier than normal, turn little seeds of irritation and distrust into outright loathing and treason. She wants a fight and she most likely wants me gone. She would have been the one outside the club who caused Kurloz to lose his shit.” Sollux explains.

“That also explains the card about community then. Still not the rest of it but there’s something there. So what now?” you ask.

“Now you go back to sleep, I need to go away for a while to try to undo all of this. Take notes for me or whatever.” Sollux shrugs.

“Wait, wait, how long are we talking here? You were already gone for a big chunk of time last semester, you can’t just keep disappearing. The school will kick you out!” you insist.

“They really won’t.” he says but doesn’t explain anything as per usual.

“I think you’re trying to distract me with that and I’m not buying it. Look, this is obviously a problem, let me help.” you insist.

“You can’t. Not more than you already have with this which was actually helpful.” Sollux says and reaches for his phone. You put your hand on his shoulder to hold him back.

“Will you give me a little more credit here? I know I don’t remember things but I’m still capable of helping. Look… is… is this anything to do with that storm god?” you ask and Sollux freezes.

“The storm… god?” Sollux repeats.

“Rose found statues in your void, she told me about it. I know this god is still out unlike the others. Is this connected?” you ask. You know you and Rose figured it’d be a bad idea to ask about this in case it conflicted with Sollux’s obligations with this spell but you can’t let him keep thinking you’re useless.

“Of course Rose is getting involved. Can you just TRY to stop her digging into that? The fabric of reality would really appreciate it. But no, it doesn’t have anything to do with this.” Sollux tells you. You’re pretty sure that you both know that Rose isn’t going to stop having her teeth sunk into this mystery any time soon.

“Sollux! If this is something so big that you have to vanish to deal with it then there has to be something I can do, you shouldn’t have to deal with some big catastrophe alone.” you insist but Sollux just bats your hand away.

“I’ve been dealing with this shit on my own for years now, it’s fine.” he says sharply and goes for his phone again.

You suck in a breath and figure, yeah, you may as well.

“_I hate you._” you tell him in demonic, focusing as hard as you can to get the words to go perfectly.

Sollux freezes for a solid second or two and then turns to look at you wide eyed.

“...What?” he whispers.

“_I hate you._” you repeat.

Sollux says something incomprehensible in demonic but he looks more concerned than swept off his feet.

“I can’t understand demonic yet, I just learnt that.” you admit.

“From WHO?” Sollux asks, his voice pitching higher in alarm.

“Well… when you switched my languages I may have recorded myself saying it so I could learn it after.” you admit, not admitting to recording OTHER things as well.

“You planned this?” he says, barely above a whisper.

“Yeah, because it’s true. I know I was missing for five whole years and fuck knows how long I’ve actually been around because I think that memory was from one of the world wars so fuuuuck but I’m here NOW and I don’t want you to have to deal with things alone.” you tell him. You’re REALLY not thinking about how old you might be.

Sollux stares at you dumbly for a second, with all his eyes wide open. You hear him whisper the same ‘I hate you’ back in demonic and before you can try to repeat the same thing to him he just launches himself at you. Pretty lucky that your bed was right there or else that might have hurt.

But at least he’s not alone, and you technically do what he told you to originally and go back to sleep. Just… after a while.

When morning comes it’s the phone ringing next to your ear that wakes you up. You jump at the noise and stretch your arm out to grab the phone. Sollux whines in complaint at you reaching over him and waking him up but you need to answer this. The phone tries to jolt out of your hand as the charging cable still attached to it doesn’t quite reach but you manage to disentangle it and answer.

“Hello?” you say sleepily.

Sollux tightens his arm around your chest, pulling you back down with him.

“Uh… Karkat?” Dave’s voice says in your ear.

“Yeah? What’s going on? It’s not… not time for class, right?” you yawn and lift your head a little to look at the clock by your bedside, the clock that was very recently repaired by strange men in suits. You have plenty of time.

“No, you’re not late or anything. I was just wondering where Sollux was but I guess that answers that.” Dave says and you can hear the amusement in his tone.

You look down at Sollux, how did Dave know where he was? Sollux looks back up at you sleepily and frowns.

“That’s my phone.” he mumbles.

You pull it from your ear and see that, yeah, that’s not your phone case and you just answered Sollux’s phone. Oops. Sollux snickers and takes it from you.

“Hey Dave.” Sollux says brightly, folding his arm behind his head and grinning at you for making such a dumb mistake.

“Yeah.” Sollux laughs at whatever Dave just said.

Ugh, too early for being embarrassed you’d rather go back to sleep. You fall back on the pillow next to Sollux and rest your hand on his chest. You’re pretty sure that they’re talking about you but you try to tune it out, instead you run your hand down Sollux’s side and feel his extra rib and the warm glow that you can feel through his skin.

“Listen, Dave, I-” Sollux pauses and you can hear Dave talking on the other side of the phone. Sollux bites his lip and tries to contain his laughter but given that he’s not wearing anything and he’s right next to you it’s kind of difficult for him to hide anything. Curiously you move your hand to his stomach and you suppose your touch was light enough that it might have tickled or something because Sollux is laughing out loud now.

“Quit it!” Sollux hisses at you, you can hear Dave laughing down the other end of the phone too. Well, fine you didn’t MEAN to tickle him but whatever. Instead you just drag him closer and rest your head on his chest because you’ve no intention of getting out of bed before you really have to.

“No, Dave, for real I…” Sollux trails off with a sigh. There’s a long pause where you can just hear Dave’s tinny voice through the phone.

“Long rambling metaphor?” you guess.

“Mm-hm.” Sollux hums and winds his tails around your leg just above your knee.

“Yeah, something like that. Dave I’m going to have to bail for a while, so don’t summon me unless it’s an emergency, yeah? ...No I know. It’ll be fine. Yeah, of course I will. ...No, that wasn’t why we- no it just worked out that way. _Dave_!” you listen to Sollux’s voice through his chest, the way it sounds more resonant that way.

Sollux finishes his phone call with Dave and drops the phone on the bedside table. He sighs deeply and you feel his chest move as he does.

“You have to go, right?” you guess.

“Yeah.” Sollux agrees and runs his hands through your hair, sharp claws careful against your scalp.

“If you need me-” you start.

“Even if there does end up being something you could theoretically do I wouldn’t be able to give you all the details or even tell you why I need you to do whatever it is, you know that, right?” Sollux interrupts.

You push yourself up on your elbow and look up at him.

“I’m okay with that.” you tell him as firmly and confidently as you can.

“I mean really obtuse stuff, I don’t know how much I can bend this.” he adds.

“Fuck this.” you say sharply as you push yourself up on your hand and glare at him.

“I don’t care about heaven or hell I’m not on either side, I’m on YOUR side. And I’ll- I’ll fight you if you think otherwise.” you snap at him.

Sollux just stares up at you in awe for a moment or two. Of course it’s two, what are you thinking?

“Fuck, I missed you.” he whispers.

“Yeah, well, I’m here now. So deal with it.” you tell him. You’ve kind of backed yourself in an emotional corner here and you’re not sure what you’re meant to say now since you’re pretty confident that what you just said was something kind of big for demons.

Sollux’s expression melts into something a little sadder and he sits up in bed and swings his legs over the edge. In an instant he’s wearing his clothes again and you watch as he picks up and puts his phone away again.

“Don’t do anything stupid.” you warn him.

“Too late.” Sollux says with a grin.

“...Are you implying that I’m something stupid?” you ask him, entirely sure that he is.

“Yep!” Sollux says brightly.

You throw your pillow at him but he’s gone before it gets there so it does nothing more than thunk into your wardrobe. Defeated you fall back down onto your mattress and sigh, he’s SO irritating. There’s a flash of blue and red at your side, the fastest kiss ever pressed to your cheek and then nothing but bicoloured smoke again.

Fuck, you hate him.

Seeing Rose after you get up is fine, she’s barely awake. The problem comes when you go down for breakfast and Dave comes in with a sly grin that’s so obvious everyone notices it. That’s the problem with Dave, he’s as subtle as a falling piano.

“Whaaaat? What’s up?” Jade asks suspiciously, because Dave is being wildly suspicious.

“Nothing!” Dave says immediately and unconvincingly.

“Where’s Sollux?” Jade asks, right as Dave crams an entire slice of toast in his mouth as an excuse for why he can’t talk.

“I don’t know where he is but I know where he’s BEEN though.” June laughs and points at you across the table.

“What are- OH!” Jade laughs.

Rose looks up at you and raises an eyebrow. She reaches into her bag and pops a compact mirror open and turns it around to show you yourself and- what the fuck? Did Sollux try to take a chunk out of your neck? Great, wonderful, thanks for the bite mark that’ll be there for like a MONTH or something, thanks for that asshole.

carcinoGeneticist [CG] began trolling  twinArmageddons [TA]  
  
CG: MY FUCKING NECK, SHITLORD!   
CG: WHY.  
TA: thiink of iit a2 a compliiment?  
CG: I'M PUTTING CRAFT GLITTER IN EVERYTHING YOU OWN.  
  
carcinoGeneticist [CG] ceased trolling  twinArmageddons [TA]


	28. Oak and Ash and Thorn

“Sooooo, you and Sollux.” Dave says. He’d been so restrained in commenting during your magical languages class but now that you’re on the way to your customary coffee place after class he’s finally cracked.

“Yes?” you sigh.

“You two slept together, huh?” Dave says with a grin.

“Dave-” you try.

“The horizontal tango, the beast with two backs, the no pants dance, the-” Dave is only stopped by you putting your hand over his mouth.

“Is this psychological warfare to express that you’re not okay with that or is this just you being you?” you ask him suspiciously and take your hand away.

“Am I okay with you two-” he starts.

“DAVE.” you cut him off and even he can’t keep a straight face now.

“Why wouldn’t I be okay with it?” Dave answers finally.

“Because _we’re_ dating and I just had sex with-” you start.

“The other guy you’re dating, yes. Even though he had to bail he sounded pretty chilled out so I’d guess you two had fun, your neck looks like you two had fun at least. If he’s happy and you’re happy then I’m happy. No jealousy or envy here, I swear.” Dave assures you and you relax a little.

“I swear this isn’t supposed to be this easy, we’re all young- well… you two are, and we’ve never done this before. I know me and Sollux were together in the past but I remember basically nothing of that and relationships are hard even between two people, with three it should be super complicated but everything just seems to be fine?” you say with a frown.

“You’re mad that we don’t have relationship problems? Sometimes when things are right they’re just easy. Also I’m going to tell Sollux you called him easy.” Dave teases.

“Do it, it’ll annoy him and that’s great for me.” you laugh.

“See? It’s all good. I’m happy you two went to pound town-” Dave says.

“Oh God, why?” you groan.

“-and not saying that I wouldn’t be also down for a visit there but I’m not jealous, I’m happy for you both. Don’t you think the rest of your life is complicated enough without this being complicated too?” Dave finishes.

“I guess you have a point. I’m ignoring the first half of what you said but still.” you admit and open the door to the coffee place and hold it open for Dave to go in first.

“Swoon, such a gentleman.” Dave sighs dreamily as he passes you. You’re pretty sure that he’s fluttering his eyelashes behind those shades.

Dave shoos you to your standard table and you sit down. You check the weather forecast for tonight for probably the hundredth time, it’s still cold but clear and dry with no clouds in sight. Your date should still be good, you hope so at least. When Dave comes back to you the drinks you have seem to be about 50% whipped cream and have an honest to god sparkler stuck in the top. You have no words so helpless laughter will just have to do. Dave gets pictures because of course he does.

“Alright, for real though, totally serious time. Did you two have fun last night? As in did everything go okay?” Dave asks.

“Are you asking because of demon anatomy or something?” you ask and sip your surprisingly tasty drink.

“Pretty much, yeah.” he nods.

“I mean I don’t remember ever having sex with anyone so it’s all new to me. I don’t see how it could have been a problem though. Isn’t working out what the other person likes and following their lead when they show you, all part of having sex with someone regardless of anything? He didn’t seem to have any complaints and I sure as shit don’t so…” you shrug. You can’t see why it’d be any bigger deal than having sex with anyone else.

Dave has a kind of sappy smile on his face so your answer must have been the right one.

“Besides, it was nice. I told him I hated him in demonic, I taught myself how to say it. It felt meaningful, you know?” you admit, looking down at the table and feeling your face heat up.

“Yeah, I’ve heard about that part. By which I mean I have several pages of emotional trollian messages about it. I’m pretty sure you are romance Batman now.” Dave laughs. He’s genuinely happy for you both, how IS this working out so easily?

“I’m really looking forward to tonight,” you admit, “and by looking forward to I mean incredibly anxious about but still.”

“Yeah, I was gonna ask about that. You’ve got work later, right? What’s the plan with times? I’m all about the timings.” Dave says as he stirs his drink with a long spoon, mixing the thing into an overly sugary frenzy.

“I finish at six so we could go out at seven or quarter to?” you suggest.

“Sounds good. Do I have to wear anything specific?” he asks.

“Go for warm things.” you suggest.

“Intriguing. Alright, I’m down for this Mr. Vantas. I’m prepared to be wowed by your ninja romance ways.” Dave says and takes a sip of his drink.

“One, that’s only going to make me more nervous so thanks. Two, I thought I was romance Batman, not a ninja.” you point out.

“Batman had training by ninjas.” Dave tuts as if it’s your fault for not knowing that.

“That doesn’t sound right but I don’t know enough about Batman to dispute it.” you tell him suspiciously.

“That means I win.” Dave tells you.

“I give up.” you groan.

“I definitely win.” Dave snickers so you kick him in the ankle.

The pair of you easily fall into a winding conversation about a whole bunch of unrelated things that goes on so long that Dave ends up walking you all the way to the library doors so he can get as many words out about the evolutionary history of birds as possible.

“So, meet up at yours at six forty five or seven ish? Troll me about it at the time.” you suggest.

“Uh huh.” Dave nods.

“Well, I’m gonna…” you point vaguely at the library and take a step to go inside, only Dave moves so he’s in your way.

Before you can do anything Dave ducks in close to you and kisses you quickly, he hesitates and you can almost hear him deciding ‘ah, fuck it’ and he changes to kissing you properly. His hands holding onto the fabric of your magically summoned coat to hold you there.

Distantly some other student yells ‘GAY’ at you and you have to pull away from Dave to glare at them. It’s a couple of students over by the statue of Roxy.

“FUCK OFF!” you shout back at them and you can _project_ far better than they can.

“That was entertaining, see you tonight.” Dave grins and pecks you on the lips once and walks off. You linger outside the library to make sure those idiots aren’t going to try anything with Dave but once he’s a good distance away you head inside.

You walk into the library and into your office with a happy sigh. You fall into your chair, unable to keep the giddy smile from your face.

“Someone’s happy.” Kanaya says with a smile as she opens a box of printer paper.

“My romantic life is going amazingly for once, I’m actually really happy!” you tell her.

“That’s great to hear. Goodness knows you’ve had enough going on lately, I’m glad something is going your way for once.” Kanaya nods.

“And I have a date tonight.” you add eagerly.

“Well if it’s all going THAT well for you then you can go replace the toner in the photocopier on the third floor. It always manages to stain my clothes.” she tells you.

“I think my clothes are just magic now so that’s actually not a problem for me. I’ll do that now.” you tell her. You’d probably want to be out of sight as you unsummoned and resummoned clothes, you don’t want to flash everyone in the library but you could deal with a toner stain on your magical clothes.

“Thank you for volunteering for that job forever more then!” Kanaya says with a cheerful smile that happens to have a lot of fang in it.

“Sure.” you nod and open your little supply cupboard to grab the toner.

“You really are happy. Let me know next time you’re going to get laid so that I can plan favours to ask you afterwards.” Kanaya laughs. You kind of hate that you’re this obvious but, fuck it, you’re allowed to be happy for once.

Your shift in the library is pretty ordinary, you replace the toner in the photocopier, you reshelve books and answer questions. One guy comes in with a huge spreading mark on him because he had a book overdue all break. The spell that runs that seemingly doesn’t kick in during academic breaks but as soon as you’re back in school it flicks on again. Needless to say he pays his fine, even if he argues about it for a while. You accompany Kanaya to feed the dangerous books, empty the paper shredders, all normal stuff. The time between your shift starting and ending seems to fly by and before you know it you’re back in your dorm room trying to brush your hair into something approaching presentable and checking your bag for the fifth time.

Despite the plan being that you would meet Dave he comes and meets you at your dorm instead. He simultaneously looks really good but also like he could perhaps not be trying at all. You’re pretty sure that he IS trying though. He’s wearing a thick red hoodie with a cosy thick lining that reminds you of those teddy bear coats that were fashionable for a minute a while back. It’s designer but in a low key kind of way and the dark denim jacket over it is pretty carefully picked but casual enough to be deniable. By contrast his jeans seem both almost painted on for how skinny fitted they are but also deliberately ripped in places. His sneakers are white and red in a way that goes EXACTLY with his hoodie and the white parts of them are sparkling while, again trying very hard to look like he’s not trying at all. He put effort into looking nice for your date and it shows, you’re a little swept away by it.

“You look really nice.” you tell him.

“Oh, what, this? Pshh.” Dave shrugs but he’s also very obviously pleased at your comment. You see through him alright.

You take Dave to the right bus stop, telling him all about your shift in the library.

“So you just, like, feed them meat? Books?” Dave asks in disbelief.

“Well not me, Kanaya does. I don’t have access to that area yet but hopefully I will! I’ve shown some promise already.” you say eagerly.

“You’re such a nerd.” Dave teases you.

The bus pulls up and you pay for the fare for you and Dave both.

“A gentleman!” Dave gasps again and follows you to the seat, holding off his dramatic swoon until you’ve picked a pair of seats for you to sit in.

“Sooooo what’s the surprise?” Dave asks, nudging his shoulder against yours.

“See, this is the magic of surprises, if I tell you then it’s no longer a surprise.” you point out.

“Harsh but fair.” Dave nods.

You’re trying to keep an eye out for your bus stop but your attention is drawn back to Dave as he subtly tries to slide his hand into yours. Screw subtlety, you’re just going to hold your boyfriend’s hand! You twine your fingers together with his and squeeze his hand.

“It might be desperately uncool to admit this but I’ve never actually been on a date before.” Dave admits.

“Really? That surprises me.” you say, glancing away from the window of the bus to look at him instead.

“It does?” Dave asks.

“Well, yeah. You went to a school with other people, I would have thought you’d have dated people there. Even if your mom wasn’t okay with you bringing anyone home that doesn’t mean you couldn’t go out and date people after school was out and then get a ride back home in a taxi or with Sollux. Did the people at your school just suck or something?” you ask.

“Why would you assume they sucked?” Dave questions you and shifts in his seat so he can look at you straight on.

“Because you didn’t date any of them, obviously.” you tell him. Was that not clear somehow?

Dave does that half smile, where one corner of his mouth pulls up enough that you just get the slightest flash of white teeth. It’s a subtle little expression but it’s affectionate and fond.

“You’re so sure that people would want to date me that the only reason you can think of for me not dating anyone before this is that either Mom wouldn’t let me or they all sucked.” he says slowly.

“Yes?” you frown.

Dave makes a slightly strangled noise and pulls his hand from yours so he can tug the neck of his hoodie over most of his face, now all you can see is shades and hair. He lingers like that for a moment before composing himself and coming back out.

“They didn’t suck. I was the weird albino twin kid who didn’t really hang with anyone but his sister and June. Rose is terrifying af and June is a prank machine, we were kind of just the weird kids. Also June is way too gay to date. Well, too gay for me to date I’m sure other girls could but you get me. The three of us just kept to ourselves. It probably didn’t help that when I was outside school I was almost always with a literal demon. Although that doesn’t seem to put _you_ off.” Dave grins at that last part.

“I guess it didn’t, no. Oh, shit, this is our stop. Move your ass.” you say and shove him.

“This date has already devolved to talk of my ass, I see how it is.” Dave sighs.

“Yeah, now move it unless you don’t want food.” you say and poke him just under his ribs. Dave squeaks and hurries on.

The pair of you manage to get off of the bus in time, go you for successfully navigating public transport. Emboldened by Dave’s earlier action you slide your hand into his and pull him along the pavement since you’re the only one who knows where you’re going.

“So on our earlier topic of conversation before you assaulted my liver with your ninja hands-” Dave starts.

“I couldn’t jab your liver with my hands, that’s not how anatomy works.” you interrupt, Dave ignores you.

“Did you ever date anyone when you were at school in… now, I’ve heard you say the name a lot but I want to be sure I have the pronunciation correct. I think you say it ‘FUCKING GEORGIA’, is that right?” Dave asks, he actually yells that one part which more than startles a man walking by.

“You’re embarrassing to be around. No, I didn’t date anyone. I didn’t even have friends. I was the weird not human kid that enough people could sense something off about me so everyone avoided me.” that last sentence is such a rush that you’re sure it doesn’t really make any kind of sense.

“Eh. Their loss is our gain.” Dave shrugs.

“Oh yeah, it really benefits you that I’ve never dated anyone that I can remember and I’ve no experience here.” you scoff.

“Dude, you’re romance Batman. Katman.” Dave tells you dismissively.

The two of you round a corner and you point at the food place you’d picked out.

“Ok, here’s where we’re getting food.” you say.

“Howling Wolf Taqueria? That’s the coolest sounding place I’ve ever heard of and holy shit I love Mexican food. See? Romance Batman!” Dave laughs. He’s so excited that he’s hurrying ahead and pulling you with him.

The two of you pause to look at the menu outside and you feel Dave tense up.

“Uh. They look like they only do takeout.” he says and shoots you a look as if he thought you might have overlooked that and maybe this ruined your plans.

“I know. That’s because we’re eating elsewhere.” you say with a knowing grin. You have this planned out, you thought about this.

Dave seems both curious and excited about that. The pair of you order food and since you’re the one taking him out you pay for him, although he insists that this means that when he takes you out next he’s going to return the favour. When you get your bag of takeout food in hand Dave watches you curiously.

“Come on, this way.” you say and lead him down the street.

You take him into an alleyway and glance around to see if anyone can see you.

“This took a turn.” Dave laughs.

“Shh. Put that in your bag for a second, I need to hold you.” you tell him.

“Wink.” Dave says.

“Don’t just SAY the word wink at me!” you snap.

Dave snickers but puts the food away and looks at you expectantly. You have a feeling that your invisibility can cover him if you really try. You step close and wrap your arms around him, he closes his around you so you squeeze him tight. Neither of you are here, no one can see you. In fact you focus on your charm and there’s no one observing either of you. With a little effort you flex your wings out of wherever they go and launch the pair of you into the air in an instant.

Dave gasps in delight and turns his head to watch the ground whizz by below you. You’ve already looked up where you’re going and the google aerial photographs are actually really key to help you know what landmarks to look for. You’re heading to Winter Island, appropriate since it is winter now. You’re looking for the beach that’s south of what google tells you is Fort Pickering.

As carefully as you possibly can you land the both of you on the beach, the cold sand crunches underfoot and the dark water laps against the island quietly.

“Stand there for a second.” you tell Dave.

You put your wings away before you forget, you’d hate for someone else to see them. Then you reach into your bag and pull out a blanket. You’d done a little work researching things online and found a spell that you can write onto a clothing tag to make something water repellant. All you had to do then is carefully stitch it to the edge of the blanket that Rose lent you and then remove it before you give it back to her. With a flick to unroll it you spread the blanket out on the sand and gesture for Dave to sit down, he does so and watches you curiously.

The next things out of your bag are a bunch of candles that you set out around the edges of the blanket. You light each one with that weird fire that you can summon. Then, a pace or two away from the blanket you even out the sand and put down a little tray, which you fill with logs specifically prepared for fire. They go up in flames very easily. When all that’s done you join Dave who has by now started unpacking the food.

“I brought drinks too, hold on.” you reach into your bag once more and pull out the apple soda that you got for him and just a regular lemonade for you. Although you don’t hand it to him right away.

“If I give you this then you’re not going to turn it into an apple vape bomb are you? Although actually that’s kind of what Sollux appearing and disappearing smells like so I guess at least I’d be used to it.” you muse.

“Karkat, I have some manners. No bombs on dates. Except for how bomb I look, no other bombs. Well, ok, no. You also look bomb so that’s the maximum number.” Dave promises. That’s good enough for you so you hand the drink over.

Dave takes a moment to distribute food between the both of you as well as the near useless cutlery that all fast food comes with. You’re quickly regretting a burrito as date food because if there’s a way to look appealing while eating one you have not found it yet.

“This is really cool, not gonna lie.” Dave says in between bites.

“You like it?” you ask hopefully.

“Romance Batman tier for sure.” Dave nods.

Dave sips his apple soda for a moment and looks out over the water. He’s so pretty in the firelight. Well, outside of it too but certainly here. It’s kind of interesting actually, the fire is still that greyscale fire that you make which you suppose is holy fire. The light has weird visual effects that’s pretty evident with no other real light sources around. Your skin has this soft red warmth to it, ever so slightly. It’s not as extreme as when you press your finger to a lit lightbulb but it’s the same kind of effect, as if your blood is glowing a little. On Dave it makes his already ghost pale skin glow whiter in a way that puts you in mind of white clothing under UV lights, but again not quite that strong.

“You hate Georgia.” Dave says.

“I was always so subtle about that, how did you know?” you say flatly.

“Shove a burrito in it. Since I know that Georgia isn’t the answer, is there anywhere in the world you would like to go?” Dave asks curiously.

“I don’t know.” you say slowly, “I don’t know where I’ve already been.”

“That’s kind of cool though in a way, isn’t it? You can see places for the first time twice.” Dave points out.

“I guess. Jade’s island was really cool. I think I’d want to go somewhere without many churches, or churches to the god I’m ‘supposed’ to be working for at least. Lots of India is meant to be beautiful, that could be nice to see. What about you?” you ask.

“I think I’d like to really tourist it up. Go to all the places everyone says that you have to see and really see if they’re worth it. Like if you had a year, top one hundred spots that you can’t miss, I’d try and hit them all.” Dave says thoughtfully.

“That’s definitely cheating the question, but I’ll let it go.” you tell him, Dave doesn’t seem bothered by his flagrant rule bending.

“Did Sollux tell you about the dream that I had?” you ask him.

“He mentioned briefly that you did a bunch of fortune telling things that were helpful including a dream, but he was kind of light on the details. Why?” he says.

“I got a memory back, but it was related to someone that has something to do with whatever he’s dealing with. I was around in World War One, I’m REALLY fucking old. I keep trying to not think about it but I can’t stop.” you admit.

Wait, is this date creepy based on that? Shit, should you be here? You suddenly are panicking silently.

“I don’t think so.” Dave shrugs, licking salsa off of his thumb.

“What?” you say.

“Well, your species works like demons do, right? They have a brief period after being made where they’re naive about some things but they’re still mentally adults, they’re just inexperienced. Sollux was unusual for growing up the way he did, most of them don’t. You’re just an adult, same as Sollux has been for years and years and same as I am.” Dave tells you.

“But I’m so much older.” you reiterate.

“Alright, let’s argue that. You don’t look or act any older than me, you’re an adult. You have adult thought processes and that shit, your body is adult, you’re an adult. But you don’t really remember anything before the event and I do. I have MORE memories than you, does that make me older than you? Does that make you like, what, six? No. You’re comparing species all wrong.” Dave insists.

“I guess I can see that.” you say uneasily.

“No, look. If you were a human man who was a hundred or some shit like that dating me then it’d be weird as shit on both ends. But we’re not comparable species like that. Now, is it weird that you’ve lost a bonkers amount of memories? Yeah, for sure. But you’re here now, right?” Dave tells you gently.

“I guess. I know my life wasn’t great but it was still mine, no one has the right to rip that away from me.” you say, frowning at your burrito.

“Yeah but you can’t control that, you get now and now is pretty great. Aside from sometimes being a bird and being kidnapped. But we’re all together, you and Sollux are dating, we’re dating, you’re BFFs with Rose which is lowkey terrifying for me given all the embarrassing things about me that she could tell you. We’re at a cool as shit magic school and I get to be on a date with you on this cool beach in winter eating my favourite kind of food. Doesn’t that beat being with your awful maker and remembering all the terrible shit he did to you?” Dave asks passionately waving his hands as he talks.

“Probably, yeah, I don’t know. But! I would rather be here with you right now than anywhere else right now.” you say, confident in that last part.

“Ohhh, smooth. Very smooth.” Dave nods approvingly.

“Sometimes I’m okay. Hmm, since we’re doing questions, what is it like having a twin?” you ask curiously.

“I don’t know. She’s my sister. I love her but I’m not sure how a twin would be different from a regular sister. I think we’re also different enough that Mom never did that joint present thing unless it was for food or something like a cake, you know? I think other people might be annoyed at sharing friends like Sollux and June but we both have different kinds of relationships with them so we’re all fine.” Dave says with a shrug.

“I guess I’m envious of that, I spent so much time alone and you had Rose, Sollux and June. Having a twin, especially one with a relationship as good as yours, seems like having a built in friend.” you say wistfully. There were so many lonely hours between school where you were shunned and in your empty apartment building for people who lost their memories where people either didn’t talk to you or didn’t like you.

“It’d be hell growing up alone like that. I- wait, shit that was really insensitive, sorry!” Dave blurts out frantically, his face a rictus of panic.

“No, it was. But now it’s better, you know? I have friends. I, through some weird twist of fate, have not one but TWO boyfriends. I had a holiday break and a New Years with PEOPLE. It’s incredible.” you’re almost glowing with delight just thinking about it and you have to pay attention to yourself to be sure that you’re not suddenly haloed up. Actually, now that you’re thinking about it you wonder if that happened when you were with Sollux last night.

“Man, you’re breaking my heart here. You absolutely deserve all that stuff and I hate the thought that you didn’t have it before.” Dave tells you gently. He’s so sweet sometimes.

"I don't know, I just like what I have now I guess. Even though I don't remember a lot of before and let's be honest there's a lot about now that we don't know about. But even so I like being with you, I like our friends, I like classes-" you say.

"Nerd." Dave interrupts with a grin.

"You're just a delinquent, that's not my problem." you tell him as if you're looking down on his bad behaviour. In reality you've mostly just accepted the things that Dave does and the shit he pulls, even if it's setting off coca cola explosions in class.

"Oh, we can be the fabled nerd/jock romance that I've heard so much about." Dave muses.

"You're not even slightly a jock." you snort.

"Hey, I skateboard, that's a sport." Dave protests.

"It's a magic, evil, possessed skateboard that commits crimes against nature and physics." you insist.

"...It's not possessed." Dave mumbles in protest.

You can't help but laugh, that's the only part of that he had any objection or defence to?

The pair of you spend the next hour picking your way through your food and assorted sweet treats that you brought along as you both talk about your pasts, the differences between his life and yours. It's nice, remarkably normal in terms of how dates are supposed to go. You spend time with each other and get to know each other better. Sure you're close, you've been through a bunch of hugely emotional and traumatic things with him, you've changed bodies around him. But it's nice also getting to know the music he was into at thirteen, the start of the webcomic he draws, little historical details that you should know about someone you're dating. It's sweet and wonderfully... normal. This is how other people go about their lives, they go on dates and don't get turned into a peacock or rescue astronauts.

After everything you're dying for some normal.

When the pair of you are done with food and the cold has got a bit too much you pack up all of your things, taking care to leave the beach as nice as you found it. Then you walk back to the main part of Salem hand in hand. Winter Island is somewhat of a sanctuary and you think there's camping areas that get used in more temperate months. Right now though it's dark and you two are alone.

"This is kind of like home, how dark the sky is in the forest. You can make out a lot of the stars, you know?" Dave says, pointing upwards.

"I don't really know a lot of the stars. Which is probably going to bite me in the ass when I have to do astronomy shit more but I just haven't learnt them." you admit. The stars are pretty though, little pinpricks of light in the dark sky. Of course a lot will be drowned out by the ambient light of the nearby Salem, but you can see some. The moon is also really dark right now, just a sliver in the sky. Knowing what's up there you look away from it with a shudder, worried that it might look back at you somehow.

"Mom did teach us once. I think that's the North star." Dave says, pointing with the hand that's not holding yours.

You move closer, trying to see down the line of his arm to which star he's pointing out but you're not sure which he means. You know it's meant to be the brightest but they all look about equally bright to you. You lean a little closer trying to see what he means and you're surprised when Dave leans in and kisses the side of your face.

You're so caught off guard that you don't know how to react, but at least in your favour it seems that Dave enjoys your flustered reaction. He just laughs and leads you further down the dark road back to the mainland.

"Why is this even called an island? There's a road the whole way here." Dave wonders.

"I guess the bridge is artificial and whatever supports it is too?" you guess.

"But then it's not an island anymore. You ruined a perfectly good island is what you did, you gave it... uh." Dave frowns.

"Access to the mainland?" you suggest.

"Yeah! That." Dave nods.

You squeeze his hand and walk together. The conversation goes down one of those weird rabbit holes that your conversations with Dave often go down, where every change seemed sensible at the time but the end result is that when you get to the bus stop you'd gone from another normal 'get to know you' question to passionately debating who would win in a fight between this fictional character and another one. When you two decide a winner it's then who would win between THAT person and another person.

"Alright, alright, but all I'm saying is that you can't claim Aquaman would win because he could summon kaiju. Certainly not in a fight against Doctor Manhattan, and even if he could the dude is basically a god." Dave argues.

"He could absolutely summon Kaiju." you insist.

"They're not fish!" Dave protests.

"Neither are whales and dolphins but he does that and kaiju come from the water." you counter.

"Alright, I'll grant you that for some reason Aquaman's mind control extends to anything living in the water, including mammals because REASONS I guess. But Kaiju are from another dimension, why would we even assume he could speak their language?" Dave asks.

"Are you proposing some universal fish language exists but can't apply it to kaiju? Wait, no, better question: if Aquaman can control mammals in the water like whales then can he control people who are in the sea?" you wonder.

"What? No." Dave frowns. He leans past you and waves at your bus as it pulls closer.

"I challenge you to give me one reason why he can do whales and CAN'T do people." you say.

You get on the bus and pay for you both to go back again. As you're doing so you can hear Dave falteringly start and stop a few arguments.

"I kind of want to say that like... humans aren't aquatic, but it's hard to say what makes something aquatic. Are selkies aquatic? Mermaids? How sentient would you need to be to resist Aquaman's control and then if that's the case then the lines between those species and humans are pretty goddamn blurry. I can't really think of a hard reason why whales yes but humans in water no, so all I can conclude is Aquaman CAN control all sentient life but keeps his fuckery to the sea for reasons known only to him which is terrifying and I'm going to say Aquaman wins if only because this level of self control means we don't know what other powers he's holding back." Dave says in horror.

"Thank you, I will take that win." you nod.

The ride back to the university is more of the same kind of delightful nonsense but Dave is a complete gentleman and walks you to your door, which is entirely unneeded as you both live in the same building. He gives you an entirely proper kiss goodbye and then... goes up a few floors because YOU LIVE IN THE SAME BUILDING. Still, it's sweet.

You open your door and let yourself in. Rose is sat in an armchair reading a book which she lowers below eye level as you step inside.

"How was your date?" she asks.

You push the door shut behind you and pull your shoes off, or more accurately magically make them go away.

"It was really great. It was... it was so great." you sigh, so overwhelmed that you can hardly bring words to describe it. Dave is so attractive to you that sometimes you can't think right, he makes you nervous a bit, you get butterflies. But tonight... tonight was exciting, sure, but it was also really easy. The conversation was never forced or awkward. Even if it was steered a little into the kind of 'get to know you' questions that dates often have it was natural.

You can feel the silly smile still on your face as you reach into your bag.

"I've still got your blanket, I'll have to wash it before I give it back to you." you tell her.

"I suddenly do not want to know how your date went and I am considering stabbing you with a needle." Rose says sharply.

"What? Why? We went to the beach, I made sure it wouldn't get wet from the water in the sand with a removable spell but there's probably some sand still in the blanket even though I shook it out. I didn't think you'd want it back like that." you say in alarm.

"Oh, well if it's just that then continue. That would be lovely, thanks." Rose says with a nod.

"Why did you just threaten to stab me for- wait, what did you think I was doing on your blanket?" you ask her suspiciously.

"I'm sure I wouldn't know. I'm glad you had a nice time though. " Rose says and returns to her book.

"When are you going on a date with Kanaya then?" you challenge her.

"First of all that's none of your or anyone else's business. Besides, we're friends and I don't even know if she likes me like that. I haven't even broached the subject of vampires dating humans, I know some don't like to. From my entirely unrelated research. Stop looking at me in that tone of voice." Rose says, glaring at you for looking at her like she's an idiot. Which she is. So you are entirely justified here.

"She likes you." you tell her bluntly.

"It's complex and that's only your opinion." Rose insists.

"Yeah, if you wanted a real opinion you could ask... ohhhh... her? Yes, you could ask her." you point out.

"Honestly, you get two boyfriends and suddenly you're the romance expert." Rose tuts.

"I was a romance expert before that. Also I don't think that Dave and Sollux should be considered a standard model to base anything off of ever." you say with a grimace. You love/hate those two but they're WEIRD.

"That is true." Rose concedes.

"So, are you going to ask her?" you ask, back on topic.

"I have to leave now for unrelated reasons." Rose says hastily and gets out of her chair and into her room as fast as she can without going SO fast that you could accuse her of actually running away.

"Chicken!" you call after her, not that it'll do you any good, her door is shut.

You go back to your own room and sit down at your desk.

carcinoGeneticist [CG] began trolling  twinArmageddons [TA]  
  
CG: I'M NOT EXPECTING YOU TO REPLY RIGHT AWAY, I KNOW YOU'RE OFF DOING SOMETHING MYSTERIOUS AND OMINOUS.  
CG: I JUST WENT ON A DATE WITH DAVE AND I WAS WONDERING IF KISMESIES   
CG: WAIT HOW DO YOU PLURALISE THAT?  
CG: IF PEOPLE IN BLACKROM RELATIONSHIPS GO ON DATES. AT THE RISK OF REFERRING TO DEMON PORN AGAIN IT SEEMED LIKE THERE WERE CONVENTIONS TO THOSE RELATIONSHIPS WHICH WOULD SUGGEST DATES OF SOME KIND MAYBE, BUT I DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY'D BE.  
CG: COMPETITIVE... MAGIC? OR MAYBE YOU'RE NOT ALWAYS THERE AT THE SAME TIME FOR A THING LIKE THAT, MAYBE IT'S SOMETHING YOU'D COME BACK TO.  
CG: LIKE A CEILING SUSPENDED HAMMOCK FULL OF GLITTER. YOU KNOW, THEORETICALLY SPEAKING.   
CG: ANYWAY, WE COULD DO A DATE THING IF THAT'S SOMETHING WE DO. I WONDER IF WE DID THAT BEFORE OR NOT, THOUGH I THINK I WAS PROBABLY TRYING TO BE SUBTLE BECAUSE HEAVEN AND WHATEVER. THAT SUCKS IF THAT WAS THE CASE, YOU'RE AN INFURIATING PERSON AND SOMETIMES I FEEL LIKE I'M ALLERGIC TO YOUR PRESENCE BUT THAT DOESN'T MEAN YOU DON'T DESERVE ROMANCE.   
CG: AS MUCH AS I LIKE WHAT WE CURRENTLY HAVE OF 'I SEE THINGS FOR YOU AND THEN BLURT OUT A SPECIAL PHRASE IN DEMONIC THAT I'D BEEN PRACTICING AND THEN SURPRISE SEX' THAT'S GREAT, BUT YOU DESERVE SPECIAL.   
CG: ...APPARENTLY I CAN'T EDIT PAST MESSAGES, I HATE THIS PROGRAM. THAT SOUNDED WAY TOO SAPPY EVEN FOR ME. I NEED TO BALANCE THAT OUT SOMEHOW.  
CG: YOU'RE A JERK AND I HATE YOUR FACE?   
CG: OR I COULD JUST STOP TYPING. THAT'S THE THING I'LL DO. LATER. TRY NOT TO DIE WHEN YOU'RE OFF BEING MYSTERIOUS.  
  
carcinoGeneticist [CG] ceased trolling  twinArmageddons [TA]

Well that was embarrassing, you're not naive enough to hope that Sollux might not comment on it or at least will refrain from mocking you. Oh well. You do some class reading for a while about the ways to tell that you're being observed and then you head to bed again.

_"What's in the box Rose?" you ask as you walk along._

_"That's for me to know and both of us to later find out." Rose answers cryptically._

_"That's not how words, sentences or indeed time work." you tell her with faux cheer._

_Rose directs you up a hill, steep enough that you have to really lean into it to keep your grip on the ground._

_"Hey so uh, how's the whole... other god thing going?" you ask and out of habit glance around._

_"I find it so amusing how you can't say my patron's name for fear of attracting attention either from him or from your own side." Rose snickers._

_"I'm glad my terror amuses you." you retort._

_Rose clambers up a few large rocks and you contemplate getting your wings out to just fly up there but the trees are so close that it'd be hard to do. Fuck it, just climb._

_"You know as well as I do that I'm not meant to be doing any of this and I'd rather not attract more attention than I already do." you huff as you haul yourself up after her._

_"Ah, look. You can hardly see any human civilization from here." Rose smiles as she leans against a tree and looks out across the rolling hillside._

_"I'm all the more glad I arrived with a drink." you complain, although that drink is long since gone._

_"You don't need to drink." she points out and is unintimidated by your glare._

_You walk to the tree and brush by some foxgloves as you do. At once you pause. Something tingles up the back of your neck, an awareness._

_"Rose... do you feel-" you start._

_"Yes, it's working. Don't think about it, just pay attention to what's happening now. Look there." Rose says and points._

_Down in the valley on the other side of the hill are trees, but impossible trees. It's summer right now but those trees down there are frozen solid, the place glows and shimmers with ethereal light and an instinct to pull away from them builds inside you._

_"Is that... Winter? The Fae land of Winter? What's it doing here? I know it moves but it doesn't usually show up anywhere in the Americas." you gasp._

_"A rare occurrence that I managed to foresee. There's a wedding going on and I have a favour I need to pay." Rose explains and starts to head down the hill._

_"Whoa, whoa, you're aware that my ability to protect you in somewhere like Winter is very limited. It's not my realm and a lot of my holy magic doesn't have the effect it should do there. If you make some kind of bargain there I can't get you out of it." you warn her as you hurry after her._

_"I'm aware, but I'm paying a price and I know they'll want to accept it. All they have to do is hold onto this box for me." Rose says._

_"What's so special about the box that you need to hide it in a different realm?!" you demand, her coyness is an endearing character trait usually but right now it's downright frustrating._

_"I need to make sure that nothing that affects the world can affect it. It's important, I need this for things to go as they should." she tells you._

_"I'm already trying to stop-" you protest._

_"It's not that. Now be quiet and trust me, I need you to pay attention so you can remember this." Rose insists._

_You don't want to be quiet, you want to know what's going on. Unfortunately you're too close to Winter now to risk drawing more attention to the both of you. You grit your teeth and follow her, this time you do shake your wings out and let your halo shine. The fae don't like visitors to be dishonest and you don't want to be seen as hiding what you are. Still, the feeling of being watched prickles over you, a feeling that mounts as you get closer to Winter. At the border Rose is stopped by a man on a white stag, his skin glittering with frost and eyes solid black. You and Rose both bow in respect and Rose hands over a slip of paper to him._

_Curious the fae on the stag takes it and reads, his eyebrows climbing in clear surprise at whatever message Rose left inside._

_"All that to bury that here?" he asks._

_"Yes. Is that agreeable to you? No one else but us are allowed to remove this box, is that acceptable?" Rose asks._

_The man on the stag eyes Rose warily and then his scrutiny falls to you. You itch under his stare and under the weight of those hidden within the trees around you. You could fly out of here and return to heaven but Rose... not so much. You have to stay with her._

_"You pay first." the fae man tells her._

_Rose nods politely and steps closer. The fae man dismounts his stag and reaches for her, his index and middle fingers outstretched._

_"This is done for the exact length of time I specified, no longer. And I mean that time in absolute Earth time, not time in Winter." Rose reminds him._

_"I would not try to cheat you, surely you wouldn't accuse me of such?" the man says, his tone warning._

_"Certainly not." Rose agrees._

_The man moves forward with his hand and you wince as his fingers touch Rose's actual eyeballs. Then, as soon as he started, he pulls back. He gestures to the ground with a polite sweep of his hand and Rose lets out a shaky breath._

_"Karkat... if... if you would be so kind as to dig a hole and bury this box for me I would be very grateful." Rose breathes, sounding shaky._

_"Are you okay?" you hiss, coming close to her._

_As you look there's nothing visibly different about her but you can feel that something is, something about her eyes._

_"I'm fine. Just take this and dig." Rose says and pulls a shovel out of her bag of holding._

_You don't dare argue with her in this state or in a place like this, so all you can do is take the shovel and drive it into the frozen ground. You're thankful that the box isn't big, only about the size of a shoebox. You dig a hole and bury it, not deep and when you're done you grab a few nearby stones and mark out your sign on top. It's not a lot but it's something. When the box is buried the fae on the stag nods and melds back into the frozen trees. You take Rose's hand in yours and start walking._

_"We need to talk about whatever it was you just did." you hiss at her._

_"Karkat, stay focused." Rose warns you._

_"No! You focus- you- ...then we..."_

You open your eyes and frown at your bedroom ceiling, what... was that? Sitting up you rub your eyes and try to figure out what was going on in that dream.

"KARKAT!" Rose bursts through your door and scares you half to death in doing so.

"JESUS FUCK!" you yell and Rose quickly covers her ears.

You take a moment to recover yourself and Rose rubs at her ears and flexes her jaw to try to get them to pop, you feel kind of guilty about that.

"I understand now, I was using you as an observer so I could find that vision again. We need to go to Winter." Rose insists.

"Wait, but you thought this was a vision of the future. I said it seemed like the past. If you think it's the future then why are we going there now? We don't have a box." you point out.

"I know that. But time can flow weirdly in those places. We have to go there, I have to know what's in that box." Rose says fervently.

"You still don't know?" you ask with a frown. She was carrying it all that time.

"No, I avoided questioning the dream so I could just observe it but whatever it was I don't know. I do know that I gave up my vision for five years from that date to buy the right to store that box there." Rose grins.

“Wait, but you lost your vision in The Event. Did you somehow sell something you knew you were going to lose? And again, how old were you? None of this makes sense.” you say with a groan. Your head hurts just thinking about it.

“I know it doesn’t make sense, that’s why we need to go.” Rose urges you.

“But it’s not like Winter has a fixed location or that humans even know where it is. It’s not like hopping a teleport between here and your mom’s house. How would we even find it? Plus, we have school and I have work.” you point out.

“I know all that. But… look, if I research online and manage to find a report about where Winter is at the moment and you can negotiate time off work will you come with me? I get the feeling that if I needed you there then, then I’ll need you when we go this time.” Rose pleads.

This is a stupid and dangerous idea, if you had any sense you’d say no. The thing is you know Rose will go with or without you, if you can go with her then you might be able to get her to be at least a little sensible. If nothing else you might be able to help defend her. You fall back on your bed and cover your face with your pillow, resisting the temptation to scream.

“Fine.” you finally say, pulling your head out from under it.

“Yes! Thank you!” Rose says gleefully and hurries off before you can change your mind.

What have you got yourself into?

You check your phone and you have a message from Sollux, several hours after you sent yours and surprisingly he’s online now.

twinArmageddons [TA] began trolling  carcinoGeneticist [CG]  
  
TA: that wa2 a whole lot of 2tuff you ju2t made me read.  
TA: buuuuut date2 are a thiing, but ii've never been on one wiith you. and ii know you'll feel weiird about that but iit make2 2en2e iif you remember everythiing.  
TA: al2o 2iince you promii2ed ii have a favour two a2k, let me know when you're next onliine.  
CG: I'M AWAKE NOW.  
TA: oh cool ii wa2 ju2t about two go but thii2 work2.  
CG: WHAT DO YOU NEED ME TO DO?  
TA: dave miight be a liittle off 2oon. not 2leepiing riight, niightmare2, that kiind of thiing.  
TA: go 2leep wiith him.  
CG: SLEEP WITH HIM.   
TA: ii meant actually 2leep but ii'm 2ure he'd be happy wiith both.  
TA: ju2t maybe don't tell hiim ii a2ked you two, he'll probably feel bad about iit.   
CG: DOES HE USUALLY HAVE A LOT OF NIGHTMARES? HE SEEMED FINE BEFORE.   
TA: not u2ually. 2ometiime2 but not load2.  
CG: BUT SOMETHING HAS CHANGED THAT'S GOING TO EFFECT THAT AND SINCE YOU HAVEN'T JUST SAID THAT IT'S BECAUSE YOU'RE NOT THERE IT'S SOMETHING ELSE.  
CG: AND YOU CAN'T CONFIRM OR DENY BECAUSE REASONS SO I'M NOT ASKING, JUST THINKING ALOUD.  
TA: ii know thiinkiing ii2 hard for you, that'2 okay.  
CG: GEEEEET FUCKED.  
TA: ii diid!  
CG: ALRIGHT, I'M GOING. I'LL TALK TO DAVE TOMORROW.  
CG: DON'T DIE.  
  
carcinoGeneticist [CG] ceased trolling  twinArmageddons [TA]

Breakfast the next morning shows you that Sollux might have a point on the subject of Dave, he looks exhausted. He’s slumped over the table barely paying attention to the cereal that he mindlessly poured out for himself.

“Didn’t sleep well?” you ask.

“Slept like shit.” Dave nods and reaches for his coffee.

“Bad dreams? I’ve been having a lot of those since I’ve been back here, but I’m not exactly surprised about that…” Jade trails off and pets Bec. The staff have tried to keep him out of the cafeteria but you can’t really keep a magic teleporting hellhound out of anywhere that he wants to be and seeing as he’s pretty well behaved they’ve given up and allowed him to stay.

“Yeah man, nightmare city. Maybe it’s something in the water here, we should sue.” Dave jokes, albeit a little weakly.

“What kind of nightmares? Dreams seem to be a somewhat important factor at the moment, maybe yours are useful too. Tell us.” Rose urges him.

“If nothing else, talking about them might make you feel better. Sometimes looking at a nightmare when it’s daytime makes it seem less shitty.” you suggest.

“I doubt it’s useful but whatever.” Dave shrugs. He has a long drink of his coffee and seems to consider where to start.

“It’s just lots of little nightmares I guess. It’s like I’ll go to sleep, dip into REM sleep or whatever and have a nightmare, wake up, repeat.” he starts to explain.

“That doesn’t sound good for your sleep cycle.” June winces.

“My sleep cycle is busted, the wheels are all bent and the pedals don’t go around anymore. It’s a total write off.” Dave agrees.

“So what kind of thing are they?” you prompt before the tangent really gets going.

Dave frowns and jabs at his cereal with his spoon for a moment or two before he starts to talk.

“Like me and Sollux are walking down this dark hallway and I know we’re being watched, I can feel it. It’s always just behind me but whenever I look there’s nothing there. Whatever’s watching me is just always out of sight or moves too fast. I’m trying to get out and get away but the mapping of the place doesn’t make any sense and then I somehow lose Sollux, we get separated somehow, then I’m just running trying to find him and I keep going until I wake up all freaked out.” Dave says and shudders.

“I’ve had stress nightmares like that, where you’re running from something but it’s never fast enough.” Jade agrees.

“I also get these ones where I’m being attacked and I’m on this building that’s on fire. The smoke and fire is so thick that I can’t see who’s attacking me and I keep getting cut and it feels SO REAL. Legitimately when I wake up I have to check I’m not bleeding all over.” Dave says and unconsciously rubs his arm as if to soothe a wound that isn’t there.

“And this other one where there’s this puppet or doll or whatever, like a… a ventriloquist doll or something and it does that thing that monsters in horror movies do sometimes. Where it’s perfectly still but the moment you look away even a little it gets closer and closer. I always wake up just before it gets to me but- ugh.” Dave shakes his head.

“That’s horrifying, I’m sorry you’re dealing with that.” Jade says and squeezes his shoulder. Bec moves so he can rest his head in Dave’s lap and it seems to calm Dave down a little to pet him.

“That doesn’t sound like it’s a super helpful dream but it does sound awful. I hope you won’t have any more.” Rose says gently.

“Yeah, you shouldn’t be dealing with that.” June agrees, her voice quiet and unhappy.

“I could see about trying to send Bec around to guard you if you like, but he does tend to want to come back to me.” Jade says.

“Well or I could come stay with you. You’re used to Sollux being around so maybe having someone else nearby would stop you having nightmares.” you suggest, pleased that this has come up organically.

“You know what? Sure. Worse case scenario I still have a nightmare but I also have a straight up hottie in my bed.” Dave nods in agreement.

“Well between you, me, possibly Bec and whoever this ‘straight up hottie’ is it’s going to be crowded in there.” you snort.

“The hottie is you, Karkat. You are the hottie.” Dave informs you.

“Debatable. You need more peer reviewed evidence for that.” you tell him.

“I excuse myself on account of gay.” Rose says, raising her hand as if she has a question in class.

“Oh! Oh man do you remember that piece of shit teacher in school?” June cackles and Rose immediately cracks up.

“Wait, who? What?” you ask.

“There was this gym teacher in our school who was all homophobic and Mom was trying to get her kicked from the school because of it and to get her out of gym with this motherfucker she kept writing sick notes for Rose. Since she said ‘homosexuality is a sickness’ then Rose was still too gay to be included in class. It lasted like three weeks before the teacher ended up leaving.” Dave explains.

“Wow, that sucks but I’m glad your mom was cool at least.” you say.

“It was fine, I never exactly enjoyed gym in the first place so I was hardly missing out.” Rose assures you.

“You’re a family of nerds.” you accuse her.

“Hey, we talked about this!” Dave argues.

Breakfast devolves into a recounting of the debate you and Dave had about his relative nerdiness and jockness. The point is that it seems to cheer Dave up and push whatever lingering traces of nightmares he still had in mind fully away.

The rest of the day is classes and given that it’s your magical languages class today it’s pretty natural for you to spend time with Dave in the evening so you can work out what the hell you’re meant to be doing in this new assignment. Of course after a while you just end up watching a movie together on his sofa.

“You don’t have to stay with me tonight.” Dave says as the credits roll.

“I know. I want to help though.” you tell him quietly.

Dave is obviously pretty tired from the lack of sleep lately so it’s really not hard to convince him to go to bed. You magic yourself up some sleepwear when Dave’s off getting changed. He comes back out to get you with his shades nestled in his hair, you can see the dark circles under his eyes and you’re determined to put a stop to them.

Going to bed with Dave in the most non innuendo laden way as possible is nice, actually. It’s not like it’s the first time you’ve slept near him, what with Jade’s island and sleeping near him when you were a variety of birds recently. It’s absolutely bonkers that you can think that sentence and it has actual meaning to your life.

Dave’s bed is against the right hand wall in his room, which of course looks a lot like yours. There’s another ferret hammock type thing in the corner but you can tell from the way it’s hanging that Sollux hasn’t snuck back to be in here. Still, the room shows a lot of signs of Sollux’s occupancy. His things are scattered around the place and he very much seems to treat Dave’s room as an extension of his own. Part of you wants to have a look at Sollux’s room itself, because you are equal parts curious and tempted to mess with his things when he’s not here.

Still, Dave is the reason that you’re here now. Dave wedges himself up against the wall in his bed and though you want to say that he’s just making room for you, part of you thinks that it might be that having his back to the wall is more defensible.

For all that you’d worried this might be awkward Dave drops off to sleep almost immediately, you guess he must be tired. It’s not so easy for you to sleep and you end up messing about on your phone for a few minutes before you really try. You know the blue screen light or whatever is meant to be bad for going to sleep but you don’t care. Trollian makes your phone buzz silently in your hands and you open it, it’s from Rose.

tentacleTherapist [TT] began trolling  carcinoGeneticist [CG]  
  
TT: Do you think we'll dream together again? It's close to the new moon so my theory is that whatever is keeping our memories from us is weaker at these times.  
TT: But I wonder if it will work at this range.   
CG: I MEAN YOU SAY THAT BUT I'M ONLY A FEW FLOORS ABOVE YOU, DAVE AND SOLLUX'S DORM ROOM ISN'T EVEN THAT FAR AWAY FROM OURS LATERALLY.   
CG: I'M SURE THERE'S SOME KIND OF RANGE ON WHATEVER THIS IS BUT THAT SEEMS ARBITRARILY SMALL, DOESN'T IT?  
TT: I guess wherever it stopped would probably be an arbitrary line, aren't all lines arbitrary?  
CG: THERE'S A LINE OF MORAL QUESTIONING THERE THAT I'M NOT ENTIRELY HAPPY WITH BUT ALSO NOT WILLING TO GET INTO AT THIS HOUR.  
TT: Sensible.   
TT: I've been looking into the current location of Winter by the way, so far it seems like the UK is going to be most likely.   
CG: I WOULD SAY KEEP ME UPDATED BUT I'M SURE YOU WILL. I'M GOING TO GET SOME SLEEP NOW, NIGHT.  
  
carcinoGeneticist [CG] ceased trolling  tentacleTherapist [TT]

You put the phone down on Dave’s bedside then realise that your charger isn’t there so you shrug and put it back in its charm instead. In the now dark room you cuddle up to Dave’s sleeping form and try to sleep. It’s always harder for you to drift off and indeed you’re only just getting there when Dave looks like he’s starting to have a nightmare. His eyebrows draw together and his breathing starts to pick up. As soon as you notice it you rub soothing circles on his side and it seems to fade, he doesn’t even wake up. Not long after, you drift into sleep too.

_You walk around looking at everything, trying earnestly to take it all in. It’s all somewhat familiar of course but you’re seeing it as yourself for the first time so it’s simultaneously new to you as well. You shift through your forms a little as you travel but settle on being humanoid with wings for now, it feels nice. You think you like your wings, they’re pretty._

_It occurs to you that you haven’t seen your own face yet, perhaps you don’t look like your maker. You just assumed you did. Luckily there’s a stream nearby, running along idyllically because this is heaven, so why wouldn’t it be idyllic? Leaning over the water you get a look at your own face as your reflection looks up at you. You do sort of look like him, you’re not quite identical. You’re a little softer looking, maybe it’s the shape of your face or your expression, you don’t know._

_Where to now?_

_You stand up and see that there’s a man on the top of the hill near the river by himself, he doesn’t have wings so you decide to put yours away to match him and go see who he is._

_“Hello.” you say brightly as you make your way over there._

_The man looks over and doesn’t really react much._

_“Kankri.” he says flatly._

_“That’s my maker, I’m Karkat.” you tell him and the man seems surprised._

_“I didn’t know he’d made anyone.” he remarks and looks at you asessingly._

_“It wasn’t that long ago.” you assure him, you wouldn’t want this guy to feel bad for not knowing._

_“How long ago? How old are you Karkat?” the man asks._

_“A little under an hour, I think.” you tell him with a little thought as to the time._

_“Oh, wow.” the man says in surprise._

_The man leans back against the tree for a moment and watches you, seeming to come to some kind of conclusion._

_“Why did he make you?” he asks._

_You frown as you think, your memories before you were YOU are a little fuzzy but you can get to some of the closest ones._

_“He wanted to be better, I think. He made me to help with that. I don’t know how though, I hope I help.” you say uncertainly. You’re not really sure what Kankri needs you for but he made you so of course you’ll help!_

_“You want to help him, huh?” the man asks curiously and pats the grass by him, you sit down too._

_“Yeah. I want to help. I’m a throne too so I’m supposed to help and protect people, make sure that Earth is perfect like it’s supposed to be.” you tell him, really excited about the idea now that you’re talking about it._

_“Earth is far from perfect, have you seen it? Or has anyone told you about it?” the man asks, raising an eyebrow._

_“Not yet but I’m sure Kankri’s going to tell me everything. I wouldn’t want to screw things up because I don’t know what I’m doing.” you tell him and then have the vague sensation that maybe you shouldn’t have phrased it like that._

_“Come with me.” the man says and pulls you to your feet. You follow him eagerly to the edge of the river._

_“I just realised that I didn’t ask your name, that was probably really rude.” you realise._

_“My friends call me Signless.” he explains and kneels down._

_“Are we friends?” you ask in a shocked whisper, too stunned to speak too loudly._

_“Just- come on, sit here.” Signless laughs softly and gestures for you to sit. You do so happily._

_“I want to show you a little trick so you can see what’s going on down on Earth. It’s almost impossible to block, believe me, I’d know.” Signless says and starts to teach you._

_It’s a complicated little spell that relies on a pure desire to see things on Earth that you have the motivation to better, it relies on selflessness and purity of will. Surely that makes it an easy spell and you pick it up quick enough but you’re not going to say that, maybe you just have a knack for this!_

_“This is Earth.” Signless says and casts the spell over the water of the river._

_You see a small child on the street, looking up as people pass by. At first you’re excited to see a real human but your heart sinks when you see that he’s plainly unhappy._

_“What’s wrong?” you ask._

_“He’s hungry, and tired, and cold.” Signless tells you quite simply._

_That’s not right, that can’t be right._

_“Why doesn’t he go inside?” you wonder, if he just did that then he could sleep and eat. Maybe the other way around, but still. Maybe he’s lost, but people are walking past him so surely someone will know where he has to go soon._

_“He doesn’t have anywhere to live.” Signless tells you._

_“But… he’s right by a building, couldn’t he live there?” you ask as you point to it._

_“He could, but he’s not allowed because he doesn’t own it. He doesn’t have any money to own anything.” your new friend tells you patiently._

_With each new thing Signless tells you, you have to ask why. Why doesn’t he have any money and also what is money? Why would no one else help him? How can someone just not have somewhere to live or something to eat? It doesn’t make sense. As Signless keeps explaining things to you it seems as if Earth is just deeply unfair, almost like it’s been designed to be that way._

_“Then we have to do something!” you insist finally._

_“Oh?” Signless says._

_“Yes! Help or something. We should go tell Kankri and all the other angels, they have to know about this!” you say as you get to your feet._

_“They already know.” Signless tells you from the ground._

_You freeze. That doesn’t… make sense. People on Earth are hurt and the angels don’t do anything about it?_

_“I don’t understand.” you say helplessly._

_“Yeah, I don’t either.” Signless whispers and looks at the river again._

_“Karkat!” Kankri’s voice snaps out at you and you feel a strange tug in your chest making you stumble towards him, although he’s not that far away._

_“What are you doing?” Kankri demands._

_“I was- you told me to go outside so you could talk to Cronus so I went outside and had a look around. That’s not important I-” you say in a rush._

_“You don’t get to decide what is and is not important.” Kankri says chastising you and making you wince out of reflex._

_“Sorry? But Signless was-” you start again but Kankri once more doesn’t let you finish._

_“Signless? That’s not your name.” Kankri says sternly, looking up at the man by the river this time._

_“God forbid I call myself something I picked instead of something my ‘father’ picked for me. The only other person who gets to call me that is my mom and since you lot took me I’ve not been able to see her, so it’s Signless, thanks.” Signless says flatly._

_You have no idea what they’re talking about but Kankri’s mouth is a thin and unimpressed line._

_“I’ve met your creation, I like him. Why did you make him, then?” Signless asks, nodding towards you. You don’t know what else to do so you wave back a little, Kankri pushes your hand down to stop you._

_“I wasn’t good enough so I decided to improve myself by taking out all of the parts of me that were making me worse and holding me back.” Kankri says._

_...wait. You’re made of all the things he hated about himself? Does that mean he hates you too? You were made to make him better but you thought you’d be helping not just something he discarded. Something horrible starts to weigh heavy in your chest._

_“Funny, you were made as some homage to what I was meant to be without the ‘corrupting influence of humans’ or whatever and I like him far more than I like you. He actually wants to help people.” Signless says, with a gesture to you._

_You shove your own feelings down for the moment and focus on what’s important._

_“Kankri! I saw humans down on Earth, they’re suffering, it’s terrible! We have to do something.” you insist, he needs to know as soon as possible!_

_Kankri sighs deeply, pinching the bridge of his nose._

_“It is so much better not feeling that directly, now I can think clearly.” Kankri says, his voice tight._

_“How does not caring about people make you better?” Signless asks but Kankri ignores him._

_“We need to do something!” you remind Kankri._

_“Absolutely not.” Kankri says with a shake of his head._

_“What? But- no, you don’t understand-” you start but Kankri interrupts you._

_“Quiet.” he says. No, orders you. Your jaw snaps shut so fast it hurts and Kankri fixes you with a sharp look._

_“The audacity you have as my own creation to tell me that I do not understand something when you are a mere hour old is quite honestly astounding. I am deeply grateful to be finally free of that nagging drive that’s embodied itself in you and now my fervent hope is that with you as an external force I can finally correct this flaw and make you behave properly. I of course understand that conditions on Earth are less than ideal for some people down there, I am well aware. But you are not the almighty, you do not know what plans are in motion and you will not question it.” Kankri tells you and your jaw unsticks as he gives you an expectant look._

_“What plan would need children to starve?” you ask slowly._

_“You’re questioning the plan again.” Kankri says, his voice stiff._

_“No, I just… want to understand.” you say carefully._

_“It doesn’t matter, the fact that it is happening is part of the plan and you do not need to know the plan. But it could be anything, they could need to be that way so that someone greater can be motivated to do righteous things.” Kankri explains._

_You consider that for a second._

_“Wouldn’t a good person do the right thing without needing to see innocent people in horrible pain? And why did those people have to be like that to motivate one person, what did they do wrong? And what happens to them? How do we know that we’re not supposed to be motivated to help them, couldn’t us fixing things make humans decide to be better too? Or-” you’re cut off again as your voice fails you. Kankri ordered you quiet partway through that._

_“You are going to be a lot of work, aren’t you? Come on.” he sighs and pulls you away._

_You look over your shoulder at Signless as your maker drags you off. You wish you could stay there, at least he explained things to you._

_Kankri takes you back to your house and shuts the door behind you both. Cronus looks around at the sound of the door and you pause when you see him. You’re… aware of Kankri’s feelings for him but none of those feelings are in you. Still, he’s a seraphim and more important than you, right? You should probably watch yourself around him._

_“You found him then.” Cronus notes, glancing at you._

_“Yes, talking to the Son of all people. He’s already going on and on about humans and questioning every little thing I say.” Kankri groans._

_“Well that’s why you took him out, now you don’t have to deal with that inside your head all the time. You purified yourself.” Cronus croons at him and holds his arms open as he stands up. Kankri sighs tiredly and rests his head against Cronus’ chest._

_“Wait… you made me to help make you better. But are you saying I’m really just all the things you wanted to get rid of?” you ask him._

_“I didn’t do this without reason, you’re not supposed to question me either. Yours doesn’t question you, does he?” Kankri frowns as he looks up at Cronus._

_“No, mine knows better. But Karkat is an hour old, he’ll learn.” Cronus nods._

_“I hope so.” Kankri says and rubs at his chest with a wince. He removed something to make you, didn’t he? Something physical. You look down at your own chest and see his sign there. His heart, you have Kankri’s heart._

_“Listen, Karkat. My hope is that now that I have distance from you and you’re not in my head all the time bothering me about things I can make you into something productive, into a person worth being. We can both be better.” Kankri explains._

_“And when you’ve taught me to be… better can I help the humans then? Once I understand everything you say I need to.” you add that last part hastily._

_Kankri’s jaw is so tense that you can see the muscle in it twitch._

_“No,” he says in a strained voice, “you’ll do what heaven decides is best and you will carry out the orders that you are given.”_

_“That’s what all thrones do, right? Or I guess all angels to an extent.” you say._

_“Exactly, you follow your orders.” Kankri nods._

_“And everyone does that?” you ask._

_“Yes. Ah, see, you were right. He’s starting to understand now that I can talk to him better.” Kankri directs that last part at Cronus with a relieved smile._

_You consider this for a moment and then crouch down, pressing your hand to the floor. The floor ripples and vanishes and you see Earth. You look and focus on the insurmountable scale of human misery. Disease, torture, death, all of it._

_“Then why does it look like this?” you ask, looking up at him._

_Kankri’s face flashes with fury and Cronus gives you a dark look._

_“You’re not supposed to question-” Kankri starts, angrily._

_“It seems like you’re not doing a good job.” you tell him._

_Kankri points at an open doorway that wasn’t there a moment ago._

_“That’s your room, GO. And stay there!” Kankri orders you, the kind of order you can’t refuse._

“-arkat? Karkat!”

You’re shaken awake only to find Dave leaning over you. The bedside light is on now, he must have turned it on.

“Are you okay man? I think you were having a nightmare. You come here to stop mine and you’re just stealing them from me, you good?” Dave laughs nervously, clearly trying to keep the tone light.

“Sorry, I’m- I’m fine.” you mumble.

Dave frowns at you. He’s not wearing his shades right now so his face seems so much more expressive. Right now he looks hurt and upset for you as he reaches out and brushes your cheek.

“You were crying, kinda loudly. Are you okay?” Dave asks. He pulls his hand back and you can see your tears wet on the backs of his fingers.

“I guess I was.” you say and struggle to sit up. You sniff and wipe your face feeling completely stupid for crying at a time like this.

“Wanna tell me what it was? What kind of dream made you cry?” he asks and ever so gently pulls you back down onto the bed to be next to him. Dave cuddles close to your side, being comforting and reassuring even without saying anything.

“It wasn’t a dream, it was a memory.” you croak.

Dave reaches across your stomach and finds your hand on your other side then laces his fingers with yours, he says nothing but waits for you to go on.

“I think it must have been my earliest memory, I’d just been made. Kankri made me as a way of throwing out all the trash parts of himself he hated. I don’t think he ever liked me at all, it sucked from the beginning.” you sniff.

“What an idiot. No wonder he sucked so bad, he took all the good bits out.” Dave snorts and gives you a reassuring squeeze.

“I think he thought I was a mouthy, opinionated, anti-authoritarian idiot who didn’t know when to shut his mouth or just do what he was told. Not to mention being surrounded by hills that I’ve decided to die on.” you grumble.

“Those are some of my favourite things about you.” Dave says cheerily.

“And your other favourite things?” you ask and turn your head to look at him. Dave’s grin turns a little suggestive and you know just what he’s going to say.

“Forget I asked.” you laugh.

Dave grins at you but the expression fades a bit after a moment. He leans up on his elbow slightly and presses a soft kiss to your forehead.

“I wish you didn’t have to remember that stuff. The dude’s not worth remembering and he was wrong as shit about you. We know who you are and we wouldn’t say shit to you that’d make you have nightmares so bad about it that it’d wake me up next to you from hearing it.” Dave whispers against your forehead.

“I didn’t mean to wake you.” you apologise and roll onto your side so you can hug him.

“Really not the take home I was expecting from that but okay.” Dave laughs softly.

“We should sleep.” you suggest and squeeze him again.

Dave makes a noise of agreement and telekinetically flips the switch on the bedside lamp, making the world small and dark again. Your night vision hasn’t kicked in yet so as far as you can tell the whole world is just your sensation of Dave in bed with you. It’s a lot better than the world you saw in that memory, that’s for sure.

The rest of your night with Dave is peaceful and when morning rolls around he looks a lot better than he did before. You go back to your own dorm when Dave gets up just so you can brush your teeth and get ready for the day. Magic clothes doesn’t mean magic everything else. Rose pounces on you almost as soon as you walk in the door.

“You don’t have work on Saturday, right?” she asks urgently.

“I…” you mentally scroll over your schedule in your mind, “I don’t. Just Friday lunch and Sunday night. Why?”

“I think I’ve found where Winter is currently located and I need you to come with me on Friday night so we can go there on Saturday. I’ll pay for everything, just come with. Please?” Rose asks.

“...Sure.” you’re not happy about this but you’ll agree, just because you don’t want Rose doing this thing alone. And, hey, at least she’s focusing on something that’s not that storm god so you’re sort of nailing Sollux’s request to get her off of that topic too.

“Just you and me?” you check.

“June is kind of suspicious right now, Sollux would flip out if I dragged Dave anywhere dangerous like that so they’re both out, and Jade-” Rose lists off.

“Jade’s fae.” you point out.

“Yes, but I don’t know exactly what her family history is with her biological family and she certainly doesn’t look like the Winter court fae that we saw. Let’s say she’s from a Summer lineage, we might as well just kill her ourselves if we try to take her.” Rose lists off.

“Alright, alright, fair point. I’m not sure I agree with you on the June front but whatever.” you say, holding your hands up in surrender.

“Friday it is then.” Rose nods.

Unfortunately you agreeing to that means that Friday night is looming closer and closer in your mind as time progresses. You’re glad at least that your follow up class with Mindfang where you’re tested again happens on a Thursday. Needless to say Dave’s nightmares are a lot worse that night, but it could have been Friday and then he’d have been alone which would have been awful. Your scores improve a little with Mindfang’s instructions and since your charm is specific to you she suggests that all of you keep yours for further practice.

Dave tosses his in his bag the second he’s out of class, but you keep yours on.

You still spend most of your time with Dave, not a tough situation for sure but it does mean you have to explain where you’ll be going.

“She’s dragging you where?” Dave asks in surprise, looking away from the TV screen. Behind you Solid Snake dies in a glitched out retextured disaster of a level.

“England. Trying to find a box she saw in a vision. It’s probably going to involve going into fae territory. I figure if I go with her I can protect her and maybe talk her out of being as overzealous as she can be sometimes.” you explain.

“Your protection stuff was always pretty good. It seems dangerous though, are you sure you should be doing this?” Dave asks.

“I’m sure it’ll be fine if we’re careful. Ordinarily I’d ask Sollux to come as well because he knows more than I do, don’t tell him that, but right now he’s-” you start.

“Busy.” Dave finishes for you.

“Right. And the more other people we add into this the more chances that it’ll go wrong, that’s my logic at least. So hopefully we should be back Saturday night but we’ll see.” you continue, you don’t mention the reasons for excluding June specifically.

“Promise you’ll be careful, alright?” Dave asks.

“Of course I will, I don’t want anything to happen to Rose and I don’t want to be a bird again either.” you tell him.

“You were a very cute bird though.” Dave says thoughtfully and you elbow him in the arm.

"Funny." you say flatly.

"The fact that you doubt me is so hurtful, words hurt, Karkat. You were the cutest little birb and I have approximately a thousand photos to prove it." Dave tells you brightly.

"Aaaand I'm going to bed." you say and get up before he can show you pictures of you as a stupid looking little bird.

Dave sleeps relatively nightmare free that night, even if there's a few moments when he stirs a bit and wakes you up. His bed is actually a little larger than yours, you suspect that Sollux enlarged it so the two of them could lay down together more comfortably and... do whatever it is that moirails do. Talk? Who knows. Either way when you wake up on Friday morning you find that you've grown wings again overnight and Dave is happily snuggled up under one of them as your other drapes off of the bed and rests on the floor.

You waking up seems to have stirred him awake too and he notices your wing, turning to nudge it with his nose and brush his fingers through your feathers.

"See? Still a pretty bird." Dave teases you and yawns widely.

You shake your head, your face hot and hurriedly put away your wings.

The rest of the day is kind of odd, you find that you're in a state of anticipation for this trip and it's not helped by how when you get out of work at lunch you have messages from Sollux. You don't even have to guess how he found out that you were going, Dave told him. Of course he did.

twinArmageddons [TA] began trolling  carcinoGeneticist [CG]  
  
TA: you're goiing where two do what wiith the fae agaiin??  
TA: Ro2e 2ay2 England, 2peciifiically to iinteract wiith fae. you know you two are crazy riight?  
[twinArmageddons is idle]  
CG: I KNOW IT'S CRAZY, BUT SHE'LL GO WITH OR WITHOUT ME. I'D RATHER SHE HAD BACKUP.  
CG: AND HEY SHE'S FOCUSED ON THIS RATHER THAT RESEARCHING THAT THING YOU DIDN'T WANT HER TO RESEARCH. YOU'RE *WELCOME*.   
TA: you know that holy and unholy magiic doe2n't work entiirely riight iin theiir land2, riight?  
CG: YEAH, I KNOW.  
TA: do ii have two come wiith?  
CG: DO YOU EVEN HAVE THE TIME? AREN'T YOU BALLS DEEP INTO THIS POLITICAL WAR?   
CG: METAPHORICALLY SPEAKING.   
TA: ii mean ii could 2hape2hiift two make that work but that’2 not really the poiint.  
CG: FINALLY SOLLUX CAN IDENTIFY THE POINT, I'M SO PROUD. I SHALL THROW A PARADE.   
TA: oh biite me, do you need backup or not?  
CG: I CAN DO THAT.  
TA: kk, don't te2t me riight now iit ha2 been a biitch of a week.  
CG: I'M HOPING THAT I CAN HANDLE IT. I CAN ALWAYS TRY TO DRAG YOU ON THAT QUESTION LIKE I DID BEFORE ON EVEREST.  
CG: WHICH, SIDE NOTE, I FLEW BACK TO EARTH FROM SPACE. BEING ON EVEREST WOULDN'T HAVE KILLED ME, WOULD IT?  
TA: ii don't thiink 2o, but ii wa2n't 2ure iif iit wa2 a placebo thiing. you thought you were clo2e two human 2o maybe human rule2 appliied, or maybe you'd lo2t power 2iince ii knew you la2t.  
TA: ii fiigured iit wa2 better two get you out of there than te2t that.  
TA: ...diidn't realii2e how much trouble that wa2 goiing two work out two be.  
CG: HEY, YOU SAVED MY LIFE, IT JUST WENT A LITTLE SIDEWAYS IN THE PROCESS.   
CG: AND IF I NEED HELP AGAIN I'LL TRY THAT.  
TA: but iit miight not work   
CG: I DON'T KNOW WHAT ELSE YOU WANT ME TO SAY HERE. NOT GOING ISN'T AN OPTION.  
TA: giive me two miinute2.  
CG: IT WOULD BE TWO, WOULDN'T IT?  
  
twinArmageddons [TA] ceased trolling  carcinoGeneticist [CG]

That was odd, but whatever. You head back to your dorm to pack the few things you might need. Out of sheer habit you pack clothes but you also put in some food, toiletries and a good amount of the supply gear that you packed for your hike out into the wild and forbidden areas. You know, that nice hike where you met zombies, a literal horseman and a dragon. Like all college trips, totally normal. You're just finishing packing a spare notebook and a few books to read when Sollux appears in a puff of synthetic apple smoke behind you.

"Gah!" you yelp and drop a botany book on the floor. You'd checked it out of the library and you've been careful to keep it away from Abraxas, you imagine that the library spirit might take exception to a bookworm getting into its books.

"It took a little longer, had to find good paper and argue with Redglare a little. Take this, don't give it to anyone else and only use it in an emergency. I'm serious, this is a big thing, I'm trusting you." Sollux says seriously and holds out a folded wad of paper.

"What is it?" you ask and take it from him.

Sollux doesn't answer so you unfold it. It's a circle of paper, a few feet wide and cut carefully. There are circles and symbols inked in it in gold and you're able to pick out the double I symbol that you saw on him as a snake and have since seen on him in this form too, although you were a little distracted by other things at the time. The ink on the paper is only just dry and it's pure gold, you don't think it's marker pen though.

"Is this... blood? Your blood?" you ask in alarm.

"Fae territory can make getting a connection harder, you having my blood when you summon me is going to make that easier. Freely given and with trust and... other feelings. It's about as powerful as you can get." Sollux explains.

This is a summoning circle for him specifically. You can't read the demonic on it but you bet that for him it's just to bring him from wherever he is to wherever this paper is, but if you wanted to you could put this in another circle, one that could contain a demon. You could fly to heaven and summon him there. You could even take his blood off of here and do some REALLY nasty magic on him with it. With this in your possession if you wanted to you could easily kill him or worse. You would never do any of that of course but it's a huge gesture of trust on his part, one you feel you ought to reciprocate.

You think for just a moment, put the paper in your bag very carefully and hold out your empty hand to him.

"I vow," you start and your skin tingles, "to not tell anyone but you or allow anyone else to hear me speaking of that circle, I won't take it out or give it to anyone else or let anyone else use it. Unless I’m literally about to use it myself of course." You amend that last bit really quickly before the vow considers you finished.

Sollux stares at you, you're offering him your word, a bond, that his gesture of trust is understood for what it is and protected with everything you have. He reaches out, his hand sliding into yours and you shake just the once. The vow snaps shut around you but you have no trouble adhering to it. Sollux lets your hand go and kisses you quick and sweet.

"I have to go. We called a quick break but I..." Sollux hesitates.

"I don't know what this whole thing is, but you've got it. I'll keep you updated and try to keep me and Rose out of as much trouble as I can." you tell him.

"That'd be good." Sollux says and then vanishes again.

After a moment to retrieve your dropped botany book which is then stowed safely in your bag you go out to the main room to find Rose just pulling her coat on, it seems your timing was spot on.

"Ready to go?" Rose asks.

"As ready as I'll ever be." you nod.

You and Rose walk to the campus port, you can't take a direct one out of the country from here. Although this one takes ports in from outside, like Jade's island, it doesn't have the proper clearance to go international. You don't really get why but you also don't especially care. On the way there Rose explains that your government issued ID will do for a passport, it's more or less an international agreement at this time but she has a passport which she shows you. You think it's just so she can prove to herself that she's really remembered to pack it and not forgotten and if she suddenly doubts it you can tell her that you saw it. She also has access to the family bank account and took some time in the week to withdraw some British currency which looks weirdly different from what you're used to.

You take the first port from the university to whichever international port had space, which turns out to be LAX. From there you two have to navigate your way through a confusingly laid out port until you get to the transfer check in desk, then you have to go through all the forms and whatnot that you did to come to Salem the first time. In addition you have to confirm that you're not bringing any contraband in, such as plants and seeds that might screw over the local ecosystem. Of course you had the smart idea to pack food so they have to look at all of it to be sure you're fine, which you are, and then you get your tickets. Then you can just follow the magical arrows to your port.

You arrive a while later at London Heathrow International Teleport. It's pretty late there and both of you take a moment to change the time on your phones. Despite the high tech magical transportation system to get there you then have to get a series of trains, the one that takes you through part of London is reasonably new but the one that Rose shepards you onto after that looks a decade or two old. The train carriage is reasonably quiet at this time of night, at 10pm you've missed all of the commuter people and it's also too early for everyone going out to bars and whatever for the night to be coming home yet. As such you have a whole half of the carriage to yourselves with only a couple of tired looking passengers in the other half.

"I did a lot of research this week and this is more or less what I've worked out. I had to start with the fae in Europe, specifically Winter itself. Really, I know we were light on the whole xenobio thing but this is fascinating stuff." Rose says brightly.

"Alright then, I'm sure we've got a while, tell me what you learned." you tell her.

"Okay, in Scottish folklore they're very firm on the fae being divided into two main categories, the Seelie court and the Unseelie. Summer and Winter respectively. The Seelie court are more favourable to humans but that doesn't mean super friendly as a rule and obviously you can't judge a whole culture like that but still. Jade is most likely from a Seelie family, making her a Summer aligned fae rather than a Winter one. The Unseelie are a lot more hostile to humans and it seems to track that the local folklore typically matches the areas where the two courts appear most. Areas where Winter is more often close by tend to have rather darker histories with them." Rose explains.

"I'm going to assume it's probably a lot more complicated than that and a lot of that is an overgeneralization, all that stuff." you shrug.

"Right. Plenty of fae don't associate with either court and live in separate communities, not to mention fae that have married humans and the complicated matter of changelings. On top of that I'm sure that various Winter fae that frequent this island have different cultures to those in Iceland or wherever." Rose agrees.

"But knowing this kind of thing is probably going to be helpful, but we should just take it with a grain of salt." you nod.

"Exactly. Now, here's the interesting thing about England. Well, all of the United Kingdom really. See, in America we have enough space to work around magically active areas and areas of more powerful species than us. We're able to section off areas but these countries are too small and densely populated for that. Actually that's part of the reason that people came to America in the first place but we're not going to get into the topic of colonialism right now. The point is that although in England specifically a lot of places are built to avoid these areas there are still plenty of towns and villages that are right in the middle of areas that we would consider too dangerous to build in. There are towns where cultures are very meshed together, including a lot of fae, and then there are some places which either didn't move when territories changed or they had to build there for lack of space elsewhere or founded the place on purpose to be away from the more human areas." Rose explains eagerly.

"The place we're going to is one of those, isn't it?" you ask, already knowing the answer.

"Yes, it's a village built right up into a magical belt area that Winter often appears in. As well as predicting the weather and pollen count the UK Government also helpfully has a supernatural forecast based on local sightings of phenomena and this place is suddenly right off of the charts. I looked around online and a hiker saw Winter nearby and reported it. We're in the right place." Rose beams.

The train grinds to a halt but you're not near a station, although you've stopped at several already. You and Rose exchange worried looks and wait, unsure of what the problem is. Overhead the speaker crackles into life and a tired voice starts to speak.

"Good evening ladies and gentleman, on behalf of First Great Western railways I would like to apologise for the delay. We're just stopped here for a moment because of wildlife on the track, we're going to try to get that fixed as soon as we can and hopefully we can get to Pangborne without too much delay. Thank you." the voice drawls.

You and Rose share a look and then quickly open the pull down windows and try to peek out as much as you can. It's dark outside but you can hear a voice up ahead.

"Get- shoo! I don't wanna hit y- thank you." another man shouts from up ahead, you hear an answering whinny and gasp when something sparkling and white canters up the dark hillside away from the train.

"Was... was that a-" you whisper in awe.

"A unicorn? Yes, I- I think it was." Rose whispers back, both of you too stunned to do anything else.

"Alright folks, we're all clear now. We should be on track to get in at our scheduled time, sorry again for the delay." the man on the speaker says once more.

You and Rose close the window, not wanting to let any more heat out and sit down as the train starts to move once more. You can't help but regret how late in the day it is, you wish you could see more of what's going on outside. Hopefully tomorrow you will have everything sorted out, you'll be in possession of that weird box and you can come back in daylight and see everything you drive past.

The train stops at the next station and Rose reaches across the table and nudges you.

"We're next." she tells you, not that you have anything other than your bag of holding to gather up and take with you. Still, you appreciate the heads up and when the train pulls into Goring and Streatley train station you're happy to get out and stretch your legs.

The train station isn't especially big. By which you mean it has two platforms and looks like it was most recently renovated in the very early nineties and most of the stuff here is from waaaaay before that. The two of you head out of the station, finding that the barriers are already open and the staff seem to have just fucked off for the evening and left you to your own devices.

"So there's a youth hostel in town. I've already booked us to stay there, even with the warnings in effect I don't think they have a lot of through traffic in the area in January." Rose says as she squints at her phone, tapping away at the map.

"You say 'town'..." you say slowly, looking around.

"Alright, town is overselling it. It's a village and it's just a little over three miles across from end to end so, yeah. Come on." Rose says. She reaches out and takes your hand in hers, lacing your fingers together.

The air is cold and crisp, your breath misting before your face and when the paving by the road runs out and you have to walk on the grass verges you find that the blades crunch underfoot. You keep your hand held tight in Rose's as you pass a figure made entirely of shadows, you ignore the rustle of the leaves in the bushes in the wind that isn't there. As the two of you go over a bridge Rose tells you in a whisper that this is actually the Thames. You pause and look over the sides. In the dim yellow light of the streetlamps the river has a haze of mist over it that is both beautiful and unsettling. You can hear the distant rush of water and smell the silt in the river mixed with the rust of the iron edged bridge.

As the two of you walk past the river going from the spotlight of the streetlamp into dark and across to the next one you feel that you’re closed in on every side from trees that seem to arch over you making a tunnel. The road is tarmac and divided and marked like any other road but it feels like an alien thing through a very living landscape. You cross another river, though you figure it must be the same one but just split somewhere further up. The dark is spooking you out enough that you’re using the light on your phone to help you see as Rose relies on the map on hers. As you pass the water once more you finally see real buildings again, a relief after what had seemed like a lot of nothing.

The windows are lit in some places, dim little squares of light in what are probably houses but you’re too far away and it’s too dark to be sure. Up ahead a sign welcomes you to Streatley and you pause.

“Are we in the wrong place?” you ask with a frown.

“No, I think they’re all interconnected. The place is just ahead.” Rose explains and shows you the map.

Sure enough a little way along the road and off to the left you find the Youth Hostel. The desk inside is worn but ornate and behind it a faun perks up in surprise.

“Hi, I’m Rose Lalonde, I made a booking. Sorry it’s so late.” Rose apologises, her smile genial and professional. Despite her booking ahead the faun seems surprised to see you both and since they have so much space due to lack of guests she offers you a twin room, which is cool, you figured it might be a dormitory type situation.

“Oh, since I have you here, you’re local aren’t you?” Rose asks.

“I am, yes.” the faun nods with a pleasant smile on her face.

“Wonderful. Me and my roommate came to do some hiking and see the scenery. We’re both in university you see and we wanted to do some extra study on botany and things like that, make some sketches, there’s plenty of things to see even at this time of year. But we heard that there’s some kind of warning about, is there somewhere we should avoid?” Rose asks innocently.

The faun’s face freezes for a moment and then she smiles, fake but trying not to be.

“Oh, well, it’s nothing really. This place is just very natural and the fair folk are wonderful as long as you’re respectful. But I’m sure I don’t know about any warning or where you shouldn’t go. Everything is wonderful. Let me show you to your room.” she says, brittle bright and hurries up the stairs with a key in her hand and a gesture for you to follow her.

You have the good sense to stay quiet for once and both you and Rose follow her upstairs as she shows you to your room.

“Since we have so few guests we can’t put on breakfast in the morning but there’s cafes and a few small food shops around. Checkout is at ten, but I imagine if you’re hiking you’ll want to be off before then! If you have any more questions you can just ring down to the front desk or come down, okay?” she smiles and hurries out before you could have possibly asked any questions there and then.

You open your mouth but Rose holds a finger up to indicate that you should be quiet. She pulls a chalk pen from her bag and inscribes the silencing spell that your dorm has onto the wood, that’ll just wipe off in the morning but it’ll also protect you from anyone listening. Just to be sure you pay attention to the charm on your wrist and it’s not doing anything so you suppose that the faun lady isn’t listening.

“So that was wildly suspicious.” Rose concludes as she turns around to face you.

“Oh, just a little.” you say sarcastically.

“I think we can safely conclude that Winter is indeed nearby, especially as she was acting as if it was all safe and well.” Rose says as she moves from the door to walk around your shared room.

“You’re just assuming she’s lying about everything?” you ask.

“No, but think of it this way. If the fae of the Winter court are inclined to take people then better some ignorant American tourists than a local. A village like this has a population of maybe a few thousand at most, someone dying or going missing here would be painful, strangers less so.” Rose shrugs and sits on her bed.

“Like a sacrifice. Rose, I don’t want to be a sacrifice, I want to graduate alive.” you tell her.

“We’ll be fine. Little do they know that we’re well prepared and no ordinary humans. I have a guardian angel with me, don’t I?” Rose smiles.

“Great, and who’s protecting me?” you grumble and pace around the room.

“If anyone tries to hurt you it’ll be the last thing they do.” Rose says cheerily and casually starts unpacking things from her bag as if she didn’t just make a very sinister statement.

“You’re terrifying, you know that, right?” you point out.

“Mmm-hmm.” Rose hums and walks into the bathroom with her little bag of toiletries.

Crazy witches. Whatever, you’d better look around the room. You can’t see outside much because it’s really late but the building seems old and surprisingly fancy. You can’t imagine that it was designed as a youth hostel, it looks more like a country home that was converted. What you’re in now must be a modified bedroom set up to function more like a hotel room.

You’d thankfully picked up a power converter in the port so you get your phone charging. No way are you dealing with the possibility of wandering through fae filled forest and discovering that you suddenly have no charge. In fact when that’s done you’ve got an external battery that you’ll charge up too. The room has some antique furniture in it which is all very nice and probably eye wateringly old by American standards. You’ve no use for the wardrobe so you just change your clothes into pyjamas while Rose is away in the bathroom. It’s not as if you’re going to adapt to the time zone properly in the short time that you’re here but you’ll need to be up early tomorrow so you really should sleep. With that decided you pull the covers back and get into bed, sitting up and waiting for Rose.

When Rose emerges she seems to approve of your idea.

“I’ll get changed and try to sleep. Tomorrow we’ll get food and maybe ask around, see if we can get a better idea of where to go. If that doesn’t work we’ll just walk and see if we can find Winter on our own. I’ll set an alarm for us too.” Rose explains.

She pulls clothes from her bag and you roll over in your bed to face away from her so she has some privacy.

“Best case scenario is we run into someone who knows just where we need to go, we head over there, find the box immediately and leave. That’d be nice but there’s no point planning for that so what’s our plan for if and when things don’t go well?” you ask the wall.

“Well, if we just don’t find Winter at all and run out of time then we go back to Salem and I research more then we try again later, perhaps I got the wrong location. Or if we do find it but our reception is bad with whoever we run into in Winter, then I guess we just play that situation as we see fit in the moment. We can defend ourselves or retreat if we have to, but I really want that box. I have to know what’s going on here.” Rose says.

She sits on the end of your bed now in her pyjamas. Her face is free of makeup and still shiny from moisturiser or something. In the soft light of the room it highlights the frown on her face all the more.

“I just don’t understand what’s happening. Did we see a vision of the future or a memory? If it was the future then who were you talking about finding?” Rose asks.

“It also suggests that I have a history of getting stabbed by every new person I meet which I don’t like.” you agree.

“But if it was the past then the ages don’t make sense. Yours does but mine doesn’t. I’d be more willing to think that it was the past and I was just seeing myself as I’m used to seeing myself now but-” Rose starts.

“But you didn’t look exactly like you do now.” you fill in for her.

“Right. So… I’m at a loss. If that box is there then it proves that what happened was in the past and maybe whatever is in it will explain why things are so strange.” Rose says and shakes her head, this is obviously driving her mad.

“The dream we had with the green moon in it was like that too.” you point out.

“Yes, another mystery. I had thought of that as more metaphorical but now I’m not so sure. Either way our next move is to sleep as much as we can before we need to get up in the morning.” Rose says with a firm nod.

She gets up and climbs into her own bed and when she’s under the covers you reach over and turn the lights off.

Because of the time difference it definitely doesn’t feel like morning when you get up and because it’s January it’s still dark as all fuck outside. Your will to get up is barely above zero. However Rose who usually is as much of a morning person as you are is now lit up with the fires of curiosity and stubbornness and so she’s powering her way around the room getting ready. You can’t stay here so you grudgingly haul yourself up and start packing your things away.

With a final check that you've not left anything in your room the two of you head out. You wait outside as Rose settles up or talks to the different person at the desk today. It's still dark and the air is cold and wet, hanging around in an unpleasant way that makes you feel cold all the way down to the bone.

"Alright, we need to go back the way we came towards the station. There's more stores and food places back there and, hopefully, coffee." Rose says that last part with an air of desperation.

"Coffee." you agree in an emphatic echo.

As you get out of the shade of some of the trees and turn the corner you see that it's not quite as dark as you thought, the sun is just starting to rise but the streetlamps are still on. It makes for quite the atmospheric and pretty picture and with your now more sedate walk you're able to look around better. The houses all look a little different from one another, seeming like they were built at different periods in time or perhaps that others have been modified. Almost all of them are built from a warm red brick or pale flint, some houses are both. In the early morning light there's still fog drifting over the river water but it seems a little less ominous and a lot more scenic. You take a picture for Dave just because you think he'll appreciate that sort of thing.

"Lots of churches." you remark as you pass your second or third one in maybe ten minutes.

"Lots of iron in the doors of them too." Rose says quietly.

Right, iron to repel the fae. A pretty solid sign that this place is used to existing in fae territory and has built itself defences.

Despite Rose's assertion to the contrary the cafes that you pass are all closed at the moment and look like they won't open for a few hours based on the signs. So the pair of you go for your next best option, you step into an absolutely tiny local shop. It seems to have a little of everything and you imagine that's by design. It has a few books and magazines, food, alcohol, basic home cleaning supplies and even more hardware stuff like batteries and lightbulbs. There's some pre-packaged pastries for sale as well as some iced coffee bottled and stored in one of the glass fronted refridgerated shelves. It's better than nothing so you two grab what you want as well as supplies for lunch later. If you're going to be hiking around the woods and fields around here you'd certainly better have something to drink. Although you could perhaps change the state of some of the frost around here to water but that might not be clean to drink and would more likely than not be wildly inefficient.

Seeing as this is all still on Rose's dime she takes your stuff up to pay and you pack the food and drink into your bag. The guy behind the register is about Rose's age and has the bored as fuck look that most people in retail end up developing, you certainly can sympathise with that.

"Hi, sorry, we're not from around here. I've heard that there were warnings for fae activity around here, could you tell me anything about that?" Rose asks pleasantly.

The guy scanning your iced coffee hesitates for a moment before handing the drink to you.

"I'm not in charge of the warnings or anything." he shrugs.

"Oh, I didn't mean that you were. But do you know what's going on?" Rose asks, still with a naive smile that's completely fake.

"The good neighbours aren't any problem, same as anyone else, if you're respectful they'll keep to themselves like we should. But..." he hesitates and Rose keeps staring at him, "I'd stay away from Gatehampton Farm. Or just Gatehampton in general."

"Thank you so much, we will." Rose smiles at him.

The guy seems uncertain but still he finishes ringing you up and Rose pays, thanking him again.

You both leave and when you're outside you hand out your breakfast food and start to eat as Rose pokes at her phone. You know she's looking for directions to the exact place you were told to stay away from, because of course she is. You don't even question it when the two of you start walking. Even though iced coffee is hardly what you wanted you drink it anyway and feel a little more awake afterwards. As Rose told you before this village is hardly big by any stretch of the imagination and as you make your way to Gatehampton which seems to be some kind of suburb or maybe just an area you find that the nice solid flagstone paving by the road just goes and the two of you have to walk in the actual road itself.

The closer you get the more you feel the cold start to creep in and the fewer people you see. When you reach the sign for Gatehampton itself the whole thing is frosted over entirely. You and Rose share a worried look and you offer your hand to her, she takes it and the two of you hold tight to each other. The last thing you need is to be separated. The houses in this area seem incredibly old indeed and no one seems to be about at all. Doors with iron studs in are shut tight, all the curtains in all the houses are drawn and not a scrap of light can be seen around them. What you could call Gatehampton is just a large sized cul-de-sac, if regular cul-de-sacs had farmland attached. You can make out maybe twenty properties here and every single one of them is silent as the grave.

"I guess we just keep walking." Rose says softly. You can't see where you would go, from where you're standing this place doesn't seem to go anywhere. Still, you walk further in with Rose.

When you step on grass now it doesn't just crunch underfoot but it shatters like a glass straw might and the sound seems to echo and bounce around. The old road progresses a little more but as you thought it does indeed end. You're about to suggest to Rose that you leave and try another way around when you see it. A flickering blueish white light down what you'd taken to be just a path to the back of someone's house, a will-'o-wisp. That's fae fuckery if you ever saw it. You nod towards it but Rose has already seen it too.

Rose gives your hand a quick squeeze and pulls you along towards the light. Every sensible part of you is yelling in your mind that this is a bad idea, that you're stupid to follow this, but you have to now.

The path you're on is narrow, closed in by iced over plants. Leaves of ivy covered with a sheet of clear water and as Rose brushes by one a perfect clear leaf slides off of the real plant and shatters on the frosty gravel beneath. Small berries within the bushes seem to be almost illuminated and you get the feeling that the moment your eyes are off of anything it subtly moves in ways that aren't quite right.

The path goes right at a 90 degree turn and you realise that this is a field for keeping horses. At first glance you think you see a distant horse in the field that's ambling lazily towards you in that way that horses sometimes do, often on the lookout for people who might possibly have oats or something. To your left you hear a distant wet sound and realise that you two have somehow found your way to the river again, either that or the river has wound its way to you.

Rose gasps and your attention is dragged back to the- oh, not a horse. It looks very much like a horse indeed but its dark body is dripping water, its mane bedraggled and hollow eyes in its head glow blue. Kelpie, that's a kelpie. You got away from them before but you'd really rather not test your luck a second time.

Rose hurries towards the water and you follow, you don't have much choice. You don't want to be closer to the kelpie and Rose won't accept turning back at this point, the river is your only option. Which is probably spectacularly stupid around a kelpie of all things. The path alongside the horse/kelpie field stops at the river bank, to your left is a private house and to the right is more river bank and the other side of the horse field. That's not the most unusual thing though. The river is completely solid. A thick sheet of ice covers the water from bank to bank and beyond it where you're sure should be more houses or more village is just an endless white forest. It's Winter.

Rose looks sidelong at you and together the two of you step onto the frozen river.

The ice is surprisingly easy to cross and you can feel the transition of going from the last edge of Earth itself to Winter in its truest form. Now that you're out of sight of humans you should probably take the lead of your past/future self and look like the creature you are, attempting to trick the fae isn't smart. Your wings stretch out from the void they live in and in contact with the cold air you feel them fluffing up for warmth.

You and Rose set foot on the ground of Winter on the other side of the river at the same time.

"We need to find that box." Rose whispers.

"I marked the ground where I buried it." you whisper back.

"I guess we just start looking. I was kind of banking on some great insight when we got here but maybe we just have to do this the hard way." Rose says under her breath.

You nod in agreement and carefully the two of you walk along keeping the frozen river on your right at all times. You didn't bury the box far into Winter so even if the geography of the place is a little weird it would stand to reason that it would still be somewhere in the outer edge of the place.

As a fun lesson in naming 'fae' is kind of a catch all term covering all kinds of subspecies, much as 'demon' and 'angel' seem to be. Humans aren't great at differentiating all of that kind of stuff in other species it seems, especially in species that are often not fully of the prime material plane of reality. Winter and Summer both exist in a sort of halfway dimension, not Earth as you know it in the prime material but also not NOT that. So when someone says fae they usually mean people like Jade, very humanoid in appearance and reasonably human behaviour and language. But it covers all sorts of species, technically the kelpie back there was fae, same for the will-'o-wisps. Your typical diminutive fairy that you see in very old art are sometimes an alternate form of fae like Jade and sometimes they're a species all on their own. Right now there's several tiny humanoid shaped glowing spots flitting in and out of frozen plants and you're reasonably sure that 'fairies' are exactly what you're seeing. You can feel them watching you and the warmth of the charm on your wrist is kind of welcome in this cold, even if the reason for it isn't welcome.

"There!" you gasp, pointing to the ground.

Before you there's a '69' in small stones on the frozen ground. You and Rose hurry over and break hands so that you can both try to scrape the frozen dirt away as quickly as possible. Rose hisses in frustration and when you look up you see that she's somehow pulled a knife out of somewhere.

"What?! Where did you get that? How did you even get that through security in the port?!" you hiss at her.

"Just dig!" Rose says back under her breath and stabs at the ground, loosening it enough for you to pull chunks of it away.

Stupid, naive relief is starting to fill you as you expose the top of the box and carefully pry it up out of the ground. That, of course, is the moment you hear distant hoofbeats.

Rose wrestles the box out of the ground and shoves it whole into her bag before anything can happen. No sooner has she shut the flap on her bag of holding than six fae riding white stags burst into the relatively clear area near you. The man in the lead is the one you saw in your dream and he looks livid.

"You." he snarls at you both.

"We got our box, as per the deal. We're leaving now. Thank you for your hospitality." Rose says carefully.

You eye the mounted fae, they're all armed and they all look mad as hell. In fact they're not just armed but their weapons are drawn. One in particular senses you watching and turns their head to stare you down with cold and angry eyes. You feel your wings flare in threat, wanting to seem as intimidating as they are. Maybe you're just showing that you're scared, it's true and you're not sure how to stop your wings giving that away because you don't know them well enough yet.

"You did not tell us what was going to happen. You KNEW." the man in charge snarls at Rose.

Rose of course has no defence for that because she doesn't know what it was that she knew then, or even when 'then' was exactly.

"You didn't ask for that information." Rose says calmly.

The fae aren't calm, they're going to attack, you can see it. But you have the box and you have maybe ten seconds to work out what you can do. The only thing that comes to your stupid trash brain is that you wish that Dave was here with his goddamn coke- wait.

You subtly slide your hand into your bag, you’d bought some coca cola at the shop where you got your breakfast, you’d thought that you’d need more caffeine later in the day. You write out your alchemy spells, both because it’s good practice for learning but also because it stops you accidentally casting something you don’t mean and stopping something going horribly wrong.

But… you don’t _have_ to, and right now ‘horribly wrong’ is kind of what you’re after. You saw the spell Dave wrote out for his alchemy bomb bullshit, you wrote most of it with him, he just edited one last little bit to turn the contents from a liquid state to a gas without boiling first. You slide the coke out of your bag and feel it start to freeze immediately on contact with the air. Which shouldn’t make sense because if it was that cold Rose would be frozen solid by now but she’s alive and… look, fae shit doesn’t always make sense.

In your left hand behind your back you can feel the bottle becoming hard with the pressure of the coke inside expanding with nowhere to go. With your right you reach out and take Rose’s hand. There’s a flash of silver as one of the fae in the back makes a move to rush you both and attack.

You call Dave’s stupid spell to mind, fix it to the freezing bottle of coke in your hand and throw it. You release the spell as it arcs over to them and in the second you have, you launch into the air, dragging Rose with you. The explosion damn near sends you falling back down with how much the shockwave disturbs the air but you keep going.

“Karkat!” Rose yelps, grabbing hold of your arm with her other hand as well.

“I’ve got you, I’ve got you!” you insist, gripping onto her as hard as you can.

You try to keep flying and haul Rose closer to you as much as you can. She manages to hook a leg around the back of yours and cling almost koala like to your stomach and legs. Her fingers dig into your back tightly and you’re more than a little worried about dropping her but at the same time you don’t dare land to try to rearrange yourselves.

“Karkat, I need to get onto your back! Fly up, I’ll let go and you can fly under me.” Rose shouts up at you.

“I’m not Terezi! My wings are huge and I don’t think-” you protest.

“What other choice do we have? AUGH!” Rose screams as she slips slightly and out of fear you grab her shoulder. She’s right, this isn’t a position the two of you can hold.

You soar upwards in the sky, as high up as you can without worrying about starving Rose of oxygen. She nudges your stomach with her head and then, all at once, lets go completely.

You feel the pit of your stomach drop as you see Rose plummet down to the ground below you. She turns herself over in the air and you rush down, using your speed to dart below her. It hurts when the two of you collide but you manage to stabilize yourself before the pair of you hit the ground. Rose is now sat on the small of your back with her hands between your shoulderblades and wings.

The sound of horns floats up from the woods of Winter below you, they don’t sound like the good kind either.

“The hunt. The wild hunt are after us we have to go.” Rose says loudly over the wind.

You don’t need telling twice. You put on some speed, not as fast as you possibly could go but you don’t want to knock Rose off of your back. The frozen trees whip below you in a blur of white but no matter how far you fly you don’t seem to get any closer to the edge of Winter, you can’t even see where that is. You’re starting to feel distinctly like a rat caught in a maze that has a trap at the end.

“I can’t see a way out.” you call back to Rose.

“I think this place is enchanted to get people lost, it doesn’t matter if we’re flying or walking. There’s got to be a way out though.” Rose says.

You try flying as straight as you possibly can, you try ignoring the ground below and instead following the sun but that doesn’t help either. You feel Rose move and then shove a hand under your shirt. She presses her hand to your spine and you feel something in her hand.

“This points to Dave, no matter what it points to him. Just… just close your eyes and follow the direction it’s pointing.” Rose tells you. Her hand is trapping it against your skin so you can feel it as it moves. For a moment you think it must be lost because it’ll point right and then suddenly straight, its direction changing vastly over a span of a second. But maybe it’s not broken, maybe this plane of reality is just warped in ways you can’t tell.

You close your eyes and turn in the air so that the chess piece is aligned with your spine, every time it deviates you flutter back and change direction. You’re starting to lose hope that it’ll work when all of a sudden the air around you snaps from bitter cold to just regular cold. You’re also way closer to the ground. Between the tip of your wing clipping the ground and the sudden shock you end up crashing to the ground. You and Rose tumble apart and it takes a moment for you to push yourself up onto your hands and knees and look around.

Your hands are pressed to dew wet grass and as you sit up you realise that you’re in a graveyard. It’s a long field of gravestones on a sloping hill in the middle of what looks like a green valley. Behind you there’s a groan and you turn to see Rose leaning back on a gravestone and wincing.

“Rose, are you okay?” you ask her worriedly.

“A little bruised but… ah… fine. You?” Rose asks as she sits up more and presses a hand to her lower back.

“A little worried that we’re in a spooky graveyard.” you say and stand up. Thankfully you two seem to be alone, which means you don’t have to explain the wing thing to anyone else, you’re not willing to put them away just yet.

Cautiously you read the stones nearest to you, momentarily worried that they might be your names or something, or maybe you’re out but the dates are from the future and you’ve been escaping for a hundred years. But, no, they’re just old gravestones. A few here and there have plastic flowers in and you see some slightly wilting holly wreaths on some from Christmas time.

“We’re out on the edge of Goring again, not where we went in but we’re out.” Rose tells you, looking at the map on her phone.

You did it, you got what you needed to and got out and considering everything that could have gone wrong you think you got off lightly. You hold a hand out to Rose and help her to her feet, there’s a gravel path in the middle of the cemetery and the pair of you carefully make your way there and you try to avoid treading on any graves on the way. At the top of the hill there’s a little shelter and a tap which you presume is for filling the watering can that’s sat there, it must be for when people bring flowers.

The bench in the shelter is certainly more appealing to sit on than the grass and after you put your wings away you sit down on it with Rose. You don’t even have to ask about the box, she’s already taking it from her bag. You came all this way for this so there’s no way you’re not going to look.

The box Rose draws out isn’t especially big, about the size of a shoe box. It’s made of a dark wood that’s varnished so deep it’s almost black and every side of it is carved. Rose holds it up and shines the light from her phone over it to cast the carvings into a stark relief, it’s clearly text and it’s clearly expressing magic but the language it’s written in isn’t English so you’re not really able to understand it more than that.

“How do you open it? There’s no latch or anything.” you say.

Rose slips her thumb nail between the lid and the box and to your surprise it opens easily. The lid swings open and comes to rest upright. The whole box is lined with black velvet and there appears to be only two things within the box.

The first thing is a leather belt with small bags attached to it, also made of leather. Attached to it is a small tag with two words written on it in purple ink in looping but familiar script ‘For Karkat’.

“That’s my handwriting.” Rose whispers, picking the tag off of the belt.

Alright, so Rose is giving you a weird pocketed belt. As you turn it you see that each of the pouches has something embossed on it in either gold leaf or a gold pigment of some kind.

“These are tarot cards. Look. The Knight of Cups, the Two of Swords, the Empress, the High Priestess. There’s loads of them.” you tell her eagerly.

“That’s weird. There’s nothing inside.” Rose says and squeezes one of the pouches.

You squint at the belt, especially at the pouch on it with your card printed on the side. It feels empty when you hold it in your hand but nevertheless you open it. When you look inside it’s the same endless black void that your bag of holding has when you look into it.

“They’re bags of holding.” you exclaim.

“But you don’t know what’s in them so you can’t get anything out, also you already have a bag of holding. Why would I give you a belt with a whole bunch of them on?” Rose asks.

Yeah… it’s for you. This pouch has your card on it. So…

Curiously you dip your hand inside. You don’t know what’s in there but you know who you are, you know what your card represents. As you think that and hold that concept in your mind a sheet of paper flies into your hand within the pouch. You take it out.

‘Now you know how it works.

Oh… that’s clever. You don’t have to know what you’re looking for, just why you’re looking and WHO you’re looking for. It’s the magic for a bag of holding altered enough to be really specific.

“That’s really smart. So I guess I’ll work these out later when I need them, or when I can think the right thought. What’s the other thing?” you ask.

Rose sets the box on the bench between you and looks in it as you sit with the belt on your lap.

“It’s a blanket or a shawl maybe? I like the colours, it’s all purple and black.” Rose says as she looks in at it.

“Well it is your box, it makes sense that if you left yourself something it’d be something you’d like.

“I suppose. Let’s have a look.” Rose says.

She reaches in for the blanket her fingers wrapping in the soft dark cloth, she lifts it up and out of the box-

You shudder a little as a cold breeze blows past you. It’s not as cold here as it was in Winter but you’d still rather be indoors. You think you got a little lost in your thoughts about this weird magic belt of very specific holding. You can investigate it more later and see what your friends think about it.

Carefully you set the belt in the box and flip the lid closed again. You stand up and drop the carved box into your bag of holding. Maybe you can see if you can find anything on the carvings in the library or perhaps Dave’s mom would be able to tell you something. You’re a little hesitant to go to your boss in case it’s fae stuff and there’s cultural baggage there, but if nothing else comes up then you might.

Alright, you’re already checked out of the hostel so you should probably get back to Salem. Just because you’re out of Winter doesn’t mean that you won’t get angry unseelie fae charging out here hunting you down, best to be several thousand miles away if you can.

Quickly you look around the graveyard and see that you’re just as alone as you were before and unfurl your wings. With a great beat of them you launch into the sky. It’s probably best to be up above cloud level to reduce the risk of being seen. A quick look on google maps shows you the direction you should be heading in to get towards America, you can fine tune that when you get closer, and so you head off.

carcinoGeneticist [CG] opened memo FUCK THIS SHIT I’M OUT  
CG: THOUGHT I SHOULD LET YOU TWO KNOW THAT I’M ON MY WAY BACK NOW.  
TA: you found that box you 2aw iin your dream?  
CG: I DID.   
TA: 2u2piiciiou2ly liight on detaiils there.  
TG: i heard my phone ping im awake what happened  
CG: I SUCCEEDED IN EVERY WAY POSSIBLE AND THIS NEEDS NO FURTHER EXAMINATION.  
TA: what happened?  
TG: yeah sounds susp to me  
TG: remind me why we were cool with you going and doing this crazy thing alone again  
CG: BECAUSE I’M A HEAVENLY BEING WHO IS REALLY HARD TO KILL AND ALSO WILDLY COMPETENT AND YOU BOTH TRUST ME.  
TA: …  
TG: …  
CG: YOU TWO SUCK.  
TA: 2o what happened?  
CG: I MAY HAVE GOT INTERCEPTED BY SOME FAE WHEN DIGGING UP THE BOX.  
CG: THEY MAY HAVE BEEN NOT ESPECIALLY HAPPY ABOUT EVERYTHING.  
TA: you could have 2ummoned me  
CG: I WASN’T SURE I HAD THE TIME PLUS I HAD THIS, I WAS FINE.  
TG: so how did you get out of that jam  
CG: DAVE IS HEREBY BANNED FROM BEING SMUG ABOUT THIS.  
TA: what about me?  
CG: YOU’RE ALWAYS SMUG, YOU’RE A LOST CAUSE.  
CG: I MAY HAVE TAKEN A COKE OUT OF MY BAG AND DONE DAVE’S ALCHEMY TRICK ON THEM. I BASICALLY SET OFF A COKE BOMB ON THEM AND FLEW OUT OF THERE AS FAST AS I COULD.  
CG: NO IDEA HOW I FOUND THE WAY OUT.  
CG: BUT I DID AND THIS BOX JUST HAD A WEIRD MAGICAL BELT IN IT.  
TG: thats a long way to go for a belt  
CG: A *MAGIC* BELT.  
TA: about you beiing wiildly competent agaiin…   
CG: SHUT YOUR FUCK.   
CG: ANYWAY I HAVE A LONG FLIGHT HOME BY MYSELF AND I’M PROBABLY GOING TO LOSE SIGNAL AT SOME POINT BECAUSE WHO NEEDS SIGNAL IN THE MIDDLE OF THE OCEAN? SO IF THAT HAPPENS I’M NOT DEAD.  
TG: just dead bored  
CG: YEAH.  
TA: ii think iif you fly two fa2t the u2 defence people are goiing two lo2e theiir 2hiit and thiink that 2omeone ii2 2hootiing mii22iile2 at u2.  
CG: AND I MIGHT MAKE NASA CRY. I ALSO DON’T WANT TO SEE IF I CAN SURVIVE A MISSILE COUNTER ATTACK SO I’LL JUST STAY AT THIS SPEED.   
TG: ok well im going back to sleep  
TG: come find me when youre back  
CG: WILL DO.   
carcinoGeneticist [CG] closed memo FUCK THIS SHIT I’M OUT


	29. When I'm Gone

You shamble into your dorm exhausted, sweaty and kind of sore. Sure you’ve flown further before, coming from the moon to Earth was a longer distance but you could go at max speed and gravity helped. This kind of sustained effort is just far too hard.

You kick your door shut behind you, drop your bag on the floor and magic your clothes away as you stumble to the bathroom. You know you said you were going to see Dave when you got back but you’re not going there in this state. A solid ten minutes of hot water hitting your back passes before you manage to move yourself enough to grab shower gel and all that. There are honest to god bugs in your hair. Flying is lame and you want another magic power instead, thanks. Teleportation seems like it’d be cool, why can’t you do that instead?

There’s no way you can stay in the shower forever though so you reluctantly stumble out, dry off and dress. You shoot Dave a message telling him you’re in your dorm and your back has died, you have died and your corpse can be found in your room if he wants to say his final goodbyes to you. With that done you go fall facedown on your bed for a while.

It takes Dave about five minutes to get to your room, he knocks on the doorframe and peers around at you.

“You good?” he asks.

“I’m dead.” you inform him, face half smothered with pillow.

“RIP in pieces dude, how come you died?” Dave asks. He reaches out to touch your back and you jolt when he does, your muscles tensing up.

“Ow! Ow, ah, ouch, hhhh flying hurts.” you whine.

Dave pauses for a moment but instead of taking his hand away he presses a little harder and you feel it go from actually painful to amazingly good. You think he gets the message from the very pleased noise you make.

“I could have just paid for you to port back you know, Mom’s got the cash.” Dave points out and kneads between your shoulder blades with one hand.

“Ghhh, left a litt- yeah. You shouldn’t have to do that, it’s- it’s her money.” you groan.

“You-” Dave pauses, his hand stilling.

“Daveee.” you whine, he starts again, following your spine and all the sore muscles that your wings connect to.

“You flew there, right?” Dave asks.

“You think I have ‘teleport to England’ kinda money? I work part time in a library. I guess flying there was fine but flying back the day after was pushing it.” you admit, a little dumb on your part for sure.

“I’d say next time let me pay for you to get places but I’d prefer that you weren’t globetrotting and using my genius coke bomb ideas to piss off fae.” he laughs.

“I banned you from being smug about that.” you protest.

“I appealed to a moderator. The moderator was Sollux. Get your wings out.” Dave tells you.

“Geez at least buy me a drink first.” you tease him but seeing as you think there might be wing pettings in your future if you comply you’re sure as shit not going to put up any resistance. You flex your wings out, draping one onto the floor and one folded across the side of your bed that’s against the wall.

Dave shuffles down so he’s able to get to your feathers and he starts gently stroking through your feathers at the part of your wing close to your back. He slides his fingers through them and strokes along the feathers to lay them smooth and then with his next pass he gets down to your skin. You’re already a Karkat puddle just from the feather stroking and that’s before he starts trying to carefully massage the skin underneath.

“You gonna tell me what happened then?” Dave asks as he methodically moves along your wing.

“Uh… found the place. Checked into a room at the hostel, got directions in the morning from a guy who sold me coke that I later blew up.” you mumble.

“I will high five you later for that. Keep going.” Dave adds and scritches your feathers in a glorious way that makes you not despair at him.

“Hnn, that was nice. Uh, I… walked to the place. Saw a kelpie, kept going, crossed a frozen solid river and Winter was on the other side. Got there and found where the box was buried, dug it up and the fae showed up super mad.” you sigh and nuzzle your face into the pillow.

“Then the coke bomb.” Dave fills in for you.

“Mmm. Flew off and then popped out the other side in a graveyard that actually wasn’t too spooky considering. Checked the box out, messaged you two, came back to the dorm.” you finish.

“Turn the other way and lemme do the other wing. What was in the box?” Dave asks.

You fluff and unfluff your feathers, your right wing that Dave has been working on feels glorious. You tuck it back in close to you and stand up.

“Hey, where’re you going?” Dave calls as you leave the room.

“I’m coming back, chill.” you tell him, careful not to shout. You can shout all you like in your dorm room alone but when you have guests you need to be quiet.

You snag your bag from the ground by the door and head back, when you get back into your room you reach into your bag and pull the box out. You drop it on the bed and Dave leans in to have a look.

“Whoa, that looks fancy as shit and not at all like you just ripped it out of the dirt and onto your nice clean bedsheets.” Dave remarks and picks it up.

Oh, great. Well as Dave picks it up you can’t see that there’s mud on your bed or anything so you’ll take it. You perch on the edge of your bed with your wings draping down to the ground as Dave inspects the box.

“This is definitely magical, but I don’t know what it says.” he says.

“Check out what was inside.” you say and get your finger in the seam and flip the box open. Inside is your belt with its little pouches of holding on them.

“Oh they’ve all got things on them.” he says.

“Yeah, tarot cards. The one with my card, the Knight of Cups, just had a note in it saying that basically I just have to know what the picture means to get the stuff inside.” you explain to him.

“And the others?” Dave asks, turning the belt around in his hands.

“Well, some of them I know. That’s you, that’s Sollux, I’m going to go out on a limb and say the Death card is Aradia or maybe that one is more metaphorical. Not sure about the others though.” you say as you point them out.

Dave opens his one and sticks his hand inside but when he takes it out there’s nothing in his hand. Curiously you try, thinking of Dave, but you can’t pull anything out either.

“I think it might be pretty specific about how I can use it. I don’t know who made this or who the note was from either but maybe it needs to be the right thought or the right moment? I don’t know.” you shrug.

“That’s pretty goddamn weird, Karkat. But I guess you have it and the fancy box it came in now so whatever. Now gimme that wing.” Dave flashes you a grin and reaches for your unpreened wing.

The speed at which you throw yourself down and offer your wing should be embarrassing but you’ll forgo shame when everything feels this nice.

Partway through your wing Dave gets a message on his phone and your phone charm chimes too, not that you move to look at it. Seemingly June is offering to host a little movie get together but you’re really tired and you do actually have work later. Given that Dave has been all over your wings you’re melted and exhausted, hardly in a state to go.

Dave goes by himself, leaving you with a shy kind of kiss to your temple. You set yourself an alarm and have a much needed nap. Your alarm was set to go off half an hour before work but you wake up a whole hour before your shift starts.

You put your wings away and revel in how much better you feel, then decide that you should make a drink to wake yourself up a little. Coffee will screw your sleep schedule up but tea could be good. You go to the kitchen area of your dorm and set the water on to boil as you pick out a tea and a mug to drink it from. Some of these mugs you brought with you when you moved here, but a lot were just left over from the previous people who lived in your dorm. Your fingers drift to the skull mug and you pick that one up.

It’s so quiet in your dorm. Obviously the silencing spell is the reason but you’re here all by yourself. They couldn’t have put you with anyone else of course, that wouldn’t be fair and you could have hurt someone. People are probably jealous that you don’t have to share but honestly…

You came here partly because you were so lonely in Georgia. Obviously here is better, you have classes and friends but the loneliness is still there in your chest. You look at your cupboard of mugs left from whoever lived here before you and you wish you had that. Not their mugs, you do have those. No, you wish you’d got to live with someone.

Fuck, you’d had a nice time with Dave and now you’re all melancholy for no good reason.

Whatever, screw it, forget the tea you’re just going to go to work early. When you get in Kanaya isn’t in the office which really doesn’t help your lonely woe is me pity party. God, you’re so stupid for being sad about this. Now not only do you feel shitty but you’re angry about it and then sad at being angry at yourself. It’s a horrible cycle of thoughts but you don’t have anyone to talk to about them AND NOW YOU’RE FEELING WORSE!

You’re a hair’s breadth from screaming or crying when Kanaya comes into the office ten minutes later and finds you.

“Karkat? Are you… alright?” she asks you and shuts the door firmly behind her, isolating any sound you make from the rest of the library.

“_Yes!_” you say petulantly.

Kanaya gives you a flat look.

“...No. I don’t know. It’s just a bad day I guess, I feel shitty. I flew a lot to get back here too and…” you shrug helplessly.

“How was your trip?” Kanaya asks.

“Can we just not talk about it? It’s been a day.” you sigh.

“If that’s what you want. Say, we have a whole stack of books that need rebinding, could you do that for me?” Kanaya asks. Translation: maybe don’t talk to students today.

“Yeah, sure.” you shrug.

For a while the two of you settle into your work. You rebinding the books and her doing almost everything else that needs doing.

After a bit Kanaya brings you tea and makes another attempt at conversation.

“Gone on any more dates?” she asks curiously.

“Not with Dave, no. Sollux is off being mysterious somewhere else but apparently dates with our kind of relationship is a thing with demons so I’ll have to work that out later.” you shrug and pick your mug up to blow across the top of your tea.

“I wonder what that would be like. I must admit that I don’t know many demons. Well, he’s really the only one I’ve exchanged more than a few words with… at least for a very long time.” Kanaya mumbles that last part but you decide not to ask, questions that seem like you’re trying to suss out her age are kind of rude.

“I’m curious to learn too. But that reminds me I need to go buy glitter before I go back to my dorm.” you say and then as a reminder you snag a biro and write ‘glitter’ on your hand.

“Ugh, that’s terrible stuff. Once you get it in your carpet or on your skin it’s stuck with you forever.” Kanaya says with a grimace.

“That’d be why I’m going to pour it in Sollux’s bed, he’ll lose his shit about it.” you agree.

“That is absolutely awful but whatever makes you two… happy?” she ventures.

Ms. Paint chooses that moment to poke her head around the door to look at you both.

“Ah, Karkat, I was hoping I could catch you. Are you interested in learning how to take care of the dangerous books?” she asks.

You perk up in your chair, surprised that she’s offering to accelerate your responsibilities so fast.

“Absolutely.” you say eagerly.

“Wonderful, I have a book about caring for them that I need you to read but you also need to spend some more time with the spirit of the library to get better protection against the dangerous books, so if you like I can let you in there for the rest of your shift. Are you alright on your own Kanaya? I’ll put the returns away and take care of the floor but would it be okay with you if you stay here?” Ms. Paint asks.

“Sure, go for it.” Kanaya smiles.

The book Ms. Paint gives you to read is quite obviously a staff manual made by her and perhaps other employees. It explains the different ways that dangerous books can cause harm. The first and most rare is possession, obviously the library doesn’t stock books that possess people but sometimes deliveries for professors can be possessed. The way to deal with those depends on what is possessing them but by and large it’s something you catch afterwards in the person with regards to odd behaviour, which is why the library area that houses the books is so well surveyed and enclosed.

After that you have books that read your mind, your geometry book was one of these kinds. It read you as you read it and enacted the things you read. As Ms. Paint already taught you the best defence against these is to be aware of a book reading you and being aware when you’re being observed by a book. From then are the books that are just plain cursed. That last category is quite broad, including the books that are physically animated or cursed. Cursed books might steal something metaphysical from you or affect your physical body. What follows are a checklist of basic spells and checks to go over any new book in order to tell what’s going on with it.

Naturally these spells are beyond anything that you’ve been taught so far but you know enough to be able to work out what you’re looking at and slowly parse the instructions. You quietly read the spells over and try to memorise them. A little later in the book/manual there’s examples of a few of the books the library has and what categories they fall into and why, what tests they show up on and why that is. It’s actually really fascinating and you’re still buried in the text when Ms. Paint comes to tell you that your shift is over and you can and probably should go now.

You wave to Kanaya as you leave but she’s too busy helping another student to say goodbye. It’s fine, you get to take the manual back to your dorm and read it there. But first you need to stop by the craft store. You hunt down the aisles until you find craft glitter, there’s a whole load of different kinds and colours including metallic confetti shapes. For a moment you consider buying red because that’s kind of your colour but Sollux likes red, in the end you settle for green and orange given that they’re the opposite to red and blue. There’s also some shapes that look a little phallic to you and you… assume they’re meant to be arrows given that they’re in there with hearts you assume it’s a valentines thing here early and they’re meant to be arrows.

They definitely look like dicks.

Hmm. Probably best not to, for a start they don’t quite match the colour scheme you’re going for and you want this to seem like more of a ‘fuck you’ rather than a ‘hey, fuck me, maybe?’. You leave the dubiously shaped glitter be and just take your original selection. You might take that next time though, you know, for reasons.

You return back to your dorm building but instead of going to your dorm you go all the way up to Dave’s floor and knock on his door. A moment later Dave opens the door and you see that Jade and June are in there with him.

“Oh hey, you’re off work. We were gonna watch a movie, well, just started but you wanna join?” Dave asks.

“Sure, definitely. I just need to do something first, don’t mind me.” you nod and go over to the sofa.

“Whaaat are you doing? I sense mischief.” June grins as you take your shoes off.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” you grunt as you climb up onto the arm and back of the sofa and balance. You reach into your bag and pull out a big thing of green glitter and carefully unscrew the cap.

“Ohhhh my- are you going to put that in there?” June gasps in glee, pointing to Sollux’s stupid ferret hammock.

“I’m not doing aaaaanything.” you insist as you reach your arm into said hammock and upend the glitter in it.

“That’s never coming out.” Jade snorts.

“Oh cool so everything I own will also be full of glitter, great.” Dave says flatly, looking very unimpressed at you unscrewing a large bottle of orange glitter too.

“Sorry Dave, casualty of war. Civilian casualties and all that.” you shrug and pour the orange in as well.

“You know I half think you should be the one rooming with June and not me. One time she covered my doorway with cling film and I walked right into it.” Jade says, June cracks up a little at hearing her own prank again.

“Ok, I’m done. I heard there was a movie.” you say and hop off of the sofa and onto the floor.

The next day you have your classes and you get about ten minutes in the office with Kanaya before Sollux appears. You’ve barely talked to her, you’ve made you, Kanaya and Ms. Paint drinks and just sat down to check out the emails sent to the library when he shows up in a puff of smoke. There’s glitter stuck to the whole right side of his face, all over his shirt and up his arms and he’s visibly seething.

You casually pick up your tea and sip it, looking at him over the top. The feeling of having outmaneuvering him is just… well, sinful you guess.

“Hi.” you say cheerily.

Sollux leans over your desk, puts his hand on top of your mug and presses it down onto the desk all while staring you dead in the eye. You feel the flare of magic in the air and then without a word he vanishes. You look down at your drink and stare at it.

“Did he do something to it?” Kanaya asks.

You squint at the liquid, it looks more or less the same but you’re suddenly filled with doubt. Hesitantly you sniff it but again you’re not sure if anything is different.

“I don’t know.” you say.

“Probably best to throw it away.” she advises you.

“Can’t do that, he’d win then.” you say with a shake of her head.

“But you can’t drink it when you don’t know what it is.” Kanaya says reasonably.

“No, he’d win if I did that too.” you admit. Sollux wouldn’t do anything that’d cause you real harm but replacing the water in your drink for something with the same chemical composition as spit might be possible. Or maybe he did nothing and he’s just messing with your head.

“Well what’re you going to do then? I really don’t get the rules of this thing.” Kanaya asks, clearly despairingly.

“Pretty sure I have to figure out a way to trick him into drinking whatever this is.” you conclude, it’s the only answer you can think of.

“This is absurd. Also there’s glitter on the floor now.” she points out.

You lean over your desk and sure enough there is.

“Damnit. I’ll get the broom.” you grumble.

“Karkat, I wanted to ask you about- have I done something wrong?” Kanaya asks as you’re rummaging around in the cupboard for the broom.

“Sorry, didn’t catch that, what’s wrong?” you ask, pulling the broom free.

“I just think I’ve upset her or something. I think she might have blocked me on trollian.” Kanaya explains and gestures to her computer.

You frown and head over to her, her trollian looks fine to you.

“I don’t think so, your contacts look fine to me. Look, I’ll block you now and you can see.” you offer and pull your phone out. You block her and show her how your icon changes for her and then unblock her.

“But it’s as if Rose’s account doesn’t exist anymore.” Kanaya says over you sweeping the floor.

You’re about to tell her that you didn’t hear all of that when a guy knocks on the door of the office. You turn around and look at him and see that he’s got writing all over his forehead.

“That’s… not us.” you tell him.

“Nah, I know man. Have you got, like, books on removing hexes yourself? I got the lady doctor on campus to do it but she obviously doesn’t know what she’s doing and stuff like this keeps coming back so whatever my ex did to me that doc didn’t remove. Bitches, right?” the guy snorts.

Kanaya turns around in her chair and looks at this guy who looks 100% like a douchebag. She looks him up and down and then gives you a look that suggests that you’d better deal with this guy or else she might snap him in half.

“Riiight. How did you get the hex in the first place?” you ask slowly.

“Oh, well, you know. Crazy ex. I mean we weren’t really dating, we were just screwing around and she got mad that I was seeing her roommate too or whatever and she hexed me. Turned my dick green, not cool. So I went and saw this lady doctor-” he starts.

“I think they just call them doctors.” you point out.

“Well she obviously didn’t do the job, it went away but then it changed into something else a few weeks later.” the guy scoffs.

“Were… were you seeing anyone else around that time?” you ask.

“Her sister and some other girl.” the guy says with a shrug.

“Wait, whose sister? The original girl’s sister or the roommate’s?” you ask.

“Nah, the doctor’s.” the guy answers. You think Kanaya’s entire face twitches with tension.

“So you pissed off several witches including one trained in the medi-magical arts, is that about right?” you ask and the guy shrugs. You’re amazed he’s still human and not a frog or something.

“You know how it is.” he says and you realise that he has the word ‘cheater’ inked into his face over and over again.

For a moment you contemplate telling him that you don’t know how it is because all the women you know are great and you’d know better than to cross them anyway, also you’re currently dating two people with everyone being cool about that and said people are both male. But… probably best not to.

“I’ll… see if I can find you something. Come with me.” you sigh.

You take him to the right areas of the library and work out what languages he’s best in and give him a book or two on hexes, the casting and removal thereof, and you also on your way back to the check out desk manage to snag the most basic introduction to feminism book into his stack and check that out with the rest of his stuff. You doubt he’ll read it but you live in dumb hope. Plus, if he doesn’t return it on time he’ll have another hex to worry about. Also, if he damages it or destroys it he can talk to Kanaya and Ms. Paint about that and THAT ought to scare the shit out of him better than anything else.

When you return to your desk Kanaya gives you this amazed look and both of you sit in silent shock at someone that stupid just walking around. You’ve often thought that people like that need a label on them so you can know about them in advance but it looks like his exes have that pretty well covered. You should ask Sollux about that saying about hell having no fury like a woman scorned, there’s probably some quite literal truth in that.

“If that douchebag makes it to the end of the academic year without being way more seriously hexed I will be stunned.” you say in shock as you lean against the door to the office.

“Quite. People like that enrage me.” Kanaya grumbles, not looking up from her computer.

You spot the traces of glitter still on the floor so you go back to sweeping it up with the broom and dustpan.

“Anyway, like I was saying before Karkat, have I somehow upset Rose?” Kanaya asks.

“Upset who? I didn’t catch all that.” you say as you pick the broom up and return it to the cupboard.

“Rose your roommate?” Kanaya says slowly.

“My roommate?” you repeat in confusion.

“Yes?” Kanaya is staring at you now like you’re especially dimwitted today.

“I don’t have a roommate, unless you’re making a dig about the fact that I’ve been sleeping with Dave lately.” you say and toss the glitter in the pan in the trash and then go to put the dustpan away too.

“What are you- no, I’m not getting into innuendo now. What do you mean that you don’t have a roommate?” she asks.

“What do you mean by ‘what do you mean’? You know how you can have a roommate? Not that. Not that is the situation I am in.” you tell her.

“You have a roommate. You live with Rose.” Kanaya insists.

“No? Is this a joke or a reference I’m not getting? Shit, you’re way older than me, I shouldn’t be the one out of the loop. Actually, are you older than me? I don’t know. Apparently I was around during the world wars were-” you start to ask.

“I’m older than that. Karkat, I’m not joking, are you serious? You really don’t remember her?” Kanaya asks. Her unwavering stare is pinning you in place and as her green eyes bore into you there’s a part of you that can’t help but wonder about those myths about the danger of a vampire’s gaze.

“I really have no idea what you’re talking about.” you tell her honestly.

“Right… right okay. Never mind. Could I come by your dorm and borrow that movie you were telling me about recently?” Kanaya asks, suddenly switching tracks.

“Looper? Sure?” you tell her, utterly lost in this conversation.

“Good, great, thanks. Could you take the returns back?” Kanaya says slowly and then watches you as you wheel the cart out of the office.

When the end of your shift rolls around Kanaya follows you back to your dorm. She seems weirdly tense and the conversation between the two of you is stiff. You unlock your door and invite her inside, being careful to be explicit in your wording so she can actually follow you. Thankfully she’s able to so you can’t have fucked it up that badly.

“Oh, Karkat, I didn’t know you knitted.” Kanaya says, gesturing to your sofa.

“Ah, that. I don’t, it was just here when I moved in.” you shrug and kneel down by the tv to get that dvd.

“That seems unusual, don’t you think?” Kanaya asks pointedly.

“I don’t know. People move or whatever.” you shrug as you flick through the DVDs.

“And this room through here? This bedroom?” Kanaya asks, opening the shut door in your dorm.

“That’s the other room, yeah.” you agree.

Wait, what were you doing? You sit up and look around, your eyes landing on your coffee mug from that morning on the table. Better clean up. You start puttering around your dorm collecting glasses and things that need to be washed and taking them to the sink.

“Karkat!” Kanaya shouts suddenly, making you toss a glass into the sink where it chips a huge chunk out of it.

“Holy shit Kanaya! You snuck up on me!” you exclaim in alarm. When did she even get in here?! How can she even get in here?

“I didn’t sneak up on you. I was saying the name of your roommate over and over and standing in her room talking to you but you couldn’t seem to hear me. Karkat, you’ve clearly fallen under some kind of spell. I need you to get your other friends here so that we can work out what to do.” she insists.

“But I’m not-” you start to protest.

Kanaya walks over to you and takes hold of your shoulders.

"Karkat, you trust me, right?" Kanaya asks, looking down at you intently.

"Y-yes?" you say uneasily.

"I'm telling you that something has happened to you magically to make you forget someone that you know and when I mention this person or bring up too much evidence of her existing you go blank on me or say that you didn't hear me. There's something going on here and we need to fix it, so what I need you to do is to bring the rest of your friends here. They can hopefully challenge you on what's happening and we can work out a plan." Kanaya says.

You don't feel like there's anything wrong with you at all, Kanaya's the one behaving weirdly. But, then again it's not as if things happening to you is in any way unusual these days. So with a little hesitation you message the rest of your friends to come down to your dorm. Jade and June arrive first with Sollux and Dave arriving later.

"You have glitter in your hair." you inform Sollux gleefully.

"I hate you so much." Sollux hisses at you and you can't help but beam at his words.

"I'm ignoring that. I asked Karkat to bring you all here because he's forgotten something very important, I think some sort of memory spell has been cast on him." Kanaya announces.

"Oh, shit. Karkat what've you done now?" June asks, turning around on your sofa to stare at you.

"I don't know! Apparently I've forgotten someone." you shrug.

"He can't remember Rose." Kanaya says.

"You... didn't say a name. You just said that he couldn't remember and then trailed off." Jade points out.

"Are you not able to tell us who he's missing? Are you cursed? Come here." Sollux says and despite his instruction he is the one who moves closer to Kanaya and looks her over.

"What? No. Dave, I'm talking about your sister!" Kanaya insists.

"I didn't know you had a sister." you say in surprise.

"Because I don't. I'm an only child, dude." Dave says.

"Are you sure _you're_ okay, Kanaya?" June asks.

"Wait, does this mean that I'm not the one that something has happened to? Is it Kanaya instead?" you ask.

"I've known Dave for forever, he doesn't have a secret sister. Whatever has happened it's not Kanaya being cursed that's the problem, it's something else." Sollux confirms.

"I'm not cursed! It's not me! None of you remember Rose? Really?!" Kanaya demands.

Your whole group looks at each other and shakes your heads and shrugs. It's not you at all, it's her.

"Don't you think it's strange that Karkat gets a dorm all to himself? And that there's all these things here that the dorm didn't come with that are just here?" Kanaya asks, waving her hand around the dorm.

"It makes more sense to let things pass on between people who live here if they don't want them than tossing them out, and some people come here from abroad and leave things behind. Besides, you've heard Karkat's voice when he's loud, right? He's got that spell to stop everyone outside hearing it but it'd be kind of unfair to make someone live with that." June explains, gesturing to the door to your dorm.

"Gee, thanks June." you mutter.

"Actually, he's been staying with me when Sollux has been gone and it's fine, really." Dave says in your defence.

"I don't know, the volume thing happens sometimes." Sollux says with a grin that's way too inappropriate for your current audience. You give him a look intended to shame him into being quiet but Sollux has a chronic lack of shame, so he is unaffected.

"I've got to work out where we lost her. Karkat, tell me everything that happened on your trip." Kanaya orders you.

"I flew there, got a train to where I needed to go to-" you start.

"You flew across a whole ocean but then landed and took a train?" Kanaya interrupts.

You pause, you distinctly remember the train. You remember there being a unicorn outside at one point. You definitely got a train.

"I... yeah? I was tired I guess. I got a train from London to Goring and Streatley which is where the hostel that I checked into was. Next day I asked around about Winter, found information out, went there, dug up a magic box-" you continue.

"Make a bomb from coca cola." Dave interrupts.

"...Improvised an escape. Got back to this realm of reality, had a look in the box then came back here." you continue, ignoring Dave's interruption.

"What was in the box?" Kanaya asks desperately.

"A belt with little bags of holding on it, they're activated by understanding the tarot card prints on it. I already opened mine but I've not tried anyone else's yet and there's some there that I don't understand." you tell her.

"Show me." Kanaya tells you.

You shrug, you've not really shown this thing about yet and if you do it now then you can get everyone's input. You go across your dorm room and pick up the little table that you have at the side and move it closer to your group. With that done you reach into your bag and take out the box itself and set it on the table.

"This is definitely magical." Kanaya whispers as she peers at it. Sollux is looking at the box just as intently, peering at each little detail.

"I'm pretty sure that this box just seals magic, it stops outside stuff interfering with what's inside. Sensible if you're going to bury it in Winter of all places. It might link up to other spells but unless I'm reading this wrong nothing here could cause all of us to forget a whole person. Also, Karkat was the only one who was there." Sollux points out.

"So it's the magical equivalent of a fireproof safe?" June asks.

"Yeah, pretty much." Sollux shrugs.

Seeing as the two of them look to be done with the outside of the box you open it and take the belt out, although Kanaya feels around the inside of the box and stares suspiciously at it.

"So the belt has all of these tarot card patterns on them, I've not worked them all out yet but I know that this Knight of Swords is Dave, the Knight of Cups was me but I've opened that one, Two of Swords is Sollux and Death is... literally Death." you trail off a little there as Sollux looks a little downcast at the mention of his ex.

"What about the others? Tell me about them." Kanaya insists.

"Uh, alright. Um... okay this one is The Fool. That's all about new beginnings and a free spirit kind of vibe." you explain.

"Not that one, next." Kanaya prompts you.

"Alright, uh here, the Ace of Wands. Uh..." you frown.

"Are you drawing a blank on that?" Kanaya asks hurriedly.

"It's a lot of cards to memorise! Let me double check." you grumble and take your phone out. It only takes you a moment to get the right tab open and you can check.

"Ah, right, here we go. Ace of wands is about creativity and boldness, finding your own voice and being in a place where you can develop your own vision. Aw, hey, Jade that makes me think of you." you smile as you look up at her.

"Oh cool! I like that!" Jade beams.

"Well what about this one? The High Priestess?" Kanaya asks.

"That was... uh." you frown. You've gone completely blank on this one.

"It's major arcana, I thought I had all of those memorised back to front. Come on, dumbass. It was... uh..." you frown.

"Look it up?" Dave suggests.

Dutifully you look down at your phone and scroll for a few moments.

"Sorry, what was the card again?" you ask, looking up at Kanaya.

"High Priestess." Kanaya reminds you.

"Oh, right, right." you nod and click on the card. You read the blurb of it for a few seconds and nod.

"Well?" Kanaya asks.

You look up from your phone and put it away.

"What is it?" Kanaya asks.

"What was what?" you say, did she ask you a question?

"Alright, fine, forget the others. I suppose that answers that. How does this bag work? How did you get something out of your one?" Kanaya asks and jiggles the belt at you.

"I just thought of myself and what my card meant." you explain.

Kanaya nods and then plunges her hand into one of the small bags. She rummages in it for a moment and then pulls out a sheet of paper. Her eyes dart over it hurriedly and she quickly pockets the paper.

"You know what, Karkat? I think you're right. It makes no sense that all of you would forget someone, it's far more likely that it's me. I'm going to go now and... go and ask Ms. Paint for a few days off. See if I can fix this." Kanaya says stiffly.

"Okay...? Are you alright? I'm worried about you." you tell her.

"No, it's fine. I need to go now." Kanaya says and quickly marches out of the room.

"That was really weird." June notes.

"Y'think?" Dave says, dripping with sarcasm.

"It was a waste of my break for sure. I gotta get back to it." Sollux yawns.

"Wait, really? But you've barely been here any time at all." Dave protests.

"I know, I know. But I gotta. I'll message you later, okay?" Sollux smiles and then, in a puff of smoke, he's gone.

"Why does that always smell like apples? Smoke would make sense, or fire and brimstone, but apple is just so odd." Jade wonders.

"I wondered that too." you agree.

"Why not apple though?" June counters.

"Yeah, everyone knows that apple is the best fruit and the best scent for anything ever. Everything should be scratch and sniff apple scented and that'd be my one genie wish." Dave nods.

"That wish would go bad in five minutes, never make wishes." you snort in amusement.

Since your little group is all together, albeit without Sollux, you may as well all do something together. Which ends up predictably being dinner and a movie and talking shit about Mindfang because she's the weirdest goddamn person that any of you know. You're only part way surprised the next time you go into work and you find out that Kanaya's not there. When you ask your boss she just says that Kanaya needed a few days off for something. Without Kanaya around that persistent loneliness starts to creep back into your mind. It's probably your own fault that you're alone, you're obviously a terrible listener. Like, even now as you try to remember exactly what Kanaya told you that you'd been forgetting you can't remember. Maybe she just wanted a break from you.

"Karkat, I'm going to go feed the dangerous books since Kanaya isn't here. I have one that I've been looking after but it got injured in a fight. Could you mind it for a while?" Ms. Paint asks, putting a twitching book down. One that has a ripped up cover on it.

"One of the other books attacked this one?" you ask in surprise.

"Yes, there has been a lot more activity between the books lately, something has them riled up but I've no idea what. Just keep an eye on that one for me, would you?" Ms. Paint asks.

"Of course I will." you nod.

Ms. Paint leaves you to it and you warily eye the book on your desk. You could go and look up what kind it is but you feel that somewhat goes against the training you've been getting. You lean down so you're eye level to it and try to get a feel for the thing. The cover of the book, though a little mauled, reads 'The Inner Eye'.

"You should see MY inner eyes." you mutter and the pages of the book rustle invitingly.

"Oh no you don't." you snort. You're not picking this thing up and reading it. For all you know it'll tear your skin off to make a new cover for itself. You need your skin, you're using it right now.

The book seems to sense that you're not going to give into its ways and with a battered bookmark it reaches out across the desk towards your stack of post-it notes.

"Oh, you're really torn up. I could probably fix that for you, Kanaya showed me some stitches she was doing before. Do you want that?" you ask as you reach for the book.

The book warily flicks its satin bookmark at you but doesn't do much more when you touch it. You take a couple of steps to Kanaya's desk and pick out her little travel sewing kit. You've seen her help students out when they've torn their clothes or popped buttons in the past. There's tiny spools of thread in every colour and little needles. Eyeballing the colour you thread a needle and hold it out to the book which shuffles closer ever so slightly. Its bookmark is torn right up the middle but you patiently sit and start to sew, bringing the two sides of the bookmark back together. It's not the neatest sewing job in the world but it looks pretty good and the book seems to appreciate it. As you snip the final thread and stroke the cover of the book you feel a presence watching you, it's not the book though, you've adjusted to that. Instead you look up and see Ms. Paint looking at you with a secret smile on her face.

"Maybe you could go put that one back on the shelf downstairs sweetie. I think you're probably about ready to deal with them. I'll watch you on the cameras, don't worry. I just want to see if they'll listen to you without me there." Ms. Paint says.

"Wait, you're serious? You think I'm ready?" you ask in surprise. She nods so you scoop the book up in your arms and head downstairs to the dangerous books storage cage. Ms. Paint gave you the keys and explained which opened which.

As you stand in the elevator your stomach feels full of butterflies, it feels like how Dave and Sollux make you feel sometimes. A sense of nervous anticipation and excitement. There's a sound in your arms, slow and like paper. You look down and see the book reaching for you with its repaired bookmark. Its satiny bookmark touches you on the cheek and then slides back between its pages. You freeze for a moment unsure about what just happened, you don't feel any different but all the same you're wary.

You head into the cage and carefully reshelve the book in its right place and give the books around it a warning look, not angry but firm.

"Be nice." you warn them and leave.

You make sure to lock both doors and check the locks very carefully before you return to your boss.

"Um, Ms. Paint? That book kind of... touched me with its bookmark. Is that something I should be concerned about?" you ask her, worried that you screwed up.

"No, sweetheart, you're fine. That book only affects you if you read it, that was just it saying that it likes you. Like a happy dog licking you to say hi." Ms. Paint beams at you.

At least it's less slobbery than when Bec gives you excited kisses, which happens often because Bec is very excitable and cannot be stopped by any means. If he wasn't such a good boy it might annoy you.

"That's good then, alright, always happy to hear I'm not cursed." you say brightly.

"Any time. Why don't you head off early, you've only got five minutes left and that's not much time to start anything. I'll see you on Thursday I believe?" she checks, glancing at the schedule on the wall.

"Yeah, but if you need me to cover for Kanaya you have my class schedule, I don't mind helping out." you tell her.

"I'll let you know. Now shoo." Ms. Paint laughs.

You go back to the office and grab your things before heading out. You're doing well in your classes, you have friends, two boyfriends and your progress with the books in the library is great. You should be happy! You'd say that you should be over the moon but you're going to stay away from moon related metaphors from now on, Scratch kind of ruined them for you. As it is you just feel like something is missing in your life, there's a hole in your heart and you just don't know how to fill it.

That night you settle down to sleep in your dorm, alone, in the quiet. It should be peaceful but again it's just kind of lonely. You could have gone and slept with Dave again but he's eased back on the nightmares a bit with Sollux being able to come back for a few minutes most days and you're worried that he's going to think that you're clingy. So, yeah, sleeping alone. In your big empty dorm. Alone. Even Abraxas is asleep so you can't even talk to it.

Whatever, you're fine. You're fine.

_”Karkat! Kar what’re you doing?” Eridan hisses at you, grabbing your arm._

_“Uh… why don’t you tell me what you think it looks like I’m doing first?” you say slowly, with your leg halfway through the barrier that surrounds the area that Signless is trapped in._

_“It looks like you’re breaking in to go see Jesus, the thing you’re specifically banned from doing!” Eridan hisses and glances around._

_“It’s Signless but that’s not the point. Look, I’m not doing that. That’d be going against my orders. I just happen to be going this way for another reason. I’ll be fine, it’ll be fine.” you assure Eridan._

_“You can’t just keep sneaking out, if Kankri finds out where you’ve gone-” Eridan warns you._

_“So if he asks you where I am just make something up. You saw me earlier but you don’t know where I am now, or I told you I was running an errand for someone but you don’t remember who. Just cover for me.” you say._

_“And if I’m made to tell the truth then he’ll catch you and you’ll be in so much trouble. He’ll lock you away again.” Eridan whispers and squeezes your arm._

_“I know, but I have to go. I wouldn’t go down there if it wasn’t important.” you insist._

_“And what if you lose your body like you did in that fire when that building fell on you and the rebar stabbed you right through the heart?” he challenges you._

_“I have a workaround for losing my body, it’s fine.” you assure your panicky friend._

_“What? No, it requires a divine mandate to… he’s the son of God, that counts doesn’t it?” Eridan says slowly. You grin and shush him, no one needs to know your little get out of jail free clause._

_“Kar, if they find out you’re doing this- will you just listen to reason?” Eridan pleads._

_“Normally I would, but this is way too important.” you tell him with a sigh._

_“You’re a complete disaster.” he mumbles._

_“No, Earth is a disaster, I’m trying to fix it. Just cover for me, it’ll be okay. See you later!” you grin and slip through the weak spot in the barrier._

_Once you’re on the other side and out of the way of a lot of the surveillance you wave to Signless and dip down through the barrier between this plane of reality and Earth. You know where you’re going and you fly there as invisible as the very air around you._

_When you land you take a look at the slip of paper, checking the name of the bar and the name of the one in front of you. There’s no car here and there’s also no batshit demon leaping out to stab you. Suspicious. With little other choice you push the door open and peer inside. At first glance the bar appears to be empty but after a second you spot the demon slumped over the bar. As you step into the room he jolts upright, staring at you. He makes a noise of alarm and points at you._

_“Agh! I’s you!” he slurs and then falls right off of his barstool._

_Uh. What?_

_“Are… are you okay?” you ask him warily as you come further inside the bar._

_You watch as the demon pushes himself up on all fours and looks up at you, his four eyes blink a little out of sync._

_“Wait. No, just… just stay there so I can… can stab you.” he mumbles._

_“That’s certainly a tempting offer. You are wildly drunk aren’t you?” you ask, not that it needs asking. He’s clearly uncoordinated as can be and the top of the bar is littered with empty bottles and tipped over glasses._

_“Shut.” the demon says._

_“Not that I’m not glad for the opportunity to not be stabbed for once but I can’t help wondering why you’re not just magically sobering up so you can attack me unprovoked. Again.” you say._

_“You can do that?” the demon says, his hand still halfway in his chest._

_You get to watch him realise that he just said that out loud and panic slightly._

_“I mean. I can do that. I just don’t have to, I can take you on like this.” he brags and then pulls a black jacket out of his chest. It is very notably not a sword to stab you with and he looks very confused about that._

_“Right. Okay, this isn’t how I thought this was going to go. Up you get.” you sigh and pick the demon up off of the floor. He squirms in your arms and manages to bite your wrist as you try to manhandle him into an empty booth._

_“Where is everyone anyway? Bars usually have people in them.” you ask, rubbing your wrist and willing the bite mark away._

_“They’re…” the demon says hazily and waves a hand at the back._

_Turning your head and focusing you can feel several souls back that way, so he scared them back there. No wonder because right now he’s not passing for human AT ALL._

_“I don’t know who’s going to fix that mess, your side or mine but that’s officially not my problem.” you sigh._

_“Aren’t you an angel? Aren’t you meant to be all…” the demon makes some kind of mocking simpering noise that you think is meant to suggest your lack of backbone and doormat personality, you can only assume that’s what he thinks angels are like._

_“You don’t know a lot of angels, do you?” you ask._

_For reasons you absolutely do not understand this is for some reason incredibly funny to the demon and he slumps over the table in hysterical laughter. Does this mean he does know angels and finds you not knowing that funny or that he thinks the idea that he would know angels to be funny?_

_You decide to let it go and sit on the opposite side of the booth to him._

_“I’d just like to point out that I could be trying to kill you right now. I’m not because that’s not something I’ve wanted to do at all, so even though I completely get why you would have been defensive before and preemptively attacking but now that you can see that I’m NOT trying to kill you we can maybe talk next time.” you tell him._

_“Next time?” the demon suddenly isn’t laughing and has sat up sharply._

_“Well, yeah. You’re completely shitfaced now, it’s not exactly fair for me to ask you questions now, is it?” you snort. Who even knows if you’d get coherent answers anyway._

_“But I’m drunk. And alone.” he points out._

_“Yeah? That was my point.” you say slowly._

_Actually, on that subject you have another look around the bar. Not only can you not see his other half around here at all, you can’t even see any sign of there being anyone but this demon and the quick exit of several terrified humans._

_“Where IS your better half, anyway?” you ask curiously._

_The demon’s eyes suddenly fill with moisture and the breath he draws in is shaky._

_“Gone.” he answers._

_“Gone?! Like- dead?!” you yelp, that’s- that can’t be good, who would kill or- oh this is bad. Very VERY bad._

_“No. Not- just. Gone. Without me. I’m not- not a god so. So I’m just.” the demon seems to choke on his words and then holds out a hand. A bottle of vodka flies across the room, entirely misses his hand and hits the wall. On the second attempt the demon manages to catch a half full tequila bottle and bites the top off._

_“You’re drunk because you’re sad. Oh.” you say as the realisation dawns on you._

_“Fuck off. I’m not SAD.” he snarls and then sniffles, it’s not at all convincing. He takes a swig from the tequila and your heart hurts for him._

_“Hey, hey, no it’s okay. Are you not used to being on your own? I mean I always see you two together before you, you know, stab me with something. Are you actually never apart?” you ask and scoot around the booth so you can warily pat him on the shoulder._

_“SURE we’re apart when I’m being TORTURED or the other way around but this- choosing to leave and it’s not like I can’t fly, I can fly! Stupid fucking windy thing, I can- but noooo.” the demon sobs._

_Warily you reach out and rub his back, to your surprise he doesn’t try to bite you again but he does stiffen up a little under your touch, like he’s still expecting you to try to hurt him._

_“Listen, I’ve been around a while and I know that alcohol can make your emotional state even more unstable, even though it seems like it’s helping at the time. So you don’t have to worry about me thinking you’re any less scary or murdery after this, okay?” you tell him gently._

_“If you’re going for pity I’m going to stab myself then you then me again.” he hisses drunkenly, turning his head slightly to glare at you._

_“Whoa, no. Nope. That wasn’t what I was going for and I wouldn’t hit on someone who was drunk even if I was feeling that. Besides, I don’t actually even know your name. I’ve never got past telling you mine and begging you not to stab me this time before you, you know, stab me.” you point out._

_“Haha, yeah.” the demon grins._

_“I’m glad stabbing me is such a fond memory for you.” you grumble and lean back in your seat. If you weren’t feeling so bad for how clearly emotionally hurt and vulnerable he is you’d be tempted to actually- well, no. You’re not SUPPOSED to be vengeful or get people back for things they’ve done. This is probably one of the many reasons you’re a shitty angel, isn’t it? This shouldn’t even occur to you._

_“It’s Sollux.” he says softly._

_“Oh. Well, hi. It feels stupid saying hi given that we’ve been talking for a while already and met a bunch of times before but… hi?” you say awkwardly._

_“Hi. Also, OBVIOUSLY, my maker’s… gone. So you should probably go, you didn’t come here to talk to me.” he mumbles and gestures to the empty bar._

_“Something tells me you probably shouldn’t be left alone right now, so I’ll stay. I’ve already gone to all of the trouble of sneaking out I may as well stick around.” you shrug._

_Sollux lowers the bottle to the table and frowns at it._

_“Sneaking out?” he repeats._

_“Uh.” someday you will develop a filter between the things you think and the things you say, one that’ll work all the time. Today is not that day._

_“Who’re you sneaking from?” Sollux asks, squinting all of his eyes at you._

_“It doesn’t matter.” you answer, about as suspiciously as possible._

_“You’re an angel. You work for heaven, so… so who are you sneaking around?” he asks again._

_“I am an angel. I serve the good of humanity and the greater good and make Earth the great place for mortals that it’s meant to be.” you answer him cagily._

_“That doesn’t sound like how angels are s’pposed to be. You sound like Mituna.” Sollux snorts._

_“Great, thanks, just compare me to a fallen angel that’s- wait, you know Mituna?” you gasp as the words finally hit you._

_Sollux snorts and gestures at his whole body._

_“Made to look like him, duh. Course I know him.” Sollux scoffs._

_“Well I never met the guy, he fell before I was even made and I’ve only seen memories of him as an angel. Is he okay?” you ask eagerly, Signless is going to want to know about this! It might take you a while to find a moment to sneak off to tell him without violating your order to not go and see him but you have to pass this on!_

_“He’s in hell, stupid.” Sollux snorts._

_“Yeah, but he fell. He’s a demon now, hell is fine for demons, right?” you ask._

_Sollux laughs, loud and it sounds bitter._

_“Oh, so fun. My… maker’s maker, prince of fucking hell once split my head in half and like… levered it apart like with a… a…” Sollux seems to fumble for the word._

_“Like a crowbar?” you ask in horror._

_“Yeah, one of them. Conscious the whole time. Doesn’t really do that anymore though, moved past it. Pain is basic, fucking with your mind is way worse. But Mituna is… he’s exiled. Locked off on his own, got eternity to think about how he fucked up. Sometimes we can sneak off and see him. It could be a lot worse for him I guess.” Sollux’s voice goes soft near the end of that._

_He goes to take another swig from his nearly empty bottle of tequila but you catch his wrist._

_“Listen, you’re going to feel really terrible when this wears off, so how about you stop drinking now. We’ll get you somewhere else and you can sleep this off. We can talk next time I find you. I think my friend actually booked me a room for you, I thought this second address sounded like a hotel or something, I thought I just might lose track of you or you’d run off. Come on.” you urge him._

_Sollux stares at you and then hurriedly downs the rest of the tequila before you can stop him._

_“Hey! No!” you yelp but the bottle is gone now. With a sigh you push him out of the booth with your foot, making him fall on the floor with a thump._

_“You’re a disaster, I’m taking you away to sleep this off.” you inform him, you’re not asking anymore._

_“No. Shu’p.” Sollux slurs._

_“Great. You’re even more drunk now.” you groan and shuffle sidelong out of the booth._

_“Drunker-er.” Sollux corrects you, incorrectly._

_You lean down and pick him up, throwing him over your shoulder. Sollux makes a noise that’s equal parts alarm and indignation._

_“You are really light. Alright, we’re going to go outside, hide from view of the humans and I’m going to fly us to where we need to go. I don’t trust you to fly or teleport in this state so I’m doing all the work, got it?” you say as you walk to the door. Sollux stays silent so you guess that he’s sulking. Whatever, you can deal with that._

_You carefully peek outside of the bar, there’s not many people about. You focus hard and manage to make yourself invisible, unfortunately you can’t do the same for your demon friend here but you can put up a very strong field of ‘don’t look here’ that ought to do in a pinch. With that done you scurry out of the bar and around the back to where the dumpster for the glass recycling is as well as the general dumpster for trash. It doesn’t smell great but at least you’re out of the way._

_There’s no way you can carry Sollux like this and fly so you set him down on his feet, he sways but when you’re sure he’s going to stay up you let go of his legs and waist and straighten back up again._

_“WHERE DID YOU GET THAT?!” you yell and immediately slap your hand over your mouth. Sollux has a huge bottle of vodka in his hand that’s almost completely empty and you now have your suspicions as to why he was quiet earlier. He wasn’t sulking, he was drinking._

_Sollux points and laughs at your volume mishap so you snatch the vodka from his hand and toss it into the recycling. The shitfaced demon makes a noise of protest but you’re not hearing it anymore. You grab him close and shake your wings out, taking to the sky before he can do anything else dumb._

_Sollux is making vague protests about how he wants to go back to the bar and he’s not that drunk really. It’s massively unconvincing and entirely ignored. You also ignore his attempts to distract or possibly annoy you by grabbing your ass and pretending to flirt with you, that will also not distract you. You do move his hand though._

_You were right, the address you have on your second slip of paper is for a hotel. Meddling with the minds of mortals is not something you like doing at all but you legitimately can’t explain this away so you convince the lady at the desk that you’re alone, despite the demon in your arms. She hands you the room key with a glazed expression and with a snap of your fingers you break the CCTV. The elevator ride to the room is fine, despite Sollux elbowing you in the ear in his attempts to get away. It’s tricky to open the door with the key card and not put Sollux down but you manage it eventually and step inside._

_“Stay there.” you order Sollux as you drop him on the double bed._

_He groans and holds his head between his hands. You open the mini bar and pull out a bottle of water and as a precaution you reverse the miracle Signless taught you once and turn all the wine in there into water, the tiny bottles of spirits you just pocket. There’s some overpriced crackers in there too so you snag those as well._

_“So, fun alcohol lesson, you’re feeling pretty good right now aren’t you?” you ask and make your way over to the bed._

_“Now you’re not THROWIN’ me around, yeah.” he complains and scrunches his eyes shut. He opens them again and looks at you for a moment before smiling slowly._

_“...What?” you ask warily._

_“I could feel *better*.” he says in a tone that tells you JUST what he means._

_“I’m ignoring that, you’re very drunk. Listen, people from our planes metabolise alcohol very fast, that’s why your sobriety kept fading unless you drank enough to kill a human regularly. You’re going to start sobering up soon and you’re going to discover what a hangover is.” you explain._

_“Wha’s that?” Sollux asks with a frown._

_“Hmm. Yeah, take these, I’m going to get you something in case you throw up.” you say with a sigh and hand Sollux the water and crackers._

_“Or OR you could come over here. It’s not flush or anything, I have a GIRLFRIEND you know, she’s my matesprit.” Sollux shouts after you as you go into the bathroom._

_“My condolences to her.” you mutter. You snag the small bin in the bathroom and return to Sollux, dropping it at the side of the bed by him._

_“It could be fun, you’re hot. Despite the whole angel thing.” Sollux adds._

_“I have no idea how you got a girlfriend.” you say and walk off. You stick the ‘do not disturb’ sign on the door and close it again._

_“Hey, fuck you!” Sollux shouts after you._

_“Also no. Do they not have alcohol in hell or something? We don’t have it in heaven but we’re taught how to drink it on Earth in case we need to blend in. Does the fire burn it off or something down there?” you ask him and sit down on the armchair at a safe distance from him._

_“Of course we have it. The fuck? It’s HELL.” Sollux scoffs and tries to open the crackers with his teeth._

_“But you’ve never been drunk before? What’d they do down there? Card you or something?” you laugh._

_Sollux flips you off and spits the wrapper to the crackers out of his mouth._

_“NO. Just… didn’t want to. Makes you all weak an’ shit. Might as well ASK to be stabbed.” he sneers at you._

_It made him too vulnerable, but he’s so upset and alone right now that he threw that caution to the wind for a chance to forget his sadness. Oh… now your heart just hurts for him again._

_“Speaking of stabbing…” Sollux starts slowly._

_“If this is leading to innuendo the answer is still no.” you cut him off and from the pout you’re pretty sure it was._

_You lean back in your chair and cross your legs at the ankle, you hope you're making it pretty plain that you’re staying put but you’re not going to give in to his requests._

_“Why’re you here?” Sollux asks and flops onto his side on the bed, the crackers forgotten._

_“At the hotel?” you ask._

_“No! Stalking us.” he says sharply._

_“I object to the word stalking here. But I’ve been tracking the two of you down for a chance to talk to you.” you explain._

_“I keep stabbing you, why’d you think we wanna talk?” Sollux asks skeptically._

_“Because I hope that if I can just talk to you both then maybe things can be better, I just want to help.” you tell him._

_“So talk.” he shrugs._

_“You’re drunk. I want to ask questions as well as talk and it’s not fair to do that when you’re not operating properly. I’d rather deal with you when you’re all there, even if it means that you might try to stab me again. I have a little more respect for you than just treating you like something to get information from when it suits me, you know? You’re a person, even if you are deeply frustrating.” you tell him._

_Sollux is on his side, his face half smushed into the pillow so much that you can only see two of his eyes. He blinks slowly at you, his body is probably processing the alcohol and putting him to sleep to speed the process up._

_“You wouldn’t make it in hell.” he tells you quietly._

_“I’m used to not making it.” you say before you can think better of it._

_“You a bad angel?” he asks sleepily._

_“That’s what I’m told.” you admit unhappily._

_“...Good.” Sollux murmurs. You watch the moment he drifts off to sleep and stay put guarding him. You don’t know how long it’ll be until his maker tracks him down or summons him but you’re not willing to leave him alone if you can help it. With that said, you’re also aware that your own maker may drag you away at any moment. You use your time to set up an alarm in the room so if anyone new comes in it’ll make a noise loud enough to wake Sollux up, you also lock the door and draw the curtains. You leave Sollux a note explaining that you had to leave but that you’ve put precautions in place for him, you also leave instructions to drink water and eat the crackers you got out for him because that hangover won’t be fun._

_Because it’s wildly inconvenient for you, Kankri does indeed call you back and you’re glad that you had the forethought to do all of that work. Not that Kankri needed you for anything actually important, just for running messages and then to lecture you on his latest thoughts on something or another. You pay literally zero attention, you’re too busy hoping that next time you find Sollux he might not stab you._

You roll onto your back in your dark room and fumble for your phone.

carcinoGeneticist [CG] began trolling  twinArmageddons [TA]  
  
CG: I JUST HAD A DREAM ABOUT YOU

You hear the displacement of the air and the sudden weight on your bed.

“Did you, now?” Sollux says and you can hear the grin in his tone of voice even if it’s too dark to see him. With a grunt of effort you reach out and turn your lamp on, blinking in the light.

“I meant a dream memory thing, I wasn’t trying to convince you to get in bed with me.” you tell him.

“But you weren’t _not_ trying to, right?” he asks teasingly.

“Yeah, sure. We were in a hotel together in my memory.” you say and Sollux’s grin gets wider and a little more salacious.

“You were very drunk, I’d dragged you there from a bar.” you add and Sollux’s face freezes in a rictus of horror.

“Nooooo! That’s not- you forget EVERYTHING about us and then only get little snippets of things back and the thing you remember is that time I was a sobbing pathetic mess in a bar, too new to drinking to know how to undo it and so you had to get me somewhere safe? THAT’S what you remember?!” Sollux cries out in obvious despair and throws himself face down on the bed next to you. Well, partly on you as well because your bed isn’t magically larger like he’s made Dave’s.

“It’s the first time you told me your name though, wasn’t it? I’m pretty happy I remembered it.” you tell him quietly.

“It’s also the time I tried to stab you with a jacket and after you left I threw up so hard that I passed out again immediately.” Sollux grumbles into the pillow.

“But you talked to me.” you point out and slide your hand up the back of his shirt and run your fingers down his spine until it splits into tails. He shivers a little and his tails wrap around your arm like an overly attached pair of snakes.

“And you grabbed my ass.” you add.

“It wasn’t a total disaster I guess.” Sollux admits grudgingly.

“Did you stab me the next time we met?” you ask him.

“Only a little.” Sollux sighs and turns his head a little more to look at you instead of pressing his face into the pillow to hide his embarrassment.

“A little?” you repeat.

“Your body is pretty hard to destroy but getting you in the right place will do it. I know your place, worked it out really early on and I can hit it every time now. I’ve had enough practice.” Sollux says quietly.

“My heart.” you say. You know it’s true, it’s what Kankri gave you. Part of you wonders what he was like before he did that, although he must have been more like you because all that makes you who you are was in him then.

“Yeah. Just one stab at the right angle there and…” Sollux tells you and his fingertips brush your chest right over your heart.

“But the next time I wanted to hear what you had to say. So I only stabbed you a little elsewhere, just so you didn’t think I was too friendly or anything.” Sollux says with a careless little shrug as if he doesn’t consider what you think about him. It’s complete bullshit of course, he cares a lot.

“I’m pretty pleased you gave me a chance.” you tell him quietly and kiss the bridge of his nose.

You shift on your side in bed and look at him a little better, your head propped up on your hand. He looks tired and still kind of stressed despite his current humorous attitude.

“What were you doing before this?” you ask quietly.

“I was just going to try to talk to people on my phone, I’m trying to solve a problem. Dave’s sleeping so…” Sollux yawns.

“Looks like you need to sleep.” you point out.

“Can’t be asleep when he is. I could but… feels wrong if I’m here.” he mumbles.

“We could both go up there then I could watch over you both and you could sleep. You look like you need to sleep.” you suggest.

“Wow. Rude. Go fuck yourself.” Sollux says but it’s without much venom, more because he has to say something rude back instead of actually meaning it. You think he’s also too tired to be actually cutting.

“That’s why I have you. But I want you to sleep with me more literally, not so euphemistically.” you tell him.

Sollux kind of narrows his eyes at you a little and this… this feeling kind of wells up in your chest. An exasperated fondness, a consuming sort of feeling.

“I’m in love with you, aren’t I?” you whisper in awe.

“Huh.” Sollux says slowly and gives you a thoughtful look.

“Not the ideal response there, man.” you tell him a little sharply and he flashes you a mean little smile that you kind of want to bite.

“You used to call it that before. Said you hated me and loved me. I get why. I don’t really do hate like most demons do, pain and torture are too close to home for me so anything that flirts with that is a no. But I do hate you, it is hate, it’s just hate with a lot of lame boundaries that I shouldn’t have and-” Sollux starts to rant so you cut him off.

“Shut your face, you don’t have to do things that make you feel shit and I don’t want to do that to you. I don’t think I’d be good at the quote unquote real hate thing anyway.” you say over whatever dumb thing he was getting to.

“So it’s hate but it’s not and it’s love but it’s not. It’s whatever. Both, neither.” Sollux shrugs.

You consider that for a moment and look him over, the sharp angles that make him up and everything about him that gets your heart fluttering.

“I’m sorry I lost my memories, that you have to wait for me to realise all of this again.” you apologise.

“It sucked at first but when we worked it all out between the three of us it’s been good. It’s just new time with you. It’s kind of shitty that you don’t remember some things but you are getting some memories back and it’s… kind of… cool or whatever. Watching someone fall for you or… again.” Sollux trails off so quietly at that last part that you don’t really catch all of it but you get the gist.

“I should have guessed you’d like someone falling for you twice, huh?” you tease him and Sollux responds very maturely by trying to bite you.

You wrap your arms around him and then reach up with your hands so you can hook your fingers around his longer set of horns to stop him biting you. It does not stop him trying though.

“As much as I enjoy you trying to bite out my jugular, you fucking feral man, how about we go up to your dorm and you and Dave can both sleep and I can keep watch for whatever. Then you can try to bite me later at your own convenience when you’re rested.” you suggest.

“Fine, I will. And you won’t even see it coming.” Sollux threatens you, his words coming out in a hiss.

There’s a pop and you’re aware that you’re somewhere else. You feel another figure flail in the darkness and Sollux takes his hands off of you to reach over that way.

“Just me. And… Karkat too. Go back to sleep.” Sollux whispers to Dave.

“Wait… wha?” Dave mumbles but Sollux just shushes him and Dave settles back down to sleep easily, he’s probably not really awake right now either.

You’re on the edge of the bed but not so much that you’re in danger of falling onto the floor. Sollux is in the middle and Dave is snuggled between Sollux’s back and the wall. It’s less seeing who’s the little spoon here and more admitting that this whole situation is more of an entire cutlery set.

Predictably Sollux is out like a light, he was obviously really tired and if you staying awake means he gets a good night's sleep then you’re happy to do it. It does give you a lot of time with your own thoughts though. Even if you don’t remember the details you get the feeling that Eridan really was your friend before, probably your only friend up there and more than likely that went both ways. It wasn’t as if his maker was a stellar person and the whole culture up there seems less than ideal. After the Event you went missing on the guy for years. No matter how weird things went between the two of you it sucks that he was alone for that time, that he had to deal with his shitheel maker who was most likely taking the disappearance of his moirail badly too.

He didn’t deserve to die the way that he did.

Fuck, but then you and he both deserved better than to have to live around your makers. It’s pretty clear that you need to give up the idea of fairness even being a thing. If you want things to be fair then you obviously have to go out and make it happen. Like right now, Sollux needed to sleep because he’s tired from trying to fix things and it’s unfair that he couldn’t sleep. You changed things and now he can sleep. You can’t bring Eridan back but maybe you can try to live a good life and not get killed, he’d probably have been in favour of that at least, right?

And what about Signless? Is he still up there? He’s the son of God, which makes him at least a demigod if not a God himself. Actually you’re pretty sure he was all God and all human at the same time, wasn’t that the whole point? So you really hope he’s not in the deity prison right now, not after spending thousands of years in a prison in heaven. If he is free now you wonder if he’s watching you. Would he be happy for you? Maybe… proud of you? You’re pretty sure that he was the only positive role model in your life, so it’d be nice if he approved of you.

And Kanaya! Your friend is afflicted by this weird delusion that you have a roommate that no one but her remembers and you can’t help but feel awful for her. Obviously she’s trained more than you are when it comes to dangerous books so if something’s got into her head to do this to her then she can handle it but you wish there was some way you could help somehow.

Actually… she doesn’t sleep, right? Maybe you could message her. You have to type one handed because Sollux is sleeping on your other arm but it’s okay.

carcinoGeneticist [CG] began trolling  grimAuxillatrix [GA]  
  
CG: HI KANAYA, HOW'RE YOU DOING? I'M SORRY ABOUT THE HUGE MESS THE OTHER DAY BUT I WANTED TO SEE HOW YOU WERE.   
CG: I'M GUESSING THAT SOME BOOK GOT INTO YOUR HEAD?  
GA: Oh Hello Karkat  
GA: That Isnt What Happened But I Am Fine Now And I Expect That I Should Be Back In The Morning In Fact  
CG: OH, THAT'S GREAT!  
GA: Actually Would We Be Able To Meet In The Morning  
CG: TOMORROW MORNING? SURE.   
GA: At Your Dorm At Say Ten  
CG: YEAH, I CAN DO THAT.   
GA: Excellent  
GA: Perhaps Invite Dave As Well  
CG: UH... OKAY? KIND OF AN ODD REQUEST.  
GA: You Will See  
CG: OMINOUS.  
GA: Indeed But I Must Go Now  
GA: I Shall See You Then  
CG: ALRIGHT, SEE YOU THEN. I'LL CHECK WITH DAVE IN THE MORNING IF HE'S DOING ANYTHING. HE'S PROBABLY NOT BUT YOU KNOW, I SHOULD ASK. HE'S CURRENTLY TOO ASLEEP FOR ME TO ASK HIM.  
GA: Karkat  
GA: Are You In Bed With Dave Right Now  
CG: UH.  
CG: OH NO I'M SUDDENLY LOSING SIGNAL!  
  
carcinoGeneticist [CG] ceased trolling  grimAuxillatrix [GA]

Sollux makes a sleepy noise in his throat and as you lower your phone he settles back into sleep. You’re very careful to stay awake but you let your mind drift all the same. You wonder if you don’t technically need sleep, if you don’t need food either. You can only assume that you didn’t when you were locked away by Kankri but maybe in heaven your body is less real than it is on Earth. You feel like a trash fire when you go without sleep too long normally but is that just because that’s what you know happens to humans and your body is trying to act human?

All the same your mind drifts as you stay awake and you’re aware of the shifting pattern of dawn light on the ceiling as the sun slowly rises, sluggish as it traverses the winter sky. You wonder if you have this kind of patience, the ability to zone out because you’ve done it before. You watch as a shaft of light move over Sollux’s horns, over his hair and down his forehead. When it slides over his closed smaller set of eyes you get to see it as he slowly wakes up. His eyes crinkle and he sleepily opens them enough to squint at you against the dim light.

“What’s the time?” he yawns and rubs his face against your arm. You think he’s probably trying to get sleep gunk out of his eyes or something gross knowing him.

“Uh… eight thirty.” you tell him, checking your phone.

“Ugh. I should go.” Sollux says and promptly doesn’t move. You know, like every time you tell yourself you’re going to get up and get ready in the mornings.

“Kanaya wants to see me and Dave at ten. Do you want to come with?” you ask.

“And have her rant about someone she imagined again? Nah. I have actually important shit to do.” Sollux tells you.

He pushes himself up on his hands and knees, ducking under Dave’s arm as it slides off of him. Dave makes a quiet but devastated noise and lifts his head to look up at Sollux with an expression of confused devastation. You can still see the lines from the fabric of the pillowcase on his cheek.

“I’m ok, just have to go. Go back to sleep, Karkat’s here.” Sollux tells him softly and leans in so their foreheads bump together. Dave reaches up and clumsily pets Sollux’s hair for a moment, making Sollux’s tails flicker happily. They stay that way for a few seconds and then Sollux pulls away and vanishes in a puff of coloured smoke and a haze of apple.

“Hey.” you say softly to Dave.

He’s still clearly not that awake because Dave turns his head to look at you and after a moment of slow thinking he reaches out, curls his arm around you, and pulls you bodily over to him. He buries his face in your shirt at the shoulder and immediately drops back into sleep. You let him doze, at least until nine thirty because you do need the both of you to be up to see Kanaya.

“Do you think she’s fixed whatever messed her head up?” Dave asks just before ten as the two of you head down the stairs to your dorm.

“I hope so, it’s scary to think how your mind can just be altered like that.” you say with a shudder.

“Yeah, ugh.” Dave says with a grimace.

A lot of things scare you as a person, but given that you’re someone who lost almost all of your memories in The Event and is only just getting some back now you’re well aware of how what you know can BE who you are. Finally getting answers and understanding more about yourself has helped you feel whole again. The idea that something magical can just screw with that without you knowing is horrifying. Kanaya was convinced that you had a roommate and nothing you said would sway her from that, she didn’t know there was a problem. That’s scary.

The two of you come out onto your floor and you spot Kanaya waiting alone outside your door.

“Hey, Kan. You haven’t been waiting long, have you? I thought we were pretty much on time.” you say as you walk closer.

“Oh, no. I was just early.” Kanaya tells you.

Behind you Dave stumbles and catches himself, his hand clenching in the back of your shirt to stop him falling. You turn and look around as he straightens up and lets you go.

“Did you just trip over your own feet?” you ask him incredulously.

“Psh, no. That’d be lame. I was just… feeling up the back of your shirt.” Dave lies. Badly.

You cast a glance at Kanaya who just raises one eyebrow in silent judgement and disbelief. You open your door and let the three of you inside. Kanaya politely invites Dave in before her, you wonder if it’s just so she can watch if he trips up again.

“Karkat, do you still have that box? The one you found buried in Winter?” Kanaya asks you.

“Yeah, sure I do. Why?” you ask, slipping your keys back into your keyring.

“Can I see it again, please? And could you take everything else out of it?” she asks.

You and Dave look at each other dubiously, Kanaya doesn’t seem any less weird than last time but you’ll go with this for now. You remove the box from your bag and walk around your sofa to put it on the coffee table. The box goes in the middle of the table and then you just need to lever the top open with a fingernail, which, incidentally if you find out who had the bright idea to not give this thing a handle you’re going to kick them.

You take the belt out and set it on the table next to the now totally empty box and gesture for Kanaya to do… whatever it was she wanted this for.

“Just put it inside and close the lid.” Kanaya says.

“But you just told me to open the box and take the belt out.” you frown.

“No, not you, Karkat.” Kanaya says with a shake of her head.

What? It’s just you, Dave and her. Who else could she mean?

“Kanaya, I don’t-” you try.

“Close it, it cuts the spell off.” Kanaya says over you.

“What?” you ask again.

“So I guess you didn’t see someone about whatever is going on?” Dave guesses.

At your side the box snaps shut all by itself. You turn around and-

_ROSE_

Rose is knelt there. Your friend! Your roommate! You- you forgot her!

“Rose!” you yelp.

“Hhhhholy shit I… forgot you?” Dave gasps.

“You can see me again!” Rose exclaims in obvious relief. She leaps to her feet and drags you in for a hug.

“I forgot about you! I left you in another country!” you say in utter horror.

“Fuck that, she’s my twin and I straight up lost that from my brain. What the fuck?!” Dave demands and grabs Rose in for a hug the moment she’s out of your arms.

“It’s the blanket in here. Sit down and I’ll explain everything.” Kanaya urges you.

You and Rose sit on the sofa with Dave sitting on the arm of it at Rose’s side. Kanaya takes the armchair and pulls the box into her lap. She opens it once more, making Rose wince and look around as if to check that you and Dave can still see her. You give her hand a reassuring squeeze.

Kanaya pulls out a blanket, it’s purple and black and stitched very finely with tiny intricate little patterns in it. The blanket isn’t especially big, you couldn’t sleep under it. It’s about as wide as a pillowcase and since it’s a square it’s just as long too.

“I have been around for a very long time and not all of history has been great. Magic and witches have also existed forever and practices were secret and driven by necessity a lot of the time. This blanket is a special type of blanket. It’s for a baby. You wrap a newborn in it and they become hidden. Mostly this is a variety of don’t-look-here type spell. If soldiers are coming around killing all the babies in a given group this gives your child a good chance of surviving. If you’re fleeing somewhere and your baby is too young to understand the need for quiet this means it can cry and make noise without giving your position away. This is an object made for a dangerous situation. I have made too many to count over my life.” Kanaya explains grimly. Your heart hurts at the idea but more so that you know she’s right, that there has been a need for such things and even now there probably still is somewhere.

“This blanket, however, is more powerful than any other that’s been made. It erases you from all existence. Photographs or other physical proof of you will either appear altered to other people or they’ll explain them away. Even once you’ve taken the blanket off, until it’s been put away the spell works and you can stand in front of someone and kick their leg out from under them and they won’t see you. Hypothetically speaking.” Kanaya shoots a look at Rose at that last part.

“You tripped me?” Dave asks, looking at his sister.

“I wanted to see if you could see me.” Rose tells him defensively.

“That’s seriously powerful magic. How does that even work?” you ask.

“Because it’s very specific. This blanket only works on Rose, that’s why I can hold it. It is specific only to her, her blood is woven into the fabric, as is that of the only two people who can see her when the spell is working. Her mother and the person who made this blanket, me.” Kanaya says.

“You made this?” Dave asks in surprise.

“I have no memory of doing so, I assure you. But I know my own craft, and based on the power imbued in this blanket I can only assume I made this collaboratively with your mother, it’s also the only reason I would be exempt from the spell. The blanket is tied to the box, the box breaks the spell. It only works in certain circumstances and only on one person makes this a very fine tuned spell but an exceedingly powerful one at that. Moreover it’s especially targeted to be effective on deities and those who come from their planes, so an angel would have no chance at resisting it.” Kanaya explains.

“I still left you in another country, I stranded you there.” you say guiltily, looking over at Rose.

“It really wasn’t your fault.” Rose assures you.

“Okay, I have no idea why Mom would have you make that. We weren’t in any danger, but whatever, she’s a paranoid person. It’s not her fault. My question is why did Rose hide that box in Winter and where’s mine?” Dave asks.

“There was no other blanket in there and my note to Kanaya made no mention of any second blanket. I clearly meant for me to find this now but this raises all sorts of questions about time and-” Rose starts.

“No, that doesn’t make sense. If Mom made some magic ass blanket to hide you from everyone then I buy that, that’s a Mom thing to do. Can’t let people at the hospital know that you exist because ‘insert paranoia here’. Fine. But if there’s only that one then Mom was hiding you because she was convinced you’d die or something but thinking ‘eh fuck this one, I have another’.” Dave insists and gets to his feet, gesturing wildly as he talks.

“I’m sorry that I just disappeared from existence for almost a week without knowing why and I didn’t put more time into thinking about how this related to you.” Rose says sharply.

“Alright, hey. We don’t know what your mom was thinking. Maybe she was convinced that someone was coming to steal her daughter and if they saw she only had a son then they’d leave, but if they saw she had no babies they’d look harder. You said it yourself your mom can have irrational patterns of thought, we don’t know what it was but there’s no way she didn’t give a shit about you.” you assure him.

“I tried getting Kanaya to call Mom for me, I asked about the blanket but she just started panicking and I couldn’t get anything sensible out of her.” Rose says.

“I… I need to ask Sollux about this.” Dave mutters and then all at once Sollux appears, he even looks surprised about it.

You get to watch him look at Rose and suddenly realise that she is real and he’d forgotten her too. He’s horrified of course and listens intently as Dave briefly explains about the blanket.

“Did you know about this?” Dave asks as Sollux peers at the finely made blanket.

“No… it’s incredible though. It makes sense for what happened. I mean- I know about blankets that do this as a thing but I’ve never seen one. I’ve really not seen one like this before. Damn, Roxy.” Sollux whistles.

“Would you be able to find one if you were looking for it? To see if I had one?” Dave asks in a small voice. Sollux’s face takes on a pained ‘oh, no’ sort of expression.

“Why are you so obsessed with there being one for you and where it is? Is that really what we should be talking about here?” Rose demands.

“I wouldn’t be able to find it, sorry. A regular one of these maybe but this is designed to hide from my kind specifically. I’m an extra-planar person who serves a god, I’m lucky I can see this thing right in front of my face. It could be in your Mom’s house and I wouldn’t know unless I could see it right in front of me, same as anyone else.” Sollux tells him.

“I need to go call Mom.” Dave mumbles and leaves.

Sollux’s tails droop as the door shuts and he audibly sighs, his sadness is impossible to miss.

“Why’s he so sure that if there’s only one it’s for a bad reason?” you ask. Dave isn’t typically someone to leap to the worst case scenario as his first option, this isn’t irrational but it’s a really weird starting point.

“I have to go.” Sollux sighs and then just like that he’s gone.

“That was a little strange.” Kanaya observes and Rose shakes her head.

“Wait, if you didn’t remember making this then how did you know what had happened?” you ask Kanaya.

“The paper I took from the belt you showed me had a letter from Rose explaining where she would be and once I found her and saw the blanket I could work the rest out. Don’t… don’t ask how I smuggled her back in the country when no one could see she existed.” Kanaya says, incredibly shifty all of a sudden. Yeah, there’s maybe some questions you just shouldn’t ask lest you become complicit in some kind of crime.

“The real question is how I as an adult buried that box with this in, knowing that I would dig it up when I did. This was absolutely something that happened in the past, so how does that make sense?” Rose asks.

It’s a good question. Just what the fuck is going on here?


	30. Press Start

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mind the updated tags at the top guys!

Everyone is horrified that they forgot Rose, all of your friends are both personally mortified that she slipped from their minds and deeply disturbed that some artifact they never touched still changed them so strongly.

Dave is… not taking it well. What’s more is that he doesn’t seem to be able to articulate why it’s upset him so much. He seems stuck on the idea that only one blanket was made as far as you all know, but you suspect that he could be projecting his guilt at forgetting Rose onto that. You really don’t think that Roxy would care so much more about one of her kids than the other but you also don’t know enough about their home life and how they grew up to lecture him about it. Also, invalidating his feelings like that would be, as the scientific term for it goes ‘a dick move’.

On the subject of dick moves you think you owe Kanaya an apology for dismissing her so out of hand when she was telling you about Rose. Admittedly that kind of magic is well out of your area of qualifications but you probably should have been more supportive and reassuring. Even if she’d been wrong you didn’t need to dismiss her like that. Yeah, you need to apologise. That’s the uncomfortable solution to that problem, but you don’t really know what you should do vis-a-vis the Dave situation. Thankfully there is help available for that.

carcinoGeneticist [CG] began trolling  twinArmageddons [TA]  
  
CG: I KNOW I KEEP BRINGING THIS UP, BUT DAVE SEEMS SO HURT.  
CG: I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO.  
TA: yeah you do keep briingiing iit up  
TA: but ii get what you mean  
CG: I JUST WORRY THAT I'M GOING TO SAY THE WRONG THING.   
CG: I WANT TO TELL HIM THAT OBVIOUSLY HIS MOM LOVES HIM, IT'S SO OBVIOUS WHEN THEY'RE TOGETHER. IT'S NOT AS IF SHE COULDN'T GIVE A SHIT ABOUT HIM AND LOVES ROSE INSTEAD.   
TA: ii know 2he love2 hiim, iit'2 ju2t compliicated ii2 all.  
CG: WELL CAN YOU UNCOMPLICATE IT FOR ME? I DON'T WANT TO HURT HIM.  
TA: iit'2 fiine. ii'm dealiing wiith iit, okay?  
CG: WELL CAN I HELP AT ALL?  
TA: iif you could keep ro2e from gettiing under2tandably pii22ed at dave makiing her goiing mii22iing all about hiim then that'll 2top thiings goiing 2outh.  
CG: THAT'S NOT REALLY FAIR, HE CARES ABOUT ROSE, I KNOW HE FEELS HORRIBLE FOR WHAT HAPPENED.  
TA: ii know that two. we're both fiine, iit'2 the2e two we're managiing here.  
CG: RIGHT, I GUESS SO.   
CG: I'LL TRY TO KEEP ROSE DISTRACTED THEN.   
TA: thank2  
CG: WE MAKE A GOOD TEAM, YOU KNOW.   
TA: blugh don't be 2appy, iit'2 gro22.   
CG: YEAH, YEAH, HATE EVERYTHING YOU SAY TOO. BYE.  
  
carcinoGeneticist [CG] ceased trolling  twinArmageddons [TA]

So, yeah, distraction. You’re not going to get Rose sidetracked on some irrelevant makework, that’d be insulting. Thankfully (?) you have no shortage of mysterious and confusing bullshit to investigate, your new belt is just one place you can start.

“So you say that this is Sollux?” Rose asks, looking at the Two of Swords pouch on the belt.

“Yeah, that’s his card.” you nod.

“Try taking whatever is inside out.” Rose suggests.

A sensible idea. She passes the belt back to you and you untie the Two of Swords pouch and stick your hand in. You think about Sollux, not a challenging ask for you, you do it for free most of the time! It takes no time at all for something to hit your hand. Curiously you pull it out and look at it.

“Wound suture kit.” Rose reads off of the plastic box.

You pop the plastic case open and see curved needles, antiseptic, strong looking thread and a lot of bandages. This isn’t a kit for a minor cut, this is basically surgical. The idea that you might need this at some point is terror inducing.

“That doesn’t make sense for Sollux, though. He heals absurdly fast, or if he doesn’t he dies and comes back almost instantly good as new.” Rose says with a frown.

“Maybe it’s not to use ON him, but something that he’ll need. Maybe someone else will need help and he’ll have to stitch them up.” you suggest.

Actually that thought is morbid as all hell. If this isn’t for Sollux himself then you can guess that it’s going to be for you or one of your friends, he spends most of his time around you guys when he’s not with demons. Demons wouldn’t need that much patching up so… yeah. You try not to think of it.

“Perhaps. I’m sure Sollux knows enough about human anatomy to patch someone up, he knows that blood should be on the inside at least.” Rose laughs, but it’s a little grim.

“Still, I don’t like the idea that someone will need this.” you say, understatement of the year.

Rose’s fingers linger on the compartment that holds needles in sterile packages. Her expression seems far away and thoughtful.

“I had this dream where Sollux was a doll with a rip in him.” Rose says slowly.

“That could have represented finding this suture kit or him needing it, except we’ve already said that he’d be repairing someone else. I also keep coming back to the horrible idea that we’re someone else.” you say unhappily.

“Everyone is someone else, that’s how personhood works. I’m not sure that’s the right interpretation of the dream though, it was really unsettling. I passed it off as a nightmare before but it’s stuck with me.” she says and shudders.

Well, there’s no call for this kit now so you store it back in the pouch. You have a look around the rest of the belt, a lot of these cards don’t associate to anything for you. But some do.

“This is Dave.” you say and reach into the one for the Knight of Swords.

Putting your hand in you think of Dave, of who he is as a person and the connections he has. The way he’s so sweet with Sollux, how he’s always got Rose’s back, how kind he is to his friends and how much you like him. You hold that all in your head and rummage in the pouch for a moment and pull out something plastic and rectangular, tapes. When you peer at the label your eyes narrow.

“These are the tapes from your mom’s interviews with demons, if these are taken from the library I’m going to scream.” you hiss and peer at them closer.

“That’s Mom’s handwriting on them, it’s entirely possible that those are the original tapes and not copies made for the library.” Rose points out.

“Except we do have copies of these exact ones in the library, I’ve watched them. Why would Dave need his own copies?” you ask but Rose just shrugs.

This shit makes no sense. You try the pouch marked with the Death card and with a thought of Aradia you get a huge fist sized diamond. It’s impressive but you have no idea why you have it.

“Is there one on here for Kanaya?” Rose asks as she looks along the belt.

“I don’t have a card in mind for her but I can look at the ones we have left and try to work it out.” you agree.

You have a few pouches left.

Firstly, you have The Fool. That one is about new beginnings and free spiritedness. Not really a Kanaya vibe. Not that she’s the opposite of that but it’s not screaming her name at you.

Second, you have the Ace of Wands. It depicts a tower reaching into the sky and you have to check your phone to get the meaning, damned minor arcana. Creation, will power, desire. That one Kanaya asked you about before and you felt it had a Jade feel to it. Given the tower on her island you can see how it visually works too.

Third you have The Devil. You know you’re meant to have the feeling for it that you have for the Death card, that it’s not supposed to be all bad and that the name is a bit of a misnomer. But that isn’t the feeling you have at all. It’s a card all about addiction, materialistic behaviour and playfulness. That last part ought to make you feel like it’s not all bad but it puts you more in mind of how when cats catch and torture mice, people refer to that as ‘playing’. Not Kanaya.

The fourth is Strength. You look at the woman on the card, her hand resting on a lion. Strength as a card is about inner strength more than just outer strength, it’s a strength in compassion and care, in the way you can focus yourself on something and push through fear. That… that does feel like Kanaya. She’s strong and caring, smart and really driven.

You open the pouch that’s marked for Strength and think of Kanaya as you put your hand inside it. Immediately something small flies into your palm. Taking your hand out you see that it’s a flash drive with clear purple plastic surrounding the chip inside.

“We have to see what’s on it.” Rose says and gets up without even letting you suggest that maybe you should give this to Kanaya if it’s meant to be for her. Evidently you’re going to go and look at whatever is on this right the hell now.

There’s no point in arguing so you follow Rose into her room and hand the flash drive over to her as she opens her laptop on her desk. Rose plugs it in and opens the drive on the screen. There’s only one thing on it, a video file. Rose plays it before you can say or do anything about it.

Her media player of choice opens up and you’re confronted with a Rose who looks just like she did in the dreams that led you to Winter in the first place.

“For the sake of brevity I’m going to say that I know that if you’re watching this then you have already got the box and belt from Winter, you’ve already fallen from existence and come back. I need to tell you some things but I have a disclaimer first.” Rose on the screen says.

“I have seen all the ways that this can play out, the more favourable futures and the less favourable. I have done what I can to stack the deck in a favourable future, hence the belt with items that will be required. But that being said I am also aware that if I tell you some things that I know you want to know I will shift the timeline into one where things go very badly. You know how this works, so let it be known that I’m not being vague for my own edification here, I’m telling you all that I can.” she explains. With that said the Rose on screen takes a grounding breath and continues.

“I am you. I’m Rose Lalonde and from my point of view I am recording this just before I put this memory stick into the pouch for a woman I have not yet met and I will then go bury it in a box with Karkat at my side to anchor the memory.” she says.

“But she looks like she’s my age, that doesn’t make sense.” Rose whispers.

“This whole thing is one big game of chess, not started by us and I don’t truly know if I would have agreed to it but I was never given the choice. Regardless we have our parts to play and I intend to win said game. At the point in time you’re at to be watching this you’ve already lost a lot of pieces, there is very little left holding back what’s going to happen.” she goes on.

“Does she mean the shards?” you wonder.

“Until everything falls apart you’re something of an inert player. I know you don’t like that and your first instinct will be to find out how all of this works so you can rip it apart at the seams. You will likely look at the people around you and doubt their motivations, their loyalty, their intentions. Almost everyone has their own agendas here, though some don’t realise it just yet. I will say that the one person you can trust is Karkat.” Rose insists, seeming to look out through the screen to you.

“Karkat is the single most reliable person you have. Regardless of what happens he will still follow you, still help you and he won’t conspire against you. I’m not saying that because he’s an angel, far from it. I’m telling you this because he is Karkat and it is vitally important that you hold him in your mind as someone who will do what you need if you ask. That thought is especially important, I need you to focus on it when everything seems lost.” she says emphatically.

Rose sits back in her chair on screen and sighs. She seems frustrated and tired.

“I know there’s questions. Good ones too, you’re wondering how I can be me and talk to you despite you being able to work out roughly when this must be. But I can’t give you answers, so you’ll just have to keep asking questions until you work it out yourself. Just… trust Karkat and stay in the sunlight when you can.” she finishes and then without saying goodbye she reaches forward to the camera and the video cuts.

“What the fuck?” you whisper.

“Nothing makes sense, time doesn’t make sense. I don’t understand.” Rose hisses.

“Well, you heard what she said, keep asking questions.” you suggest.

“Yeah, ask questions and you’re the only person I can trust.” Rose agrees.

“That’s not exactly what she said but… sure?” you concede. This likely isn’t going to do much for her paranoia about your friends but at least she’s not shutting you out, that’s something. Still, that was really high praise and complete faith from the Rose in the video. You don’t know what you’ve done to warrant that but you guess you’re pleased about it.

“Maybe it’s some kind of time travel, or an alternate past? A time spell? Or maybe I’m not human, but- no… I passed that test with the cube changing colour. Unless there are other tests that could work with that.” Rose mumbles to herself.

“We could go check things out in the library, I have work in an hour anyway.” you suggest.

“Yes, let’s go.” Rose agrees readily.

The two of you leave your dorm room with you grabbing a pop tart on the way out because you’ve not eaten yet today and you’ll be working soon and won’t have time to stop for anything substantial. Not that a pop tart is substantial but it’s probably better than nothing, right? As you step outside and wait for Rose to lock up you spot Terezi walking towards you.

“Terezi, hey.” you greet her. What a nice surprise to see your dragon friend.

She saunters over to you and then slaps your uneaten but opened foil packet of pop tarts out of your hand where they break in half on the floor.

“What the fuck?! What gives?” you demand.

“You’ll thank me later. Well, you won’t, but everyone else will. Later.” Terezi says brightly and walks off.

“That was… rude. Do you want to go back and get another or…?” Rose offers.

“It was the last one in the pack. Let’s just go.” you grumble and pick up your broken pop tarts. She managed to get both from the foil pack all over the gross hallway floor. You toss them in the trash as you leave the building and resign yourself to a hungry shift at the library. But first, you’ll help Rose.

You really don’t know where to start looking in the library for this but eventually you settle on spells about aging and try to work out if perhaps Rose is older than she thinks she is. You suppose that the same must go for Dave seeing as they’re twins, but he doesn’t know anything about it either. Ordinarily you’d think about asking Sollux but you highly doubt he could tell you anything, if he could then he already would have. Which suggests that either his maker has sworn him to secrecy or whatever happened is something tied to the Event. Or maybe it’s not an aging spell of any kind at all and you’re entirely off base, who knows? Not you!

Rose is still researching when you have to go do actual work. If it happens that you return a lot of books to her general area then there’s nothing you can do about that. It’s all… coincidence. No one can prove anything. When you pass a section with books on determining species via magical means and the obstacles to that you just have to stop and read. If Rose isn’t human or isn’t fully human then she could be dealing with the same age appearance thing that you had. Also, you had to go through being physically thirteen and continue aging and you need to find who you can complain to about that.

“Karkat-” Ms. Paint says behind you. You scramble and reshelve the book, spinning around to face her in a panic.

“I was, uh, working. I was just checking that the book still… worked?” you try. This is what you get for not having a lie in mind at the start of the sentence and just winging it as you go along. This is the dumb shit you end up saying when you do that.

“I’m so glad you check that the books still work.” Ms. Paint says, her voice perfectly neutral and you can’t tell if she’s being sincere or not.

“Sorry. Did you need me for something?” you ask guiltily.

“Yes, actually. I was hoping that you would feed the dangerous books on your own today. Don’t worry, I’ll be watching from a distance through the cameras, I just want to be sure that they behave with you without me being nearby.” Ms. Paint explains.

“Really?” you gasp. This is a huge step!

“If you’re willing to.” she nods.

“Yes! Absolutely!” you agree eagerly.

Ms. Paint gives you a sweet smile and leads you off. She watches as you prepare food for the books, you’ve done this part for Kanaya before so you know what you’re doing there. Your knowledge seems to impress Ms. Paint and you have to make yourself calm down in the elevator ride down to the dangerous books section. The books could interpret excitement as fear and that’s more likely to make them attack.

Even as you try to stay calm there are butterflies in your stomach as you unlock the cages to the books. You hold everything you’ve learned in mind. You need to be confident but alert, show authority and strength so they’ll respect you. You can do this, you’ve been in here before. You returned that injured book after all, but it’s more that this represents you being trusted to care for these dangerous books.

You reach the final cage and you loiter for a moment in the enclosed walkway outside of it, taking a moment to look the books over. There’s a little movement but not much. You feel very watched and you suspect it’s because you have food in hand. Part of you is tempted to wave the food around to see if you get a reaction but it’s probably smarter to NOT tease the dangerous books. As you go to unlock the cage you manage to bang your elbow on the narrow walkway that protects the rest of the room from this area. With a quiet curse you open the lock and step inside.

The books rustle for you but wait as you unhook the clipboard for the side of the cage. You’ve read up on these books but there’s warnings and things you have notes here to check.

‘Deadly plants and their uses’ by Thompson, the note says to change out the tray underneath it if it’s full. You crouch down to the bottom shelf and see that a black bound book is sat on a narrow tray with a metal grid over it and is slowly dripping something poisonous into the tray below. There’s not much in there though you think you’ll leave it, you make a note to say that.

You feed a few books on psychology and mind magic, making sure to tell each one to behave as you feed it in turn. When each one has eaten you tell it that it’s a good book and move on. Very gingerly you feed an unnamed grimoire, this one has in the past stolen skin from librarians and unfortunate students so you’re careful to toss the chunk of meat at that one.

“Hello again.” you say sweetly to the book on the Inner Eye and it flicks its bookmark at you in greeting. You run a finger along its spine and see that the books on either side of it are due to be fed, hmm. You tap each of them on their spines and fix them with a look.

“If you two behave and stop biting other books you’ll get bigger pieces, okay?” you offer, holding up some larger chunks of meat. The books shudder in place which you’ll take as agreement and they snap up their food eagerly.

Alright, that’s everyone fed, now you just have to do a quick inventory. You flip the sheet over on your clipboard and glance over the books.

And then the lights go out, just for a second but it’s more than a little unnerving. There’s no one else in this room but your blood runs cold anyway.

“Sorry, Karkat, stay put. There’s some problem with the power. The outer cage lock has an automatic fail safe that seals if the power fails, but the cage you’re in is unaffected. I’ll go find out what the problem is.” Ms. Paint’s voice comes out over the speaker.

Don’t show fear around the books, remember?

“Sure thing. I’ll just do the count when you’re gone, they’re already fed and happy.” you say as if you’re not concerned at all. You’re very concerned, but you need to fake calm. You could retreat into the caged hallway but you’d likely lose your authority with the books and not be able to care for them anymore. Just stay cool.

You start checking the books off at the beginning of the alphabet, letting the monotony of the task soothe your nerves. You pause when one book on the shelf is out of place, ‘Extra Planar Space’ should be over the other side. You pick it up and abruptly find yourself on the other side of the cage facing the space that book should have occupied, only you’re looking at a different book, one that should have been where you started. You narrow your eyes at ‘Teleportation: a study of’ and pick that off of the shelf.

“Cut that out.” you tell them both.

You return the teleportation book to where it should have been and then turn around once more to replace the book on planar space where that originally belonged. Crafty little things.

Your eyes fall on another misplaced volume. Or at least it’s misplaced because nothing belongs on the floor. It’s some magazine and it’s slid halfway under the cage, between the dangerous books section and the hallway. Its cover is glossy and garishly coloured with the words ‘GAME BRO’ on the top.

You look up and scan across the empty room and the reading spaces set up for students who have permission to be here. They’re not meant to bring other reading material in so you bet that if someone dropped a magazine and it slid under here that not only could they not get it back but they’d be unlikely to admit such a thing.

“You’re lucky you didn’t get eaten.” you mutter and bend down to pick it up. Your fingers touch the cover and-

  
You are shattered. You always have been, more so the older you get. But you are aware of your parts, the edges of yourself. There isn’t much where you are besides yourself and the other people here who will either BE food or try to make you theirs. They can try.  
  
Needless to say when you feel a little fragment of yourself that you imbued in a repurposed curse flicker to life you know about it. It exists outside of this place and the connection is strong, not enough to force your whole self through but enough for…  
  
CONTROL.  
  
You slide down the connection and sink into the slumped and prone body of your victim, his hand splayed across the Game Bro. Oh, an angel. A throne no less. Silently you approve, a good four out of five hats, will be very useful. You jerk your puppet upright and have his spasming fingers grab the Game Bro. He’s trying to resist. Cute.  
  
Flicking through his mind you pause, taking in the memory of two faces in particular. You dig your fingers in and memories well up.  
  
Dave sat on a blanket on the beach, laughing, talking. He leans in and kisses this whoever he is that you’re puppeting. Another memory wells up as you dig the jagged edges of yourself into this mind. Sollux underneath this guy in his bed, calling out his name.  
  
Karkat. Your puppet’s name is apparently Karkat.  
  
Dark emotions swirl within you, not that anyone would know from the blank expression on your vessel’s face. You compel him to stand, magazine still in hand, and march him through the cage wall. Holy fire can more than melt metal, you know that first hand.  
  
Your puppet stands in the elevator and you examine his face in the reasonably shiny metal of the walls. His eyes are black completely because of you but the rest of his face is boring. You could tear his skin off, that could be slightly more interesting but then what’s the point in doing that if Dave and Sollux don’t get to see it? Make them watch, that’s far better.  
  
As you leave the building a woman calls out to your puppet but you ignore the voice, you have places to be.  
  
It seems that your vessel is so used to going where you want him to that his own autopilot helpfully navigates you there. You linger outside of a door that says Dave and Sollux on it. There are two people inside but neither of them are Sollux. Listen.  
  
“If this is a prank it’s real weird. Just come to my dorm, run a bath and then just sit here weirdly.” Dave says.  
  
“You’ll get it. Also I can’t be here now.” a girl’s voice says.  
  
“Terezi, wait- you can’t just… okay.” Dave trails off and you hear distant screaming outside and feel the fear coming from that way. He’s alone now.  
  
You stand and wait, listening until you hear Dave move from the room he’s in into another. He mutters to himself still. Stupid, it gives him away.  
  
The handle melts with a little fire and you push the door open. You wonder what this angel’s weapon will be but as you summon it you find that it’s one of your katanas. Interesting, in an angelic body you still summon your own angelic weapon. You turn the blade over in your hand for a moment, curiously examining it.  
  
“The whole goddamn bath, like damn.” Dave mutters in the next room.  
  
You walk closer, not silently but not deliberately loudly either. See how his reflexes have changed, dulled no doubt. As you get to the edge of the bathroom Dave perceives you somehow and whips around to stare at you.  
  
“K… Karkat?” he squeaks. He can see the face of your puppet of course but he must be able to tell that it’s you in here.  
  
You lunge for him and he dodges. His summoning spell snaps and Sollux is here again after all, because Dave can’t possibly fight you on his own, can he? Sollux seems thrown but he at least realises who you are and he’s armed with a sword immediately.  
  
“Get out!” Sollux orders Dave and puts himself between you Dave.  
  
With a single swing you shatter his scarlet ribbitar and decapitate him. Dave has his hands pressed to his mouth in silent horror as he backs away from you in the main room. You walk through Sollux’s blood to get to him, grinding it into the carpet with each step.  
  
“Karkat, what- what did you do to Karkat?” Dave asks, breath trembling.  
  
You say nothing and advance closer but you can already hear Sollux reforming behind you. Dave is running out of room to back up into, he has to fight back at some point. There’s a flash of smoke, Sollux presses a sword into Dave’s hands and gives _him_ an order.  
  
“Summon Mituna, right now.” Sollux orders.  
  
“That traitor.” you hiss.  
  
“Like you’re any better.” Sollux retorts and lifts a new sword to defend Dave against you.  
  
You fight him. It’s pretty one sided, he makes a few dumb mistakes that you punish him for but mostly he’s as good as he used to be. You could push more but you’re curious, you could kill Mituna in front of them both, that could be interesting.  
  
Dave summons Mituna who also works out just who you are and also starts to fight back against you. He has his double bladed katars in hand right away which at least is somewhat interesting, if not especially challenging. He doesn’t have the experience in fighting you personally like Sollux does but he’s also been around far longer than him. When Sollux lingers back for a moment you wonder what he’s doing, it’s some kind of spell directed at you but it won’t stick so you don’t get why he’s bothering to try. Magic like that hasn’t worked on you since you’ve been a god, you puppeting this idiot won’t change that.  
  
And then you go to stab him through the face and find that your stolen body freezes just before you can reach him.  
  
“You took away his permission to hurt you.” Mituna whispers in awe.  
  
What? No. That doesn’t make sense. You never agreed to that, no one would agree to someone else having that much control over…  
  
You pull back a little and look over this angel’s stupid physical form and among the other spells and vows on this body there’s a distinct surrender of control to Sollux specifically. What the fuck.  
  
Sollux slams his shoulder into you, then him and Mituna force you against a wall. You’re about to take the chance to unleash something especially magically creative, maybe you’ll melt them from the inside out. But before you can start to speak a word of any spell at all Mituna’s claws pierce your throat. His claws mangle this body’s vocal chords and cut off yet another avenue for attack. That’d kill most creatures but this body doesn’t really NEED blood and it takes more than that to destroy a throne. Even if they are beneath you thrones can survive almost anything.  
  
“Destroy him!” Mituna barks at Sollux who raises his sword.  
  
The blade wavers in his hand, his expression pained. If this body’s vocal chords were still working you might ask if him loving the guy who used to have this body was making this difficult for him. You try to teach people and they don’t listen.  
  
“Sollux!” Mituna yells again.  
  
“Would he even be able to come back? There’s no God and-” Sollux hesitates. You try to claw out Mituna’s eyes but you’re not successful and it must be that attack that forces Sollux’s hand.  
  
Sollux stabs you through the chest. Clean through into the wall behind you.  
  
You look down at the black regisword sticking out of your little puppet. Too bad he missed his heart, and he knew to go for that too, didn’t he? Guess he just didn’t have the backbone to do it. Maybe you should check to see if he has one now.  
  
You make your little puppet walk forward along the blade until he gets to the hilt of the sword. Two more people burst into the room, a possibility given that you melted the door mechanism off and there’s been a lot of screaming. Your eyes fix on one of the girls. It takes a moment but you recognise one of them, she’s the sister. Oh, if you could kill her that’ll really fuck things up for heaven. Adding ‘kill her’ to your to do list.  
  
“He’s possessed, straight up satanic possession!” Sollux shouts at the girls.  
  
“Kanaya?!” Mituna gasp.  
  
“M...Mituna?!” Kanaya exclaims back.  
  
“We need water! Holy water!” Mituna insists.  
  
“Oh! I can-” she starts.  
  
“The bathtub is full! Do that!” Dave interrupts.  
  
Oh no, you are _not_ going in a bathtub of holy water, not happening.  
  
“Go!” Mituna orders her and then punches your puppet in the face.  
  
“What’s that in his hand?” Dave asks.  
  
“That must have been what did it. Dave, have you got a bag? Like a zip lock thing?” Mituna asks as he struggles to try to force you back to the wall. He has Sollux helping him now so it’s even harder.  
  
“Yeah! Yeah!” Dave nods and sprints off.  
  
“Drag him in here!” Kanaya shouts from the other room.  
  
Your inability to fight Sollux in this stupid body really hinders your ability to resist and your weakening puppet is pulled from the sword in his chest and dragged into the bathroom. Kanaya and another girl are by the bath waiting. Sollux and Mituna throw you that way and leap back so they’re not caught by the splashing water.  
  
It. Burns.  
  
You’re getting burnt out of every cell of this angel’s useless body and being held under the water isn’t helping. A hand wrenches the Game Bro from your grasp and its connection to your puppet weakens. You thrash, claw and scratch with your puppet as much as you can but your control slips and slips.  
  
Then it’s just the void again. You’re exhausted. Time to find someone to eat.

Everything hurts. Your chest is killing you, your throat burns and you feel like you’re going to throw up. You struggle against two hands that are holding you down, holding you under… under water. Their steely grip pulls you up closer to the surface and hazily you think you’re looking at Kanaya. She pulls you up and out of the water, leaving you coughing and gagging on water in your throat, Kanaya is staring at you and muttering something under her breath in almost a chant.

“His- his eyes are normal again. Is he better? Did that fix it?” Rose asks from Kanaya’s side.

“I don’t know. He could still be possessed or partly connected.” Sollux says, lurking in the doorway.

You cough and splutter and feel your throat ooze as you do so, Rose winces to look at you. She reaches out for your throat but hesitates to touch you.

“Karkat, can you hear me?” she asks.

You try to speak but your throat is agony and you can’t force a single sound out.

“Yeah, sorry, he’s not going to be able to. That’s kind of what I was going for. Sorry, man.” Mituna apologises. You hadn’t seen him there.

“Could you make him drink holy water? If he’s possessed by the literal fucking devil somewhere inside him then getting that stuff in his insides has to help, right?” Dave suggests. Fuck, is everyone here?

“That’s a pretty good idea. Not sure it’ll work for sure but it can’t make it worse.” Sollux nods.

“I’ll get a cup. Kanaya should I just fill it with regular water and you can do your thing?” Dave asks.

Kanaya nods at him but doesn’t stop chanting. It has a familiar cadence to the words and as you slump against the cool plastic of the bathtub you feel your mind shift a little to interpret the sounds. You’re pretty sure it’s the Lord’s Prayer. Not in English but in something. She’s going for holy words.

“It’s going to be okay, Karkat. It’ll be okay. Sollux is fine now, Mituna’s fine, you didn’t do any permanent damage to anyone. We’re going to fix you up, then I’m going to figure out what did this and destroy it.” Rose promises and strokes your wet hair.

“That would be the literal Devil.” Mituna points out.

“I’m going to kill the literal Devil for this. Personally.” Rose says sincerely and continues to soothingly pet your hair.

You wheeze sort of… through your ruined throat instead of your mouth and the thought of that makes you feel even more sick than you already had been feeling. Actually… oh no. You scramble up enough to lean over the edge of the bathtub even though it makes your chest scream in pain.

On the plus side you gag long enough for Rose to realise what’s about to happen so you don’t throw up on her. You also haven’t eaten anything today so it could be worse, thanks Terezi, you guess? But it still BURNS. It burns so much.

“Why- is that fanta? Did Karkat just barf fanta on my floor?” Dave asks, back in the doorway.

“Unholy water.” Mituna answers.

“It’s basically fanta, yeah.” Sollux agrees.

“I’m so lost. Here, Kanaya.” Dave says and hands the cup over to her while you’re busy coughing.

You feel a wave of magic and Kanaya holds a red plastic cup before you. Rose gently supports you by the shoulder and helps you drink what you can. That at least feels cooling and soothing to drink and makes your throat a whole lot less raw on the inside.

“Does he have to stay in the bath? Does Kanaya have to keep chanting?” Rose asks.

“Pretty sure that whatever good that’s done it’s already done it. Probably better to get him out so we can patch him up.” Sollux says.

Kanaya stops chanting and looks at Rose.

“Do you want to grab his arms? I’ll take his legs.” she suggests.

Rose nods and the two of them manhandle you out of the tub and Dave wraps a towel around you, both demons keep a very wide distance from you indeed.

“Dry him off, I’ll get bandages.” Sollux instructs.

Dave, Rose and Kanaya gently take you over to the sofa and put you down on it. You can’t talk but you try to convey with your facial expression and pained wheezing that leaning your stabbed through back against the sofa isn’t fun.

“Uh, wait. This stuff’ll burn you two, right?” Dave asks, looking over at Mituna.

“Really badly, yeah.” he nods.

“Clothes off then.” Dave says and you must be pretty seriously hurt because there’s no attempt at innuendo there from anyone.

It takes both Dave and Rose working together to get your sweatshirt off, it’s only magic so you suppose you could just make it go away but right now you don’t know if you can manage to do anything at all.

“Oh fuck me that’s-” Dave starts, staring at your chest in horror.

“Perfectly fine, nothing to worry about.” Rose says with a forced smile and tosses your sweatshirt in the bathroom where it lands with a wet splat.

The pair of them push you over to get your jeans off and Kanaya starts gently drying your hair and face with the towel in her hands.

“So. Um.” Mituna hesitates. Kanaya passes the towel to Rose and turns around to look at Mituna who appears deeply anxious, as if he might bolt at any moment.

“We need to talk.” Kanaya says sternly and from your viewpoint you can see the way she’s pinning him in place with her stare.

“I’m sure you’re angry, and I deserve it. But I was really just trying to-” Mituna babbles.

“No. Stop that. Where the FUCK have you even been all these years?! Me and Mom thought you were dead!” Kanaya snaps at him.

“I was exiled in hell, I couldn’t-” he tries again.

“OH? Oh, you have been? Since the Event too?” Kanaya demands, her hands on her hips.

“I… I didn’t think you’d want to see me after what I did.” Mituna mumbles.

You’re watching this, the twins are both watching this but you all sure as hell try to look like you weren’t when Kanaya turns around to face you.

“Sorry sweetie, can I just grab this? Thank you.” Kanaya says gently and picks a pillow up off of the sofa near your head. You give her a weak thumbs up, partly just because you want to know what she’s going to do with the thing.

You watch as Kanaya walks over to Mituna and starts smacking him with the sofa cushion in between each word.

“I. Waited. Over. Two. Thousand. Years. To. See. You. Again. And. You. Thought. I. Didn’t. Want. To- oh.” Kanaya pauses and you realise that the cushion has got impaled on Mituna’s horns and is now kind of stuck.

“I turned you into a vampire.” Mituna says softly and pulls the cushion off.

“You saved our lives, you complete fucking moron. We’ve been so worried about you, you’re family.” Kanaya sniffs and grabs Mituna into a hug that looks a little painful.

“I couldn’t do anything else, they wanted me to kill you and take you down. Heaven made me watch Signless die, I couldn’t- not your Dolorosa too.” Mituna chokes out and holds on tightly to her.

“It’s okay, we made it, thanks to you. It’s ok.” Kanaya sniffles.

“I have so many questions.” Dave says quietly.

“Same, but let’s help Karkat first.” Rose says softly, no one wants to interrupt what is clearly a heartfelt moment over there.

“I got bandages, is he dry? Yeah? Ok, move.” Sollux nudges Rose out of the way and leans in close to you.

Sollux carefully nudges at your neck with his fingers and it must be pretty bad if the expression that he’s making is any indication.

“How is he not a bird from being hurt this badly?” Dave asks.

“He’s a throne, he can take worse than this. Normally this would have healed but getting hurt from being that badly possessed by someone so opposite to him has fucked that up. Lots of holy water and resting should fix him.” Sollux tells her.

“I saw rings in his chest through that hole, like his other form has.” Rose hisses.

“Our bodies are real but they’re also… not. Don’t worry about it. All the parts he needs to still be physical are fine.” Sollux shrugs.

Sollux ever so gently bandages your neck, taking care not to press wrongly against any of the gashes or holes in there. Really you’d rather not think about it, the idea is making you queasy and you don’t want to have another fanta experience.

Sollux moves onto your chest with tape and gauze, just padding over the area and holding that padding in place.

“We have a wound suture kit, would that help?” Rose asks, remembering your belt of holding.

“No, his body doesn’t work like that when it’s hurt this bad. I’m just putting padding near his wounds so Kanaya can put holy water on there and it’ll stay in place and then bless him or something.” Sollux answers. He reaches around to tape your back over so the stab wound is sealed on both sides. Maybe it’s a good thing that your voice isn’t working right now, that way no one can hear the pained whimper at Sollux rolling you slightly to get to your back.

“Kanaya, could you…” Sollux trails off, politely waiting for Kanaya to stop hugging Mituna. She pulls away with a sniff and rubs at her eyes, wiping tears away and yet still somehow not ruining her makeup. Even with a hole in your chest you’re still impressed at that.

“Of course.” Kanaya says.

Sollux moves out of the way and Kanaya crouches down by you with a gentle smile on her face.

“I’m going to fix you right up, okay?” she tells you and strokes your cheek.

“Hey, uh, not to bite the hand that’s healing Karkat or anything but I have a few questions. How the fuck? What the fuck? Who the fuck? Roughly in that order.” Dave says.

“No ‘where the fuck?’ in there?” Mituna laughs.

“No, because here the fuck. Obviously.” Dave answers.

“Or in Karkat the fuck, hence the holes.” Rose adds.

You give Rose a look that you hope can accurately convey the sentiment of ‘too soon, Rose, too soon’ but you don’t know if you manage to get that across.

“Okay, let’s be more specific. How can you make holy water when people can’t do that anymore? No gods around means no blessings work.” Dave reasons.

“I’m a demon, I can make unholy water. It’s the same principle.” Mituna shrugs.

“It’s not though. You supposedly work for _him_ even if you don’t actually, you’re a demon, you’re from there. Kanaya’s just a hot vampire lady who lives on this plane. Additionally, and I’m not going over this just to distract from how I just called Kanaya a hot vampire lady-” Dave babbles.

“Keep drawing attention to it, that’ll help.” Rose interrupts.

“-but why is unholy water orange soda? That’s the worst flavour of anything. Like, name a worse flavour of soda, I dare you.” he continues as if she hadn’t said anything.

“Phlegm.” Rose suggests, making everyone else grimace in disgust.

“I hate that we’re related, never speak again. Kanaya, how the fuck can you do this?” Dave asks, turning to Kanaya.

Sollux returns with a new glass of water and Kanaya gratefully takes it from him, mumbling quietly under her breath until you suppose it’s become holy.

“I… I can do this for much the same reason that demons can do the inverse. My powers don’t come from me being ordained but rather from relation to a holy figure.” Kanaya says quietly.

The jigsaw puzzle pieces click into place in your mind and you pull your phone free and type, there’s no chance of you speaking like this.

SIGNLESS

You show her the phone and though she seems a little surprised she nods.

“Yes. He… was my brother.” she confirms softly and dabs water onto your bandaged neck.

“Sorry, who? I didn’t see.” Dave asks.

“We called him Signless, it was sort of a family joke. My ah… my mother has plenty of statues about her, not that any of them look right, but then they don’t look right for my brother either. They all call her the ‘Virgin Mary’. Not that she is a virgin, I mean, I’m here.” Kanaya mutters.

“Your mother is… Mary. And your brother is Jesus? Jesus is- okay, I can see why you can do holy water. Sorry, you said you call him Signless, would you rather we say that?” Rose asks.

“Yeah, we would.” Mituna answers for her.

Kanaya keeps soaking your bandages ever so gently with holy water but you see her gaze flicker to Sollux who has now perched on the arm of the sofa.

“You knew, didn’t you?” she asks him finally.

“I’m not stupid. It just wasn’t any of my business and whatever I did would potentially either piss you off or piss Mituna off and I figured I’d keep my nose out of it. Not my story to tell and the way I see it your family has had way too much unwanted attention, I figured I should leave you alone.” Sollux answers with a shrug.

“I suppose I can see the sense in that, though I would have rather found Mituna sooner. Thank you for the consideration though. I appreciate it.” Kanaya nods.

“No problem. No kid asks to suddenly be the child of a god and get dragged into that shit, it was a pretty rough deal and I feel pretty bad for your brother all things considered.” Sollux says.

I KNEW YOUR BROTHER, IN HEAVEN. I HAVE A FEW MEMORIES OF HIM EVEN IF I’VE LOST MOST OF THEM. you type quickly on your phone and show it to Kanaya.

“Wait, really? What- what do you remember? Is he okay?” Kanaya asks you urgently.

HE WAS NICE TO ME. I THINK THEY KEPT HIM SEPARATE FROM MOST PEOPLE, HE CAUSED A LOT OF TROUBLE WITH HIS IDEAS I THINK. AS FAR AS I CAN REMEMBER HE WAS THE ONLY NOT SHITTY PERSON THERE. I THINK MY MAKER WAS MEANT TO BE HIM BUT BETTER.

“You… you said that your relative- your maker was terrible though.” Kanaya says slowly.

HE WAS. THEY MADE HIM TO BE LIKE YOUR BROTHER BUT “BETTER” WITHOUT HUMAN INFLUENCE. THEN HE MADE ME TO GET RID OF THE PARTS OF HIMSELF THAT HE DIDN’T LIKE. SIGNLESS SAID HE LIKED ME BETTER, I THINK HE THOUGHT IT WAS IRONIC. I ALSO THINK HE USED TO HELP ME SNEAK OUT SO I COULD HELP PEOPLE DOWN HERE.

Mituna and Kanaya are reading your phone now, although Rose is sneaking a glance now and then.

“That sounds like him.” Mituna laughs, it’s bittersweet sounding.

“Defying authority to help people? Seeing the good in someone? Yeah. Yeah, it does.” Kanaya sniffs.

“Feel any better?” Dave asks you after a moment, but he keeps his voice down. It looks like Kanaya and Mituna are having a moment and even Dave has more tact than to interrupt them.

You try to speak but it’s still just a painful wheeze of air.

“It’s probably going to take a while until you can talk. That’s a change from usual.” Sollux answers for you and does not shrivel up and die from your glare.

“Okay, I just… Karkat bursts in here possessed and holding some evil magazine that we had to ziplock away in holy water and Kanaya had to waterboard the evil out of him. Like what the fuck? What happened?” Dave asks.

“It was one of the books in the library, I’m guessing the one me and Karkat found that Terezi predicted would lead to someone drowning, which I suppose did happen.” Kanaya explains.

“Terezi was in here earlier and filled the bath then peaced out of the window, turning into her big fuckin’ dragon form.” Dave nods.

“As she does.” Rose says.

“Without that we’d have had to wait for the bath to fill and that fight would have gone on way longer and been far worse.” Sollux says grimly.

“Okay, but how does a book get Karkat possessed by the actual Devil?” Dave asks.

“I’m curious about that too.” Rose agrees.

“It’s kind of a thing he liked to do. Curse things and connect them to his soul so he could fuck people over just because he could. I’m guessing that one only picked up on Karkat because of his species.” Sollux explains.

“I have a better question. Why did he make Karkat come right here? Was it some attempt at torturing Karkat by trying to kill someone he’s dating or did he come here looking specifically for Sollux because of your species or what?” Rose asks.

“I… am not a mind reader, so I don’t know. I couldn’t speculate. Cruelty for the sake of cruelty is certainly not unusual for him.” Sollux tells her very carefully.

“Am I to assume that fact was related or did you just give me a statement that would lead me to infer that’s the reason despite you not saying as such?” Rose asks.

Oh, she’s good. Sollux just stated that he can’t say yes or no with absolute certainty and presented a different fact as if it was an answer. He evaded the question without looking like he did that at all. You, however, are inclined to answer.

HE WANTED DAVE AND SOLLUX. HE RUMMAGED THROUGH MY BRAIN AND

Sollux yanks your phone from your hand and in what is clearly a moment of panic just eats the thing whole.

“I… I know you don’t have to eat and you can eat almost anything but did you have to do that, man? Karkat’s gonna need a new phone every month at this rate.” Dave groans.

“Also you just took away Karkat’s only method of communication right now which is both cruel and highly suspicious.” Rose tells him menacingly.

“Karkat shouldn’t be talking anyway, he should be sleeping this off.” Sollux says.

“Sleeping off the holes in his chest and throat? I’m all for the restorative powers of a good nap but I don’t think that’s gonna work just like that.” Dave points out.

“It’ll help. Mituna, could you…” Sollux nods towards something on the other side of the room.

“Would you help me?” Mituna asks Kanaya and she nods.

“Yes, I think we should take that book back to the library and explain what happened.” Kanaya nods and stands up.

“Come on.” Sollux flicks his hand and you float up in the air. Your throat is too destroyed to protest and everything else hurts too bad to even try to stop Sollux, not that you think you could.

“Hey, wait-” Rose protests but Sollux already has you through the door of his room and has shut the door.

Sollux doesn’t have a bed on the floor so much as he has what looks like a giant bean bag on the ground, only it’s way softer and doesn’t feel like it’s filled with polystyrene balls. Of course he still has those ferret hammock things that you put glitter in but he’s not thrown you in one of them. He lowers you gently into the thing and crouches at the edge of it.

“Alright, you are going to need to sleep but I’ll stay here with you. I’ll make sure nothing gets worse and get Kanaya back here if I have to. No one’s getting near you without going through me so you can just switch completely off, you know?” Sollux reassures you.

That’s all very nice, but not what you want. You click your fingers in his face to get his attention and then point at your other wrist, the one with your phone charm on it.

“Ah. You figured I didn’t eat it.” Sollux says under his breath. Your theory is that he must have palmed the thing and put it in his void, sure enough Sollux pulls your unharmed phone out of his chest.

“If you tell Dave that _he_ came here for him then you’re only going to scare him. I’ve got his back, you don’t need to say that so… just don’t tell him. Please?” Sollux pleads but he hands you your phone back all the same.

You don’t know what to make of that but you can deal with it later, you open the notes application on your phone and type out what you want to say.

YOU STABBED ME IN THE CHEST.

“Yeah, I’m sorry. It’ll heal.” Sollux apologises and looks away guiltily.

YOU SAID BEFORE THAT YOU HAD TO DESTROY MY HEART TO DESTROY MY BODY. OR AT LEAST THAT’S THE EASIEST WAY TO DO IT.

“You did a pretty good job when you pasted yourself on the Nevada desert at hundreds of miles an hour, but that’s harder for me to do to you.” Sollux laughs a little weakly.

YOU SAID YOU GOT USED TO DOING IT EVERY TIME. YOU DESTROYED MY BODY A LOT, RIGHT?

“Well, yeah but it’s not like that now. I don’t like hurting people I care about.” Sollux tells you earnestly.

YOU MISSED.

“I-” Sollux hesitates.

YOU MISSED ON PURPOSE.

“I couldn’t do it. Mituna can take care of himself and if you’d been trying to kill Dave and I had no other choice then of course I would have done it but the only one in danger of dying then was me and it doesn’t stick so… I couldn’t do it.” Sollux isn’t looking at you at all right now, he’s looking off to the side with his shoulders drawn up defensively. Or maybe he’s just making himself look as small as possible.

“The gods are gone, if your body got fully destroyed through your heart so you couldn’t even be a bunch of birds to get better then you’d go back to heaven. There’s no one there to give you permission to get a new body, and even if there was you’d probably be in so much trouble for everything you’ve done. I- I’d probably never see you again. They might even destroy you, kill you properly. I couldn’t do that.” Sollux insists and when he finally looks back at you it’s clear to see that he’s tearing up.

You wish you could speak because typing just isn’t the same. You reach out a little blindly beyond the cushiony bed and squeeze his arm as a gentle reassurance. You take your hand back only to type.

IT’S OKAY

“No it’s not! I stabbed you through the chest! You’re not just some angel stalking me anymore, you’re my kismesis, you’re my friend! We’re- I don’t HURT people who-” Sollux’s breath hitches.

YOU HAD TO STOP HIM

You try to show him the message but Sollux’s eyes are all scrunched up now and there’s slightly gold tinted tears leaking out of the edges of his eyes. It’s… something to see someone with four eyes cry, but it sets you off as well. You need him to see your message, in fact you add more on to it.

IT’S NOT YOUR FAULT, YOU DID THE RIGHT THING. I LOVE YOU.

Dumbass still has his eyes closed! With effort and a wheeze of pain you shift yourself closer and go to slap him on the arm to get his attention.

Your arm locks up and freezes just a hair’s breadth from his body. Sollux startles and you’re pretty freaked out too, managing nothing but a panicked squeaking noise from your throat.

“Oh, OH. Fuck, sorry. You can hurt me again, if you… wanted to.” Sollux says awkwardly and you give him a look of disbelief. All the same you try again and manage to harmlessly swat his arm. Okay, you have your bodily autonomy back. Time to shove your phone in his face.

Sollux reads but clearly what you’ve written isn’t cheering him up much. In fairness you did nearly die and he did nearly have to effectively kill you, you’ve both been through a lot and he held it together out there. You won’t begrudge him losing control of his emotions a little in private. With fumbling hands you put your phone away and hold your arms out to him, opening and closing your hands quickly as a gesture to get him to come closer to you.

Sollux leans over and you gently pull him down into the soft cushion type bed with you. He has to be careful not to touch your injuries, both so he doesn’t hurt you but also so he doesn’t hurt himself on the holy water soaked bandages.

“It’s okay, I’ll stay awake.” he promises you quietly, almost whispering into your hair to do it.

You nod as vague confirmation that you heard him and close your eyes. You let your hand drift over to the bandage that wraps around your chest over your heart and you can feel how the cut is just below where you know Kankri’s red mark is. He couldn’t kill you, but you killed him. You were made to do it at least.

You tip your head back and reach up to his neck to the place where you sliced his head clean off. You mouth ‘sorry’ at him and he seems to realise what you’re saying.

“It wasn’t you. He’s done worse to me anyway.” Sollux assures you.

Right, no, you need your phone back again.

IS HE YOUR MAKER’S MAKER?

“Yeah.” Sollux confirms oh so quietly.

IF I EVER SEE HIM I’M GOING TO FIGHT HIM.

“I hope you won’t but if you do, don’t fight him. You’ll die.” Sollux whispers.

I’D RATHER DIE THAN LEAVE YOU DEALING WITH THAT SON OF A BITCH ALONE. I COULD HEAR HIM IN MY HEAD HE SUCKS. FUCK THAT GUY.

“Fucking- no, you’re an idiot. Go to sleep.” Sollux huffs and shoves your phone down into the bed and out of your hands. In retaliation you go to jab him in the side but he doesn’t really react.

“Extra rib, bitch. Now go to sleep.” he hisses at you, but he seems kind of pleased to have defeated your attempts to attack him. That’s better than crying. You can sleep with Sollux being smug, that’s better than devastated.

You yawn, regret it immediately because it hurts your throat, and then start to doze off.

There’s a vague feeling of time passing. You can hear voices of people you know but Sollux doesn’t leave even as they talk to him and try to talk to you. There’s only so long that you can sleep though, especially if Sollux is sitting up and talking to someone else.

“It’s not like she’s going to fire him, right? It wasn’t his fault.” Sollux whispers.

“Well, she wants to see him anyway. I couldn’t tell her that he couldn’t come in without explaining that it was because he was hurt, then she insisted.” Rose protests quietly.

“You could have lied better!” Sollux hisses at her and his tails flick irritably on the bed near you.

“Just let her in.” Rose tells Sollux.

“He’s really not in any trouble.” Ms. Paint’s voice floats over to you and you hear Rose yelp in surprise, you guess she didn’t realise how close your boss had got to her. She can be very stealthy when she wants to be.

You shift and tap Sollux on the tails to let him know that you’re awake now. His shoulders slump as he accepts defeat and he helps you upright as your boss moves past Rose and into the room with you.

“Oh, sweetheart, you have really been through the wars haven’t you?” Ms. Paint says sympathetically.

“His throat is too hurt to talk.” Sollux explains for you. It’s pretty notable that he’s put himself firmly between the two of you, even if he’s looking quite casual about it he’s definitely acting as a barrier right now.

I’M SO SORRY MS PAINT, I COMPLETELY FAILED AT EVERYTHING AND I KNOW I LET YOU DOWN.

“What?” Sollux sneers, angry at your apology.

“No, no, not at all. That book escaping and getting you drowned was a prophecy, you couldn’t have done anything to avert it. Besides, I’m the one who left you unattended in what I’ve now come to realise was that book’s escape attempt. Although it looked like a very damaged magazine when it got back to me I know it was the same one.” she tells you.

BUT I GOT POSSESSED.

“Yes, but again you didn’t do anything wrong. You stayed put and did what you told me you were going to do. Sometimes these things happen, library work is dangerous. A few of the books escaped but we’ve rounded all but one up.” she tells you gently.

Mentally you list through in your mind all of the books in that cage.

IS THE TELEPORTATION ONE LOOSE?

“Exactly that one, yes. But it can only zip around the library for so long, we’ll catch it sooner or later.” she smiles.

“So what’s going to happen now?” Sollux asks for you.

“Well, I’m not sure how long this will take to heal, I’m sure you’re getting medical advice from someone about this. But I’ll write you off on the schedule as injured in a work accident and I’ll send sick notes through to your teachers as well until you come back to me well enough to work and go to classes.” Ms. Paint says in a no-nonsense tone that doesn’t leave any room for you to argue, not that you’d even try if you still could talk.

“You need to rest and recuperate, don’t you worry about anything else. Okay, love?” Ms. Paint says and pats your knee gently.

You nod and then wince at the movement.

“Alright then, feel better. And you, look after him, okay?” she tells you both.

Sollux seems satisfied and with some polite goodbyes Ms. Paint excuses herself and leaves you alone with Sollux again.

“I can see why she’s able to keep Spades Slick in line.” Sollux snorts and curls himself around you again like a comma all tucked up against your back.

His fingers wander over your body and you can feel that as well as the giant cuts you have some pretty nasty bruises and bumps that have come up since that fight. You halfway want to ask him how you used to heal before you lost your memories but that probably won’t bring up great memories.

It’s not that you go to sleep again, instead you manage to phase out your awareness again, like you did that night you stayed awake for Sollux and Dave. Some kind of angelic power saving mode or something. You don’t even think you’re breathing.

Or maybe… maybe you do sleep. It’s hard to tell. You know Sollux is right there pressed up against you because obviously you can physically feel him but you think you can feel his whole… deal. Like his essence or soul or whatever. You’re both technically not really physical beings, right? Maybe you’re just used to picking out his particular vibe by now that it just clicks in your brain.

Shit, do you even have a brain? You know you have a physical heart and you know you bleed but Rose said she saw rings inside your chest before. Your whole body is like one big placebo effect black box. You eat, you breathe, you appear to have normal bodily functions but who knows how any of them happen? What would happen if you went in an MRI machine? You’d be curious to find out if it wouldn’t expose your whole species information to people.

Hazily you open your eyes and Rose and Dave swim into focus, sat on the bedroom floor on sofa cushions that they’ve dragged in for that purpose. You try to move a little and wince at the strain it puts on your chest.

“Hey, he’s awake again.” Dave says, perking up.

“He’s breathing at least.” Rose notes.

You try to tilt your head down to get a better look at them from your laid down position, only to find that something is in your way. Something red and blue and covered in scales. You try to ask what’s going on but your voice just squeaks. Your whole body feels like it’s wrapped in coils of a giant snake, of Sollux.

“Oh yeah. Kanaya took your bandages off to change them and he just did that. I think he’s helping.” Dave explains. Oh good, well at least you’re not going to burn him with holy water or anything.

You’re not really sure that he is helping though, you don’t see how a demon could heal an angel but this is also a pretty nice full body hug so you’re fine with it. Sollux’s head drifts up from where it was seemingly resting on your stomach and you vaguely stroke his head as thanks for keeping an eye on you.

“We’ve told the others about what happened but Sollux was pretty adamant that we not move you while you were healing and we thought it best that you were forced to see as few people as possible in your current state.” Rose explains.

“Do you mean injured or only wearing boxers?” Dave asks.

“...Both.” Rose answers.

Your… boss… was here. You talked to your boss in your underwear. Fantastic.


	31. The Devil & Me

This just in for the segment of ‘news that surprises no one’, Karkat Vantas finds it difficult to be quiet! Yeah, having your throat so wrecked that you can’t talk sucks. It hurts but it doesn’t feel as bad as you think it should given what happened to you, it’s mostly a pain because it’s so hard to communicate with people. To make matters worse the hole going through your chest makes you less inclined to move about, you’re stuck with messaging people to get your thoughts across. At the very least though you’re never alone.

“I can’t be the only one thinking this is creepy, right?” Dave asks.

You have your head in his lap and he’s gently petting your hair as the two of you watch a movie.

ADAM SANDLER AS A PERSON, YOU MEAN?

“No, but also not _not_ that too.” Dave answers you.

WHAT THEN?

“I mean she’s got some hardcore amnesia. I know this was pre-event and all and people weren’t dealing with memory loss on the regular, but this isn’t the kind of ‘oh I forgot my past’ kind of memory loss. The girl forgets every day. It’s creepy and weird.” Dave points out.

YEAH. ALTHOUGH I AM GETTING MORE MEMORIES BACK. DID SOLLUX TELL YOU ABOUT THE MEMORY I GOT BACK OF HIM FROM THE FIRST TIME WE TALKED?

“What? No, tell me immediately this has to be good.” Dave beams.

I CAUGHT UP TO HIM IN SOME BAR AND HE WAS DRUNK OFF HIS ASS BECAUSE HIS MAKER DITCHED HIM I THINK. I GUESS HE DIDN’T KNOW HOW TO HANDLE HIMSELF THEN BUT HE WAS STILL HIM, YOU KNOW?

“Still him how, exactly?” Dave grins.

YOU KNOW. BELLIGERENT, DIFFICULT TO DEAL WITH, UNFAIRLY ENDEARING WHEN YOU DON’T WANT HIM TO BE BECAUSE YOU’RE TRYING TO GET SOMETHING ELSE DONE.

“Oh, I for sure know how that feels.” he snickers. Yeah, you bet he does. Poor sucker has to be Sollux’s moirail and talk him into good choices.

IT WAS INTERESTING IN HINDSIGHT THOUGH, GETTING TO TALK TO HIM FOR THE FIRST TIME I MEAN.

“The first-first time as opposed to the more recent second-first time which from a linear point of view from you experiencing it now was actually your second-first time even though it was chronologically the first-first.” Dave says.

Instead of writing out a reply to that gibberish you just reach up and bonk Dave in the forehead with your phone.

“Hey!” he protests.

I CAN KIND OF SEE HOW IT WAS MORE DIFFICULT FOR SOLLUX THE SECOND TIME AROUND. WE WERE DOING THAT SEMI-HOSTILE INTRODUCTION THING THAT HAPPENS WHEN WE’RE BOTH ASSHOLES AND GET SNAPPY WITH EACH OTHER OR DELIBERATELY PUSH EACH OTHER’S BUTTONS. BUT WE OBVIOUSLY GOT PAST THAT AND THEN THIS TIME AROUND I GO THROUGH THAT ALL OVER AGAIN AND HE HAD TO FAKE IT.

“Yeah, but it worked out alright in the end didn’t it? You being seriously injured at the moment not being counted, I mean.” Dave smiles softly.

YEAH BUT I FEEL BAD THAT HE HAD TO GO THROUGH THAT.

“It’s not your fault, is it?” Dave says. REASONABLY. How dare he?

I HAVE STRONG WORDS FOR WHOEVER’S FAULT IT IS.

“You and lots of other people. But think about it this way, yeah? Before the Event you were an angel having to listen to your asshat maker and work in a system that sucked and now you get to study here and have friends. Not to mention two very excellent, top-tier, gorgeous boyfriends. Things are way better now, right?” Dave points out.

YEAH, THINGS REALLY LOOKED UP FOR ME SINCE I HAD TO LIVE ISOLATED IN FUCKING GEORGIA FOR YEARS AND THEN CAME HERE TO BE KIDNAPPED MULTIPLE TIMES, BE A SERIES OF BIRDS AND GOT STABBED THEN DROWNED. OH, AND THE PERSON WHO MADE ME LITERALLY DIED ALONG WITH MY ONLY FRIEND OF MY OWN SPECIES FROM BEFORE ALL THIS WHO ALSO LITERALLY DIED. IT’S JUST GREAT.

“Wait, look at me, I’m not sure if you’re being sincere or sarcastic from just text.” Dave frowns and leans over you. You give him a flat look which certainly doesn’t help.

I’M ACTUALLY SINCERE. THINGS ARE BETTER NOW, BUT THAT’S KIND OF SAD.

You lower your phone for a moment and consider that you’re still in Dave’s lap watching a movie that’s in your favourite genre because Dave wanted to make you feel better.

THE BOYFRIENDS AND FRIENDS PART REALLY DOES MAKE IT A LOT BETTER THOUGH. I CAN’T DENY THAT.

"Aw, see? I'm gonna make an optimist out of you yet. Or at the very least someone who believes that better things are in their future than kidnapping and mutilation. I guess that's not so much 'glass half full' thinking as trying to convince someone that someone's not gonna steal the glass, smash it and stab you with the broken remains. But still! The power of positivity will get us there Karkat." Dave says and you can feel that metaphor running away from him.

You roll onto your back and look up at Dave, careful about putting weight on the stab wound in your back and trying not to twist your neck either.

I SUPPOSE I SHOULD AT LEAST ALLOW FOR A BAR THAT LOW, BUT LIFE DOES KEEP SURPRISING ME.

"I'm going to take that as a win." Dave nods.

YEAH AND ON THAT SUBJECT I DO APPRECIATE YOU BOWING TO MY USUALLY SUPERIOR MOVIE TASTES BY PUTTING ON A ROMCOM BUT YOU'RE RIGHT, THIS ONE IS KIND OF CREEPY. MAYBE WE COULD DO SOMETHING ELSE.

"Why, Karkat, I'm not that kind of girl. We've only been one one date I can't possibly." Dave gasps, pressing his hand to his chest like a scandalised debutante.

TWO OBJECTIONS TO THAT. FIRST, NOT WHAT I MEANT AND THE FACT THAT WE'VE NOT HAD A SECOND DATE YET IS SQUARELY ON YOU. I'M WAITING TO BE WOWED.

"Yeah I know. Besides which I'd be a little worried that if we actually... uh... that you might up and die on me in the process." Dave says quickly.

It's interesting. Dave can be wildly crude at times but when he's talking about the possibility of the two of you being intimate in any way, something he's actually invested in, then he gets all flustered and shy about it. In contrast to all the jokes about his cartoon characters that he draws talking about the nastiest things, or the debate he had with June in the breakfast queue the other morning about whether swallowing jizz was cannibalism or not.

Why are you interested in this idiot again? Oh, yes, you have terrible taste in horrible yet endearing disaster men.

THE SECOND OBJECTION TO THAT IS WHAT DO YOU CALL ME AND SOLLUX THEN? WE'VE NEVER BEEN ON A DATE EVER APPARENTLY AND WE'VE HAD SEX.

YOU KNOW, SEX, THE THING I CAN TYPE OUT WITHOUT GETTING ALL FLUSTERED ABOUT IT LIKE YOU DO.

You show your messages to Dave who childishly sticks his tongue out at you.

"I'm not flustered, I don't know what you're talking about. Anyway if you think you're going to bait me into slut shaming Sollux I- oh, hi." Dave turns around because Sollux had the WONDERFUL timing of appearing just in time to hear 'slut shaming Sollux'.

The two of them look at each other for a second in total silence.

"Dave, you know I have no shame ever." Sollux says deadpan.

"Exactly what I was going to say." Dave agrees, equally as stoic.

They share a fistbump for reasons that escape you.

"Did you get the magic drink for him?" Dave asks but Sollux shakes his head and leans over the back of the sofa to look at you.

IS SOMETHING WRONG? IS THE DEMON STORE OUT OF STOLEN AMBROSIA?

"Eh, it's not that. I could get it, I don't need to justify why I want things in my position. It's more that it's really for gods and you technically got possessed by one, it could in theory amplify any godly effects on you which would obviously not be what we want." Sollux explains and you wince at the thought.

OKAY, FAIR. I DON'T WANT A REPEAT OF THAT.

"That's what I figured. Let me see your throat." Sollux says and picks at your bandages.

He peels them back and to be honest you've managed to not look at your injuries or touch them too much. You like to think that you're not an especially squeamish person in general but there are some injuries that you really don't want to see, especially on yourself. The sentiment is clearly not shared as Sollux has no problem assessing the damage done to you and Dave is obviously fascinated, leaning right over you to see as much of your injuries as possible.

"There's really rings in there as well as regular injured physical, uh, human meat I guess. It's like a magic eye picture almost." Dave says in awe.

"Given that he technically does have magic eyes in there you're not exactly wrong." Sollux agrees.

CAN WE NOT DESCRIBE MY BODY AS 'MEAT' WHEN I'M ALIVE AND IN IT, THANKS? you hold that up to Dave and narrow your eyes at him.

"Sorry, you know what I mean though." Dave apologises.

"I'm not really sure if this is healing or not. It's not getting worse or showing any signs of infection, magical or mundane, but you're sort of stuck. I've never seen you like this before." Sollux sighs and tosses your used bandage and starts to apply a new one.

WAIT, HOW MANY TIMES HAVE YOU SEEN ME INJURED BUT NOT DEAD?

"Not many. I saw you get hit by a car once and you just swore a hell of a lot, healed yourself almost immediately and got up again and yelled at me." Sollux answers.

...Suspicious.

WHEN YOU SAY THAT YOU SAW ME GET HIT BY A CAR DO YOU MEAN THAT _YOU_ HIT ME WITH A CAR?

"In my defence I didn't know you that well back then, but I knew it wouldn't kill you or destroy your body and you'd be fine. Also as another point in my defence you started it." Sollux says with a hint of a pout in his tone.

"This kind of sounds like you also had started to hate him and didn't know what to do about that." Dave points out and you KNOW he's onto something because Sollux looks genuinely a little embarrassed at that.

AND EXACTLY WHAT HAD I DONE TO DESERVE THAT?

"You didn't respect the sacred rules of shotgun the last time we were in the car. And... also you were flirting with someone else." Sollux mumbles and walks off to go do something else, which you could more accurately describe as going to look busy in the kitchen so he doesn't have to look you in the eye.

"Oooh, jealousy! Scandal." Dave gasps. There certainly is information that you want there but that’s for another time, you’re kind of tired now.

I MIGHT GO BACK TO MY DORM AND SLEEP, I JUST SAW THE TIME AND YOU HAVE CLASS SOON. PLUS I'M MORE TIRED THAN I THOUGHT I WAS. RAINCHECK ON THAT MOVIE?

“You know you’re going to have to walk down, right? With your body being as unstable as it is I don’t think me teleporting you is a good idea. You might unravel or something.” Sollux says from the kitchen.

“Ooooh, ouch, yeah that’s not good. Are you okay to walk?” Dave asks and you give him a tired thumbs up in confirmation, too lazy to type.

"Alright, I'll walk you back down if you like, don't want you getting all lightheaded and going ass over teakettle down the stairs. Sol, I'm takin' Karkat back to his room to sleep now." Dave calls out to Sollux who just nods.

You yawn but instead of it being silent you end up making an awful broken squeaky toy noise that can't be good for your throat, both Dave and Sollux stare at you in clear shock at the noise you created. You press your hand to your sore throat but it doesn't feel like you did anything major to it, nothing new anyway.

"I'll... come with you." Sollux says slowly.

You're really not sure why he needs to do that but nevertheless you lead your two boyfriends back down to your room. You’re glad that you don’t have to breathe because the movement is painful, any movement of your chest is painful. Going down the stairs you can’t really look down at where you’re going, thanks to your neck, but with Sollux leading you kind of know where everything is and Dave has his arm around your waist to support you. The journey down to your floor is slower than usual but neither of them comment on it. You let yourself into your dorm room and find that Rose is reading a book on time magic on the sofa, her legs curled under one of her crocheted and decidedly non-magical blankets.

"Oh, Karkat, are you feeling better?" Rose asks pleasantly.

"He seems about the same. Also Sollux couldn't get that drink for him, the verdict is it could make him worse." Dave explains.

"Better to be safe than sorry then. Oh, Kanaya also blessed a six pack of water bottles for you, I left them on the counter and there's two chilling in the fridge." Rose tells you. You note the wary look that Sollux gives the bottles, as if they might somehow throw themselves all over him without any assistance from anyone.

THANK YOU ROSE. I'LL MESSAGE KANAYA A THANK YOU AS WELL.

"It's no problem at all, she's very worried about you. I suppose she's had enough of a brush with the asshole that possessed you to feel bad for you dealing with the same thing." Rose says.

"Yeah... everything that guy touches he makes worse. What he did to Kanaya's family is terrible, Mituna never deserved that shit. I'm just glad he's not in you anymore." Sollux shudders.

You reach out and gently squeeze Sollux's hand, you know just how personal that attack was. How much the devil possessing you wanted to cause pain, even though he simultaneously didn't care about Sollux at all. It was horrible. You hate that he had to deal with that at all or ever. He squeezes your hand back and then lets go to walk into your room. From the way his larger eyes are shut and he's looking around with his smaller set you suppose he's checking for anything untoward. It'll make you feel better if he does that, but more importantly it'll probably lessen everyone else's anxiety about you too. You let him get on with it and move the conversation on.

I'M GOING TO SLEEP, COULD YOU TAKE NOTES FOR ME ROSE?

"Absolutely. I will also try to stop Dave drawing dicks in the margins of my notes for you but I'm afraid to say that he is somewhat of an unstoppable force in that regard." Rose sighs.

"You can't keep me from my art and my audience Rose. The audience craves my work. The audience in this specific case being Karkat and my work being my dick art." Dave says.

YOUR ASSERTION THEN, IS THAT I CRAVE YOUR DICK?

"God, Karkat, what have I said about you being so forward? I know you want my body but I'm a modest and delicate person!" Dave gasps.

You maturely shove him over the back of the sofa. Being a good sister Rose takes the opportunity to poke him in the stomach so that he yelps and then falls all the way to the floor in the heap. You nod in the assessment of a job well done, fist bump Rose and then with a wave walk off to your room. As you get inside you see Sollux squinting at your books and Abraxas who is peeking out from between two volumes at him. You tap Sollux on the shoulder to show him your phone.

YOU LEAVE ABRAXAS ALONE, IT HASN'T DONE ANYTHING WRONG. WHAT ARE YOU EVEN LOOKING FOR BEFORE YOU GO, ANYWAY?

"I'm not going anywhere. I'm just checking that no one's tried to get in here since I was last down here." Sollux answers.

WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU'RE NOT GOING ANYWHERE?

"I mean I'm not going anywhere. The others have class and I'm not leaving you alone." Sollux shrugs.

YOU SHARE THOSE SAME CLASSES WITH THEM, FUCKNUTS. YOU CAN'T JUST KEEP DITCHING ALL THE TIME.

"And yet I can, have, and will." Sollux shrugs.

I KNOW I'M A MAGNET FOR DISASTER BUT I'M NOT GOING TO GO ANYWHERE OR DO ANYTHING IN THE FEW HOURS THAT YOU'RE IN CLASS AND I'M UNSUPERVISED. I'M NOT COMPLETELY PATHETIC. I HAVE NO PLANS TO FIGHT ANY GODS, READ ANYTHING CURSED OR FLY AT ANYTHING FROM A GREAT HEIGHT. MY BOLD PLAN IS A NAP, I’M CAPABLE OF THAT.

"Sure, but you are injured. Also you were recently possessed by a god, the god who is arguably still rightfully the leader of all demons. You know some demons aren't cool with me and my maker but they have to respect authority, if people find out that he was in you they might try to grab you and- and rip you into bits to try to find any trace of him or something. I'm not letting that happen." Sollux says and grimaces as he tries to imagine what might happen.

HOW WOULD ANY DEMON KNOW THOUGH? COULD THEY SENSE IT ON ME OR SOMETHING? BUT EVEN IF THAT'S THE CASE I'M NOT GOING ANYWHERE RIGHT NOW.

"Mituna told Latula, Latula was compelled to tell Redglare and there's a possibility other teals heard and teals are gossipy bitches. I mean they're terrifying and good at what they do but trying to get them to keep a secret unless you pay them for it is near impossible. If anyone but Redglare heard then that information is out there now and I'm not dealing with that. So, I'm staying here. " Sollux insists.

Well that's a terrifying new prospect that you have to deal with now. You guess it's also going to be hard to find out if people know because Sollux can't ask without giving the whole thing away or make people inclined to investigate what's going on anyway.

OH GOOD, GREAT. ANOTHER THING TO DEAL WITH.

"I'm sorry. I'll find out soon if anything has actually got out or not and I'll see if I can screw around with trying to make you a space protected from demons that aren't me, but you need to own a place to do that so you'd probably have to move out of here and to a place off campus and purchasing property is... uuuugh." Sollux squeezes his eyes shut and rubs his temples. He really has been doing a lot to try to look after you.

HOW COME ROXY DIDN'T INSIST ON THAT SAME THING FOR ROSE AND DAVE WHEN THEY MOVED HERE?

"I don't know. Maybe she thinks of Salem as safe because she liked it here or maybe Dave convinced her that living in dorms was part of the experience and handwaved it like that." Sollux shrugs. That doesn't really explain anything at all. Why would she be so reasonable with that and not with everything else?

WELL I'M GOING TO SLEEP SO YOU CAN DO WHATEVER YOU WANT. I'M GOING TO TRY TO NOT THINK ABOUT DEMONS DISMANTLING ME TO FIND THEIR GOD.

"I'll end anyone who tries to hurt you." Sollux says without a hint that he's being hyperbolic. Sweet, unsettling and very him.

Yeah, you definitely would rather be asleep than think about this. You crawl into bed and Sollux settles on the foot of it and patiently waits like some kind of bodyguard.

Over the next few days you're always with someone, either Sollux or Dave and you think Dave is only an acceptable substitute because he's so practiced at summoning Sollux so it's basically the same thing. You're pretty sure that Sollux still has that theory about you and Rose because when she spends time with you Sollux often finds something to do in the next room as if to give you two privacy. It's not really needed but it's kind of nice to not be right next to Sollux all the time. Not that you don't like his company, you do, but it's a pretty strong reminder that you're in danger. Laying with your head in Rose's lap is nice and you can convince yourself that it's more normal. It also makes you want to talk about things that have been weighing on your mind since you got possessed. When it's just the two of you alone you and Rose have taken to messaging each other directly on trollian so it's not so apparent that you're the only one that can't physically talk.

carcinoGeneticist [CG] began trolling  tentacleTherapist [TT]  
  
CG: ROSE, CAN I TELL YOU SOMETHING AND IT STAYS JUST BETWEEN US?  
TT: Unless it would very reasonably put your life in danger I don't see why I would have any problems keeping your confidence.   
CG: YEAH IF TELLING A SECRET OF MINE SAVES MY LIFE GO AHEAD AND DO THAT.  
TT: Noted.  
TT: What's on your mind?  
CG: SOLLUX TOLD ME NOT TO TELL DAVE THIS AND I'M NOT SURE WHAT TO THINK ABOUT THAT BUT SO FAR I HAVEN'T.   
TT: Concerning, but I think I could still reasonably be trusted with this secret. Go on.  
CG: WHEN I WAS POSSESSED BY *HIM* I COULD FEEL WHAT HE WAS DOING, NOT JUST PHYSICALLY TO MY BODY BUT IN MY MIND.   
CG: HE WENT LOOKING THROUGH MY MEMORIES AND PULLED DAVE AND SOLLUX OUT AND SENT ME WALKING BACK TO THEIR DORM TO FIND THEM SPECIFICALLY.   
CG: IT WASN'T THAT HE WAS LOOKING FOR PEOPLE CLOSE TO ME TO TORMENT ME, HE WAS GOING FOR THEM.  
CG: HE ALREADY KNEW THEM.  
TT: That's... concerning. I can see why Sollux might not want Dave knowing that. Finding out that the literal Devil wants you dead would be unsettling for anyone.   
TT: I suppose it makes some kind of sense though.  
CG: HOW SO?  
TT: Well where the gods are stored in the moon mostly stops them from reaching us, I've only been able to get snippets of things from my patron but that doesn't mean that they can't in some way be aware of what's down here.   
TT: Moreover Sollux is very high ranking indeed so it's entirely possible that he would be someone worth checking in on.  
TT: Seeing that Sollux is in a relationship with a human would probably paint a target on Dave's back.  
CG: I CAN SEE THAT BUT I FELT LIKE HE KNEW DAVE TOO.  
TT: That doesn't make sense, Dave was a child before The Event.

"But time was strange..." Rose murmurs aloud.

Yeah, it was. Who's to say that whatever made there be an older version of Rose in the past didn't happen with Dave too? What if Dave, like his mother, had attracted the wrong sort of attention? Or even if that attention was because of his connection to Roxy?

"I feel like I always have more questions than answers these days." Rose sighs. She looks back down at her phone and starts to type again instead of speak.

TT: Regardless I will keep this secret for you. Partly because I think Sollux's assessment that this won't be helpful for Dave is true. I also think that if Dave was in imminent danger then Sollux would tell him.   
TT: Although I can't help but feel that a lot of our problems are caused by a lack of knowledge here.  
CG: SO KEEPING THINGS FROM EACH OTHER ISN'T SMART.  
TT: Indeed.   
TT: Honestly the fact that we all have missing memories is so suspicious.   
CG: BECAUSE WHAT'S GONE FROM YOU SEEMS TARGETED?  
TT: Yes. I know this was done because of The Event, but I can't help but wonder who benefits from us losing that past?  
TT: Why those memories? What is gained?  
CG: YOU THINK SOMEONE TOOK THOSE PAST MEMORIES FROM YOU FOR A REASON?  
TT: I know it's a human instinct to attribute big events to big causes. That's how gods come about, it's why people believe in conspiracy theories. If something huge happens people want to believe it was for some big grand reason and not dumb luck or an accident.   
TT: We don't do well with chaos. Even if something is negative we'd rather believe that this served someone's goal.   
CG: AND YET YOU THINK THAT THIS IS SPECIFIC AND NOT RANDOM.  
TT: Yes, I really don't think I'm seeing something in nothing here.   
TT: If I was to leave a message for my future self and I knew some random accident was coming that would erase a lot of my memory then the first thing I would say to my future self discovering that message would be that.  
CG: BUT INSTEAD YOU WENT ON ABOUT HOW EVERYONE BUT ME HAS THEIR OWN MOTIVES OR WHATEVER.  
TT: Which suggests motive, yes.   
CG: I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY YOU WOULDN'T INCLUDE DAVE THOUGH. I CAN UNDERSTAND NOT CONFIDING IN YOUR MOTHER BECAUSE OF HER STATE OF MIND, BUT DAVE?  
TT: The only thing I can think of there is that Dave doesn't have as good of a poker face as he thinks he does and Sollux finds him easy to read on the rare occasions that Dave does try to keep things secret. Sollux can be compelled by deals and commands from his maker so Dave is a weak point there. That's the only reason that comes to mind. I don't think Dave is going to betray me or anything, I'm not that paranoid.   
CG: WELL THAT'S GOOD AT LEAST.   
TT: Speaking of Dave he was asking me to ask if you felt up to going out to get a drink all together. I know you're still not eating but I think Dave is hoping to get a milkshake or other absurd drink into you that has some sugar in it.   
CG: THAT COULD BE A GOOD IDEA. IT'S GOOD THAT HE ASKED YOU TO ASK ME.  
CG: HE COULDN'T ASK ME HIMSELF, WE WOULD REQUIRE SOME KIND OF MESSAGING APP FOR THAT.  
TT: Tragic that no one has invented such a thing.  
CG: YES. TRAGIC.  
  
carcinoGeneticist [CG] ceased trolling  tentacleTherapist [TT]

You suppose that you had better message Dave then.

carcinoGeneticist [CG] began trolling  turntechGodhead [TG]  
  
CG: SO WE'RE AT THE STAGE WHERE YOU HAVE TO ASK YOUR SISTER TO ASK ME OUT, HUH?  
TG: wait whoa thats not what happened  
CG: OH REALLY? DO TELL.  
TG: look i knew shed be seeing you and i just asked her to judge if you seemed well enough to go out and have some fun with everyone  
TG: i didnt want to ask you directly because i didnt wanna pressure you you know  
CG: I'M NOT THAT FRAGILE EMOTIONALLY, YOU KNOW. IF I WASN'T UP TO IT I COULD JUST TELL YOU THAT.  
TG: except youre wildly stubborn  
CG: THAT'S NOT TRUE AND I WILL DIE ON THAT HILL. I'M NOT STUBBORN AT ALL.  
TG: im going to be very strong and not make innuendo about how flexible you may or may not be  
TG: and instead im gonna ask if that means you do want to come out for a drink of your choice  
TG: you gotta drink something other than holy water  
TG: i asked sollux if you had to eat and he wasnt super helpful  
CG: EXACTLY WHAT DID HE TELL YOU WHEN YOU ASKED HIM THAT?  
TG: well he mentioned that up in bureaucracy nightmare heaven you wouldnt need to eat because you dont in planes like that  
TG: same as you dont need to in hell but you can  
CG: I SUPPOSE DEMONS WOULD BE ALL ABOUT EATING AND DRINKING FOR PLEASURE IN A HEDONISTIC KIND OF WAY. THAT ACTUALLY SOUNDS WAY BETTER THAN HEAVEN.  
TG: chalk a point up in its favour but take one down for the ambiance being literally on fire everywhere probably  
CG: AN INTERESTING YELP REVIEW FOR SURE.  
TG: he then said that you always did eat when he was around you for long enough down here but hes not sure if you were doing it to blend in or just because you liked it or because you had to  
TG: he did say you were awful without coffee though  
TG: but we knew that  
CG: I RESENT THAT ACCURATE REMARK.  
CG: I DON'T KNOW IF I FEEL WEAK FROM NOT EATING RIGHT NOW, EVERYTHING FEELS SO PHYSICALLY TERRIBLE ANYWAY THAT IT'S HARD TO DIFFERENTIATE.  
TG: so carefully drinking something with sugar in it might be an idea  
CG: YEAH, IF NOTHING ELSE GETTING OUT MIGHT BE NICE. AS LONG AS YOU DON'T MIND WALKING AT MY PACE.   
TG: no way dude im all up for it  
TG: ill get the others and be right down  
  
turntechGodhead [TG] ceased trolling  carcinoGeneticist [CG]

As you get up and start to get ready to go out you find that Sollux doesn't fuss at you. He's nearby keeping watch but he doesn't actively reach out to help unless it's super obvious that you can't do something alone or unless you ask for help. He'll hand you your coat that you'd have to raise your arms up to get from the hook, which is something that you can't do right now, but he doesn't run and put your shoes on for you. You're more than capable of shoving your feet in them and sitting on the sofa to tie the laces up yourself. You think he's aware of your weakness right now but isn't babying you about it. It's interesting, nice and in a certain way it's respectful.

Rose on the other hand is flitting about trying to gather your things for you as well as her own. Not that she's belittling you, it's more that she's casually showing that she cares by assisting you when she does her own things. Both ways of dealing with your current state are so different.

Of course all this would be easier if you had the magic power to summon your own clothing but you can't seem to do much of anything right now and you're too tired to keep trying. Given that you have physical clothes in your room you're fine to just wear those. Quite honestly you're happy that your clothes remained existing after Dave took them off you or else you might have been exposing yourself to far more people than you were okay with, more than you already were in just your underwear that is.

You're just finishing your laces and getting up when Dave lets himself in. Bec bounds in the room past him and Sollux immediately stops looking so on guard and kneels down so he can cuddle and pet Bec who is absolutely delighted at the attention, as always.

"I did bring Bec over for Karkat but I guess Sollux gets first dibs!" Jade laughs from behind Dave.

Dave steps inside so June and Jade can wait in the doorway for you all. You don't miss the way your friends look you over with a wince of sympathy and concern.

"Dave said you can't even talk, that's... something for you man. I'm sorry." June says worriedly. You hold up your phone by way of explanation for how you plan to communicate.

Jade walks past Dave into the room and stands before you, looking you over.

"Can I give you a hug or are you too in pain?" she asks.

"He got stabbed through the chest, probably not a good idea." Rose answers for you.

"Well, you can bank that one then, mister. You'll get all the saved up ones I have for you the moment that you're better." Jade says in a threatening tone, wagging her finger in your face.

You smile, genuinely touched by how much your friends care. Jade nods, seemingly satisfied that you understand her promise of future hugs. With that done she looks over at Bec and whistles. Bec snaps to attention and bounds to her side, leaving Sollux kneeling alone on the floor somewhat plastered in staticky white dog fur which stands out starkly on his black clothes.

"Bec is going to look after you. If you need to lean on someone you can lean on Bec. He'll keep people away from you in the street so no one bumps into you and hurts you. He'll protect you and look after you." Jade promises you.

"Your own hellhound bodyguard!" June agrees cheerily from the doorway.

"Exactly! You got that Bec? Protect Karkat!" Jade orders and Bec barks loudly, his tail wagging happily.

With your new guard dog assigned your whole group leaves the building at a slow walk. As you go down the stairs Bec braces your hand on his shoulders so you're supporting yourself evenly between him and the handrail. None of your friends complain about the slow speed at all and even though every so often one of them checks you over silently, no one is fussing. It's... good. Nice and normal.

"So I meant to tell you, we were in Mindfang's class today and Rose told her why you weren't there and she got all bent out of shape about it and actually went to check her email to see about you being excused by Ms. Paint." Dave starts.

WAIT, WHY WAS SHE SO MUCH MORE BOTHERED ABOUT ME BEING MISSING INSTEAD OF SOLLUX?

"I do what I want." Sollux answers, having glanced at your phone.

"Idk man, she just wasn't. Point being she actually called up Ms. Paint to snap about how she couldn't injure her students and she had no authority to excuse you from class, blah, blah, blah." Dave goes on.

"It was really over the top." June agrees from the front of your group.

"But Ms. Paint was clearly chewing her out over the phone for daring to question her and you could just see Mindfang trying to walk the whole thing back and straight up wilting at having to talk to her and get lectured by Ms. Paint. It was the best thing I've ever seen." Dave snorts.

"It was deeply satisfying." Rose agrees.

AM I GOING TO BE IN TROUBLE FOR MISSING CLASS THOUGH? you show that to Rose and Dave.

"I doubt it after that. But feel free to tell Ms. Paint if Mindfang gives you trouble for it, I'd dearly love to see a repeat performance of that." Rose grins malevolently.

You put your phone away and rest your hand on Bec's back as you walk along. You're getting tired really quickly but you also don't want to stop walking either. No, you're not stubborn, how dare anyone suggest that? All the same you manage to make it to the coffee place that you and Dave frequent and you're more than happy to drop into one of the sofas and wait for Dave to fetch the drinks. The coffee place has unfortunately already told Jade that she can't bring Bec in when it's really packed and you can tell that it's nearly packed enough that it's a problem. As such you can see Dave asking for the drinks to be a takeout order and you'll just stay sat down until he's done and you can all go across the way to one of the university courtyards with their benches. Despite being January it's not all that cold out and the weather is nice so you're fine to sit outside with a hot drink and talk to your friends.

Dave and Sollux are the ones getting the drinks from the baristas, not least because they're the ones with telekinesis. That said only Sollux is floating drinks, Dave is just carrying them. You guess that just because you can levitate things with your brain doesn't mean that it's easier to do so. Bec helps you up by gently pulling on the sleeve of your coat and bracing his body against yours, you wish you could tell him that he's a good boy but you still can't talk. You hope that scratches behind his ears will get the message across.

All of you cross over and take your seats on the benches. Dave sits on the back of the bench and gets you to sit in front of him, it's a clever idea. Your shoulders rest against his legs but the wound in the middle of your chest doesn't touch anything at all. It also means that he can see your phone easier. June does the same thing with Jade at the other end of the bench, Rose sits next to you in the middle and Sollux floats in the air facing you all.

"So the one you've got is a regular mocha with nothing fancy or hard on your throat, and this one's a lemon tea with sugar in it. I didn't know whether to go for good for your throat or good for giving you energy. Pick whichever one you want." Dave offers you.

"Oh! That reminds me, I nearly forgot! We have beehives back on my island and they have a magical drip filter system for their surplus honey that automatically bottles it and I got Bec to fetch me a little bottle for you Karkat. It was always really good for me whenever I got sick and my throat hurt. I know your situation is way worse than just a cold but it might help." Jade says and hurriedly rummages about in her bag before producing a small and delicate bottle of amber dark honey. You take it from her, touched at her thoughtfulness and have to fumble for your phone right away.

JADE, YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO DO THAT. THIS IS SO NICE OF YOU. THANK YOU, REALLY.

You show your phone to her, already feeling yourself welling up with emotion.

"No, shut up, stupid. We're friends and I care about you." Jade insists.

"Yeah, dumbass, we value you as a person." June agrees.

DID YOU JUST SAY THAT SO YOU COULD CALL ME A DUMBASS AND GET AWAY WITH IT?

"Maybe, but I do also value you and like you a lot. Dumbass." June grins.

Augh, you friends are so nice to you. You've never had this before.

"Uh, Karkat. You're... you're glowing a little." Rose says quietly and points at your head.

Shit, your halo. You focus and feel it die down.

"That's kind of a good sign, if you've got the magical power to do that then you've got to be making some progress after all." Sollux notes.

"Hell yeah. C'mon, pick a drink and see if we can't get two wins in one trip." Dave says cheerily and holds the cups out for you again.

Since you got this lovely honey from Jade you think you'll go with the tea just so you can put a little of it in and appreciate your gift. You make your choice and hold the cup between your knees as you uncork the bottle. Bec hopefully sniffs at the cup because there's always that possibility that something you have might really be for Bec. At least that's what Bec seems to think. With a wiggle you get the lid off and rest it on your knee and carefully drip some of the honey in. Without you even thinking to ask Dave produces one of those little wooden stirrers. You give him a surprised look, you didn't see he had them earlier.

"Don't give me that look. I always take those even if I don't end up using them for drinks they're great for tiny sword fights." Dave tells you.

You don't really have an argument to that one and you think that trying to come up with one will just make you look as foolish as him. Still, you stir your drink well enough for the honey to disperse and then recap it.

You're wary about drinking. Your throat isn't exactly... intact right now. It's fine with drinking holy water because you want it to get everywhere so it heals you but you don't want to drink and have tea like... leak out of your neck. Ugh, that's so gross, you're REALLY trying not to think about it. Still, you have this honey as a gift in here and your boyfriend bought you this drink. You could benefit from the sugar and honey in here to heal and you can't stay worried about eating and drinking forever.

As you're having this internal struggle your friends have moved the topic of conversation on into light hearted discussion about movies as Dave catches them up about 50 first dates and his thoughts on the topic. Tentatively you take a sip of your drink and though it tastes great it doesn't feel fantastic going down. It does, however, feel really good to be drinking something warm and delicious. It feels good for you so you power through the pain in your throat and delicately sip your way through your drink. It really does taste great, you'll need to properly thank Jade later.

"Obviously you can't do it here but I wonder if getting your wings out could make your back heal up. Your anatomy back there alters a bit between your forms, it could prompt your body to heal." Sollux muses.

"What if he gets them stuck out though?" Rose asks.

"They'd only stay out until he got enough energy back to change, but it's not ideal, you're right." Sollux agrees.

"Well he already had the glow earlier, is there anything in between he could try to see if he's up to it before we commit to body mods?" Dave asks.

"Testing him progressively you mean?" Jade asks.

"Yeah, exactly." Dave nods.

LIKE CLOTHING CHANGES OR SOMETHING?

"Hmm, there's a risk of you replacing what you're wearing now and then losing it. Flashing is probably not a good idea." Sollux says.

You're not sure if your physical real world clothes would dematerialise if you summoned magical clothing, you've not tested it, but you're not about to try to prove Sollux wrong at the risk of exposing yourself in public.

"You could summon your weapon. That should be pretty instinctive for you and not too much effort. Then if you can't get rid of it I can hold onto it for you." Sollux suggests.

That's not a bad idea. You nod carefully, trying not to move your head too far, and drink a bit more of your drink. With that steadying you it's time for you to focus and pull your weapon out of... wherever it goes to. It's harder to do if you're thinking about it too much so you just do it like ripping off a bandaid. Only... it doesn't work right.

Instead of pulling out your sickle you summon a sword, a sword that immediately glitches and corrupts into something eye searingly blue and pixelated. Despite all logic it seems to somehow be 2D and as such clips through your hand like a bad video game asset. It jerkily floats away from you like the Unreal Air and when it's about ten feet up in the air diagonally away from you it explodes into glitchy pixels. All of your friends stare in disbelief.

"That's... not what normally happens." Sollux says slowly.

I THINK I'M STILL A LITTLE OFF.

"Yeah, man. I'd say so." Dave says sympathetically and pats your shoulder.

June leans forward on the bench and types away on her phone, a little frown on her face.

"Could his balance be off with regards to..." Rose gestures upwards and downwards meaning heaven and hell, "like if a person was very unwell and their body's microbiology hadn't recovered properly, or when you take antibiotics for too long?"

"Maybe. It's never happened to demons before because his side don't do this or if they do it's only to each other or maybe humans, but not demons. It's kind of uncharted territory here." Sollux admits.

"But he was able to summon something, that's a good sign." Jade points out.

"Yeah. Even if he's not back to normal yet it's still progress." Dave agrees.

THANKS, I APPRECIATE IT. I JUST HOPE I CAN TALK AGAIN SOON.

"I'm sure you will but in the meantime we'll be as accommodating as we possibly can." Rose assures you.

"Ok my butt has gone to sleep, we could go for a chill walk around the park maybe." June suggests.

Bec hears the word 'walk' and starts bouncing in place eagerly.

"Are you okay with that, Karkat?" Rose asks.

ROSE, HOW CAN I SAY NO TO THAT FACE? you show her the message with one hand and gesture to Bec's eager face with the other. He also seems to think you're about to pet him but forgot how and bumps his head into your hand.

You all get up, aside from Sollux who technically gets down, and start walking. The park isn't too far away and everyone is clearly enjoying the leisurely walk. Sollux and Dave are behind you with Bec and June at your side, Jade and Rose leading the way. It seems almost like the moment that your little group crosses the threshold to the park that Sollux's phone starts pinging. He only just gets it out to look at it when it rings in his hand.

"Redglare, what's- wait... seriously? The whole... was anyone hurt? Thank fuck but... no, I can't come over I-" Sollux frowns and paces back and forth, listening to whatever Redglare is telling him down the phone.

The rest of you just watch with obvious concern as Sollux seems to come to some decision. He looks at you and the rest of your group.

"One second." he tells Redglare and holds the phone to his chest to stop her from hearing what he's saying.

"I have to go. Dave, you'll stay with Karkat right? If anything happens to him you summon me." Sollux says.

"Yeah, of course. What's gone on?" Dave asks.

"Someone sent a trapped package to Redglare’s office, a bunch of holy relics mixed in with what might be fakes just launched everywhere. No one was hurt but I've got to go help figure out what happened." Sollux says with a shake of his head.

"Eeesh. That's awful. I promise I'll keep the closest eye on him possible." Dave vows and with that Sollux vanishes.

"It must have been some group that hates demons, but what an awful thing to do." Jade says quietly.

"I thought relics didn't work like that any more." Rose frowns. Yeah, you thought things like that stopped carrying importance in the same way that religious symbols don't. But then again maybe if it was from a genuinely holy source it could still work, like how Kanaya is holy enough by relation to make holy water. You're not really sure how this works.

Seeing as none of you can possibly help Redglare or Sollux right now you all slowly continue walking through the park. You're not sure if you should try to breathe to exercise your chest or if you're better off aggravating it as little as possible. Rose is talking to Jade up ahead about the statue in the centre of the park from the witch burnings which only reminds you of the fire resistance spells you should be learning in different languages by being in class instead of off injured like this.

You start to feel a little warm and unbutton your coat. The air around you feels hot and clammy like a summer storm. Except no one else seems to notice it so you can only assume that it's just your body still being out of whack. You feel hotter and hotter as your walk goes on and even though you're not going far at all it seems like a lot all of a sudden. You waver and Bec whines at you, pressing into you to steady you.

"Karkat? You okay?" Dave asks and quickly steps around next to Bec so he can see your face.

You shrug a little helplessly and wince as it pulls at your chest.

"Uh, you kind of look like shit." Dave says in alarm.

"Maybe we walked too far, he is looking kind of sweaty." June agrees and you weakly glare at both of them.

Dave reaches out and presses his hand to your forehead.

"Oh shit, you're burning up. Guys, feel him." Dave gasps, which prompts ALL of your friends to touch your forehead or in June's case the back of your neck.

"He's definitely too warm. Let's get you back to the dorm." Rose agrees.

"Good idea." June nods.

They've decided this without asking you what you want but thankfully their decision to take you back is exactly what you want. You only wish that you could be teleported there. You're half tempted to ask Sollux if he could take you and damn the consequences but he's busy.

The walk back to your dorm building is blessedly short, your group had the sense to not walk too far away for situations just like this one. It's only when you get to the stairs that you feel despair well up inside you. There's no time to get upset at the idea of having to climb stairs though because quick as a flash June slings your arm around the back of her neck and picks you up bridal style. Instead of helping you Dave snaps a picture on his phone and if he's not immediately sending that to Sollux to explain that you're being taken back to your dorm then, well, you'd be shocked is all. June carries you up seemingly without effort and when she puts you down on the floor in your dorm she flexes just to prove a point about how strong she is.

THANKS you're only being semi sarcastic about that too.

"Come on, let's get you into your room." June says and steers you in that direction.

"Oh, it's ok. I got it." Dave tells her.

"Yeah, we should probably go back and give Karkat some peace." Jade agrees.

"Uh, no... I just need to ask Karkat something." June says, still moving you towards your room.

"Dude, it can wait." Dave points out as you stumble into your room.

"It really can't, just gimme a sec ok thanks!" June says in a hurry and slams your bedroom door almost in Dave's face.

There's a sharp sound and the smell of ozone in the air. Above your head the lights flare to show that someone is knocking on your door, most likely Dave. June backs up a little, giving the door a wary look.

"Ok, that'll be good for a minute. Karkat, I need to talk to you." June says seriously.

You sit on the edge of the bed and fish your phone out once more.

ABOUT WHAT? WHY DID YOU NEED TO TALK TO ME ALONE AND DID YOU JUST DO SOMETHING TO MY DOOR?

"Don't worry about that, we don't have time to think about- about that." June looks over at the door as purple light flares around the small gaps at its edges.

"Listen to me, you were possessed by a God. A very dangerous one and a very powerful one. That sword you pulled out earlier is something you shouldn't be able to do, that's his sort of thing. If you can do it then there's a good chance that he's still in there somewhere." June explains urgently.

WAIT, YOU'RE SAYING THAT I'M STILL POSSESSED?!

"Yes, I am and we need to fix it." she nods.

SHIT, WE NEED TO TELL SOLLUX AND KANAYA. WHY DID YOU GET ME IN HERE ON MY OWN? IF I'M DANGEROUS YOU SHOULDN'T BE ALONE WITH ME!

"They can't help, or they won't. Listen, I can help you. I... oh fuck I don't have time to explain about different magical aspects." June mutters. More violet light flares around your doorway and the light above you is going nuts, the others are trying to get in.

LIKE BLOOD AND DOOM?

"Oh, you already know. That's a lot easier I guess. Well, this god's aspect is heart. If he's in you and laying low enough to reinfect you then he'll be in your heart." June explains.

BUT MY HEART IS THE THING I NEED TO LIVE. IF IT'S DESTROYED I LOSE MY BODY, RIGHT?

"It'll also break his connection to you. I don't want to destroy anything, just stop your heart and start it again. Like those shock paddle things." June says and holds up her hand. She separates her index and middle finger and electricity arcs between them. When the fuck did she learn to do that?!

JUNE YOU'RE NOT A DOCTOR

"I know what I'm doing but I don't have time to explain. I managed to knock out a cell tower around here to stop Dave messaging Sollux but I can't stop him summoning him and I'm really serious about this being dangerous. Karkat, if he gets control of you again he WILL make you kill your friends, our friends. He'll be more subtle this time now he's had time to plan and you can't count on the others noticing in time. If you don't let me do this people will die. I'm your friend Karkat, trust me." June pleads.

WAIT WAIT, WHY DO YOU HAVE TO SHOCK MY HEART IN THE FIRST PLACE? THE HOLY WATER DROWNING WORKED BEFORE!

“It didn’t really because we’re in THIS situation!” June argues.

OKAY BUT IT MADE ME STOP TRYING TO KILL PEOPLE!

“I- ugh, listen, he’s smart. He’s really smart. Last time he got out through you he was probably desperate and just did what he could in the time he had, you’re an angel so there could have been a chance you could have thrown him out maybe. I don’t know. But seeing as you’re still connected that means he’s had time to think about it, it means he can come back and he’ll know that. He’ll be smarter, subtler. We might not even notice and then everything will be over, okay?!” June insists.

NO ONE WILL KNOW IT’S HAPPENED YOU MEAN?

“Yes, that’s what I’m saying. I wouldn’t do this if we weren’t literally out of any other options. I don’t want to hurt you, that’s the last thing I want. I know you don’t want to hurt anyone either.” she says.

June is your friend and you do trust her but this sounds dangerous as all hell, but at the same time the fact that it's so dangerous probably means that Sollux wouldn't be willing to do this to you. What if YOU made holy water and used it on Sollux? If Kanaya has the holiness to do it you bet you do too and there's no way that the fucker who was puppeting your body around before would hold onto a trick like that and not use it. He's half the reason Sollux is so twitchy about some things, you're sure of it. You can't let him be hurt like that again, much less through you.

"Karkat please-"

ALRIGHT I'LL DO IT. I WON'T PUT EVERYONE ELSE AT RISK.

June's plea turns into a relieved exhale and she nods.

"I will bring you back as soon as I can. Let's get you on the floor, I don't know if the metal springs in your bed will interfere with anything but I'm not willing to chance it." June says and eases you onto your back on the floor.

It also somewhat suggests someone who has never done this before but you've already committed to this.

June pushes your shirt up and peels your bandages off. Her hand rests just above the cut in your chest, right over your heart that Sollux couldn't bring himself to stab. The room crackles with building electricity and you just get a flash of Sollux appearing in the corner before your chest spasms and everything goes black.

You open your eyes with a groan, that really hurt. Like being hit in the chest with a mallet or something. You pass a few moments on the ground feeling sorry for yourself and wincing. When your pity party is over with, you sit up and look around. The pain fades as quickly as it came and when you touch your own chest you can't help but note that it doesn't feel really and truly real. Looking around the area you've woken up in, it becomes incredibly clear that this isn't your dorm room at all. You're in a rolling green field, sunlight filters down above you in a way that's neither too bright nor too warm. You stand up and feel something in your chest spasm and ache. Looking down at yourself you realise that you're not wearing the clothes you were a moment ago but the clothes that you woke up in after you'd gone through your bird forms.

The top slice of your chest is exposed if somewhat covered by your silly cloak, but as you look at it you see something glitch through you. Shattered like glass but moving like something alive, it flickers through your chest and into the air.

Out of... instinct or something, you grab it.

You suppose that you don’t have a lot to complain about, and you probably shouldn’t do that anyway. Your name is Dirk and you’ve been alive for sixteen years. Every day of your life more or less has fit the same kind of pattern. You study texts from other angels about combat, you practice combat by yourself and then on Sundays the master of whatever you’re studying shows up to spar with you and assess your progress.   
  
You have bested everyone who has trained you. Not immediately of course, but eventually.  
  
Your maker is God herself and from what you understand very few angels can say that. You also speak to her directly more than most angels, not that you speak to her a lot. She’s busy observing the universe, the entirety of space and subtly influencing things. That’s what you’re told.   
  
“Why do I have to be alone so much? Wouldn’t I be better at anticipating people if I saw them more?” you ask your maker as you sit on the edge of reality with her.   
  
“That would be a benefit, yes. But your purpose is combat, I need you sharp. You’re a blade, Dirk. You don’t use a finely honed weapon to pick up or poke every little thing you see, do you?” she asks.   
  
“I guess not.” you shrug.   
  
“When will I even be ready to fight him? The devil is just down there, I feel like I’m ready.” you say, gathering up your courage to do so.   
  
“You’re not ready and neither is your weapon.” she tells you.   
  
In confusion you hold your hand out and summon your sword to show that your weapon is, in fact, very ready.   
  
“You won’t be using that when the time comes. Anyway, you should go practice.” she says, and her eyes are already shifting away from you and back out to the rest of the universe.   
  
You’re dismissed. It’s a suggestion at this point but you know it can be more if you test her. However bored you are you’re not stupid.   
  
You train, you fight. You beat Seraphim and thrones, both on their own and in groups to simulate what it might be like to fight demons. Your life continues. Until one day your maker calls you to her again. She takes her attention off of the rest of the universe completely for the whole interaction with you. She leans down and smiles at you, her eyes green and filled with stars and her clawed hands cradling your jaw.   
  
“It’s time. The sword you need is down on Earth now and you are ready. You need to defeat my brother, he needs to die.” she tells you.  
  
You vibrate on an atomic level at the mere idea of getting to finally do what you were made for but you keep it cool and just nod. You don’t know how to get down to Earth but your maker simply sets her hand on your back and pushes you into the right plane of reality.   
  
Earth is… something.  
  
It’s nothing like Heaven but you pick up things quickly. First of all you learn to hide what you are, it takes you driving a few humans to madness and one to death before you figure that out. Then you learn that pretending to be human involves a LOT of walking. Your maker didn’t tell you exactly where this sword is but you’re sure she’ll pull you in the right direction should you stray.   
  
Humanity also sort of sucks. It’s not a thing you should really think but they do. Your maker made this whole world for them, right? And they’re running around being generally kind of shitty like she isn’t watching. Everything they do is so basic too, they barely have magic and have to do things mechanically and they’re only just starting to figure out what to do with metal. You don’t know what you pictured when you thought of the world your maker created but this wasn’t it.   
  
It’s two weeks into your time on Earth when you find the first demon. They’re just possessing some animal, a bear of all things and mauling humans. Bears are dangerous already, all these people are going to think is that they have a bear problem, it’s not going to put the fear of God or the Devil into them at all. You stand and watch as the demon makes this bear rip a human from shoulder to hip and all you can think is that this is stupid.   
  
When the human is done twitching on the ground you exorcise the bear who smartly gets the fuck out of here. You try to ask the demon why he’s doing all of this but he starts off with sarcastic insults which eventually devolves into pleas for his life and screams of agony and zero useful information is gained. You can’t let him _go_, if you do then your target could know that you’re coming. Obviously.   
  
You continue to search for your sword, following stars at night that glow brighter than they should. It takes another week but you find a sphinx lounging by a great lake. It stretches widely and yawns with sharp orange teeth on display, contrasted against a glowing green mouth.   
  
“You took your time. Haha, time.” it laughs.   
  
“Sorry? What?” you say, genuinely puzzled.   
  
“You were supposed to come here, you took a long time getting here. Of claws, you took the amount of time you were always going to but it felt like a long time.” it explains.   
  
You were supposed to be here? Oh, wait, does that mean this sphinx has your sword?  
  
“Do you have my sword?” you ask it. You’re not sure if it’s male or female or what, not that you especially care but you get the feeling it might be uncalled for to ask. Also, you’re here for weapons, not interesting facts about sphinxes.   
  
“It’s not your sword, man.” the sphinx tuts and shakes its head.   
  
“Do you have it or not?” you ask sharply.   
  
“Exactly what are you intending on doing with this very magic sword, anyway? What purrpose do you have in mind for it?” it asks you.  
  
“My maker, God, gave me a-” you start.   
  
“I don’t caaaaare about your orders or your mission. What are you going to do and why? What is this all fur?” the sphinx interrupts you to ask.   
  
“I need to kill the Devil.” you explain.   
  
“Why? Why are you doing it?” the sphinx asks once more.   
  
“It’s my purpose.” you answer, a little helplessly. You’ve never had to justify this before, this is who you are.   
  
“You don’t have to fulfil your purrpose you know. You can do anything you want meow, see the world, do whatever you like.” the sphinx says, waving a paw at the world in general.   
  
“Not really. My maker can compel me to do anything that she orders me to, I’m just an angel and she’s a god. Anyway, I’ve seen Earth and humans, I’ve even seen a demon. None of it is exactly inspiring and I have a job to do, so if you have the sword give it to me.” you insist.  
  
The sphinx looks at you assessingly, its mismatched eyes staring right through you.   
  
“This sword kills gods, you know.” it says finally and lifts a pad of one paw to show a white sword underneath. Not enough for you to be able to get in there to pull it out but enough to show it’s there.   
  
“That’s the idea.” you say flatly.   
  
“There’s a scientist, not that he’s born yet, that has this whole furry about every action having an equal and opposite reaction.” the sphinx goes on. It takes a moment for you to mentally translate furry to theory, but you get there.   
  
“What do you think a sword that kills gods will do to you?” the sphinx asks.   
  
“Is this a riddle?” you ask in return but the creature just shrugs.   
  
Is this sword going to kill you? Will killing your target destroy you too? What… what will you even be for when he’s dead? The thought had never occured to you.   
  
“What… what happened to the last person who used it?” you ask slowly and the sphinx smiles wide and predatory.   
  
“Your understanding of time is so silly, you’ve got to be kitten me. From your lame linear perspective it’s never been used. From it’s view though it’s always been used. But I can tell you about one guy who used it and what happened to him.” the sphinx grins.   
  
You’ve about had it with the puns here.   
  
“He got… a little splinter.” the sphinx laughs.   
  
“Seriously? Is that it? That’s a risk I’m willing to take, so give me the sword.” you demand.   
  
Just as you’re starting to prepare yourself for having to fight this beast for the sword it just lifts its huge paw up and nudges the blade towards you. You pick it up and glare at the sphinx for wasting your time.   
  
“Have fun with the aftermath of your choices!” it calls after you but you don’t dignify the creature with a response.   
  
You store your newfound weapon in your void and take to the skies, you have a god to kill.   
  
What you’re looking for is any area with serious volcanic activity. Obviously you could get into hell by just smashing through the planes or through the ground directly, but that would get you noticed and you need to be stealthy about this. Slipping in through the molten core of the Earth and through the barriers between this plane and that is the quietest way to get in.   
  
You could ask your maker for directions but you haven’t done that up until now so why would you begin at this moment? Besides which, that sphinx said things that have made your mind itch. You’re doing what you’re doing because your maker made you for this and commanded you as such. But… why does she want you to do any of this? Her brother is evil, obviously, but it seems like humanity is far more creative at making mundane evil out of nothing. Not only do humans seem to be doing all the world of evil in this realm but you can’t… see the influence of your maker all that much. You know her work is subtle but this is making subtle look like an overstatement.   
  
You tell yourself that you’re going to stop flying when you see a volcano but you’re not actively seeking one out. Instead you’re chewing over this idea. Why are you doing what you’re doing and what’ll even happen when you succeed? Surely if you kill the Devil then someone else will take his place, right? Does your maker want the position destroyed as well as her brother? If she doesn’t then it just seems like you exist for some sibling death match, which seems as petty and pointless as everything else on Earth.   
  
The storm doesn’t really gather your attention, you’ve flown through them before. Physics is sort of a suggestion at your level of divinity and you can choose to ignore the wind, or you usually can at least. Wind buffers your feathers steering you this way and that against your will. You have to dodge lightning and end up careening into a waterfall to do it. The beating water carries you down, dropping you in a freezing lake that has you gasping and dragging yourself to shore, still soaking wet.   
  
There’s a girl on the shore, pointing at you and howling with laughter and for some reason when you let your form drop away from humanoid she doesn’t lose her mind, die, or explode. Instead she just slaps her knee and snorts before laughing more.   
  
“What… are you?” you ask, squinting at her.   
  
She looks odd to you, as if she’s almost too real. A kind of weight on reality that you’re only used to associating with your maker.  
  
“Ahhh, oh man, your face. Pffft. Sorry about that but I couldn’t resist, way too funny. I’m John.” she introduces herself, holding a hand out.   
  
Her hand looks… suspicious. Far too innocuous, more than real things look.   
  
“I’m not shaking your hand.” you tell her.   
  
“Aw, no fun.” John pouts and tosses a suddenly visible fish behind her shoulder.   
  
“You don’t look like a John.” you point out. You’re not completely familiar with humans yet but you’re starting to get their names and culture a bit and John isn’t a name for people who look like her as far as you’re aware.   
  
John seems surprised and looks down at herself.   
  
“Oh! Yeah, I guess not. I don’t know, I’ve not been around all that long and I’m still working things out or whatever. I don’t want to talk about it. You still haven’t told me YOUR name though, you’re an angel, right?” John says quickly.   
  
“I am. I’m Dirk. What are you?” you ask her again.   
  
“I’m a god! Kind of new, storms and tricks is my deal. I guess I’ve existed longer, swirling around in the collective consciousness of humans and all that. I’ve not really seen angels before though. Obviously I know about your lot but I’ve not seen any of you before.” she says brightly.   
  
"I'm not sure if I'm meant to be acknowledging gods that aren't mine." you say uncertainly.  
  
"I think that ship has kiiiind of sailed here." John points out and floats a little in the air.   
  
"I suppose so. I'm already meant to be killing one god, no point risking damaging my sword on a different one on the way there." you reason.   
  
"Whoa, who're you killing?" she asks and skirts backwards in the air a little.   
  
"The devil." you answer with a shrug.   
  
"Oh, fuck that guy. He's such a creep. The way he treats me when I look like this is gross beyond belief. And the way he talks about people is... ugh. He's someone with a face in serious need of punching, you know?" John says, shaking her head.   
  
"I could see about punching him before I kill him." you offer and John laughs brightly, tipping back in the air so her flowing black hair floats in the wind behind her.   
  
"That'd be great. So, what were you doing here before you decided to land for reasons that were entirely your own and had something to do with unexpected yet comedic storms?" John asks.   
  
"I was going there, needed to find a volcano to get in. I was just sort of drifting a little." you admit.   
  
"Killing someone is a big thing to do." she says with a note of... something in her voice. It's something that you've not heard before but it sounds soft.   
  
"I'm capable of it, I'm skilled enough, I trained." you say defensively and start to walk in the direction that you'd been flying before, you don't trust that she's not going to pull you down again if you take to the air once more.   
  
"I wasn't saying you weren't capable of it or tough enough, it's just a rough thing to have to do. I can't imagine it's any nicer being told to go and do it, even if the guy you're killing is a complete asshole who definitely deserves it." John says, floating along with you.   
  
"Why did you bring it up then?" you ask sharply.   
  
"I was sympathising with you, dumbass." John tuts and continues floating on her back. Her hair is still moving in a breeze that isn't really there and you note that she has intricate little braids with blue engraved beads in them.   
  
"You don't know me." you mutter.   
  
"That doesn't have anything to do with anything. Are you telling me you can't believe that I could be sympathetic to what you have to do without knowing EVERYTHING about you?" John asks in disbelief.   
  
You... don't think anyone has ever been sympathetic to you ever. Not that you have ever been in a position that needed sympathy. You just are living the life you're given and doing what you're made to, there's no alternative. That's not- why would anyone feel sympathy for that?   
  
"Hey, after you kill him what're you going to do?" John asks, filling the silence with her words.   
  
"Whatever my maker tells me I guess." you answer.   
  
"That kind of sucks. But, hey, I'm not here to tell you how to live your life. I know the way to a volcano though, you wanna walk there together?" John offers.   
  
"I get the feeling you're going to follow me even if I say no." you observe and John grins at you knowingly.   
  
It takes a few days to get to where you're going and you're right, John follows you the whole way. She gets the two of you to act as if you're humans, catching and eating food, stopping at night. The slower pace is nicer, but observing John is interesting. Her form changes sometimes. Sometimes she looks like a man, sometimes she's kind of vague but powerfully glowing like ball lightning with her eyes and smile leaving after images when you blink. As you travel you find that you feel freer for the first time, like you can finally breathe and hadn't realised that you'd been holding your breath this whole time.   
  
"The demons don't even do a good job at the thing they're meant to do. He has all this power and he's so bad at it." you observe as you walk along.   
  
"I guess. I don't really deal in afterlife stuff, I'm not that kind of god. Maybe one day but I don't really know how I'd go about all of that. What you do with people's souls is a big deal." John sighs and drinks from her flask as she keeps up with your pace.   
  
"Good people being rewarded and bad people being punished seems like a pretty easy choice but if demons are this abysmal up here then who knows what they're doing down there." you mutter.   
  
"Your problem with this guy is not just that he's a shitheel of a person but that he's bad at his job?" John snorts.   
  
"It's on the list!" you say defensively.   
  
The two of you walk up the side of a volcano together as you contemplate this. If you destroy Caliborn then what happens to the demons and hell? Are people just not going to be punished or is heaven going to take over that? Angels ruling over demons? What'll happen to you? You're a very specific tool, your maker said so herself. You're a finely honed blade, she's not going to use you for anything else and unless she decides she wants more gods killed then she's not going to have a use for you after this.  
  
You're... you're disposable.   
  
"Dirk?" John asks and pokes you in the shoulder.   
  
"Yeah." you say slowly as you look down at the magma bubbling in the volcano.   
  
John is right. Your situation does warrant some sympathy. But you're not going to get angry or sad, you're going to work out a plan and you're going to do whatever you have to. You tip forward and plummet towards the lava, it rushes up to meet you and-  
  
You gasp, coughing immediately after. You try to grab at the sharp pain in your chest and the unnatural feeling within your actual ribcage but your wrists are held in place above your head. As your vision sharpens you see that Sollux has one hand holding your wrists and the other is somewhere on your chest, not that you can see without hurting your neck.

"Oh thank fuck, you're back." Sollux breathes in relief.

"I told you he'd be fine." June pipes up from over by the wall. Your head lolls to the side and you recognise her immediately, you just saw her. June, John, they're the same.

"Shut. Up." Sollux hisses at her.

"Karkat, KK, look at me. I need you to stay really still, okay?" Sollux asks and gives your wrists a little squeeze.

You turn your head again to look up at him. He's sat on your hips with one hand resting on your… chest. You look down, following his arm and nearly jump when you realise that his hand isn't on your chest but in it up past the wrist.

"Karkat, no, no, calm down. You're making this way harder if your heart starts beating like crazy. I need to get my hand out but you have to stay still, alright?" Sollux tells you, his voice is that soothing kind of authoritative. The kind doctors on TV shows have when dealing with patients that are really badly hurt. You manage to nod and Sollux very carefully pulls his hand out of your chest. You have to squeeze your eyes shut because you really can't stand to watch this and you want it all to be over with as soon as you can.

"Alright, there we go, all out." Sollux says in that same voice.

Your chest and throat burn for a moment and Sollux mutters quiet words of relief.

"What...?" you croak out.

Sollux lets your hands go and you carefully touch your throat and chest to find that you're completely fine.

"Open the door June." Sollux says without looking around at her.

"I mean, I think maybe we should talk first." June hesitates.

Sollux's eyes flare and he turns to look at her slowly and menacingly.

"June. Open the door before I kill you." Sollux snarls.

“Okay, let’s not be overdramatic here. I get that you’re upset because Karkat got hurt and-” June starts.

Sollux stands up slowly and calmly, he turns around and takes a step closer to June.

“I’m not sure if you think that I can’t kill you or that I won’t. You’re stupid on either count.” Sollux says darkly.

“Sollux, we’re friends. We’ve been friends for a decent amount of your life. I was only trying to help.” June tells him calmly.

“Are we? Because I don’t know WHO you’re helping any more. After all the shit you pulled I went with it because I trusted you and I had no other real choice but you just killed my kismesis who is supposed to be YOUR friend too on top of that. That’s the line for me, I’m fucking done. I can kill you and if I have to I will.” Sollux hisses at her.

“How can you she’s…” you hesitate as June looks at you, “she’s a god. I saw it, she’s the storm weather trickery god!”

“Well, shit.” June sighs.

“You’re a god. Holy fuck. Literally holy fuck.” you blabber in shock.

“Hold it together KK, we’re leaving. Either through the door or through June.” Sollux growls, his tails lashing about angrily behind him.

“Oh, gee, I’m sorry that learning that my friend is a GOD is a thing that takes more than two seconds to adjust to you complete shitlord! Also could we maybe all calm the hell down for a minute?” you snap at him.

“Did you forget that she just stopped your heart?!” Sollux demands, waving a hand at June.

“No, because it happened to me and I agreed to it!” you argue back.

“I really didn’t think that it would- I thought I’d be able to bring him back! And Signless Jesus guy should have been up there ready to send Karkat back like he always does.” June protests.

“Okay, first of all it’s just ‘Signless’.” you start.

“Second of all, THAT’S NOT GOOD ENOUGH! _Oh I thought there MIGHT be someone there who could get you before you were banned from Earth for the rest of time or KILLED so I’ll just tazer your heart now!_ Seriously?!” Sollux snaps, cutting you off.

You reach up, put your hand on Sollux’s face and give him a shove to the forehead, your action confusing enough to throw him off his yelling stride. You’re the one who yells here, you won’t have him steal your thunder. Although… you suppose that thunder is June’s thing.

Okay, no, one thing at a time.

“Actual second of all, as I already said I agreed to this. June said that he- Dirk- the Devil, whatever you call him would be a lot less blatantly obvious the next time around. What if you didn’t catch me like you did last time? I couldn’t handle having to watch him torture people through me!” you point out.

“You always said he was one for mind games. We’re lucky that Karkat’s possession caught him off guard so he didn’t have time to plan for anything worse, or he was too mad or hungry to. I mean you always said he was one for horrible murder puppets and jerking other people around to fuck with you.” June adds.

Sollux kind of shrinks in on himself as if June’s words actually hurt him, he can’t look at either of you.

“You nearly killed Karkat, you went behind my back, you risked the lives of demons I’m responsible for-” Sollux starts, his voice low and serious.

“Oh the relics? Come on, no one got hurt really, it was a joke to distract you is all!” June says and throws her hands in the air.

“Everything’s a joke to you! You don’t even give enough of a shit about Karkat to care about killing him and you don’t respect me enough to give me the choice! Get fucked! We’re done!” Sollux shouts at her.

June looks at Sollux like she’s been slapped, her blue eyes wide in shock. Then her expression closes off so you can’t read anything at all.

“June-” you try.

“Fine.” she says, to Sollux instead of you. Then she turns sharply and storms off through the previously locked door, yanking the thing open and shoving your friends outside who had been trying so hard to get into the room. Your friends seem torn between staring after June and staring at you in shock.

“Good job, that really helped.” you tell Sollux sarcastically.

“Don’t _start_ with me, KK. My hand is covered in your blood because I had to manually keep your heart going until I could get it to restart so don’t give me that. I swear to my GOD-” as Sollux says the word you jolt back, feeling like you just got whapped in the face with a rubber band. What the fuck? Unaware of whatever that was Sollux is still going.

“-that I’m this close to saying ‘fuck it’ and handcuffing us together to have a hope in hell of keeping you alive at this point!” Sollux hisses at you.

“Uh. Kinky? What the fuck just happened? Why did June lock us out, why are you in there, where did she go and is Karkat suddenly better now?” Dave asks.

“I’ll go next: how did June even keep us out and what was that about Sollux restarting your heart and are you bleeding?” Rose adds.

“What about restarting your heart BY HAND?!” Jade asks as well.

“Since you know best about everything I’ll leave _you_ with that. I have an ungodly mess to clean up thanks to SOMEONE.” Sollux says sharply and with that he’s gone too.

Well, fuck you then, you guess.

You turn and look at your friends who are all looking at you expectantly for answers. ...Great.


	32. Square Hammer

June has gone, you don’t know where, why, or for how long. Sollux has also fucked off, partly out of spite which you suspect is because you didn’t immediately side with his rage at June but also because he was no doubt pretty upset at something life threatening happening to you AGAIN. Because he’s Sollux and things can’t ever be done for just one reason. You don’t entirely get what his whole history with June is but that fight seemed like a big deal for both of them and though you agreed to the risk June had you take, you totally get why Sollux is mad. The whole situation is a complex clusterfuck and you don’t know all the details but somehow you’ve been stuck explaining shit to everyone.

“Uh, okay, it’s a little complicated.” you start, trying to buy time.

“You’re bleeding, your shirt has blood on it, you must have opened your stab wound.” Rose says, walking into your room. She takes hold of your shirt and lifts it up with the confidence of someone who knows you won’t misinterpret her motives. When she’s pulled it up completely she stares in shock.

There’s a smear of blood on your chest, most likely transferred and stained into your shirt, but underneath it your skin is pristine save for the symbol on your skin.

“How? What?” Rose stammers in shock and looks up at you for answers.

“Maybe start at the beginning and we could go out there and not all stand around in your room?” Dave suggests.

You nod, happy for the short amount of time this buys you to think of what you’re going to say AT ALL.

Consider the problem from this angle, what do you really want to say about yourself?

You want to be honest with your friends and, in Dave’s case, your boyfriend but that’s shit because he is also your friend regardless of the fact that you’re dating. Whatever. You want to be honest. You don’t want to lie to them. So, honesty.

However, you also want to be respectful of your friends lives. June didn’t open the door on that fight, she had it in private because it’s a private matter so it would be wrong of you to immediately blab about it all. Not to mention you just found out about June’s species, that she’s an actual god. But she’s also chosen not to share that with anyone but Sollux until now so if she’d wanted to tell your friends she would have and she hasn’t. On top of that you know from the memory you gathered and what you know of the storm god that Rose has been chasing down that June hasn’t always been June but has at times been John. Now, you don’t know the details of that, maybe her forms change and that’s normal for gods or maybe it’s just the same as changing gender from one binary option to another like it is for humans. Regardless of her exact situation enough about it is clear that you do NOT want to tell people without her explicit consent. Even if June wasn’t your friend you’re not going to out her.

How do you balance that? Your friends are smart and if you skirt too close to revealing everything they’re going to work it out but you can’t tell them nothing. Jade is remarkably perceptive, Rose knows your tells far too well and Dave has a tendency to entirely remove your brain to mouth filter. This is dangerous territory.

Rose nudges you into sitting on the sofa, she sits on the arm of the armchair and watches you like a hawk. Jade perches on the opposite arm of the sofa and Dave sits next to you. You’re entirely done when Bec rests his head on your knee. You have to deal with all of this AND puppy eyes? Or- well, Bec doesn’t have eyes but he can still have that effect somehow. Either way you’re done for!

“Let’s do this shit chronologically rather than a million and one questions, yeah? All linear and junk. You felt crappy at the park, we came back here. Go from there.” Dave suggests.

“Right, I felt hot and not great.” you agree and quietly wonder if it wasn’t you getting hot but the air specifically around you getting hot like sticky monsoon air thanks to a storm god that will go unnamed right now.

“June dragged you off.” Rose prompts.

“Right, she needed to talk to me. She said that she had worked out that I was still possessed but it was… dormant I guess and living in my heart. Which was why I wasn’t really healing, apparently the sword thing tipped her off.” you say slowly.

“But how did she know that?” Jade asks.

“Augh, talk now questions after!” Dave insists then looks at you expectantly.

“Yes, let’s hear him out first.” Rose agrees, her eyes sharp.

You’re suddenly reminded of one summer when you were off from school and had nothing to do. Given that you had no friends to hang out with you bought an old Nintendo DS from a second hand store and got all the Phoenix Wright games preowned then proceeded to binge them all summer. The way Rose is looking at you makes you think of that, like she wants your whole statement in one so she can find all the contradictions in it and drag the truth out of you.

“She made it pretty clear that I was still possessed and Sollux agreed when he showed up later that if _he_ got me back under his control again that it wouldn’t be so obvious this time, so June was right. She said that you might not know _he_ was in control until he did something awful and unfixable. I mean I’m horrified that he made me kill Sollux but at least that only lasted for a few seconds even though I still see it when I close my eyes sometimes. And- and I couldn’t do that again, I couldn’t let him think up worse things to do to everyone I care about and make ME do it.” you say and your voice catches.

“Shit.” Dave whispers in horror.

“June said that since he was hanging out in my heart the best thing to do was basically turn it off and on again. Like when your goddamn laptop freezes or something. But it makes sense and as long as my heart is still okay and can get started again I’d be fine, and I am now, it worked.” you tell them and gesture to your throat and chest as proof.

“You’re not a computer and June isn’t a doctor.” Rose points out.

“Yeah, I did tell her that but we were kind of desperate. She was pretty sure that Sollux wouldn’t agree to this whole thing and who knows when he’d come back.” you say. It’s TRUE but you don’t mention that she clearly pulled the stunt that got him away in the first place because that raises questions.

“So she stopped my heart with magic. I woke up in heaven and she was right, this bit of the- ugh, of _him_ came out of my chest.” you skip everything you saw at that point.

“Only on the subject of June not being a doctor I think she had trouble getting my heart going again and Sollux apparently showed up-” you start.

“I summoned him to get to you.” Dave explains. That makes sense.

“Well, he freaked out for understandable reasons and took over bringing me back to life. Which he did, in fairness to him.” you admit.

“How did he do that exactly?” Jade asks.

“Uh,” you pet Bec’s head and don’t look at anyone else, “he stuck his hand in the hole in my chest up to the _wrist_ and sort of physically made my heart…”

You one handedly gesture at what you imagine someone trying to physically make a heart beat by squeezing it looks like. When you look up, Rose looks horrified, Jade seems startled and Dave is creepily fascinated.

“He had a lot of choice words for June when I woke up and after he stopped… you know.” you wave a hand at your chest.

“Extreme fisting you?” Dave suggests.

Rose flings a cushion at his face, saving you the trouble of doing it. Dave doesn’t look sorry and you’re moving on from this.

“ANYWAY. After Sollux carefully got his hand out of my apparently otherwise empty chest cavity- I have no idea how my body works anymore, seriously. After that I healed up fully and then Sollux and June started shouting at each other. I get why. June was right and potentially saved loads of lives by fixing me, not to mention getting me out of being horribly injured for who knows how long, and I think she was right that Sollux wouldn’t have agreed to let her fix me. But Sollux was understandably pretty traumatised by, uh, everything that’s gone on this entire academic year and the fact that I’m a disaster magnet ,holy shit. June went behind his back and he was pissed at that and I was trying to calm everyone down which probably didn’t help either because no doubt they both hate me now for not taking their sides and I don’t mean the good kind of hate either!” your voice is getting more and more distressed as you go on. Bec huffs out a doggy sigh and stands up, putting his paws on the sofa and leaning in to rest his weight on you, snuggling his head on your shoulder. You wrap your arms around his white fluffy body and the weirdly tame hellhound that you’ve all just decided is perfectly fine to trust reaffirms that by licking your face to comfort you.

“Okay that’s… that’s a lot. But I’m sure that Sollux is just overwhelmed and upset and you two will be fine and sometimes June just needs time to cool down, there’s no way she’s mad at you for anything.” Dave assures you.

“And you don’t need to worry about them being mad at each other forever either, we’ll help them sort this out. It sounds like they both had good points and everything worked out okay so if we can get them to talk through it I’m sure it’ll be fine in the end.” Jade agrees.

“How did June stop your heart?” Rose asks, not leaping on the train of reassuring you.

“I… don’t know exactly. Magic?” you shrug. You legitimately don’t know if it was a god thing or something she learnt here from a book or someone in Mindfang’s class. You could have a sensible guess but you don’t know so it’s not a lie.

It’s close though, far closer than you would like.

“And why exactly would June think that you summoning that awful sword-” Rose starts.

“Actually that sword was cool as fuck and reminds me of my skateboard.” Dave interrupts.

Rose stares at him flatly.

“As I was saying, why would that _awful sword_ make her think with such certainty that you were still possessed and why would that convince you so thoroughly that you’d be willing to let her stop your heart through thus far unspecified magical means?” Rose continues. Dave quietly protests with a ‘hey’ but is soundly ignored.

“I don’t know, I’d say ask her but she’s not here because she left thanks to her and Sollux seriously falling out.” you say, not an answer.

“Actually, Dave has a point. That DID look a lot like his cursed skateboard which DID kill an angel.” Jade points out.

“Thanks for bringing that up again.” Dave shudders.

“No, stupid. I mean that if Karkat summoned an item like that which could kill an angel, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to assume that it’s the same sort of thing. Either Karkat could have hurt himself with it or the Devil could possess him again and kill Karkat when he was done with him. Pretty bad either way.” Jade explains.

You’re not sure that tracks. You’ve seen an angel killing knife in action, that’s why your maker is nothing but a burnt pile of ash from his paper now. But maybe they’re not all like that. You also have ridden Dave’s skateboard and not actually died before, no matter how you felt at the time, but you didn’t take it to the chest so who knows. It’s still a reasonable cause for June to have been suspicious so you’ll take that explanation gladly.

“But you risked death on a hunch that insubstantial.” Rose points out.

“Well, yeah. I don’t want anything to happen to any of you and if he’d come back I know it would have. He’s seen Rose and Dave and he had access to my memories, he could find June and Jade too and I’d have to experience everything he made me do. It’d be a living nightmare for me and you’d all die, hopefully quickly but I don’t have much hope. Who knows if you’d be able to stop me that time and if you did you might just have to kill me to stop the whole thing happening again so fuck it, just risk that up front for a chance to actually get him out. If June had fucked it up and Sollux couldn’t get me back then I’d have lost a body. So I’d be stuck in heaven which would ironically be a personal hell for me. They’d either throw me in a void for eternity, make me fall or straight up kill me. There’s a chance Signless could have got me back into a body from what I remember so it might not even have been that. But even in the worst case scenario where I actually completely die that’s still just me dead and you’re all fine, that’s easily the best choice.” you argue in a long stream of words.

“We wouldn’t be fine.” Dave says hoarsely.

“Do you really think that we would be?” Rose demands and you can see now that her eyes are filled with tears that she seems determined not to shed.

“I-” you don’t know what to say. You made the smart call here, right? Why do they all look so horrified?

“You’re not EXPENDABLE Karkat! You’re not- goddamnit! You’re not some pawn for us that we’ll throw out to save ourselves, it’s not your job to do that for us! You’re our FRIEND!” Jade says loudly.

“Oh.” you say in a tiny voice.

Rose seemingly gives up on her composure and throws herself at you. Her arms tight around your neck as she hugs you, as if she was afraid that you might vanish if she doesn’t hold on tight enough.

Losing your memories is a weird thing to go through. You’re still you, you’re the same person you were in heaven even when you remembered fuck all and were just on your back in the dirt in Georgia. You were the same person. A person probably shaped by hundreds and hundreds of years of being something Kankri threw away and used as a tool for an agenda that you didn’t even like. You risked yourself to help people because it was better than not doing it and even if you got caught it’d still have been a net positive for the world. You’re a throne, you were supposed to help humanity by preserving the world in an idyllic state. Your purpose was to serve, protect and be a thing that did things.

You’re still that, you’re not someone different and you don’t remember hardly any of the things that shaped you but you’re still the person that was shaped by all that. Your thoughts run in the same patterns. June says you need to risk your life to save people and you sign right the fuck up because that’s what you DO. You’re pretty sure you’re still objectively right, but your judgement on that might be skewed still. Even so the fact that you were so ready to do that is seemingly concerning, judging by everyone else’s reactions.

Oh, that might be why Sollux was so pissed. He knows you’re like this, June must too and she asked you anyway. Oh. Yeah that might be it.

Actually, fuck this whole introspection shit, you hate this. It feels bad. Can’t you go back to failing to dodge hugely important secrets? That was way less stressful!

Your friends seem concerned for you and drop the questions right away. You spend a while together trying to unfuck your bedroom door. Though whatever June did to keep the others out (thankfully no one asks about that) kept them out it didn’t entirely protect the door from the others trying to get in. The wood is charred, dented, scratched and has what look like stab holes in it.

“I am… definitely being fined when we move out.” you groan.

“Maybe we could have a weird group of men in suits come and fix it if we go out?” Jade suggests hopefully.

You’re not betting on that. Dave and Rose use some of the mending magic they know to fuse the stabbed parts back together and fix the deep scratches but the burns are a little beyond them. You figure Roxy doesn’t burn stuff much, which is probably good. It’s also very obvious that you’re being supervised the whole time. Though the why of that still eludes you. Do they think you’re about to run off, remove and then dropkick some other vital organ from your body? Or maybe they just like you and want to spend time with you and you’re just being paranoid, who knows?

Either way Dave comes and gets you from Rose in the evening, claiming that since Sollux is still elsewhere he’s going to need someone to sleep with lest he get nightmares. Which, given that his boyfriend just nearly died today from heart maiming and Sollux having his hand in- wait, surely Sollux’s hands weren’t sterile. Are you close enough to human to come down with some horrible infection? Don’t surgeons wear multiple pairs of sterilised gloves for surgery? You’re not saying that Sollux was rooting through the trash before he put his hand through you and THEN rooted through the trash (you’re the trash) but it’s probably not sterile enough.

You could bring this up to Dave but you’d only worry him so, oh wait, this was the thing you were doing that upset people. Right.

“Do you think angels can get infections?” you ask Dave.

“Wha?” Dave says thickly from the bathroom, he sounds like he’s brushing his teeth.

“Sollux just had his bare hand right up in my chest.” you explain.

You hear Dave spit into the sink and a moment later he appears around the door with a frown on his face.

“Sollux has never got sick or got an infection from anything. Have you before? I know you’re not the same species but there seems to be a lot of the same stuff going on.” Dave says sensibly.

“No.” you admit.

“Then you’re probably fine. Just… let us know if you feel not fine. I mean you’re always fine, look at you, but health-wise specifically.” Dave rambles and pointedly looks you up and down.

“Thanks.” you say flatly.

“Always happy to help.” Dave says and retreats to the bathroom again.

“Have you heard from Jade about June? Or from June yet? Maybe she just doesn’t want to talk to me.” you ask.

You hear Dave gargling mouthwash from the other room and realise that you picked a bad time to ask him a question again. Actually you think he’s managing to convey frustration through the medium of gargling surprisingly well.

Maybe you’ll just contact Jade yourself since June is still offline.

carcinoGeneticist [CG] began trolling  gardenGnostic [GG]  
  
CG: JADE, HAS JUNE COME BACK? IT'S OKAY IF SHE DOESN'T WANT TO TALK TO ME, I'M JUST WORRIED.   
GG: karkat its been ten minutes since you last messaged me!  
GG: she isnt back yet!  
CG: SORRY. SHIT.  
GG: look its fine, really! i know youre worried but ive been living with her and shes kind of a free spirit about this stuff  
GG: kind of like a cat  
GG: she just comes and goes and usually she asks if i want to come with but not always  
GG: i am sure that she is completely fine  
CG: I HOPE SO. I JUST WORRY, YOU KNOW?  
GG: i am super aware of that and i will let you know when she gets back  
GG: but karkat  
GG: if you ask me if she is back again one more time i swear im gonna come over there and make you eat your phone  
CG: ...NOTED.   
GG: glad we are all on the same page then! :D  
CG: SOMETIMES I FORGET THAT YOU'RE TERRIFYING.  
GG: hah! i lulled you into a false sense of security!  
CG: MORE FOOL ME I GUESS.  
GG: exactly!  
GG: now goodnight!  
  
gardenGnostic [GG] ceased trolling  carcinoGeneticist [CG]

Well, you’re not going to message Jade again about June. Not tonight at least. You look over Jade’s messages and feel a little sad. Jade obviously knows June better than you do from rooming with her, but you must have known June from before, right? She knew your name when she first met you.

The insecure part of your mind wants to suggest that maybe you don't really know June at all. Maybe you're a really bad friend so no wonder you failing to immediately and completely defend her from Sollux made her leave because YOU'RE THE WORST. You know that's irrational, obviously it is but the little voice in your mind still whispers that to you.

It's not true. You do know June. You might not know every little thing about her or where she is every second of every day, you didn't know her species but that doesn't matter. You know her. You know that she's smarter than she shows herself to be and that she's aware of her own intelligence but feels no real need to show it off. She likes surprising people, she cares about her friends, she's fun and endearingly sincere and nice. She's no saint, though. She can be kind of a dick sometimes but all of you can, she can say the right thing at the right time to completely floor you and then just laugh at your expense. She's... well, a literal god of pranks, before you would have thought that was just metaphorical but apparently not.

So you don't know everything about June, fine. But you know enough to know that she's your friend. That's she's a free spirited person who-

You sit up straighter on Dave's sofa. The belt, the cards on the belt! There were some that you didn't know about but the Fool card would be right for her, wouldn't it? You look it up on your phone and stare at the description. It's about freedom, adventure, spontaneity and a certain kind of idealism. But it's also about being reckless and a little naive at times. June really thought she could bring you back which was optimistic, a way to give you your freedom and definitely reckless. It's June. Staring at the card on the screen of your phone you note the jester's outfit on the person depicted and think wryly that, duh, trickster.

"Dave! I gotta go back to my dorm for a moment, I need to check something!" you call into the bathroom.

"Can it wait, man?" Dave asks. Peering around the door you see that he's partway through washing his face.

"Not really, but you can trust me to go down a few flights of stairs on my own. I mean, really." you sigh.

Dave turns, soap bubbled up all over his face and yet he still gives you such a scathingly skeptical look that you wince.

"I'm really just going down to my dorm to grab that belt, I think I worked something out." you assure him.

Dave sighs and waves you off, turning back to the sink. You take it that's your cue to go so you hurry off before he can explain that he wants you to wait or something. Ducking out of Dave's dorm and hurrying off down the stairs you make your way MIRACULOUSLY unharmed to your own dorm and let yourself in. Your belt of holding is on the kitchen counter because where else would you keep it? You turn the belt around in your hands until you get to the pouch with the Fool card marked on it.

"Karkat?" Rose says, leaning out of her door.

"I figured out June's card." you explain and promptly jam your hand inside. You think about June, all you now know about her and who she is as a person. As you do this something presses into your hand, it feels sort of cylindrical but there's stripes of something pressed into your palm. You stare as you pull the object out, boggling as you see a gaudy solid gold violin. Or, fiddle, you suppose? There's probably a difference between the two but you're fucked if you know it.

"Is that a golden... fiddle? Like from the song?" Rose asks, completely baffled.

"It sure is." you nod and turn the thing around.

On the back of the golden fiddle there is a small envelope taped to the metal and on it, in Rose's handwriting reads the words 'For Rose'. You take it off and hand it to her. Doing that reveals coordinates scratched into the gold.

25°11′49.7″N 55°16′26.8″E

Seeing as you don't know anything about coordinates you open up your phone's browser and carefully type them in as Rose reads the letter addressed to her. When you've got the coordinates in you search and select the first map result that comes up. The page loads showing you Dubai of all places and as you squint at the map the building right there is listed as the Burj Kalifa. Googling that tells you that it's the tallest building in the world and google images shows you the top of it being struck by lightning. An idea starts to form and you quickly check the weather in Dubai right now. Apparently it is stormy as fuck, though that's not their exact words.

"You're going to Dubai then." Rose says stiffly.

"How did you know what I was looking at?" you ask, your phone wasn't pointed at her.

"This says. It also says that everything will be explained tomorrow after Sollux returns. Which I don't like but this is obviously my writing and you just confirmed part of it already by saying that Dubai is indeed your destination." Rose says. She doesn't seem pleased with letting you fly off alone but you guess her past self who wrote that note knew to dangle the promise of answers before her to get her to do what she 'should' do according to that Rose's visions.

"I'll be careful." you assure her.

"I know. I'll tell Dave where you've gone and explain about that video to him, probably something I should have done sooner but I was rather distracted." Rose admits. Yeah, she was distracted by you and your possession.

"Thanks Rose, you're the best." you tell her and grab her in for a hug. You squeeze her tight, so happy to have her and so happy that she's safe from the literal devil possessing you and making you try to kill everyone.

"Go on." Rose says and pats your back.

You let Rose go and climb the stairs. Rose goes with you as far as Dave's floor and then you're on your own to the last bit of the climb to the roof. No one has snuck up to smoke so you slip from view, unfurl your wings and take to the sky. You look at your phone as you gain altitude and work out what way you're going to go and what way you're facing now. If you're still trying to stay under the radar you're going to have to fly slower than you theoretically could do. You take off in the vague direction of Dubai staying invisible over land but dropping that once you're over the sea. As you fly you take the chance to look the golden fiddle over. It's wildly impractical as an instrument being that it's really heavy. You also don't know enough about instruments to know if it's in tune or anything but it does make notes when you pluck the strings out of sheer curiosity. You put it away after a bit, lest you drop it in the ocean and have to dive in to find it.

When the land starts to appear under you once more you take your phone out and fine tune your directions to Dubai. The building is over half a mile high and as soon as you're anywhere close to the city you can put your phone away, you can see it.

From your research online you know that it was built to resemble a flower in places, that it houses all sorts of businesses and residential spaces. It really is an architectural marvel. Right now it's the epicentre of a swirling storm, the eye of it centred right on the spire at the top of the building. Rain slicks your feathers as you fly and even though your flight is technically magical instead of purely physical you can feel how it's harder to fly as soaked as you are. Thunder booms and the sky goes white as lightning snaps between the clouds and the reflecting pool area below. You need to get above this thing.

You put on a burst of speed and jet up through the storm clouds, hoping your speed will stay your course. Once you're out above the clouds you carefully try to line yourself up with the centre of the storm and drop, hoping desperately to land on the roof and not impale yourself on the spike of the tower. Getting stabbed through the chest twice in one week would really suck. The storm around you is huge, swirling black and ominous with flashes of lightning flickering within the clouds that look so much more solid than they ought to.

You fall and the rain pelts your body, the wind tries to throw you around but still you fall. Through the haze of rain you spot the highest point of the Burj Kalifa, the spire on the top with a square platform around it. And... June. You fling yourself towards her, desperate to land and smack straight into the pole in the middle.

June tilts her head a little and looks up at you from where she's sat on the edge of the platform. It's hard to hear over the weather but you think maybe she laughed ever so slightly.

You cling to the pole and lower yourself down, afraid of falling in a way that makes no sense for someone who can fly, but you're still afraid.

"June." you say hoarsely as you carefully sit down, wrapping one wing around the pole to try to hold on. You've already got two arms around the thing but you can't have TOO many limbs holding on, can you?

June turns her head slightly and you finally notice how strange she looks. Unlike your hair that's slick with rain and flying everywhere from the wind hers is just floating around in a hazy breeze and is completely dry. Her eyes are also different than normal. Behind her usual square glasses her eyeballs are a solid bright blue, glowing like a neon sign. She's not... human.

"June, I'm sorry." you say loudly.

"What're you sorry for?" June asks. She doesn't sound judgemental but instead she sounds genuinely confused.

"I'm sorry I didn't get between you and Sollux more, I'm sorry I got you in trouble with him, I'm sorry you felt you had to leave. I'm sorry if my reaction to finding out what you were was wrong. I'm just... sorry." you tell her.

"You don't have anything to be sorry for, Karkat." June says simply.

The eye of the storm widens somewhat and you don't know if the storm calms a little or if it's just further away now. You feel a little less in danger but you're still not looking off the edge if you can help it.

"This isn't how it was supposed to be, you know?" June says distantly. She stares out across the storm and what little of Dubai that you can see.

"What do you mean?" you ask.

June gives you a flat look and you can tell from experience with Sollux that she just rolled her eyes at you. You don't need to see pupils to know that, you can tell by now.

So, she wants you to guess what she means. Time to start talking and thinking, hopefully not in that order or at the very least at the same time.

"So you're a god. Ess. Is that necessarily a gendered term? Like 'actress' definitely means a woman who acts but 'actor' can be either now." you babble.

"Either is fine." June cuts you off and you relax a little.

"I can't help but notice you’re not up in the..." you gesture vaguely up towards the sky.

"That is a thing you notice." June nods, looking back at the clouds.

"Are you... hiding? Pretending to be a normal human so whatever put them up there doesn't find you?" you ask, it's a valid theory.

"Nope." June says and pops the p in the word, you think she's trying to sound less bothered about this than she really is.

"Did you do whatever magic that caused the event?" you ask her slowly.

"Karkat, I'm a trickster god that is especially aligned with the wind and storms." June states flatly.

You're about to move on when you pause, your time trying to word things to Sollux and interpret his answers to your questions making you look at that more closely.

"That's not a no." you point out.

"I was... involved." she says slowly.

"So when you say that it wasn't meant to be like this, you mean this isn't how the world was meant to be after the Event." you surmise.

"I wasn't sure how much you'd forget. It wasn't meant to be a bad thing, it was meant to be good. And it's not all bad, right? You have Sollux back and you're macking on Dave and we have friends and you maybe have that pale thing with Rose who's always making googly eyes at Kanaya so she's doing good. It's supposed to be good. No one is supposed to get possessed and it's not meant to BE like this!" June insists.

For once you're kind of at a loss for words. June just honestly admitted that she caused this event, or was at least partly responsible for doing it. She personally fucked with your life, or allowed your life to be fucked with. You could point out that things aren't going that great right now what with all the near death experiences but June doesn't exactly seem thrilled by that herself. What's worse is that Sollux must know about this to some extent, he's a demon, they remember the whole before part really clearly and he's obviously been working with June. You know he didn't have anything to do with this but he's been involved since, that much is clear.

"What was the goal?" you ask quietly. The storm around you is starting to thin and June's shoulders slump.

"You were supposed to be safe and happy. No Kankri around to hurt you. I didn't know he was down here and got caught in it too but even that could have been good, without knowing everything about each other maybe he could have been less shitty this time but I guess THAT'S not happening now. And I know things with you and Sollux were rough with him remembering and you not remembering him but it worked out. We get to go to school and live together, learn cool stuff about human magic. Just be normal." June says in a voice that's sad and tired.

She fucked with your life, tore you and Sollux apart. Without her you wouldn't have had years alone in your shitty apartment in Georgia of all places. You wouldn't have lost any chance you had to fix Kankri. But with all that said you can't fully bring yourself to blame her. You don't know who else was involved in this, what meddling they did or even how this whole deal worked. You look at June who seems sad and regretful. You do know June.

"This whole situation is a flaming shitshow. It's all clearly falling apart at the seams and the wheels have come off and I don't care if I'm mixing my metaphors." you say insistently and June's shoulders hunch a little.

"But," you wrap your right arm and wing around her shoulders, "I know you well enough to know that you didn't mean for it to be like that."

"What?" June says quietly.

"Magic is hard as fuck and as you pointed out this is kind of above your paygrade even as a god, so... so maybe this didn't go to plan and maybe whoever else you were working with fucked shit up royally. But I don't believe that you were trying to make things worse and you seem to be trying to fix this disaster as we go which I appreciate even though shit is rolling rapidly downhill on fire to oh-fuck's-ville." you continue.

"Are- are you trying to offer me some kind of absolution? Like a holy forgiveness from _your_ god?" June laughs in disbelief.

"I don't know, maybe? Maybe I would know if my brain wasn't mangled by this but I guess we'll never know! I'm trying to say I'm not mad at you, fuckface, so maybe don't laugh at me!" you snap.

"Oh, Karkat, you dork." June laughs and grabs you into a hug. A very tight hug.

"Juuuune. June. I- ack- I don't know if I need my spine but don't snap it please!" you choke out as she squeezes the air from your lungs.

June obligingly releases you from her godly hold and shifts to move in front of you, floating in the air above absolutely nothing.

"Augh, god." you whine and rub your chest.

"Yes?" June chirps, a dorky smile on her face. You try to kick her but she bobs out of the way like a balloon in the breeze.

"Look, all I'm saying is that things would be easier if you weren't doing this all on your own. Obviously Sollux was helping you but I think things would go smoothly if everyone was on the same page here." you tell her.

"I don't want to-" June starts, looking away.

"No, fuck you. Listen, I get that you don't want to worry people or have people mad at you for keeping this a secret but this is all going wrong and we can't help or be prepared if we're all in the dark. Besides which you're making Rose so SO suspicious of you. She's your friend. If you're honest with her you can actually go back to normal, and maybe if Sollux isn't the only one in our group helping then he won't be so stressed about it and he'll be fractionally less of a bitch than usual. I say that only because he is always, contractually, at least somewhat of a bitch." you explain.

“That is what you’ve always said about him.” June agrees.

“I’m glad past me knew that.” you nod.

You look June over and feel that wave of surprise that your friend is a god wash over you again.

“Can I ask you something else?” you say hesitantly.

“Suuuure?” June replies a little uncertainly and floats back to sit beside you once more.

“Rose had this vision of Sollux fucking around and stealing statues from temples. Statues of this male god. He also had those statues and things in his void and in the memory that I had of you from- uh, Dirk, you looked like you but called yourself John.” you say.

June’s fingers tighten on the edge of the platform that you’re both sat on.

“Feel free to tell me to shut up and drop it.” you offer quietly.

“It wasn’t a question.” June points out.

You stay quiet and watch as the storm clouds in the distance churn and fade a little more. You might not have asked a question but she knows what you’re getting at and you don’t want to push.

“Gods come about through a bunch of different ways.” June says into the open air, you turn your head and listen quietly.

“You can as a god have a kid with another god, like Zeus and Hera having Hephaestus. The way that happens can be different to how humans have kids but it’s basically the same. A god can make another god by removing part of themselves, sometimes that makes a god, sometimes it makes a magical species, but the point is that it's a lot more designed.” June explains.

Yeah, you can think of a few gods that fits with.

“You can also as a god bone a human and have a kid.” June goes on.

“Ah, Zeus.” you nod.

“Not just him but also, yeah, he did that a lot. The thing is gods don’t have DNA, we can combine with mortals spiritually so anything on Earth that gets pregnant from that won’t just be a clone of its mortal parent but they’re physically human with godliness breaking through. Sometimes that kid ends up a demi-god, sometimes a whole god, it depends. I’m none of those, I’m a god that comes from a concept. Enough people look up at the sky, see a storm and wonder who did it or feel like the world is fucking with them for fun and you get belief, belief that becomes me. All gods are subject to the belief in them shaping them at least a little, but the more whole you were before then the less that affects you. I didn’t have a form before I was believed into one so everything about me was in flux based on what people thought.” June explains.

“So you were a man or a woman or both or neither, elemental or human looking based on how people saw you, on how they thought you should look?” you guess.

“Right. But I’m a real person.” June nods.

“Obviously.” you agree.

“So I have the ability to work out who I am for myself and I’m June, this is me.” June says and gestures to herself. You nod because it’s not like you’re going to contradict her, is it? She knows who she is, she’s the literal authority on that.

“Only then you have followers who are all ‘bluh bluh no big lightning god gotta have big muscles, be manly dude, full of mangrit not lady bluh’ and then whenever you have a physical form you’re stuck like THAT unless you spend a lot of effort changing it.” June rants.

“That does suck but also you did carry me up the stairs and flex so I see you kept the strength.” you joke, trying to lighten the mood a little or something.

“Well duh, being ripped is great. Who says men only get to be buff? Have you seen muscly girls? Dang.” June sighs a little wistfully.

“Oh I’m 100% with you. Did you ever see that Titan Games show with The Rock? Male and female contestants doing these crazy athletic courses to win prizes, buff dudes are boring but the ladies? Holy shit.” you whistle in awe.

“I know right? Be still my gay little heart.” June says and swoons dramatically on the platform.

“...So, you started altering your temples and stuff to try to influence that shit. To stop people making you look like someone you’re not. And when the Event happened…” you trail off meaningfully.

June frowns at the sky above her and is silent for a moment.

“Like I said, the Event was above my paygrade. I’m just a storm and trickster god. But… theoretically if you were in my shoes don’t tell me you wouldn’t take the chance to make everyone forget that you weren’t always the person you are now. To just keep the followers that believe the truth.” she says cagily.

“No, I get that. And by followers you mean your dad and those people in suits with the pseudo-names?” you ask.

“...Maybe.” June says.

“How do you have a dad anyway? Is that just a cover or what?” you ask.

“I’m adopted. I adopted him as my dad, he was my high priest first but now he’s my dad. He took me to baseball games, went to PTA meetings, makes cakes and cookies. Dad stuff.” June says cheerily.

That’s absolutely not how adoption works but you’re not going to make this any more ridiculous by pointing that out. You stand up, wobble and get a moment of vertigo at what feels to you like a very unsteady platform. You’d be way more comfortable being supported by nothing and flying than by being on this.

“Listen, just come back. Be open with the others about what you are and what’s going on. Then we can all work together to fix this. The others will understand, really.” you assure her.

“I don’t want to…” June sits up and seems to hesitate.

“About being a god?” you ask.

“I don’t- well, I’m not psyched about that, it makes things harder for sure. But I really don’t want to talk about not always being-” June waves at herself.

“Oh. OH. You don’t have to, that’s not really relevant to anything, is it? I’m sure they’d be good about it but fuck that’s your business, you didn’t even have to tell me after I saw what I did in that memory. You could have just said you didn’t want to and I’d have shut up. I’m sure as shit not telling anyone that behind your back.” you say in a rush.

“No, I know you wouldn’t. But… I don’t know, maybe I’ll tell them about that part, maybe not.” June hedges.

“Do you want me to promise to keep my mouth shut? Make a vow? I’ll do it if it makes you feel better.” you offer and hold your hand out.

“You offer that far too readily. It’s fine, I trust you. And you’re also right that trying to do all of this myself isn’t really working right now, some more help could be good. Especially as Sollux is probably never going to talk to me again.” June says and bats your hand away.

She floats up on her own two feet once more and sighs. Her appearance shifts so she looks human again and she ruffles one hand through her hair.

“I’m sure he’ll talk to you again.” you assure her. June just kind of shrugs half heartedly, she doesn’t seem to have the confidence that you do. Sollux did seem pretty livid in fairness.

“If you’re willing to go back I’ll start flying, I’m pretty sure you can fly with me, right?” you check. She got here on her own and you’ve seen her float so you’d assume she can do long distance too.

“Hah, of course I can. I can teleport you too. Who do you think Sollux was tethering those big drawn out teleporting circles to? Me. My sign, look.” June says and pulls her collar down to show a necklace that seems to shift into visibility. It has two familiar wavy lines on it, the ones Rose told you about.

“Rose is going to lose her shit.” you sigh.

“I bet.” June grins. She sets her hands on your arms and her smile turns even more mischievous.

“What’re you-” you start to ask, right as June pulls you backwards off of the building.

The two of you plummet and the wind is somehow holding your wings shut. You screech on the way down, shattering glass as you go until suddenly you’re hanging upside down in the air elsewhere. June lets you go, cackling with delight and you flutter upright to find yourself in the air above your dorm building.

“Your face!” June giggles.

“You’re the fucking worst.” you hiss at her.

“Yeah… yeah I know. Listen, I’m gonna go uh… track someone down. I’ll be back here in the morning and I’ll talk to everyone, I promise.” she swears. June twists in the air and then, like the breeze, she’s gone.

You go invisible yourself, land, and reappear on the roof.

carcinoGeneticist [CG] began trolling  tentacleTherapist [TT]  
  
CG: I DON'T SUPPOSE YOU'VE SEEN SOLLUX SINCE HE VANISHED EARLIER HAVE YOU?  
TT: No, why? Also where are you?  
CG: I'M ON THE ROOF. JUNE'S COMING BACK TOMORROW MORNING WHERE STUFF WILL BE EXPLAINED, PLEASE DON'T ASK ME UNTIL THEN.   
TT: ...Alright.   
CG: REALLY? THAT WAS A PRETTY WEAK JUSTIFICATION EVEN FOR ME. I MEAN IT'S TRUE BUT THAT'S NOT THE POINT, YOU DON'T KNOW THAT.  
TT: Trust Karkat, remember?   
CG: OH.   
CG: RIGHT.   
TT: Should I not?  
CG: NO, I DON'T HAVE ANY INTENTIONS OF LYING TO YOU. THAT'S JUST A LOT OF FAITH TO PUT IN ME. I KNOW VIDEO ROSE SAID THAT BUT YOU'RE REAL ROSE.  
TT: Yes, that is how I refer to myself. It doesn't in any way make me sound like some sort of body snatcher.  
CG: SHOULD I CHECK UNDER YOUR BED TO SEE IF THERE'S A HUMAN SIZED POD THERE?  
TT: I don't know, should you?  
CG: HMM.  
CG: WELL I'M GOING TO GO INTERROGATE DAVE.  
TT: Is that what they call it these days?  
CG: I'M NOT DIGNIFYING THAT WITH AN ANSWER.  
  
carcinoGeneticist [CG] ceased trolling  tentacleTherapist [TT]

You leave the roof and go down to Dave’s floor and knock on his door. You hope that it’ll be Sollux who opens it, but no, it’s Dave.

“Hey, you’re back.” Dave says.

“I am. Unmaimed too I might add, see how that happens sometimes?” you point out.

“Miracles. You just missed me talking to Sollux by the way, come in.” Dave says and walks inside his dorm. You follow and shut the door.

“In person?” you ask.

“No, over the phone. He’s seriously mad at June but he won’t explain much except she nearly killed you and… yeah, he’s just really angry. He said he’d be back at some point, he’s got a whole mess to fix with Redglare’s office and I’m pretty sure he needs to cool off. Go throw some rocks into a volcano or something.” Dave shrugs.

“Is that a thing he does?” you ask in surprise.

“He’s immune to fire.” Dave shrugs.

“Holy shit that’s a thing I could do, I want to try that.” you whisper in awe.

“There you go, there’s a date idea for you two. Throw stuff in a volcano together.” Dave nods. You’re already imagining what various things would do when exposed to lava and you dearly want to know. Still, you have bigger problems at hand.

“June said she’s going to be back in the morning and explain everything, maybe if we get the two of them together we can try to fix this thing.” you say. You really want to resolve this conflict. All you want is for all of you to be happy together and for no one to be in danger of getting hurt or killed, is that too much to ask?

“I hope so. Sollux can sometimes blow up about stuff and calm down after but when June gets mad she tends to be mad for a bit. Not that I’ve ever seen either of them like that before and I don’t think this was a fight over nothing.” Dave says and fixes you with an intense stare through his shades.

“It was… it was pretty bad, yeah.” you admit.

“Sollux was repeatedly making a point about how you nearly died. Or at least that you would have gone away and never come back which is what they tell little kids when pets or grandmas die. Karkat didn’t go to live on the farm, Mom, he’s dead. That kind of thing.” Dave says flatly.

“I… yeah. It wasn’t certain, June mentioned that Signless could have maybe booted me back down here and I think I remember that he used to do that for me before but he was sort of a god himself so for all I know he’s away with the others. I hope he’s not but I don’t exactly have proof of that.” you admit.

“But you let June stop your heart anyway? Not that I know how she did that but I guess I’ll find that out when she comes back or whatever.” Dave mutters that last part.

“Like I said, if I didn’t I would have got possessed again and it would have been worse. Last time I attacked you, I wasn’t going to put you through that again. I was made to cut Sollux’s HEAD OFF. I can’t- I couldn’t do that.” you say and shudder as the image of it flashes through your eyes. It’s so deceptive to think that it doesn’t count because Sollux just comes back to life immediately, but you remember the feeling of the sword in your hand going through skin, muscle and bone. You think you might always remember that.

Dave must pick up your emotional state because he doesn’t push you on your decision any more than he already has. Instead he comes a little closer and leans in to look at you. You’re not sure what he’s trying to see until he nudges your chin with a finger, making you turn your head up and to the side.

“You’ve got scars now.” Dave says quietly.

“I do?” that’s news to you.

Dave takes you by the hand and leads you into his room, he knocks a hoodie off of the corner of his full length mirror and positions you in front of it. You turn your head a little, lifting your jaw to see and sure enough you have scars. A jagged one on one side and four more on the other side of your throat. On a kind of autopilot you reach your hand up and manage to put your thumb over the solo mark and your other fingers on the four opposing it. That’s where Mituna grabbed you and… made sure you couldn’t speak any awful curses at them. It was smart but it really hurt, that’s kind of an understatement actually. Pressing on the scars now doesn’t hurt at all, there’s no dull throb of pain like you might get with a normal injury that’s mostly healed over. Thank heaven for small mercies you suppose.

A thought occurs and you reach down, pulling your shirt up and over your head.

“Whoa, hello, hi. Uh. Hey.” Dave says, obviously surprised but clearly not displeased by sudden stripping.

“Could you keep your mind out of the gutter for a moment?” you say from within your shirt.

“Just a moment? I can, would you join me after the moment’s over?” Dave asks, plausibly deniable flirting that doesn’t fool you at all.

Finally free of your shirt you look at your chest in the mirror.

Right where your heart is there’s the red sign that Kankri left you with and maybe a finger’s width under it is a thin and clean cut from where Sollux stabbed you. There’s more marks than that though, ones you hadn’t realised that you had. Little pale cuts on your skin like a desperate scrabble of… claws. Right over your sign there’s two slightly deeper gashes that have healed over and cut through the sign, although they don’t fully disrupt the glow there.

Curious as to how you got those you touch them, pressing your fingers to the healed wound that surely bled out as…

You’ve had visions before, they were very distinct, a sharp delineation between reality and whatever you’d been seeing. With this it’s like you’re experiencing it through liquid, like you’re underwater. More importantly you don’t stop being aware of yourself standing there but as if you were bonded to the moment you can see you get both.

_”No, no, no, no, no- come on.” Sollux hisses kneeling over your body with very clear desperation. His hands are pressed over your heart trying to do chest compressions as best as he can._

_“If I keep shocking him-” June tries._

_“You’ll cook his heart and then it’ll be destroyed and he DEFINITELY won’t come back!” Sollux snarls at her. His claws scrape your skin and blood flows out of the cut, pushed out from an artificial pulse moved by Sollux himself._

_“At least he’s not going to get brain damage from not breathing.” June offers hopefully._

_“Shut. Up!” Sollux snaps between compressions of your chest._

_You watch yourself as Sollux’s attempts to revive you go nowhere and June looks more and more concerned._

_Sollux pulls back, breathing hard and staring down at you._

_“There’s gotta… gotta be something.” he whispers desperately._

_“Sollux, it’s not working.” June says quietly. She reaches for Sollux but he bats her hand away. He puts his right hand on your chest again and pauses, looking at the cut right under your sign. You can actually pinpoint the moment the idea occurs to him._

_With his right hand he tries to keep your heart going as best as he can but it’s kind of a two handed job, you see the moment he claws your sign as he tries to keep his hand in place. With his left hand he carefully works his way into the cut from where he stabbed you and reaches for your heart._

Your hand drifts from the scar on your chest and guilt coils in your stomach, you really owe Sollux for that. Both for bringing you back and as an apology for putting him through that. You know you made the right choice, you don’t fully agree with June keeping so much information back and your decision to not tell Sollux what the plan was isn’t… great. He has every right to be mad at her, your choice made sense and June was just trying to prevent disaster. You’re ALL right and your actions are all understandable and yet everyone is upset and hurt. How were you all in the right and yet all lost out here? That’s not fair.

“I think I maybe need to write out an offer for Sollux to get two free punches of my face or something for doing that to him.” you sigh. Dave didn’t see what you saw but he can guess what you’re thinking of no doubt from where you’ve been staring.

“Like a coupon?” Dave asks.

“Yeah. I’ll write it in fancy caligraphy and everything. _This coupon entitles the bearer to one free no consequence fist to Karkat Vantas’ stupid fucking face_ or something like that.” you groan.

“Given how upset he was by you nearly dying I don’t think causing you harm is on his mind right now.” Dave reasons.

“I didn’t put an expiry date on it, good for whenever.” you say and sit on the edge of Dave’s bed.

“Think he’ll go for that?” Dave asks as he joins you.

“Probably not. I know he’s not really into the violence thing which is what I was TRYING to protect him from but I managed to horrify him even more because I’m so smart!” you say and throw your hands up in the air in despair.

“Have you considered this wild thing I’ve heard of where you talk to him?” Dave suggests sarcastically.

He’s right and you hate it.

carcinoGeneticist [CG] began trolling  twinArmageddons [TA]  
  
CG: I'M REALLY SORRY I WENT BEHIND YOUR BACK AND NEARLY DIED. I SAW YOU TRYING TO BRING ME BACK, SOME WEIRD VISION THING BUT I SAW WHAT IT DID TO YOU. I'M SO SORRY. I'M THE WORST.   
TA: not now kk  
CG: I KNOW, I GET IT. IF YOU'RE TOO ANGRY TO TALK RIGHT NOW I COMPLETELY UNDERSTAND.  
TA: no ii'm tryiing two do 2omethiing magiically compliicated riight now.  
CG: OH. REALLY?  
TA: ye2  
TA: look ii'll come fiind you when ii'm done  
TA: iif you want two make iit up two me 2tay wiith dave  
CG: I CAN DO THAT.  
TA: good  
  
twinArmageddons [TA] ceased trolling  carcinoGeneticist [CG]

You turn your phone around to show Dave who reads over the conversation in silence.

“He doesn’t seem super pissed at you and I’m not going to complain about getting a free Karkat to myself.” Dave says and flashes you a grin.

You are suddenly and _acutely_ aware that you’re still shirtless and sat on his bed.

“Uh.” you mumble, looking down at yourself.

“Really, he’s a great wingman.” Dave adds with a solemn nod.

“Surely…” you pause and let your wings flutter out of your back, curling one around him, “I would be the wingman. Seeing as I’m the one with the wings.”

“I’m not sure if that was smooth or stupid but I approve either way.” Dave says after a moment of staring at you.

“Isn’t that basically the foundation for our relationship? That we can appreciate each other’s stupidity?” you ask.

“You should work for hallmark, or at least break into their factories and print your own card lines.” Dave suggests.

“I’m not sure exactly what laws that would be against but I’m sure it’s against some.” you say.

“Coward. Hey, speaking of consequences for actions do you need to tell Rose you’re apparently staying here? I’d hate for her to think you’d gone missing and then come up here and remove my spleen for hiding you or something.” Dave asks.

“I already- why your spleen specifically?” you ask curiously.

“There’s a tiered rating system for organ theft for certain offences, obviously. You know, normal sibling stuff.” Dave shrugs.

“I don’t think you’d know normal if it danced naked in front of you. But, whatever. I already told Rose I was coming to see you to interrogate you about Sollux’s whereabouts and she said ‘is that what they’re calling it now?’ because of course she did.” you groan.

“She doubled your entendre.” Dave snorts.

“Yep.” you say.

You’re now even more aware of the fact that you’re in Dave’s room, your BOYFRIEND’S room alone and shirtless with all of this subtext going on. Your wings flick nervously, trying to pin in close to your back but the bed that you’re sitting on is very much in the way so you just twist a few feathers in the process and wince at it.

“Hey, careful.” Dave says and reaches for your wing. He smooths your feathers down and sets your wing at a proper and comfortable angle for it.

His voice is gentle and you’re reminded of the way he used to talk to you when you were stuck as a bird. He was gentle and soothing most of the time because he assumed, rightly, that you’d be freaked out at being forced to be a bird. But when he talked to you it wasn’t like he was talking to a little kid, he treated you like you, just a you who was having a bad time and couldn’t answer him verbally. You think you probably haven’t given Dave quite enough credit through all of this.

“I… uh. Thank you.” you tell him firmly.

“You’re welcome? Bent feathers seem like they’d suck.” Dave says, a little confused.

“No, not that. Well, also that but that wasn’t what I meant. You’ve been great with all of this bullshit, I just wanted to thank you properly for it.” you say and wave a hand vaguely at your wings.

“Are you thanking me for not being a dick about your species? Really?” Dave asks skeptically.

“Look, I’d known I wasn’t human, I didn’t know about THIS and neither did you. You didn’t sign up for that. It’s been a lot of drama and unsettling body stuff. Extra limbs, weird powers, sometimes being some kind of bird, getting possessed.” you list off, really you could list more.

“Karkat, man, I like you. Okay?” Dave says and rests his hand on your shoulder. He’s being so gentle you think you’re going to die.

“You can’t just _say_ something like that!” you say in a strangled voice.

“Oh shit, Karkat defeated by very faint levels of endearment. Wait until I tell you that I like you A LOT. That I think about you when you’re not around and I actually really like how you look and I like your wings and halo, I think they’re cool.” Dave insists.

You cover your face with your hands and you get the feeling that your halo has appeared all by itself and is probably glowing brightly to expose your feelings.

Dave shifts on the bed leaning his arm on your shoulder so he can aggressively get in your space, he tries to gently wriggle one of your hands free from your face by inching his fingers under your wrist.

“I think you’re cute, actually. I like your hair and your face, I like that scowl you do when you think, it’s like you’re angry at ideas for trying to get in your head.” Dave insists.

“Auuuugh.” you groan into your palms.

“I like how you’re on a personal mission with lip balm to both stop your very nice lips from chapping in the cold and remove my ability to have any thoughts that aren’t about immediately making out with you.” Dave goes on.

You make a strangled noise, you can’t deal with Dave being so complimentary to you. It’s one thing with Sollux who is neither subtle nor in any way trying to hide his attraction to you. It’s entirely another when you’re dealing with Dave who is a little more reserved with that stuff or when he’s not being reserved it comes off like a joke or something he’s playing at instead of actual desire on his part. It’s probably his way of protecting himself, a security in the idea that if you reacted badly he could laugh it off as if that’s what he meant. For him to outright say that something mundane that you do makes him think about kissing you to the extent that he can’t think of anything else… that’s… that’s really something for him.

This is stupid and you’re dumb. You do like him and he likes you back. This has been established. It’s just… with Sollux once you knew that you two had dated in the past it took a lot of the pressure off, he already knew how you felt because it’d all been done before. Even though you had to work your feelings out yourself there wasn’t any reason to doubt it. With Dave it’s all new and that’s kind of scary.

Even so he IS dating you and this isn’t something you want to hide from, not really.

You lower your hands and shoot him a nervous look. Dave has his hand resting on your shoulder and his chin placed on the back of that same hand. With his free hand he reaches up above your head and you suppose touches your halo, not that it’s a physical thing and not that you can feel it.

“You’re glowing pretty bright there.” Dave says quietly.

You open your mouth, hesitate and then mentally kick yourself for being so in your own head. Just TALK to the guy!

“It’s because I like you, you make me happy.” you tell him as bluntly as you can to avoid fucking the statement up, hedging anything or accidentally insulting him.

Dave seems to light up at being given this simple statement of affection. His expression then shifts into a mischievous little grin and he ducks in close to kiss you. Your breath catches in your chest, especially as his fingers slide along the side of your face. Your mind stutters and has to reboot when Dave stops kissing you and you realise that he’s looking up above your head.

“What?” you ask, self consciously running a hand through your hair as if that’d do anything to your halo.

“It does get brighter.” Dave grins.

“You already knew that.” you grumble.

“Yes, but you need to repeat science experiments and shit. Verify your data. Run tests under different conditions. You have to be thorough with this kind of thing, Karkat. What do you take me for?” Dave rambles but you’re pretty sure you can see the direction that thought process is going.

“I see. Well then, if it’s for science.” you nod solemnly.

“Shit, yeah. Data. Science. Mmhmm.” Dave nods.

What an idiot. God, you like him so much. You kiss him anyway and that occupies several very delightful minutes until Dave touches your bare skin on your side with his delicate fingers and your wings jolt in response. The feathers drag the wrong way across the bed again and you have to break the kiss to hiss in discomfort.

“Oh, I have a solution to that.” Dave says cheerily then grabs you by the shoulders and falls onto his back on the bed, pulling you with him. Admittedly leaning over him on the bed means that your wings are out of the way of most things now.

“I see. This is your solution, huh?” you challenge him dubiously.

“It works.” Dave says, suddenly defensive.

“I could have just put them away, or we could have stopped. Awfully convenient for you that this is the solution that you come up with, not that you benefit from this in any way at all, huh?” you say suspiciously, leaning over him. Oh, cool, if you open up your wings a little you can actually lean on them a bit as you look down at Dave. Most people would probably find that intimidating but, somehow, you think Dave has different feelings about that.

“I don’t- I’m hurt that you’d accuse me of ulterior motives.” Dave huffs. He reaches a hand up and buries it in the fine fluffy feathers near where your wing attaches to your back, or as close as he can get by reaching over your shoulder.

“That statement of denial would carry a lot more weight if you weren’t, you know, currently feeling me up.” you point out.

“I can’t believe you’d insult my scientific credentials like this. I’ve done so much for science and this is how I’m repaid.” Dave rambles.

Dumbass.

Luckily you find… ways of stopping Dave’s stupid ramblings about all that he does for science, it works out pretty well.

The next morning something wakes you up, but you’re not sure what it is exactly. It’s as if your mind just got booted out of sleep because something happened but you’re at a loss as to what it is. You lean up on your arm as best as you can, what part of it that isn’t pinned under Dave’s neck and head that is, and look around. Nothing in the room seems different and your phone charm isn’t flashing, nor is Dave’s.

Whatever woke you hasn’t disturbed Dave, his bare back against your chest is ever so slowly rising and falling with his peaceful breathing. You stay put, your ears attuned to any sound. It’s still pretty early so there’s not much in the way of sound from the other dorm rooms or from outside and what little sound you can hear is nothing more than you would have heard back in your apartment in Georgia so that wouldn’t have woken you.

You pull your arm out from under Dave and shuffle away from his back. It’s a little difficult in part because your legs are all tangled together but you manage to separate yourself from him delicately enough that he doesn’t wake up. You’re thankful that you put your wings away before you fell asleep with Dave because it’d make stealth even more difficult.

You feel reasonably certain that you two aren’t alone anymore. Something woke you, something tripped your senses. Maybe it’s Sollux, he was supposed to come back today but if there’s any chance it’s someone come to hurt Dave or jump you then you don’t want to be unprepared.

Getting your footing on the floor is a little tricky, you’re trying not to nudge Dave’s hastily removed jeans or the belt buckle on them that will no doubt make a sound. Once you’re steady you summon normal clothes magically and then your weapon, which is back to being it’s usual shape instead of a glitchy sword.

Creeping silently to the door you turn the handle as slowly as you possibly can and ease the door back without a sound. You can feel a presence beyond the door as you slip out into the living room. Your muscles snap taut at movement over by the kitchen and there’s a flare of demonic light right after. Light that fades immediately.

“Don’t sneak up on me!” Sollux hisses at you.

“Sorry! I didn’t know it was you! I thought someone else might be coming here for Dave again!” you hiss back and pull the door closed behind you.

Sollux tilts his head a little as he looks you up and down and nods.

“Nice to see you’d come out trying to maim anyone who tried.” Sollux says approvingly.

“Somehow I think he’s safe from you.” you snort and dismiss your weapon.

“Of course he is.” Sollux shrugs and hops up onto the counter and gives you a shitty grin, like he knows something you don’t.

Or perhaps just knows more than he should.

“Have fun?” Sollux asks teasingly.

“Do you have to be terrible all of the time? Also, I’m not telling you anything.” you mutter.

“I do, and I know. You don’t kiss and tell. Me and Dave do though.” Sollux says cheerily, right as the door behind you opens and a bleary eyed Dave dressed in only boxers emerges.

“I what?” he yawns.

“Share all the details about Karkat.” Sollux repeats.

“Shit yeah, I have so much to tell you. We fucked! It was GREAT!” Dave says delightedly and, as if you weren’t right there, walks past you and fistbumps Sollux.

Having two boyfriends sounds amazing on paper until you realise that they’re going to talk about YOU and that they’re both complete shitlords and why is this your life? You walk off to the side, pick a pillow from the sofa and scream into it for a moment. It helps a little.

One of Dave’s neighbours bangs on the wall angrily and Dave and Sollux are beside themselves laughing. You have a fleeting moment where you contemplate complaining to Rose about how awful the two of them are but somehow you don’t think you’ll get anywhere with that.

“Can we not get the play-by-play when I’m right here in the room?” you ask exasperatedly.

“Later.” Sollux says to Dave with a sharp smile, who nods. Why is this happening to you?

“Not to change the subject-” you start.

“Entirely because you want to change the subject.” Sollux corrects.

“...Fine. We should go see June this morning. I caught up to her and talked to her yesterday and she said-” you start.

“I have _nothing_ to say to her.” Sollux says, all levity suddenly gone.

“I know she fucked up and we could have lost Karkat but if he’s talked to her and is fine and she wants to explain then we should at least hear her out. She’s our friend.” Dave says patiently.

“No. She’s not.” Sollux says with a growl building in his voice.

“Yes, she is.” Dave says back firmly.

“I’m not going.” Sollux insists.

“Well, I’m going. I’m sure Rose will want to go too, and Jade. Dave?” you ask, looking over at him.

“Hell yeah, I’m going. I’d rather find out information instead of just deciding shit for myself.” Dave nods.

“You should probably put clothes on.” you suggest.

“Really? You think that’s a thing I should do? What did I ever do before I met you, Karkat?” Dave says sarcastically.

“I don’t know but I imagine you did it without much in the way of clothes if this is any indication.” you retort.

“Well just to show you I will put clothes on and then go see June. You can’t stop me.” Dave says that last part to Sollux and goes back into his room.

“I can’t make you come with us but wouldn’t you rather hear her out?” you ask Sollux quietly now that Dave isn’t in the room.

“I’m not even surprised that you still trust her, you’re an idiot with trusting people.” Sollux mutters.

“She’s my friend and she was trying to help. I know it went bad and I… I saw what you went through, trying to bring me back I mean. It kind of left a mark.” you say and vanish your shirt so you can show off the claw marks through your sign.

You’re not sure exactly how you expected Sollux to react. With surprise perhaps? You were dead and then you were fine, so suddenly having a scar could be surprising. Or he could be angry at the reminder of what you agreed to. But no, he just seems sad.

“Why do I have scars anyway? My body isn’t really REAL like Dave’s is, I’m not human, why do I scar?” you ask.

“You don’t. Not physically. Your body on this plane is a representation of who you are in a way that’s tolerable to mortals, or in this one specifically, one that looks human. If you show scars on your body it’s a… a translation of emotional scarring. If you cut yourself on a overly sharp stair railing or something and it means nothing to you then it won’t leave a mark. Mituna clawing through your throat to stop _him_ cursing us with your voice: traumatising and scarring. Me clawing at your chest as I try to stop you dying, emotionally significant. If an injury has an effect on you it can leave a mark.” Sollux explains.

Sollux is wearing an unzipped hoodie right now but he has a tshirt under it. His neck is bare and you can see his hands and face. There are pale, thin scars on him. The kind you might get from a very sharp sword.

“I’m sorry I put you through that.” you apologise again. He shrugs.

“I know what you’re like. Trying to save people no matter what happens to you, I’m used to it. I don’t like when it nearly kills you but I know to expect it. I’m not the only one who knows.” Sollux says that last part significantly. He means that June knows you’re like that.

“You think I was manipulated.” you conclude and put your shirt back on.

“I know you were.” he says immediately.

“What’s the line between her manipulating me and her knowing what I’m like and what I’d feel about something? If she knows I’d want to make that choice and there was a quick deadline to give me the information-” you start.

“There WASN’T a deadline. She tricked me into leaving, faked relics to shut down Redglare’s office, separated you from everyone, all so you would make that dumb decision with no one around to talk you out of it.” Sollux snaps at you.

“Okay, I’m not… comfortable with her doing that. I don’t think she should have gone behind your back, but I do think I made the right call. I don’t want to hurt any of you but if I had died it would have been better than _him_ coming back, wouldn’t it? I don’t want more scars on you from that, especially not because of me.” you reason.

You step a little closer to him, close enough to touch, and reach out to his neck. There’s a thin line there, a faint scar where the blade in your hand sliced through him.

Sollux doesn’t seem to have anything to say to that.

Behind you Dave’s bedroom door shuts and you turn to see him fully dressed.

“I messaged Rose and June and they want to meet up in June and Jade’s dorm room to talk everything over. So I guess we’re skipping our languages lab but this seems pretty important to me.” Dave says.

Oh, shit. You still have classes. Goddamnit! Well, Dave is right, you do need to sort this out.

“Please come with us.” Dave asks Sollux, his voice gentle.

Sollux’s jaw tenses for a moment, his eyes narrow as he stares Dave down but then he sighs and seems to relent, though it doesn’t stop the scowling.

“Fine.” he says, his voice somewhat stiff. It seems to be good enough for Dave who leads him off with a look at you to follow them.

You’re not one to look a gift horse in the mouth or anything but as you follow Dave and Sollux to June’s room you can’t help but wonder about how Sollux and Dave’s dynamic works. Dave didn’t MAKE Sollux come with him, not that you think anyone could make Sollux do anything he didn’t want to really. Dave just asked. Is it because it means a lot to Dave for June and Sollux to get along and Sollux is respectful of what Dave wants? Enough to at least go along and hear June out? Or has Sollux decided that he wants to hear what June wants to say just so he knows what she’s told Dave? Is there some duplicitous reason for him going?

They’re moirails, you know that, but it’s hard to know what that must really feel like.

“Karkat.” Rose calls to you in the hallway, she’s just coming out of the stairwell on her way up to June and Jade’s dorm.

“Morning.” you greet her and Rose joins you at your side.

“I didn’t think that Sollux would show up to this, he didn’t exactly seem on good terms with June before.” Rose says softly, though you suspect that Sollux can still hear her.

“Dave asked him to.” you answer.

“Ah.” Rose nods as if that explains it all.

You glance at Rose out of the corner of your eye. Sollux and June both thought you and Rose were edging towards being moirails, that you have with her what Sollux has with Dave. You try to think if you would give someone who hurt you a chance if Rose asked you to. You think you might but then didn’t Sollux say that you were too forgiving? Maybe that’s just you.

The better question is would Rose give someone that chance if you asked her? But then again didn’t that video she made tell her explicitly to trust you and only you? That’s… something.

Oh boy, you’re really not sure you have the space to think about this right now and Rose has made it clear before that the concept upsets her view of her own orientation and the last thing you’d want to do is make her feel like that. But still, it’s food for thought at least.

The hallway isn’t that long and June and Jade don’t live that far down it, you don’t have all the time in the world to wonder about how moirallegiance works, you have a June to talk to.

Dave is the one who knocks on the door and June answers quickly, as if she’d been waiting right there just for that. She seems nervous as she steps aside to let you in and the stare that passes between her and Sollux is tense to say the very least. You all try to find seats which involves a fair bit of perching on the arms of chairs and June staying standing to talk and answer questions. Once you’re all settled June takes a big breath and seems to hold it, looking around at you all.

“So. Uh.” June hesitates.

She sighs and then takes one foot off of the floor, then the other. Her hair floats around her, her eyes take on that blueish glow from before and outside the windows of the dorm the sky starts to turn very dark. Jade and Dave sensibly react with alarm and confusion but Rose is fixed, just staring at her.

“...You’re the storm god.” Rose says slowly.

“Yeah, I am.” June nods.

“But the statues… ah.” Rose pauses and you can see her putting two and two together. She looks over at Sollux who is lurking by Dave’s side ominous and angry.

“You were the storm that happened the night all those Death statues were destroyed.” Rose concludes.

“I was trying to make Sollux feel better.” June says and Sollux glares at the floor, like the reminder that he and June have done nice things for each other actively hurts right now.

“And the statues and temple destruction... I see.” Rose nods.

“I don’t!” Jade says loudly.

“Yeah, what the fuck? How is- June can’t be a god, we went to highschool with her!” Dave protests.

“A valid point, however,” June says and points at the window just in time for lightning to strike the ground just outside the building, “I still am.”

“Why would a god sit through Mr. Jurgen’s 9am Monday math class? What’s wrong with you?!” Dave demands.

“Good question.” Sollux mutters.

“Would it kill you to be nice?” you hiss at him.

“Why risk it?” Sollux retorts.

“Why didn’t you tell us what you were? Why did you say you were human? Oh gosh, that’s what Dave and Rose’s mom was going on about with accusing you of lying!” Jade gasps as she realises.

“Yeah, she wasn’t cool with the acting human thing. I’m sorry I lied to all of you but I had my reasons.” June admits.

“Reasons to do with the Event I assume.” Rose concludes.

“Yeah, I’m not supposed to be admitting what I am. I’m meant to be acting human and I’m happy with that, I like living like this. I have followers but I get to just be a person and do normal stuff, have friends, it’s nice.” June says quietly.

“I’m so lost.” Dave says quietly.

“Alright, alright, look. How about this? I’m guessing that Karkat just found out you were a god yesterday because let’s be real he’s got a terrible poker face.” Jade starts.

“Hey.” you protest.

“No, she’s got you there. You should take lessons from me.” Dave nods.

“Please, Dave, I’ve seen glass less transparent than you.” Rose tuts.

“ANYWAY, I figure he found out yesterday when whatever happened went down in his room so how about we go over all of that and explain everything from there?” Jade suggests.

“A good idea.” Rose agrees.

“Fine. Let’s… upfront say that I know the god that possessed Karkat. I mean I used to, he changed an awful lot when he took the job on and kind of decayed worse. But I know what he’s like, I’m familiar with the stuff he can summon, how his magic works, all that. The sword Karkat summoned was for a start not Karkat’s type of weapon and that sort of magical glitch is _him_ all over. Karkat couldn’t do that by himself so it meant that _he_ was still in there.” June explains.

“You didn’t know that, it could have been residual hellish energy or an overwrite in his summoning spells or ANYTHING. But no, you just went straight to trying to KILL him!” Sollux snarls.

“I was RIGHT!” June shouts back.

“Hey, hey, cool it. We’ll get there. June, you saw that weirdass sword, then what?” Jade asks, getting physically in between a literal god and a demon because Jade knows no fear apparently.

“I… knew that Sollux wouldn’t let me do what I needed to do with Karkat to fix the problem so I… may have made a diversion for him and made Karkat think he had to go back to the dorm.” June admits.

“You gave him that fever?” Dave asks in surprise.

“Hot air. Storms are my thing along with tricks but I’m more wind than I am thunderbolts and lightning. I can do that but heating Karkat up with hot summer storm air was no problem. Sorry about that.” June apologies and you shrug.

“The relics at Redglare’s office. How did you do that?” Rose asks.

“It was trickery, no one was really going to be hurt. Also I had some of my followers do that.” June explains.

Sollux doesn’t seem at all amused at June’s actions.

“Your followers, you mean the pseudomen in suits?” Rose asks.

“Pseudo- oh that’s genius! HAH! Yeah, they’re mine. This is what happens when you’re a trickster god, you tell your followers to go by fake names like, uh, John Doe or something and they all make a joke out of it and then the whole thing just snowballs!” June snorts laughing.

“As a side note why are your followers staking out my… my family’s home?” Jade asks, hesitating on whether to call Joey and Jude her siblings or not. It’s hard, they grew up with Jake as their father but she always considered him her grandfather, so working out their relationship must be tricky.

“Ah, about that. My dad is a follower of mine who adopted me since I’m living as a human right now. Jake is his uncle but they’re really estranged, I didn’t even know about you at all. And like I said me and _him_ go way back and my dad is pretty protected by being my follower but Joey and Jude weren’t. It’d still hurt my dad if anything happened to them and since they also had a connection to Roxy Lalonde who went around messing with demon society it painted a pretty big target on their back. Only Roxy decided to protect them before I could and so I just had people keep an eye on them to make sure that everything was okay even if that protection failed.” June explains.

“And they bailed us out of the police station!” Dave adds eagerly.

“You’re welcome for that and destroying all the evidence that you guys committed crimes by the way.” June nods.

Sollux is clearly looking less and less pleased at how well June is coming off in this interrogation.

“Can we get back to how you lied to me and killed Karkat?” Sollux interrupts, effectively putting a stop to THAT conversation.

“Fine. I lied, I got you away and I got Karkat alone. I told him what I told you already, that he was possessed still and that it was only a matter of time until _he_ got enough power to take him over again and this time _he’d_ be way more calculating. _He’d_ torture and kill for ages before being caught and being in an angelic body _he_ could do SO MUCH damage. I told Karkat all that and he agreed. We stop his heart, we break the connection, everyone is safe.” June says firmly.

“Only he wasn’t. You stopped his heart and you couldn’t start it again. We would never have got him back at ALL if I hadn’t stuck my hand in his chest and started his heart again BY HAND.” Sollux snarls.

“Right, and I’m sorry that happened. I like Karkat, we’re friends, I didn’t want him to be stuck in Heaven but that wasn’t a dead certainty that he would be stuck if he did end up there because he’s snuck out before a bunch. Things might be different now but we don’t know that.” June insists.

“Also, even if I had to die I’d rather that than all of you and who knows who else being attacked, killed or tortured. I agreed to that risk and I’m sorry I did it behind your back, that was shitty of me but I couldn’t stand the thought of anything happening to you.” you add.

“That’s not the point, you make dumb sacrifices with your life all the time! I’m not talking about that!” Sollux snaps at you.

“Sollux, man, stop pushing this. You really don’t want to have this argument.” June warns him.

“Don’t talk to me like that! You went behind my back! We’re SUPPOSED to be friends, we’re SUPPOSED to be on the same team!” Sollux shouts, pointing his finger in her face.

“We are. That means that if I have to make the decisions you can’t, I will. I lied to you, yeah. And sure, I might have pushed Karkat’s buttons in the interest of time but it was objectively the right choice and he still agrees with that. You don’t want this argument. You’re upset, it’s understandable.” June says reasonably.

“He’s my kismesis, you had no right to-” Sollux hisses.

“To do what you COULDN’T? Is that what you mean?” June retorts, her gaze fierce and the air around her literally crackling with static. Sollux pulls back, eyes wide.

“Dave told me how that fight went down. I saw the cut on Karkat’s chest. You’ve spent way too long with a sword in hand not to hit a guy’s heart when I KNOW you’ve done it to Karkat like fifty fucking times before. Only now you two are together you can’t make yourself do it. You couldn’t destroy his body and risk never seeing him again even when he’d agree to that AND it would have saved everyone, so I did it. I even got you out of the way so you didn’t have to blame yourself for not stopping me. You’re fucking WELCOME.” June snaps at Sollux.

“I-” Sollux pulls back, kind of cringing as he does so.

“I could have. I made a choice, it was the risk that he couldn’t come back and- and it wasn’t like I could ask him then. It wasn’t right.” Sollux insists, but he doesn’t sound especially convincing.

“Wait, hey, this isn’t your fault Sollux. I don’t think I could have risked killing you to save everyone, not unless you were actively demanding I do it. I was possessed, it wasn’t like I could agree at the time.” you point out, but you attempts to soften June’s words seem to hurt Sollux more.

“We’re friends, Sollux. You couldn’t do it, so I did it for you. I have your back.” June says, her voice calm and the static around her fading.

“No! You made the wrong call and you had no right to-” Sollux protests.

“Only I didn’t make the wrong call.” June says.

Sollux is staring June down and though June seems unhappy with this whole situation she’s not backing down. You don’t know what to say and everyone else seems just as frozen, too afraid to make the situation worse to say anything.

“Sollux, it’s okay.” June tells him softly.

“No! Fuck you!” Sollux snarls and then, with a flash, he’s gone.

June sighs, drops back to the floor properly and fades back into looking convincingly human.

“I’m not exactly alright with the decisions made here but it seems a lot like whatever that argument was, ended up being about more than just what happened to Karkat. Explain?” Rose asks after a moment of silence has passed.

June sighs and sweeps her hair back from her face, a frown pinching her brow as she takes a moment or two to think.

“The… Devil, Dirk, he had this thing about utility and purpose, about strength. _He_ made Sollux’s maker and _he_ was not good to them. Sollux didn’t destroy Karkat when he had the chance, doing so would have ended the possession for good but it could have got Karkat stuck in heaven. Without his god around to grant him a new body he’d be stuck there. Since we’ve seen other angels who weren’t down here at the time it’s possible that they’re still giving out passes somehow or those angels just had valid bodies they could still have used. So whether Karkat could have come back or not, whether he could have found his usual sneaky way of getting his body back and returning to Earth was a mystery. Karkat had no way of agreeing to that when Sollux had the chance to stab him.” June explains.

“I was really possessed, I couldn’t talk, it was all him.” you agree.

“Right. So Sollux had to weigh up whether to just stab you enough to hold you in place or whether to destroy you, even though that might mean the angels killed you or just locked you away so we’d never see you again, assuming you didn’t escape back here. He chose not to. I saw evidence that Karkat was still possessed and Sollux wrote it off as just residual effects because if it’s not then he’d have had to do what I did and he couldn’t, because he loves Karkat. Or hates. Whatever.” she continues.

“That’s entirely understandable though.” Jade says sympathetically.

“That’s a pretty impossible position to put him in.” you agree.

“Right, of course it is. But he made the wrong call. He wasn’t strong enough to do what he needed to do, he was weak. Or that’s how he was taught to think about that sort of thing.” June points out.

“I… I remember _him_ thinking something like that about Sollux missing my heart, that it was a weak and disappointing decision for him to make.” you say grimly.

“Yeah. So me cutting him out of the decision and doing what had to be done wasn’t just traumatising because I couldn’t shock you back to life but because it showed him up as being weak, a liability, a… someone failing at what he was made to do or whatever. That kind of thing is usually pretty punished down there from how I hear it. Dirk kind of fucked him up about that stuff.” June says.

“So him being angry at you only makes sense if you made some immoral choice. He has to be angry at you because the alternative is too horrible for him to consider.” Rose concludes and June nods.

“Oh… Sollux.” Dave whispers, clearly heartbroken.

That kind of explains why Sollux isn’t angry at you for what you did but is livid at June. He can recognise that you made a hard decision and risked your own wellbeing for others, but June’s actions are tied up with his inaction. June being right means that he was wrong.

“I’m going back to my dorm, I’m gonna get Sollux. I’ll see you guys later… not sure how much later but eventually.” Dave says and stands up.

“Let me know if I can help.” you offer and Dave nods before excusing himself.

The door shuts and the four of you are alone. One angel, a fae, a human and a god. It sounds like the opening to a bad joke.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you all about me earlier. I just wanted some normality and the world doesn’t have gods now, doesn’t need them. I just wanted to be me.” June says.

“I can understand, though I’m not fond of you actively lying in the past. I do have questions, I’m sure more will come to me, but this doesn’t seem like the time. I suppose the only one that matters is are you still our friend? Was that all real?” Rose asks.

“What? Of course it is, you guys are my best friends!” June says, her eyes filling with tears.

You’re dragged into a group hug with the girls, even though several of them are way stronger than they should be and you think you can hear your vertebrae groan under the strength of it. Things seem a little better now, you hope there’ll be fewer secrets and that Sollux and June will be able to go back to normal. You’re also pretty sure that Rose has worked out the whole god/goddess thing but, like you, doesn’t see that as relevant in comparison to June saying she found out your species some other way when really she just remembered you.

You just hope Sollux is okay. It seems like his maker’s maker left more than just physical scars on him. Man, he’d better hope he stays locked up with the other gods because you’re entirely down to fight him.


	33. Dr. Sunshine is dead

You have the sense of familiarity, that you've been here and done this before now. Having walked along the dirt floor of the carnival ground you look down as if pulled on strings and once again see the soft grey doll. You bend, picking it up and run your thumb along the torn seam at its side. Looking over to the side the two men in the stall from before are too busy with the plastic faced doll on their table to notice you and so you move on, the grey doll held to your chest. There's a sense that you need to fix it or at least return it to its owner, but you have no idea how to do either of those things.

Without any other guidance you wander. There are other stalls, and other people walking by but somehow they don't seem fully real to you. The stalls give way to rides and your eyes land on one in particular. You shift the grey doll around in your arms a little as you draw closer. The ride is one of those that slowly pulls you up to the top and then drops you back down in freefall, they usually have stupid names like 'THE DETONATOR' or something like that. Coming to the fenced edges around it you look in.

There are a good number of riders on the ride and more are joining but with one exception they're all as vague and unreal as everyone else in this place. The one exception is Karkat.

You watch as he sits in the chair of the ride, his portion of the seating is empty but there are chattering non-passengers on the other sides. He looks up at the safety bar above his head and with curiosity he reaches up to touch it. You gasp, clutching the limp doll in your arms tighter as the safety bar snaps and twists off into jagged metal with half of it clanging to the floor. Karkat looks around in a panic, clearly worried about having broken the ride. He's so consumed with worry that he doesn't notice the ride is about to start and for some reason your voice is stuck in your throat. Or maybe you do call out and he can’t hear you.

There is a man operating the ride, white haired with an orange baseball cap on his head and pointed sunglasses obscuring his eyes despite it being dark out. With bored disinterest he jerks the lever and the safety bars come down on the riders. Karkat gets a split second of realisation before the jagged metal of the broken safety bar slams into his chest. Blood runs down his shirt and he gasps in obvious pain. You go to help him, to do something but before you can do more than touch the fence the ride jerks him up into the sky away from you.

You awake in a cold sweat and stumble out of your bed before you're completely conscious. It was a dream, of course it was, but it was no mere dream, you're sure of that. The clock beside your bed says that it's three in the morning. After everything that you'd discovered about June you'd all agreed to let people process and calm down before asking more questions. It seemed sensible to you, a chance to think clearly and for certain other parties to be less defensive. The point is that Karkat went to sleep in his own room, not least because Dave got a note through his door from several of his neighbours asking if he could perhaps KEEP IT DOWN. You suspect that Dave and Sollux will be visiting Karkat in his own silenced room from now on.

Hurrying out of your room you go to knock on Karkat's door, it's childish but you need to reassure yourself that he's fine and not.... what? Skewered on a carnival ride? Still, you knock on the door but it swings inwards, it hadn't been properly on the latch.

Your blood ices up and you warily lean into the room, hoping that you'll find Karkat asleep and he just forgot to shut the door properly. But no. His bed is empty, the covers thrown back as if he'd exasperatedly kicked them off. Stepping inside you touch the bedsheets and find them cold, Karkat hasn't just got up for a drink or something. Checking your phone shows you that everyone is offline. Karkat is missing. Again.

"Fucking... would it kill you to leave a note?" you hiss under your breath as you march back to your room.

You change quickly, getting into jeans and simply throwing a Salem U hoodie over your pyjama shirt. Reaching into your bag of holding you pull out Karkat's enchanted feather and hold it on your palm. It doesn't point up towards Dave's room, in fact it points away from the campus entirely. Great.

Grabbing your coat you leave and set about following the feather as best as you can. A somewhat confusing walk and about twenty minutes later you find yourself outside of a large catholic church. Its gothic architecture, stained glass windows and large iron wrought doors are as impressive as they are intimidating. From the outside the place looks both dark and shut, besides this isn't somewhere you'd expect to find Karkat. Somewhat confused you walk past the church in one direction and then the other but the feather stubbornly points inside and is responding far more readily than you'd expect if he was in the building behind it.

You pocket the feather and think.

Perhaps Karkat has decided to go to church, in the middle of the night for... no obvious reason. He's hardly devout or approving of his own side so it would be an odd move to be so compelled at such a time. The other possibility is that somehow some church people discovered what Karkat was and abducted him, but despite Karkat's habit of being kidnapped you doubt regular humans could do that. Mind controlled cops could because people comply with cops, if Karkat had run from them then other cops would have tried to take him down as well. As far as you know the same doesn't go for catholic priests. Also, you have a feeling that people of the church trying to kidnap Karkat would get far more than they bargained for. So... unlikely.

You let the feather go and it drifts up against the wooden door, nudging against an iron stud as it tries to get through. You draw a needle out just in case there is trouble and as quietly as you can you try to open the door. It's locked but that's not much of a problem for you. This isn't a complex lock and you figure that the church probably relies on people not wanting to break into churches rather than installing impressive locks. Sucks to be them. You silently unlock the door and slip inside.

As you thought the church is dark inside, the only light filtering in from the tall stained glass windows. There's no candles lit and the darkness makes the statues seem far more ominous than they would in the day. Dim starlight and ambient light from the street outside highlights Jesus on the cross at the far end of the church, but it also lights Karkat up a little. He's not sat at the very front, but a few rows back and a little way in. From the back you can recognise him easily enough and he's not praying or anything, just leant forward on his folded arms that rest on the back of the pew in front.

It strikes you that this is probably something personal, private and emotionally charged for him. You probably should leave now that you know he's okay. But... you can't. The set of his shoulders seems hopeless and sad, how can you leave him like that?

You walk up the path between the pews, not trying to be silent anymore. Needless to say Karkat seems to hear you but he doesn't realise it's you until you sit next to him.

"Rose." he says, his voice croaky. It's possible that he had been crying before but he doesn't look like he had been doing so very recently, you wonder how long he's been sat here.

"I went looking for you, you weren't in bed." you tell him.

"Sorry." he apologises and you shrug, this is clearly important.

"I was just..." Karkat gestures helplessly and falls silent.

You wait, patiently, and after a minute or two he seems to find the words again.

"Learning about June kind of fucked me up a bit. I saw her with- with _him_, when he was just an angel. Before he fell and became..." Karkat trails off, you wonder if he's hesitant to call the Devil what he is in this place.

"It's not that I agree with him, I had him in my head and he sucks. Plus I've seen what he's done to Sollux and I know that's just scratching the surface of that so sincerely fuck that guy. But she- God made him just for that one job. He was just a tool who was made for a job and was going to be discarded. I was made just to supposedly make Kankri better although I have opinions on how dumb of an idea that was for literally everyone involved." Karkat sneers a little at that part.

"I'm glad you were made." you offer up to him, a saccharine sentiment for sure but no less true.

"Thanks." Karkat smiles.

He sighs and leans back in the pew, his head tipping back to look at the painted ceiling of the church.

"I was made for a purpose and never even allowed to do it. When I snuck out to help humanity and Earth in general I was going against my orders. I hated that place. I had one semi-dubious friend in Eridan and the only other person there I liked gets wildly mischaracterised and fuckin' whitewashed!" Karkat waves a hand at the cross at the front. Hardly what a man born in that part of the world would have looked like, for sure.

"I wanted to come here to feel... something. Anything. This is what I'm supposed to be serving and all I feel is that this is a nice building architecturally and that's about it. I'm not saying I want to level the place or anything I'm sure other people feel wonderful things here and it brings them peace and makes them better people but I'm what I AM and this place does _nothing_ for me." Karkat rants. When he stops talking he slumps a little.

"You're having a sort of crisis of faith." you conclude.

"Faith doesn't come into it. I CAME from there, I don't believe shit, I know. You don't lack belief in New York, you don't have a crisis of faith about the place you come from." Karkat argues.

"Not the geographical place, no. But I have a certain idea in mind about what New York is, what it means to come from there, what those people are like. Terrible leadership, corrupt officials, all of that could erase my faith in the place as a concept. I'd know the state and city still existed, but you can still lose faith in the rest." you explain.

Karkat considers this for a moment and you leave him the room to think. His hand is on the cool varnished wood pew between you and you gently lay your hand over it. Despite the hour you're in no rush and you're here for him, willing to give him the space to come to terms with a concept like this. Besides which you've confirmed that he's alive and that your dream wasn't predicting anything immediate. You still need to analyse what you saw in it but now isn't the time.

"I think I'm... homesick? Or something like it." Karkat concludes.

"How so?" you ask.

"I know what this should be for me here," he says and waves at the church with his free hand, "this is supposed to be a symbol of my home. I was supposed to be something great, made to do good for a god I believe in. But I wasn't made for a good reason, by a good person, or in service of a god I'm willing to support. I don't understand her goals and her actions seem cruel and inhumane. I miss something that I've never had."

It's an interesting concept. You've felt it yourself in a smaller way. You do love your mother but her magical injury is very dominating in her life, you have moments where you wonder how things would have been in a life where she wasn't injured. Where she could continue with her incredible work and where you could have just been a kid instead of a joint caretaker with Dave. As Karkat said, homesick for something you never had. Your life was considerably less cruel than Karkat's so you won't compare the two but it's alike enough for you to grasp the idea.

"Even so, you still did good things and I think you are pretty great. I believe in you." you tell him.

Karkat looks a little like he might cry and instead just sniffs and squeezes your hand. You give him a moment, allow him to pretend like he's not about to burst into emotional tears. When he seems to have recovered himself he starts speaking again.

"June was obviously involved in the Event a bit, she mentioned that the reason I lost my memory was so I could live without remembering all that. Though I'm pretty sure she didn't mean for it to turn out exactly how it did. The intention was there, she wanted me to have a shot at just being able to exist. I sort of suspect that's how I got into Salem too, I never applied and it seems suspicious but maybe I'm just reaching on that part." Karkat shrugs.

"You might be not giving yourself enough credit there." you point out.

"I've been trying to think what would I have done if I'd got a chance to put requests in to the Event. I want to help people and make the world better but that's a really complex thing to do and I don't know. June at least was trying to help out people she knew personally, that probably made it easier to guess what would be the right thing to change for them. You couldn't do that for everyone though. It's not like you could say 'I want everyone to have a billion dollars' and think you'll solve world hunger. Like, no, you just crashed the economy fucknuts. What would you do?" Karkat asks at the end of that rant.

It's an interesting hypothetical. Given the chance to add clauses to a magical spell that powerful, what would you do with it? Knowing what you know about magic and how people work, how would you maximise the chance to do good? After a little thought you give Karkat your answer.

"I would change myself, give myself the ability to see who on Earth can do large amounts of good and what they would need to get there. So say you had someone who could cure cancer but they just need to get the approval of some board or what have you. Then all you have to do is put pressure on the right people and the situation fixes itself. If there was legislation that would go through that would better the lives of millions but someone is blocking it for selfish reasons then you fix that." you explain.

"By 'fix that' do you mean 'talk to and show the error of their ways' or 'judiciously employ blackmail'?" Karkat asks dubiously.

"I'm flexible in my methods." you say with a shrug and Karkat snorts in amusement.

"You know what? Actually, fuck it, I like your plan. At least you're trying to do good and asking for knowledge to be sure you're doing it right is a smart idea. Sign me up." Karkat laughs.

"I'm glad you agree. When I start my plans for world domination as the benevolent dictator of the whole world I shall employ you as my right hand man." you joke.

"I live to serve." Karkat snorts.

The conversation is stupid, of course, but Karkat's smiling again. There's an amused little crinkle at the edges of his eyes even as the actual smile itself fades. That's a far better outcome than him just sitting alone in this church.

"Sorry for worrying you by just disappearing, I thought I'd be back before you woke up." Karkat apologises.

"Hm, 'I didn't think you'd catch me' isn't much of an apology but I accept nonetheless. Shall we go back?" you suggest and get to your feet.

"Shit, yeah. Let's go." Karkat says and follows you.

"How did you get in here anyway?" you ask him as you reach the front door of the church.

"The doors just unlocked for me. I guess since it's a church I have... I don't know, administrator access? Something like that." Karkat shrugs.

Interesting. You'd like to test that in future but for now you'd rather go back to your dorm and sleep some more. The walk back is peaceful and you're both tired, neither of you talk much on the way and it's only when Karkat sighs as you step inside your dorm that you realise how long you went in silence.

"It's good to be back home. Fuck me it's cold out there. Why'd I go out? I'm going back to bed where it's warm." Karkat says and kicks his shoes off.

"Good night." you call out to him. He sleepily mumbles goodnight back and shuts his bedroom door after him.

You return to your own bed after changing back into your pyjamas fully. You really do hope that Karkat feels at home here. It's not the same as belonging where he should have but he deserves a home now at the very least, even if he should have always had that. Drifting away into a short few hours of sleep before you have to get up again for class you dream of stained glass and the lost look on Karkat's face.

It seems crazy to think that you found out your friend is a literal deity, your roommate is an angel and you’ve got letters from your past self and yet you still have to go to class. It’s a strange kind of mundanity juxtaposed with all of this otherworldly information. Right now you’re sat between Jade and Karkat as your teacher goes on about the newest magical language method that you’re to tackle. On Jade’s right you have June and on Karkat’s left are Dave and Sollux. You say Dave and Sollux because Sollux has clearly sustained enough emotional damage that he’s decided to be a snake for the time being. He’s wrapped around your brother’s neck and shoulders like a particularly heavy scarf, only moving away to rest his head on Karkat’s shoulder every now and then.

Your teacher is going on about Crystal which is both a language and a method for delivering spells, this one is for spells that affect objects specifically. Object oriented spellcasting. It seems simple enough, the spell is etched inside of a crystal with one of the machines they have in the department and the spell then affects an object that it’s applied to. A charm of sorts.

“Typically these kinds of spells are mass produced. Small versions of them are included in everything from puncture repair kits for bicycles to emergency flares. They’re meant to be powerful little spells that serve a specific purpose without requiring magical understanding on behalf of the user.” your teacher explains.

You can’t help but note that this would be a very useful language if you wanted to be a witch working for a company to make mass produced magical products. Not that you look down on that sort of thing but it’s not what you want to do. Then again there’s never harm in learning the basics of anything. Knowledge is power, after all.

Despite your decision to pay attention to your Crystal class you find your mind wandering to June. You’d been so sure that she was involved in something after she slipped up about Karkat’s species. You’d also been so dedicated to unravelling the mystery of the storm god and then Karkat went and solved the whole thing for you. It very much took the wind out of your sails, like finding out that while you’ve been away someone else has finished your jigsaw puzzle for you. It’s not exactly satisfying.

Instead of the pointed questions and accusations you’re simply left with the facts and little idea about what to do with them. It’s clear that despite everything June is still June, she’s still your friend. You just don’t know how to process the information of her species just yet. Indeed, Karkat’s questioning last night gave you all the more to think about. You hardly approve that June was responsible in some part for the Event but Karkat’s question made you wonder what you would do in such a position. Your answer was good as a hypothetical but it’s clearly more complex than that.

What a mess.

On top of all that mess with June you can’t help but feel bad for Sollux as well. His fight with June clearly opened up a lot of old wounds for him and even though he’s closer to Dave than he is to you he’s very much your friend too. Family, really, if you’re being honest.

Your gaze drifts over to his snake form, coiled around Dave’s shoulders with his serpentine head resting morosely on a loop of his body.

“Excuse me.” you whisper to Karkat and lean over. Karkat leans closer to his desk to allow you and it gives you the room to reach Sollux.

You run your fingers over his scaled head, from the tip of his snakey snoot to the place where his head becomes the rest of his body. He looks up and flicks his tongue at you in a way that you’re choosing to interpret as curious. You give Sollux what you hope is a comforting smile. He's obviously not having a great time if he's stuck being a snake, or is choosing to be that way, but it doesn't mean he's alone. You smooth your index finger up his head once more and lean back into your own seat again, watching as Dave nuzzles his face into the coils of Sollux's body.

Karkat looks around at Sollux, you suppose he's curious about what you were doing. You watch as the two make eye contact and Sollux rears up a little even though he doesn't look anything like a cobra right now. He flicks his tongue at Karkat who pokes his own tongue out in response and returns to taking notes. Yeah, Sollux isn't alone.

After class June slips back to her dorm room, you guess she's perhaps feeling a little uncomfortable or vulnerable but you're not going to let her stay that way. You head back to your building with Jade at your side.

"How has she been?" you ask Jade.

"Kind of... I don't know. She's clearly trying to act like everything is fine but I think everything with Karkat and Sollux has really thrown her. She definitely feels guilty about the Karkat thing." Jade tells you.

"She did nearly kill him. However much he agreed and however noble her intentions were I can see guilt being a sensible reaction there." you nod.

It's not as if Karkat's upset about June nearly killing him, but Karkat's threshold for holding a grudge is far too high. Or... usually it is. June can nearly kill him and you bet Karkat will never bring it up again but you're STILL hearing about the time she licked his cutlery without him knowing about it and then laughed at him. Perhaps you ought to qualify your statement. For petty shit Karkat will seemingly take a grudge to the grave, but nearly kill him and he's fine. How did he ever survive this long?

"I don't even know what to think about all this. The two of us are apparently related by adoption- although duh it would be by adoption. My grandpa was human and I'm not, neither is June but still! I still haven't told my family about that yet. I feel like I kind of need to speak to her dad about this. I wonder if that's why he was so nice when I was staying there." Jade wonders.

"I wouldn't think so. Mr. Egbert is just aggressively nice and doting in general. I don't think you could have worked it out just from him being pleasant to you." you assure her.

"I guess. Still, it's a lot to think about." Jade sighs and swipes into the building.

The two of you climb the stairs in thoughtful silence and when Jade lets you into her room you see June sat on the floor petting Bec. The air is full of white hellhound fur which you're sure immediately sticks to your black clothes the very instant you walk through the door. June looks up in surprise as you walk in.

"I have something of yours." you tell her by way of explanation and sit down on an armchair. You put a hand in your bag of holding and pull out the golden fiddle that was in Karkat's belt of holding.

"I do apologise for the coordinates to the Burj Khalifa carved into the back but I suppose it was needed." you say and hand it over.

"Wait, is that the golden fiddle from the whole Devil Went Down To Georgia thing? How- was that you?!" Jade exclaims, jumping the back of the sofa in her enthusiasm to see the fabled instrument.

"It was. She's a trickster deity remember? They can shapeshift. Think of all the myths about Loki." you explain. June's gaze is heavy on you, you suppose she's trying to work out if that's what you really think the explanation is or if you're smoothing the story over so as to not invite questions.

"I can shapeshift into all sorts of things." June says a second later, a bright smile back in place.

"So you used to trick the Devil into musical contests?" Jade laughs.

"I used to trick Dirk into all sorts of things. I wanted to bring him down a peg or two. Maybe try to get him to talk to me so I could fix him or something but it mostly was just me showing up, conning him and bailing. I did like making him admit I'd beat him though. I thought I left this in one of my temples." June says and shoots you a suspicious look.

"It was in that belt of holding." you answer with a shrug. That other version of you was seemingly very busy.

June waves a hand and a bow appears. Tucking the fiddle under her chin she draws the bow across the strings and the note it produces is more felt in your bone marrow and blood than it is perceived by your ears.

"It's not really my instrument any more. I'm more of a piano person, this was sort of a sometimes thing. Violin was your instrument when you were younger, right?" June asks and offers it to you.

You really haven't played the violin since you were much younger. You will admit that you took it up as a young girl just because nothing sounds so terrible as someone NEW to playing the violin and you were a passive aggressive and spiteful child at times.

It’s good that you've grown out of that.

"OH! I'll get my bass!" Jade says gleefully and bounds off of the back of the sofa and hurries to her room.

You examine the fiddle in the muted glow of the midday light through the dorm window. The sun warms your back and glows off of the impractically made instrument. Curiously you raise the fiddle to your chin, you get the feeling that fiddle players usually hold it differently to violin players but you'll go with what you know. As you hold the instrument and the bow you mean to run through some brief scales first, just to refresh your muscle memory but that isn't what happens. You drag out a note, long at first but more and more tumble forth without even doing you the courtesy of going through your mind first.

Jade returns and interrupts your flow of impromptu notes. She settles onto the back of the sofa and starts a bassline that is deep and powerful, like a stalking thing in the woods, a rumble in tectonic plates. The urge to play again takes you and you join in with her, neither of you agreeing on anything in particular to play but simply playing nonetheless. June raises her hand and a moment later a reedy hollow note thrums through the air putting you in mind of pan pipes. The air before her hands seems to shift and tint with colours that shouldn't be and all of this is backed by the sudden pattering of rain on the window behind you. As you play more the sun gets stronger, refracting through the rain on the window and throwing shifting shards of fractured rainbows across the walls and through the magically disturbed air that June is playing.

You can't say exactly how long you play for and none of you give any specific signal to stop but you all finish at the same time anyway.

Words fail you for a moment afterwards and you look down at your fingers, indented and raw feeling from the strings.

You know you had questions but they don't seem so important right now. June tells you to keep the fiddle so back into your bag it goes.

After that very unusual jam session you're at somewhat of a loose end so you decide to head to the library. You could see what Karkat is doing and... perhaps... talk to Kanaya. Not that you'd go there just for that of course. But if she happened to be there and you happened to run into her then obviously you would be polite and talk to her. More than just polite, her actions to save Karkat certainly warrant more than casual conversation. That's only... proper. Of course. You make your way over to the library bearing your family name and step through the doors. The place smells of paper, printer toner and something that you've put down to a lot of magic in one place. Your mother's library is much the same.

Your appreciation of the quiet and peaceful nature is broken when Karkat sprints past you with a breathless 'Hi Rose, can't stop!'. You stare after him as he tears off full pelt down the shelves with, inexplicably, a large net on a pole in hand.

"Why is Karkat running around with a net?" you ask the moment you step into the office.

"Rose, hello. So good to see you. Karkat feels responsible for the teleportation book that escaped when he was possessed and he's been attempting to recapture it." Kanaya explains as she glances up at you from an old filing card system that's stored off on one wall.

"Is it possible to capture a teleporting book with a net?" you ask slowly. It doesn’t seem like it would be.

"Oh, not in the slightest. I did warn him, or I started to and he went into some self-depreciating rant about fixing his mistakes and taking responsibility so I thought I'd best let him get it out of his system." Kanaya explains.

You look through the glass walled office as Karkat vaults a table and slams his net over a book which after a bright flash of light is no longer there.

"It is very entertaining watching him try to refrain from loudly cursing." you admit.

"Highlight of my day." Kanaya agrees.

Beyond the glass Karkat lowers his net and squints around at the building before seemingly locking on to something distant and starting his pursuit again.

"Is there anything I can help you with at all?" Kanaya prompts you.

"Oh, yes, sorry. I was rather thrown by... that." you say slowly as Karkat stalks past the office, net in hand.

"Understandable." Kanaya agrees.

Your eyes fall on Karkat's desk, on the green ink blotter on it and the scant few papers resting on its otherwise tidy surface. On impulse you tidy them off to the side and look at the clear desk with satisfaction.

"I suppose I just wanted to thank you again for everything you did with Karkat and to assure you that I have no intentions of telling anyone anything about you or your family." you say.

"That is reassuring. But you don't need to thank me. Karkat's my friend and anything I can do to help him I would gladly do." Kanaya says, despite leaving Karkat to his futile book catching attempts. Though that's not really a problem, you can't save Karkat from his own dumb ideas. Boys are just like that, really.

"I'm glad you got to reconnect with Mituna as well." you say and at this Kanaya beams, clearly thrilled.

"I couldn't be happier about that. I've missed him so much, we feared the worst when he didn't come and find us after the Event when it became apparent that demons were just on Earth now. He's with my mother right now, no doubt she is also demanding why her son-in-law thought it a good idea to vanish on us. Rather him facing that wrath than me, let me tell you." Kanaya says and shudders a little.

"I entirely understand the fear of maternal wrath." you tell her sympathetically and sit down in Karkat's chair.

"Speaking of your mother, have you asked her about the blanket? I honestly can't find anything about it in my records. If I make a custom piece I usually map out the pattern on paper first, especially when it involves magic as strong as that, but I can't find anything." Kanaya asks.

"I can't really get any sense out of her about it, she just gets upset and pushing her when she's like that..." you trail off, you'd rather not explain.

"I wish I understood what was going on." Kanaya sighs and closes the draw for the card system.

"As do I. It's my weekend to go home to see my mother so perhaps I can get more information out of her... then." you trail off as a feeling tingles at your brain.

You look down at Karkat's desk and then a book appears out of thin air. You pin it to the desk with one hand and then pick it up.

"How did you do that?" Kanaya asks in shocked surprise.

"I have no idea." you admit.

Behind you the door bangs open as Karkat bursts inside and you can only smile at him as he boggles vacantly at your prize.

"HOW THE FUCK?!" Karkat demands.

"Door, Karkat." Kanaya reminds him.

Karkat glances at the silenced door, kicks it and then glares in your direction. At first you think he's glaring at you but no, he's directing his ire entirely at the book. He takes it from your hands and holds it up at eye level to glare at it.

"Bad book. Bad. No treats and I will not rub your spine. You're going back to your shelf right now!" Karkat scolds it and pokes its front cover with his finger.

Without explanation or goodbye Karkat marches off with the book in hand. Your attention is drawn back to Kanaya by her soft giggle.

"He's very sweet with the books. The more sentient ones are all very fond of him. I think surviving what he did earned him a lot more respect in their eyes. They already liked him because he spoils them and talks to them but they definitely respect him too now." Kanaya smiles.

You look at her and you're struck again by just how pretty she is but you can also feel yourself floundering. You made such a poor first impression that you'd really like her to think highly of you to compensate for it. Before when she'd rescued you from England despite no one else acknowledging your existence you two were so consumed with finding out what happened and getting back that there wasn't much room for idle chatter or your nerves about it. Talking about Karkat's eccentricities is nice enough but you really want to just... talk to her. You and her, one on one, about each other and not some diversionary topic.

"I am really glad about his species. Time can go so quickly and it's always sad to make a friend and watch them grow old when you don't." Kanaya says quietly.

"I don't actually know if Karkat will keep aging or not. I think he only aged to this because this is more normal for him and the Event made him seem younger so he'd assume he was human." you say, thinking aloud. Is there going to be a time when you look older than Karkat?

"I know what suddenly being a different species is like but I can't imagine not knowing what you are. At least he knows now." Kanaya says sagely.

You watch as she kneels down to compare the card she has in hand with an old printout in a box, you're not sure what she's doing but it seems book related. You look at her glossy black hair, your eyes running over where it delicately curls around her face, her perfect makeup and clothes. You... you need to ask this girl out on a date. Obviously you can't do it now, you need to think and plan these things. Scrounging for a slip of paper on Karkat's desk you leave him a note saying that you're taking him to dinner. If you're going to ask Kanaya out you'll need to pick his brains for any information you can find.

"Have you considered," Karkat says that evening as he picks up his drink, "just asking her out?"

"I can't do that!" you protest.

Karkat sighs and pokes at his sashimi for a moment.

"Look, as far as I can tell she likes you too. Even if you're nervous around her you have some kind of chemistry and going on a date is a way of seeing where that goes, right? Rose, you're pretty and smart and funny. Anyone would be lucky to be asked on a date by you. I'm sure it'll be fine if you ask." Karkat assures you.

"And if she says no?" you challenge him.

"Then it's Ben and Jerries and whatever kind of movie you prefer until you feel better. Or you could go out and smash things if you like. Buy some second hand crockery and I could drop it from high up so you can do that thing with your needles to break it." Karkat shrugs.

"I suppose. I guess I was just hoping you might give me more of a plan. I don't like going into situations at an informational disadvantage." you sigh. If you could get all the information you'd know what the right choice is.

"I don't know the cheat code to my friend's heart. Also I've never asked a girl out and you've seen the caliber of idiots I date." Karkat points out.

"Hey, that's my family you're talking about." you halfheartedly protest. You don't mean it, you love Sollux and Dave dearly but they are dumb, dumb, boys.

"It's not my fault you stole Dave's smarts in the womb." Karkat snorts, making you grin.

"It's Valentines day soon, well, a few weeks. Perhaps I could do something for then? Book somewhere and ask her out for a Valentines date." you muse.

"That's a really good idea." Karkat nods.

You watch as his face shifts from approval to a deer in the headlights look.

"Did you just realise that you have two boyfriends and one Valentines day?" you ask wryly.

"Shit. Yes. Oh fuck. Rose you have to help me." Karkat pleads.

"I don't have the cheat codes to their hearts." you reply and sip your drink.

"That's cold, Lalonde. Ice cold." Karkat grumbles.

“I try.” you say sweetly.

Considering how to ask Kanaya out for a date is hard work. It doesn’t get any easier or convince you to pester Karkat for help when you come back to your dorm the next day to find Sollux in his normal form with Karkat in the kitchen.

“I mean if we could aerosolise it somehow…” Karkat muses.

“With a t-shirt cannon or something?” Sollux suggests.

You eye the small bag of flour in Karkat’s hand. Sometimes you make mug cakes with flour but that looks like a fresh bag. Sollux is also holding what appears to be a grocery bag in one hand.

“Sollux, good to see you bipedal again. What are you two doing?” you ask.

“We’re going on a date!” Karkat says brightly.

“...Elaborate?” you suggest.

“We’re going to an active volcano and we’re going to throw stuff in or put stuff in the way of a slow lava flow to see what happens.” Karkat explains clearly very eager.

“When you’re fireproof it’s basically a crime to not fuck around with lava.” Sollux says sagely.

“Oh shit I have some empty aerosols in my room, I’ll go grab them.” Karkat exclaims and hurries off, leaving you and Sollux alone.

Sollux shifts a little under your gaze, especially when you smile at him.

“You’re excited about this, aren’t you?” you ask.

“Don’t- that’s none of your- I don’t see you asking YOUR crush out and I’m dating Karkat. I can… I can go on dates with him if I want.” Sollux mutters.

“You seem far more nervous and embarrassed about this than you did about sleeping with him.” you point out.

“Yeah, well, I’ve done that before. That’s not new.” Sollux says under his breath.

“Does that mean you’ve never had a valentines day with him before?” you ask teasingly.

“Demons don’t DO valentines day.” Sollux says a little loudly, right as Karkat comes out of his room.

“You don’t?” Karkat asks, honestly looking a touch disappointed for a moment.

“Yeah, it’s a stupid human thing or whatever.” Sollux snorts. Very ‘I don’t care’ and you don’t buy it at all.

“Oh. Well fuck that, I’m still getting you something. Unless me getting you something would personally offend you.” Karkat says.

“It wouldn’t offend me, it’s just a dumb holiday. Can we go?” Sollux asks, very blatantly changing the subject.

Karkat rolls his eyes, tosses his empty aerosols in Sollux’s bag and then takes his hand. With a puff of smoke they’re gone. You’re happy for them, you are. It’s nice to see Karkat happy and it’s also nice to see Sollux invested in people outside of your family. He’d been close to June before obviously but you don’t know if him being humanoid again means that they’ve talked or not. As much as you want to know, you fear that prying with June might set that whole situation back and no one wants that.

You have other people you can bother instead.

tentacleTherapist [TT] began trolling  turntechGodhead [TG]  
  
TT: Dearest, sweetest, babiest brother. Hello.  
TG: look at me not dignifying that with a response  
TT: You just did, but regardless I wanted to talk to you.  
TG: oh no  
TT: Can't I just reach out to you for a friendly sibling chat? Why the dread?  
TG: because i know you  
TG: also it means youre up to something  
TT: I would never.   
TT: I just saw Sollux and Karkat go off for their date.   
TG: theyre so adorable it needs to be illegal  
TG: sollux changed his clothes legit like twenty times before going to meet him  
TT: They were gathering things to throw into a volcano and put in lava when I saw them.  
TG: that was my idea! aw i hope they get pics i wanna see that  
TT: It would be interesting, you're right.  
TT: On a related note what are you doing for Valentines day with Karkat?  
TG: eh not much  
TG: we didnt wanna go out somewhere and be overcharged for basic food so were gonna have dinner in my dorm together and watch seasonally inappropriate movies  
TG: i might make him watch the room  
TT: But I thought you liked him.  
TG: the shittiness is the point  
TT: Hmm.  
TG: im also giving him a gift but i will only tell you if you swear to secrecy  
TT: Wild dogs couldn't drag it out of me, I swear.  
TG: im making him a bookshelf  
TG: or ok i bought the bookshelf but im decorating it for him with like sbahj printouts and mod podge  
TT: That is certainly a... unique gift.   
TG: sure is  
TG: have you asked kanaya out yet  
TT: For unrelated reasons I must leave  
  
tentacleTherapist [TT] ceased trolling  turntechGodhead [TG]

As you promised Kanaya, you do indeed head to your New York home to see your mother that weekend.

"I'll be back Sunday evening if not before." you tell Karkat as you check around that you have everything that you meant to bring.

"Mmhm. Hey, if your mom has any books on written demon language that she wouldn't mind lending me that aren't in the library here could I ask you to borrow them for me?" Karkat asks, looking up from his notebook.

"Why are you looking into that anyway?" you ask as curiosity nips at you.

"I'm-" Karkat hesitates clearly a little embarrassed, "I'm trying to learn how to write something out for him. It's a secret though. It's just that this book isn't very clear at all when it comes to explaining sentence structure, even if it's very good at describing how the symbols themselves work phonetically. It's not really what I'm looking for."

Karkat taps a closed book on the edge of the table with his pen, it's quite thick and looks very academic and dry. You will say one thing for your mother's work, dry and stuffy are certainly not apt descriptors for it. You wonder just what he intends on writing, obviously something for Sollux but you can't help but wonder what. Still, you will do him this favour.

"I'll ask her and see what we have." you agree.

"Thanks." Karkat says gratefully and returns to his Crystal language homework, the very same work you'll be focusing on when you get to New York.

The teleportation journey is fine as always, it's just the journey from the port to your home that's the real pain in the ass. You slog through the area of woodland surrounding your home and finally unlock and push the front door open with a sigh of relief. To your surprise your mother is very near the door and seems as startled to see you as you are to see her so close.

"Mom!" you blurt out.

"You scared me Rosie. I was just... looking." your mom says and points at the wall of pictures before her. She'd seemingly been standing there looking at pictures.

"Look at Dave's hair." your mom giggles, pointing to one picture in particular.

Dave had gone through a self conscious phase at thirteen about his albinism and decided to try to fix it by dyeing his hair black to match yours. He had almost a week of looking like a shitty emo band frontman and then immediately upon washing it the colour started to leech out with alarming speed making him look patchy and incredibly stupid. You remember finding him trying to bleach it out, Sollux had refused to help because he'd warned him that it wouldn't stick in the first place. You can all but see Dave leaning over the bathtub washing the bleach out as an unimpressed Sollux sat on the bathroom counter. The bleach job didn't work fantastically either. In the picture your mom is pointing at there's still some traces of orange in his hair from trying to shift the black dye.

"That was definitely a learning experience." you nod. As was your attempts at eyeliner at that age, that picture is not flattering for either of you.

The wall itself has a good number of pictures of your whole family together. As Dave is quite the photographer there's a lot here that he took, so naturally a good number of you and Sollux together. You can't help but grin at a picture of you and him at the top of a hill having made a snowman on top of a sled. Out of shot at the bottom of the hill is a murder obstacle course that Sollux magicked up for you to push the unsuspecting snowman into.

"Want dinner?" your mom asks, inclining her head towards the kitchen.

"Oh, I ate before I came." you apologise.

"Hmm. HMMMM." your mom says with exaggerated thoughtfulness, leaning in close to you.

"I did." you say, because what else can you say?

"Cocoa and cookies then?" she offers slyly.

"Well, since you twisted my arm." you sigh.

"Totes just because I'm making you." she agrees with a knowing nod.

"Of course." you smile and follow her.

Your mom seems to be doing well at the moment. Since you're sure she already knows you carefully decide to bring up the subject of June over your cocoa.

"Did you know about June?" you ask, more a perfunctory question and an introduction as you're 99% sure you know the answer to it.

"Do you?" she says in response, her eyebrows climbing up. You notice something and find yourself thrown from your conversational train of thought.

"What happened to your eyebrow?" you ask in shock. Her right eyebrow has a gap through it but there's no mark to suggest that she hurt herself there or anything.

"I saw it online. Looked cool on other people and looks cool on me." your mother grins and wiggles her eyebrows at you.

You are deeply glad no one is around for miles to witness your maternal embarrassment. At least she doesn't go out and talk to people to embarrass you. Mothers.

"Anyway. I found out about June's... species." you say carefully and your mom's shoulders sag a little in what you think is relief.

"You can't trust gods. Always lying, manipulating, trying to get their own way. You can't let them." she says vehemently.

"I don't really approve of her pretending to be human when she wasn't. We're friends, she could have told me sooner. But I can understand to a degree and she's been honest since." you say lightly.

It's not entirely true, you've tried talking to June about why the Event happened, what her part in it was and she's outright refused to tell you any of it. But she at least isn't denying any knowledge of it now which is more honest, you suppose.

"Can't trust gods. I have work." your mom mumbles and walks off, her cocoa only half drunk and now forgotten.

That was nice while it lasted at least you suppose. You head up to your room and get settled into your classwork until you finally find yourself taking more distraction breaks than doing actual work, at which point you call it a night.

The next day with your mother is pleasant enough, you go through the fridge and throw out anything out of date although Sollux is pretty on top of that so you only have one item that's gone and a yoghurt that goes bad today which you decide to just eat for breakfast instead of wasting it. Before you had this system you remember that your mother would lose track of what food was around. You ate a lot of instant oatmeal as a small child. The side effect of that is that you're quite put off of the stuff now. You don't recall if Dave has the same aversion as you do. He can eat and drink the same thing day in and day out seemingly without it bothering him so perhaps not.

tentacleTherapist [TT] began trolling  turntechGodhead [TG]  
  
TT: Dave, what are your feelings and thoughts on oatmeal these days.  
TG: none feelings left oatmeal  
TT: Dave.  
TG: i dont know what you want from me i dont have any thoughts about oatmeal  
TG: if i had nothing else to eat i wouldnt slap it out of your hands but i cant say ive ever been jazzed about oatmeal in my life  
TG: i didnt expect the spanish oatquisition this morning  
TT: No one ever does.   
TT: I was just throwing food out of the fridge and thought about how much instant oatmeal we must have got through as kids. I can't stand the stuff now.   
TG: again though does anyone get a hard on for oatmeal  
TG: actually rule 42 im sure some nasty perv on the internet is sticking their dick in oatmeal right now  
TT: You have managed to make oatmeal less appealing somehow. Well done and also please stop.  
TG: youre welcome  
TG: hows mom  
TT: Fine, I told her about June and she got a little funny. She warned me not to trust her.  
TG: moms always said that about her  
TT: This is true.  
TT: How did Karkat and Sollux's date go last night?  
TG: well ive not seen either of them since so im going to guess very very well  
TG: ill high five them both later  
TG: and wait for all the gossip from sollux about karkat  
TT: I feel that you two being moirails puts Karkat at a distinct disadvantage in this little polyamorous triangle you have here.  
TG: okay but also in fairness karkat has you and i have no doubt that youd spill mortifying or exploitable info on me and sollux at the drop of a hat  
TT: Baseless accusations. Also I'm not dating Karkat whereas you and Sollux are so it's hardly comparable. But if anything that means that I should tell him more about you.  
TT: Speaking of, mother was looking at that great picture of you after you bleached your hair out.  
TG: rose no please  
TG: no one needs to know about that  
TT: Oh really?   
TG: oh god  
TT: There are no gods anymore Dave, only me.   
TG: and june  
TT: June would also have no mercy but if you like I can check with her.  
TG: wait no  
  
tentacleTherapist [TT] ceased trolling  turntechGodhead [TG]

tentacleTherapist [TT] began trolling  ectoBiologist [EB]  
  
TT: June, dearest, remember when Dave dyed his hair.   
EB: HAH!  
EB: very fondly! what a dweeb! and it had all those ginger patches where the black didn't come out!  
TT: Do you think I should tell Karkat about this?  
EB: you should tell him about it like yesterday.   
TT: I can't do yesterday but I can do today.  
EB: excellent >:)  
  
tentacleTherapist [TT] ceased trolling  ectoBiologist [EB]

You go and take a picture of that most unflattering photo, taking care to crop yourself out of it. Karkat is offline for reasons that you'd do well to not speculate on. You send the photograph to him all the same with a quick explanation and wait for him to get to his phone so he can react appropriately. The anticipation of that moment warms you through and through. You busy yourself with mundane house chores for half an hour before Karkat gets back to you.

carcinoGeneticist [CG] began trolling  tentacleTherapist [TT]  
  
CG: HOLY SHIT THIS IS LIKE CHRISTMAS HAS COME EARLY. VERY EARLY CONSIDERING THAT WE JUST HAD IT.  
TT: It really was something to behold at the time. Sollux did warn him that it wouldn't turn out well.   
CG: I'M SORRY, I COULDN'T HEAR YOU OVER THE SOUND OF ME MAKING THIS DAVE'S CONTACT PICTURE AND ALSO MY LOCK SCREEN WALLPAPER.  
TT: Excellent.  
CG: UNFORTUNATELY FOR DAVE I DIDN'T HAVE ANY FRIENDS AND FAMILY WHEN I WAS THAT AGE SO NO ONE WILL EVER KNOW OF THE DUMB SHIT I DID. CHECKMATE.  
TT: Well now I'm determined to find out.  
CG: OH NO.  
TT: Oh yes.  
  
tentacleTherapist [TT] ceased trolling  carcinoGeneticist [CG]

turntechGodhead [TG] began trolling  tentacleTherapist [TT]  
  
TG: biiiiiiiithc  
TG: i mean biiiiitch  
TT: No, too late, you fucked it up.   
TG: goddamnit well youre a bithc and a bitch so there  
TG: this means war rose  
TG: i need to go to the library soon  
TG: it would be a shame if kanaya saw photographs of your emo hot topic phase  
TT: A phase implies that I didn't just refine my goth style. You don't scare me.   
TG: hah  
  
turntechGodhead [TG] ceased trolling  tentacleTherapist [TT]

Oh you really hope he bought that bluff, you definitely do not want him showing Kanaya any old pictures of you when you're trying to secure a date with her. If you act like you're not bothered then maybe Dave will give up and try to humiliate you to Karkat instead. You can but hope.

On the vague hope of evading embarrassment you head up into the attic to try to better hide any embarrassing artifacts of your past in your bag of holding. You don't want Dave coming up here for proof or sending Sollux over to get it either.

The attic is filled with all the normal sorts of things that attics are filled with. Dust, spiders, boxes of things meant to go to goodwill but ended up forgotten. Over there are a few boxes of 'preshious memoriez' according to the writing on the box and from the fabric peeking out you can see that it contains at least one of your halloween outfits from years past. There are seasonal decorations, boxes of spell ingredients bought in bulk that would just clutter up the lab if left there and then a safe.

You eye it as you squirrel away your old clothing and merchandise, you knew the safe was here of course. When you were a child exploring in the attic you had wondered what was in it. Your mom explained that it was a fireproof safe and held important documents. The paper copies of her degrees, her birth certificate, deed to the house and land, your birth certificate and so on. All very mundane and immediately uninteresting. But now... well, if you were going to hide a magical blanket but wanted to keep it from falling into Dave's hands then that would be a sensible place to store it. It also may have been where yours was stored before you put it in a box and buried it in Winter.

Curiously you shimmy over there on your knees, this section of the roof is lower than the rest and there are glass baubles dangling from the roof. You know they relate to part of your mother's very complex ward around the house and you were always instructed never to touch it. You have no desire to mess with it now, as such you duck under the glass baubles and sit cross legged before the safe. You have to shuffle aside to avoid one in particular which has trimmings from a white feather in it, a feather you suspect is Karkat's.

Turning your attention to the safe you already know that your usual tricks to unlock the thing won't work here, it's a magically protected safe so the unlocking magic you can muster won't crack it open.

Ever hopeful you give the handle a little jiggle but no luck, it doesn't open. The combination lock seems disapproving of your presence. You're inclined to spin the combination dial randomly but you doubt that'll produce anything. You could ask your mother for the code but you feel like she wouldn't give it to you somehow, even though you can't place why you have that feeling.

Your eyes drift across the room, though it won't help. It's not as if your mother would put a safe in the attic and then write the combination on the wall above it. Your gaze settles on the small round window that's letting a beam of light in onto the floor near you. Your memory tingles, you told yourself to stay in the light. Could you have been talking about this?

Curiously you lay down on the floor, letting your head and chest rest in the sunbeam like you did when trying to see Karkat with the suncatcher your mother made. You allow your mind to empty of thoughts and leave yourself open to whatever knowledge you might be provided from whatever source can help.

The sun, though weak January sunlight, filters through the single plate glass window and warms your skin. You can see the reddish glow of the inside of your eyelids and imagine that the rest of your body is glowing with the warmth from your planet's distant star. In your mind's eye you see your mother come into the attic and turn your head to watch as she crouches at the safe and turns the dial.

4-1-3-6-6-6

Your eyes click open and you sit up abruptly. That was no vision from Cthulhu, that was... you just saw that somehow all on your own. Humans can't do that. Before now you've been able to put anything you've seen down to the distant influence of your patron god through the moon but this was nothing of the sort. Nervously you move to the safe dial and turn it to enter the numbers.

4-1-3-6-6-6

You can't help but notice that 413 is a significant set of digits to you. You live on the fourth floor in room thirteen, it's also June's birthday. 666 is also a particularly unsubtle reference to the Devil and hell, a connection you don't like one bit.

As you enter the last digit you hear the safe clunk and with a twist of the handle the door swings outwards.

Greedily your eyes take in everything inside. Before you touch anything you scan the safe as a whole. There are several open shoeboxes with documents neatly lined up within them, other boxes house envelopes of significant bulk. Out of impulse you pluck the largest one up and see that there is a return address on it for a publishing company. A quick flick through the pages inside confirm that it's the manuscript for one of your mother's published works. Sensible to keep but not of much interest to you, if you had a desire to read your mother's work today you'd simply go downstairs and do yourself the favour of reading a properly bound and typesetted version. You turn to the smaller envelopes, employment contract with Salem University, deed to the house, her birth certificate. Not very interesting.

Abandoning that box you choose a new one. Opening a cardboard backed envelope you find your birth certificate and all of the accompanying paper one accumulates upon birthing a child. Notably you're listed as a home birth despite being sure that you were born in a hospital. But then again if you were covered by the blanket the staff wouldn't know of your existence to write anything down, presumably your mother came back later and said she'd had you and Dave and got your certificates then. Certainly a complicated way of going about things.

Other envelopes are letters from doctors, one confirming her positive pregnancy test and instructing her to come in for prenatal appointments at various intervals. Other letters are results of various blood tests and curiously you find yourself examining your mother's first ultrasound scan which appears to be when she was seven weeks pregnant. It is probably more sentimental to her than it is useful. As you squint at the old scan you're barely able to distinguish the thing on the picture as being human let alone tell if it's you or Dave they managed to snap a picture of.

You flip through a few more envelopes until you come to a later scan, this one is marked at fourteen weeks. That's more identifiably human but you're not sure if it's you or Dave. Curiously there's only the one image in the envelope so whichever one of you it is they didn't get a picture of the other. That seems a little odd but you suppose it's not as if they could nicely ask the two of you to shuffle around so they can get a clearer picture, is it? A few more letters assure your mother that all the prenatal test results are perfectly normal and you're getting the impression from the tone of the letters that your mother had been asking them a lot and was concerned. You wonder if perhaps she was concerned about magical feedback when she was pregnant or if this was the start of her becoming incredibly paranoid and overprotective. Your heart sinks at that thought and you open up another scan in an envelope, this time there's two pictures inside as well as a substantial letter.

This time you can see both you and Dave. You're pretty sure this first image is Dave based on the faint inked scrawl of 'male baby' on the bottom of the scan. Above Dave you can see what looks to your eyes to be an arm and a foot that aren't attached to him. The second picture shows you far better and then parts of Dave and is noted as 'female baby'. Interesting. You turn to the letter within the envelope and open it.

_Dear Doctor Lalonde,_

_Please find enclosed the printed scans from your prior ultrasound at our facility. As I mentioned at your last appointment I can only apologise for not catching both fetuses before now. This can sometimes happen on ultrasounds in early phases though it is very rare. It is possible that your earlier ultrasounds showed one baby and then another showed the other and we simply did not spot them both there. Again, I can only apologise for this error on our part._

_I am however happy to inform you that between your ultrasound and your recent bloodwork both fetuses appear to be healthy and meeting all developmental milestones at this stage. We will of course keep seeing you at your scheduled appointments but if you want to talk to me at any point please don't hesitate to do so. I have also redone all of the appropriate tests on both your male and female child that we would expect to have done by this point, making sure that we know which results are which. As I mentioned there is nothing to be concerned about here but I am, as per your request, sending you the hard copy of all of our data._

_Again, my sincere apologies._

The doctor signs off with his name and an illegible scrawl of a signature.

You look through the other envelopes and find the final ultrasound, you debate sending Dave a picture of his as it is one of his first pictures but maybe you should just give him the code and let him explore this for himself next time he's here.

Looking through the safe you can't help but pause, there's definitely things missing from this. For one you can't find Dave's birth certificate anywhere, nor his social security number or anything. The theoretical blanket for him is also missing, if it was ever here but aside from the ultrasounds there's no pictures of him in here. Not that there's many of you either, just a couple of you as a newborn, all wrinkly faced and pudgy with your teeny hands balled into fists. But... nothing of Dave. While all babies look more or less alike there's no way you're mistaking pictures of you for pictures of Dave, you look vastly different in terms of your colouring even if your actual features have a lot of resemblance. So... where is he?

You sit back on your heels and frown at the safe. Perhaps your mother took those things out for a reason. Certainly photographs of you as a baby would hold a lot of symbolic magical power due to the importance your mother would place on them so it's not beyond thinking that your mother might have used them in some protection spell and perhaps the few scant photos of you are all that remain of ones she didn't pick for you. That's sensible enough but his legal documents are another matter.

You could ask your mother but she's likely to lie or perhaps just not remember. You have another source.

tentacleTherapist [TT] began trolling  twinArmageddons [TA]  
  
TT: Sollux, may I borrow you for a moment?  
TA: ii am 2u2piiciiou2 but curiiou2  
TT: Emotionally or as a person in general?  
TA: ye2  
TT: I'm in the attic at home, could you take a look at something with me? I need a... second opinion.  
TA: ii 2ee your blatant two pun, ii know you're tryiing two baiit me.  
TT: Guilty.  
  
twinArmageddons [TA] ceased trolling  tentacleTherapist [TT]

"That doesn't mean I won't still show up." Sollux says as he appears behind you.

"Naturally. So, this safe..." you begin and wave a hand at it. Sollux sits down next to you and looks at it curiously.

"Isn't this usually locked? I've been up here to check the wards a billion times and I've never seen it open." Sollux remarks in surprise.

"Yes, I somehow... knew the combination. I saw it. I'm compartmentalising that to panic about it later." you tell him.

"Sensible. It looks liiiiike boring documents." Sollux says, plucking the paper copy of your mother's driving licence out.

"Mostly it is, yes. There's ultrasounds from when mom was pregnant with me and Dave, they missed that there were two of us until later, look." you say and hand him the envelope with both of your scans and the letter.

Sollux peers at the scans and grimaces, his nose wrinkling a little and his fangs peeking out slightly to show disgust.

"Mammals are... so gross. It's so gross that you two were all... bluh." Sollux shudders and hands it back to you.

You suppose that some would find Sollux's origins of springing from a removed rib to be gross but you can see how pregnancy can seem like something from a horror movie. You suppose you're fine with it because it's normal for your species, for all mammals really.

"I can't find any pictures of Dave in here as a baby, or his birth certificate, social security or anything. Mine are in here as is all of Mom's stuff. I was also hoping to find the equivalent of my blanket but for Dave." you tell him.

"Dave got into school and he can teleport places, he has official ID." Sollux states and shrugs.

"Well, yes, but I also have that and I've never seen my birth certificate and all this until now. Mom dealt with all of that I think." you explain.

Sollux shrugs and stays silent.

"Do you know what she did with it? Did she use photos or documents for some spell? Are they stored elsewhere?" you prompt him.

"I don't keep track of every spell your mom casts. You could I guess. Or she could have more safes hidden about, backup documents or whatever." he says and peers into one of the envelopes with manuscripts in it.

"Have you seen any other safes?" you ask. Sometimes asking him questions is like pulling teeth, you swear.

"No." Sollux admits.

"So isn't that kind of odd?" you press him.

"Everything is odd in this house." he answers and teleports across the room to inspect the wards since he's here.

"It's weird that you don't find this weird." you accuse him.

Sollux turns and regards you in silence for a moment, looking at you with both sets of eyes and slowly blinking one set then the other.

"What are you getting at? You think I want to keep extra boring document safes to myself?" Sollux snorts.

"No, I didn't say that. I just-" you struggle to find an answer. Something is weird here, you can feel it. But despite that you're hard pressed to know what to pull him up on. There's no reason that he SHOULD know what your mother did with those documents and pictures, or a blanket. He might do because he's so magical and around the place a lot but if he doesn't know then there's nothing you can do, there's also no reason for him to hide that information from you so this should be as simple as him saying that he doesn't know and that'd be the end of it.

Something is weird but you can't say what.

"I don't know." you finish lamely.

"Well then." Sollux says and looks back at the wards.

You stare at his back suspiciously and remember your warning to yourself, that other people have their own motives.

"You're usually so into information about Dave. I would have thought you'd be all over this." you say in a tone far lighter than you really feel.

"Yeah but those little weird fetus things that became you two are gross. Also I don't care about his birth certificate, I'm aware that he was born. I don’t need a commemorative slip of paper to tell me that." Sollux says without looking back at you.

"What if someone broke in and STOLE this stuff?" you suggest.

Sollux looks over his shoulder at you and raises an eyebrow.

"What if someone found your mom's house despite the wards, broke in despite the wards, didn't get caught by her when she literally never leaves, found the hidden safe in the attic, somehow got the combination and stole... boring paperwork and baby pictures? Of Dave. Specifically Dave?" Sollux says incredulously.

"...He has a blog, I'm told he's very famous." you say weakly and Sollux doubles up in unexpected laughter, clearly having not seen that comment coming.

"Alright, you got me, that was hilarious." Sollux snorts as he sits down on the floor and grins at you.

"This feels like something is all I'm saying. It's weird that this isn't here." you tell him seriously.

"Weird is fair. Just... don't worry about it." Sollux tells you gently.

You are going to obsess over this so help you god.

"You're right." you say instead.

Sollux gives you a semi sarcastic little salute and teleports off to... wherever he's decided to go to.

You're not sure what you're going to do just yet but you take pictures of your birth certificate, your scans and all of the accompanying letters. Anything you might need later you take pictures of. With that all done you close the safe and think out your plan. Or rather you allow your plan to start to brew in the back of your mind, as all the best plans do. Physically you occupy your time with making food from your mother and borrowing some demonic language books for Karkat. When you tell your mom that you think Karkat is using them to flirt with Sollux she's all in to help out. Seemingly Sollux keeps her up to date on his thoughts about Karkat when he visits her to check in and you suspect that your mom is following the whole thing like a soap opera. Not that you can say the rest of you aren't also invested in Karkat's very dramatic romantic life too.

When you return to Salem Karkat is absolutely delighted at the book but when you tell him about Dave's missing documents he doesn't have any ideas either.

"Maybe your mom cut them in half or something? She does that with things, right? This would have been when you were kids so it's not like you would have repaired that stuff, maybe she just threw it away because she damaged it. Oh, maybe that's why they were in a safe so far out of the way in the first place." Karkat suggests.

That does seem reasonable and very like your mother. She is aware of the things she does and her tendency to be unpredictable, making it hard for herself to damage important things is entirely believable. It just... doesn't feel true.

"I'm going to find Dave's birth certificate." you declare.

"You're going to look around your house for them again or...?" Karkat asks.

"No, I'm going to get copies." you say, deciding it as you say it.

"There's probably forms for that, record offices make copies or whatever." Karkat reasons.

"I don't want to do that, what if someone's watching the place?" you say.

Karkat opens his mouth, says nothing and shuts it again. He narrows his eyes at you.

"I'm going to ask you how you're planning on getting it then and I really hope that your answer is not some kind of felony." Karkat says slowly.

"It's not ‘some kind’ of felony. It's stealing from a federal records building, that's a specific felony. Also, it's not illegal if I've touched a blanket that means I don't exist." you point out smugly.

Karkat covers his face with his hands and makes a noise of utter despair. Or perhaps the noise of a dying giraffe, it sounds so similar. You assume.

"Why exactly are you so bothered by this?" he asks when he comes up for air.

"I had a vision and unlocked that safe for a reason." you insist.

"Okay, but consider this. Let's say your seer skills are getting stronger but your ability to get messages from your patron specifically are getting weaker. What with the whole... moon murder prison for gods and all. Couldn't that mean that you're able to glean information at a kind of request even if it's not relevant. Maybe you just asked the universe the combination to the safe and it gave it to you, there doesn't have to be a meaning behind that." Karkat reasons.

"But the combination of the safe was our floor and room number, which also happens to be June's birthday-" you start.

"Wait, does June really have a birthday? She wasn't born. I guess maybe she just picked one?" Karkat mumbles to himself, you ignore him and go on.

"-not to mention it ended in 666. I don't think it's a coincidence at all, it means something. I'm going to steal Dave's birth certificate back." you tell him firmly.

Karkat sighs and shakes his head but nonetheless gets his phone out and looks at his calendar which has his work and class schedule neatly planned out.

"When are we going?" he grumbles.

"We?" you ask in surprise.

Karkat gives you a flat look and then rolls his eyes at you.

"I'm not so stupid as to think I can talk you out of this and I'm not letting my best friend commit a federal crime with magic without me there as backup. When are we going?" he says.

Best friend. Oh.

You think he realises what he said because he starts to become flustered, though you note he doesn't take it back. You don't particularly want him to so you continue on.

"Saturday?" you suggest.

"Okay, but so we have an alibi I'll fly us there rather than teleport. That way we can claim we were just studying in our dorm the whole time." Karkat says with a nod and blocks out time on his schedule as 'STUDY WITH ROSE'.

What is that thing people say? A good friend helps you move, a best friend provides you an alibi and helps you break into a federal building to commit felony crimes? Something like that at least.

"I can't believe you made me leave my phone at home." you say to Karkat on the day of your planned crimes. Below you a wide grassy plain stretches out and you can see a few centaurs running around down there.

"Our phones have GPS tracking in them, if we leave them back in Salem it's a better alibi." Karkat explains with a huff.

You lean forward across his back, careful not to obstruct his wings.

"Think of all the reading I could be doing though." you sigh.

"You're welcome to walk." Karkat snaps at you, he doesn't mean it and you only smile at getting a rise out of him.

"So tell me again about all of your precautions." you suggest.

"I have a note I'm going to put on my phone charm explaining that I'm waiting for someone I can't remember and to stay put. I've explained what it feels like and said that if I haven't heard anything by evening to call the library and tell Kanaya that you've not come back and have the blanket. I know I won't know what that means but I've said to quote that explicitly." Karkat tells you.

"That should work, right? Putting my name in won't make it so you can't read the message, will it?" you wonder.

"I could edit the message." Karkat concedes.

When you land and Karkat reappears behind a dumpster in New York City you take a moment to help him edit the note. The Department of Health's record office is just here and they hold backups for everyone's birth certificates and other such legal documents. You've done your research, you know where you're going.

“It’s pretty cold out, are you sure you’ll be okay waiting out here for that long?” you ask him.

“I don’t think cold really affects me, or at least it can’t kill me.” Karkat shrugs. You suppose he did fly through space before.

Even so you reach into your bag and pull out two of your latest knitting projects, a dark grey and pale lavender striped scarf and hat. You have a habit of knitting as you read textbooks, keeping your hands busy aids your concentration.

“Here, take these to keep warm.” you insist and press them into Karkat’s hands.

“You don’t need to, I’m fine.” Karkat insists but you give him a look that he knows better than to argue with. You watch as he puts the hat and scarf on with a sigh.

"Go on then." Karkat nudges you, holding his wrist up near his face so he'll see it when the spell kicks in.

You reach into your bag and draw out the box that you buried in Winter. The only thing inside of it is your blanket, Karkat's belt of holding is back in your dorm. Last time it was... genuinely frightening. No one could see you no matter what you did and Karkat just left you there in that cemetery. You don't blame him of course but it wasn't an enjoyable experience. Still, you have to do what you have to do. You remove the blanket and you get to see the very moment that Karkat's eyes unfocus and refocus, he looks right through you and then notices his wrist and the note attached. He frowns and reads it curiously, going over it several times before uneasily crouching down in the alleyway and waiting for you. You breathe a sigh of relief, he didn't leave you!

Stashing the box and blanket in your bag separately you hurry out of the alleyway and across the road to the Department of Health building. It takes a few minutes before someone with a card swipes in and you’re able to tail them into the building and through the lacklustre security. You want to get a move on because without remembering you there’s no way to tell how long Karkat will trust his own message for.

Another unknown factor that you’re going to have to grapple with is that although you are invisible to everyone when you are under the spell of your blanket you know that knowledge of your existence comes back when it is returned to its box. Your friends and brother remembered you the moment it was put back, but you don’t know if people you pass in this hallway will suddenly remember you. You’re going to assume that it works much like the Event, in that people might recall you walking down the hall but unless something prompts them to ask why you were there or to look at any security cameras then they won’t think anything of it.

That’s what you’re hoping, and failing that you have Karkat’s alibi to back you up. All the same you do your best to be inconspicuous as you work out the right route to yours and Dave’s birth certificates. You linger by a break room for a moment and when you see someone leave their office to get a drink you pass them and slip inside to their computer.

It takes a moment but you manage to work out how to search for records on their system. You put in your last name and the date on your birth certificate that the certificate was issued, which is notably different from your actual date of birth. That’s another sign that your mother returned later to register you. The computer gives you a storage location and you click out of the search feature and leave the office before the man who works there returns.

It takes twenty minutes for you to find the right area in the stacks below the building. They’re the kind of shelves that are bunched up together and you have to manually crank them to create a walkway. The records are arranged by date and location in boxes on shelves and though it takes a moment you manage to pull out a neglected document box neatly labelled with the right date and hospital. Within the two week period this box covers there are birth records and death records, all arranged by name.

You flick through and stop when you spot your last name.

Lalonde, Rose.  
Ah-ha. Next record.

Lane, Charles.  
Oh, of course. Dave is earlier in the alphabet than you, stupid. You flick one record back from yours.

Knight, Katrina.  
What?

You pull your record out, lick your finger and rub the paper, trying to dislodge Dave’s birth certificate that must surely be attached to yours. They must have been filled out at the same time so they probably got squashed together. You rub at them but it’s just your certificate there.

It must be misfiled. You pick the box up and move out of the stacks, suddenly paranoid that someone might move them and crush you unknowingly. You find a light and settle down on the floor just under it. Ever so carefully you take out each record one by one and check them over.

A solid fifteen minutes pass and you’ve checked every record in that box but Dave’s is nowhere to be found. You even go back and check the previous and next box from your hospital just in case Dave’s birth certificate was submitted at a different date to yours.

Anxiety and confusion vie for supremacy in your mind as you try to consider an explanation for this. It is perfectly believable that your mother destroyed, lost or magically used your brother’s birth certificate. She could be storing it in a different place, that’s absolutely believable. It is also entirely possible that the very small hospital near your home misplaced Dave’s birth certificate in this batch of papers sent off or that your mother chose to register your births on different days. It seems unlikely because she would have to bring you both out of the house to register just one of you. She wouldn’t just leave one of you at home alone days from birth for hours and hours at a time. There could be any number of reasons for Dave’s birth certificate being missing. It’s unusual but entirely possible.

However for Dave’s to be missing from your home as well as from here is orders of magnitude less likely than either event happening alone. You chew on the edge of your thumbnail as you think, you need to eliminate as many variables as possible. That trite and overused Sherlock Holmes quote comes to mind. _When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth._

The truth is what you intend to get.

After you return the box you slip back upstairs to the offices and repeat your trick of waiting for a free computer. You sit down in someone else’s chair as if you belonged and search for your own record of birth, not just your last name but specifically your record. Looking it over everything seems to be correct. Then, in a new window, you search for Dave.

The machine pops up several records for Dave, his social security, his teleportation account, voting registration, and his birth record. All the same things came up for yours too. You click on his birth record and the record opens up easily.

Dave’s record is identical to yours. Well, it’s not. His name and sex aren’t the same but the rest is, including the location of his physical certificate, yet it’s not there. There go your hopes that his record might be stored somewhere else for some reason or checked out. You falter for a moment, looking between Dave’s record and yours. They actually are identical. You were supposedly the same weight, length, in fact the handwriting is all exact. This isn’t a digital form filled in, it’s a direct scan of the certificate. It’s as if it’s been photoshopped lazily to put the very basic info in for Dave.

Wait, there’s one more difference. The time of birth. He’s down as being born five minutes after you. It’s just that, his sex and name that’s different. That’s weird, that’s really weird.

The man who has this desk is lingering in the doorway with an expression of bemusement, like he’s trying to remember if he’s forgotten something. It’s an expression that you’re now familiar with, if you’re interrupting someone with a task they’re trying to do they won’t do whatever it is but they also don’t know why they’re not doing it.

You hastily exit out of your searches and get out of the man’s seat, as soon as you do he sits down again and returns to work as if nothing happened.

Your mind is churning with questions but you don’t think you’ll find any more answers here. Instead you opt to leave as casually as you can in case you do appear on the cameras later. All you have to do is slip out of the building, across the road and into the alleyway where you left-

Where is Karkat?

The alleyway is suspiciously empty of Karkats of any description. You stick your hand in your bag, intending on putting the blanket away and hoping that Karkat will come back for you, but as you do so you hear the distant sound of him laughing.

Curiosity entices you to follow the sound and you find Karkat a little way down the alleyway and around a corner talking to a guy who looks kind of shady to you.

“Holy shit, then what?” Karkat laughs.

“Well then having got these things in a feeding frenzy over a little soap we grab one of the guys and _throw him in_! He’s all screaming and thrashing until he realises that the damn things aren’t eating him at all!” the stranger guffaws.

You look at the tired looking man and realise that he’s wearing the hat and scarf that you knitted. He looks as if he hasn’t showered for a while and he’s wearing quite old looking clothes and holding a large beat up bag with a carefully rolled up sleeping bag in it. You’re… you’re pretty sure that he’s homeless. And now you feel guilty for thinking he was shifty looking.

“You have to have got in trouble for that, surely.” Karkat snickers.

“Ehhh, the sergeant told us off because he had to but you could see he thought it was hilarious too. Air force idiots.” the man snickers.

“Heh, it’s always good when your boss is cool. Mine is terrifying but definitely cool, so I can get behind that.” Karkat nods.

“Didn’t you say you worked in a _library_ at some fancy school?” the man snorts.

“A magic library. The books sometimes try to bite you and one recently possessed me and made me try to kill my boy-” Karkat falters.

“Your boy?” the man repeats.

“Yeah, you know. Like, uh, my boy. My friend, hah. So yeah, it’s a more dangerous job than you’d think.” Karkat says hastily, probably not wanting to tell some stranger that he’s dating another man.

“I guess so. You really sure I can keep these?” the homeless man asks, changing the subject and tugging at the scarf.

“Absolutely, I don’t really even feel the cold. Besides, I can’t even remember where I picked them up so they can’t be that important.” Karkat smiles.

You linger for a moment as Karkat talks happily to this man who seems to be a veteran of some branch of the military. A man who Karkat gave up his hat and scarf to in January. You slip back down the alleyway and when you’re out of view of the two of them you put the blanket away and walk back to Karkat.

Witnessing the sudden realisation of who you are flash over Karkat’s face is a lot more entertaining when him forgetting you was under your control. It’s a mix of ‘just remembered I left the oven on’ and ‘fuck I forgot our anniversary’ type of panic.

“Karkat, there you are.” you smile at him. The man fixes Karkat with a grin that suggests that he thinks Karkat is about to be in trouble.

“Rose! Yes- I… sorry I wandered off and…” Karkat glances at the man, clearly realising that he just gave your gift away.

“No problem. We should go though.” you say diplomatically.

“Heh, I’ll leave you to that. Thanks again, for the cash and the clothes.” the man says with a genuine smile and claps Karkat on the arm.

“Don’t mention it.” Karkat smiles a little weakly and waves. When the two of you are alone Karkat turns and gives you an apologetic look.

“I’m so sorry I forgot I-” he starts to apologise.

“You had no idea I existed, it’s fine. Besides I think he needed them more. Though it’s telling that I can’t leave you alone for an hour without you going off to do good deeds.” you smile.

“It wasn’t- I wasn’t cold and it’s not a good deed to just talk to someone like they’re a person. The bar is far too low if that’s what counts. Anyway, I gave your stuff away, even if I forgot I still did it so really I got a net negative here.” Karkat mutters.

“And the cash he mentioned?” you pry.

“It was enough for a coffee and lunch, something I can just make at home, it’s not-” Karkat is going red. Aw, isn’t he just an _angel_? Still, you probably shouldn’t tease him on this too much.

“Do you mind if we get going? I need to pick your brains about what I found out.” you ask.

Karkat eagerly obliges and in no time at all you are in the clouds above New York City and flying back towards Salem. When it seems like Karkat’s at whatever passes for coasting along for a being that flies without paying too much attention to physics you start to talk.

“Dave’s birth certificate wasn’t there. I looked everywhere it could physically be.” you tell him.

“That’s… really odd.” Karkat admits.

“The odds of it being missing from my mother’s safe and here are very low indeed.” you agree.

“Yeah, it does seem like something is up.” Karkat nods.

“I looked it up digitally and his birth certificate was scanned in on the system but it looked like a bad copy of mine with just his name, sex and time of birth changed. Everything else was a pixel for pixel copy.” you say.

“You think it’s a fake record?” he asks.

“It has to be, but I don’t know why. Maybe Dave’s not really my brother. Maybe he’s a- a changeling or something like that.” you say and you can feel the hysteria starting to bubble inside of you. You’d kept calm inside the records office but now it’s becoming so clear that something is deeply wrong and you’re away from everyone else and can express it… it’s just coming to the surface.

“Okay, first of all a changeling would replace a child already there. Unless you think some inept fae wandered in to replace you and went through that thing where you walk into a room and forget what you came in there for, then headed back to the faewilds without a child at all. So, even if Dave was fae and no one knew it there would still be a legit birth certificate. Also, maybe don’t suggest to Jade that being a changeling makes you ‘not real’ or to Dave that he’s not your brother. You grew up with him, he’s still your brother.” Karkat says reasonably.

“Shit, you’re right. I didn’t mean it like that. I know he’s my brother and I don’t think that about fae or changelings. Don’t… don’t tell them I said that.” you say as a hot flush of shame rises up your neck.

“I didn’t hear anything. So, if it’s a fake record, then why? Or…” Karkat trails off.

“Or?” you prompt him.

“Well, the Event was a spell of some kind. Some of the effects weren’t how June anticipated them to be so it makes sense that the Event works on the same kind of logic that regular spell bugs have. We already know there’s a time problem from the video and notes you left yourself. What if the birth certificates are wonky because of that? Digital copies work enough for you two to be able to do whatever but people don’t check physical ones all that often so they’re messed up or missing.” Karkat suggests.

“But my birth certificate is fine.” you point out.

“What if Dave isn’t your twin? He could be your younger brother or something. Maybe the Event wound you back to his age and changed his physical birth certificate to yours and just duplicated your digital ones to handwave it away. His and yours could have ended up like that from some syntax error or something.” Karkat says.

“That makes some sense.” you say slowly.

You can believe that you’re not the age you think you are. Karkat was made to look younger, June faked aging, and you’ve seen videos of yourself at this age when you should have been a child. Something is wrong with time. The idea that instead of winding time back as a whole people were wound back instead makes sense in a way that you can’t quite explain. But even though the broad strokes of this theory make sense you’re not sure that’s exactly right.

You tip your head back as Karkat flies and close your eyes against the sun.

You and Dave are twins, you know that.

So what the hell is going on?

When you and Karkat land back in Salem he showers and goes to bed pretty soon after, he did fly all that way carrying you so no wonder he’s tired. It takes a while longer for you to turn in for bed but when you do, sleep takes you easily.

Perhaps you should have been more on alert for what things the sandman might bring you, seeing as he was so eager. You didn’t have that foresight and so when the dream hits you it takes you fully.

You are stuck as a fixed point, rotating but unable to move. This would be more horrifying were you not aware that you’re looking through something fixed, it’s not your body that’s frozen and strung up. Light glitters through you onto the steps of the bus beyond.

You watch passengers disembark with tired faces and new ones getting on. They show their tickets to the driver and head down to take their seats. The doors are just about to close when a hand stops them and a man climbs aboard the bus, a demon.

He climbs the steps with the lack of grace of a teenager who’s just hit a sudden growth spurt and yet he doesn’t trip or really stumble. He has no luggage with him at all save for a large doll, its long noodly limbs ending in plush sneakers and round white gloves respectively. There are flies around it and though you cannot smell you are certain it does, you know it smells of rotting meat and this knowledge exists in you now even though you didn’t ask for it or want it.

The driver recoils back, though whether it’s from the smell emanating from the doll or from the painted placid face of the demon dragging it you don’t know.

“You…” the driver falters, looking at the doll and then the demon once again. He seems to weigh his options, the consequences of refusal versus the risk of what compliance might bring. He swallows thickly and starts again.

“Do you have a ticket?” the driver asks.

The demon shakes his head and seems to notice you, his purple eyes locked on you.

“Where are you going?” the driver asks and the demon’s attention shifts back to him. If you could sigh with relief you would.

“Where are _you_ going?” the demon asks.

“Los Angeles.” the driver says timidly.

The demon smiles, showing off pointed teeth. He nods and heads to a pair of seats at random without buying a ticket. As he turns you get a better look at the doll and your eyes lock with its own plastic ones. Staring nightmare blue that pierces you, set off with a rictus smile that echoes laughter in your mind.

You awake with a scream, scrambling out from under the covers and falling onto the floor in an effort to get away from something that isn’t anywhere near you. It would be comforting to tell yourself that what you saw wasn’t real, but that’s not something you can do.


	34. Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, I thought it worth mentioning also that I remade my tumblr after... years of being off of it? If you want to follow me and give me more homestuck people to follow back then please do https://evil-unda.tumblr.com/

The dream or vision that you had last night unsettles you to such a degree that you have a very hard time getting any rest after that. As such in your alchemy class with Jade the next morning you are a little spaced out and you’re ashamed to admit that she ends up doing most of the work and carrying you through the lesson.

You drag yourself through the class on the promise that more coffee and food at lunch might perk you up somewhat. Karkat is working but the others are going to meet you.

“I’ll take the strongest coffee you can legally make.” you groan as you approach the woman who makes hot drinks in the cafeteria.

“I don’t think-” she begins to protest.

“Try me.” you say. You think the look of death in your eyes compels the woman because she gives you an ungodly number of espresso shots right into your very large paper cup.

“Wow, you both look terrible.” Jade notes as you two sit down at the table your friends are at.

“Rude.” Sollux says around a lemon that he’s eating as if it was an apple.

“Not you, I meant Rose and Dave.” Jade tuts.

You look at your brother and see that he looks just as sleep deprived as you do, the dark circles under his eyes so strong that you can see them even with his shades on.

“Nightmares?” you guess.

“You know ninja warrior?” Dave asks, you nod. You have indeed heard of ninja warrior and in fact seen several episodes as you grew up with Dave and shared the same media library, obviously you know of it.

“Like that. Had to run it. Only there wasn’t foam and padding it was all spikes and swords and everything was on fire. That and the cameras just… everywhere.” Dave shudders.

Sollux shoots him a sympathetic look and leans in close to his side.

“You?” Dave asks.

“I had a dream about a demon, or maybe a vision, I don’t know.” you say and sip your coffee. You grimace at the taste, it’s so strong but you’re stronger, damnit.

“Oh?” Sollux asks, clearly interested.

“No one I’ve seen before. He didn’t do anything bad or anything, he just boarded a bus to LA. He had this creepy doll with him that I’ve seen in another dream.” you say with a shrug. Even if it is a vision it’s likely a metaphor for something, just as the doll must be.

“Tell me about the doll.” Sollux says urgently, his eyes wide and his voice pitching a little higher towards a tone you would describe as panicked.

“It… uh,” you frown as you try to picture it, “it was maybe about my height. Kind of noodly and soft, not a stiff doll like a ball jointed thing but more of a ragdoll. It had sneakers and clothes and this… unsettling plastic face. With these blue eyes and-”

“And a gold tooth?” Sollux whispers in horror.

“It- yes. And red lips and red cheeks.” you nod.

Sollux’s face becomes a rictus of unbridled fear, you can see his breathing pick up faster and faster even as Dave rubs his back soothingly.

“Where was the bus going to again?” June asks, not looking up from her phone.

“LA.” you answer.

June winces and slides her phone across to Sollux. Sollux looks down at it and his terror seems to double as he presses his hands to either side of his head and tucks his feet up onto his seat with him.

“Sollux, breathe. What’s so freaky about this doll? Besides all puppets being freaky?” Dave asks in his best calming voice.

You reach across the table and pluck June’s phone off of the table so you can see it.

_POLICE INVESTIGATING MASS MURDER ON GREYHOUND BUS_

_Today a Greyhound bus was discovered by passing motorists and the police are on the hunt for an unknown killer. The thirty occupants of the bus headed for Los Angeles were all bludgeoned to death within the bus. The police have no known leads but the investigation is ongoing._

The article goes on about the precautions people nearby are putting in place but you’re stuck on the photograph accompanying the story. There’s blood splattered across the inside of the windscreen but your eyes are fixed on what is dangling from the rear view mirror. A single, glittering, glass, suncatcher now dripping with gore. That was what you were seeing through. There was no metaphor, you saw the demon and his puppet board that bus.

Sorry, his doll. Right? You keep thinking puppet but it’s a doll.

“That was the bus.” you say numbly.

“This is really not good.” June mutters.

“But you predicted a murder, maybe if it happens again you could stop it. Did you see what the guy looked like?” Jade asks hopefully.

“He seemed kind of dirty and a little unhinged, sharp teeth, long spiraly horns.” you list off.

“Like Kurloz? From the club?” Sollux asks.

It’s been a while since you saw him and you didn’t exactly get the best look as you were pretty frightened at the time.

“Maybe a little? Not as much resemblance as there is between you and Mituna, if that helps. The doll he had also smelt a lot of rotting meat, which… eugh.” you shudder at the thought.

“This could be good though, if Rose can track him then we could fight him.” June suggests.

“There’s no other choice.” Sollux agrees.

“Alright, enough being cryptic. Who is this demon and what’s with the doll?” Jade demands.

“Come on Sollux, being secretive clearly isn’t helping. And June you said to Karkat that you’d try to be more open about things now that we know what we do.” you remind them both.

“I don’t-” Sollux starts.

“No, Sollux, tell us.” Dave insists.

Sollux falters but you see his shoulders slump.

“I don’t know the demon exactly, I know he’s involved with trying to bring someone else back and I think he might have been made by my maker’s maker too. About ninety nine percent sure, really.” Sollux answers.

“The Devil?” Jade asks and Sollux nods.

“And the doll? I’ve had other dreams of him being assembled.” you point out.

“He…” Sollux sighs and pauses for a moment.

“I’m a demon, sort of. I’m aligned with that whole sphere so shit that works against demons works against me and I was designed after a demon but I’m not… strictly… exactly a demon.” Sollux hedges.

“What?” you say in utter shock.

“I am in basically every way that matters but you know I’m different, the whole not dying thing. It’s more like I’m a sub-species but you can get things like me that aren’t demonic. I can’t be more specific really. The point is if…” Sollux winces a little and you get the feeling that he’s navigating around things he can’t say, “if what happened to that guy, the puppet I mean, if what happened to his maker happened to mine then I’d go the same way.”

“What exactly happened to him, are you telling me he’s not actually a puppet or a doll?” you ask slowly.

“Demons are made from things. I’m made from things and so’s he, we’re the same type of species. You take his maker away and he comes as close to dying as you can get. He falls apart.” Sollux answers.

“As in disassembles? That’s the parts you were looking for?” Dave asks and Sollux nods.

“So the heart, whatever was in Japan…” you say slowly.

“The body too, we think it might have been stored on Jade’s island in the box.” Sollux adds with a wince.

“It said that it was empty, it meant the doll inside? Wait, does that mean that heart is in the doll?” Jade gasps.

“You’d definitely be able to smell that by now.” June mumbles.

“What happens if all the parts are put back together again?” you ask, already fearing the answer.

Sollux gives you a wide eyed look of fear and shakes his head, he stays mute but you don’t know if it’s because he can’t say or if he’s too scared to even voice it.

“But you need to find him, right? So you have a last known location, that’s a start.” Jade points out.

“Demons can teleport, he could be anywhere. The location would be more helpful if it was giving some kind of motive, but it’s not.” June says unhappily.

“So what do we do?” you ask.

“_We_ don’t do anything. I have to go talk to people, narrow down the search if I can. Tell me if you have any more dreams or visions.” Sollux instructs you and then he’s gone.

“I should… also… go.” June says. You figure she probably can also leave in her own magical way but is just not comfortable doing so in a cafetera of people, which somewhat ruins the coolness of her exit compared to Sollux but there you go.

"This can't be good." you say quietly.

"You think?" Dave agrees grimly.

"But we have a plan though, if Rose gets more visions we get back together and work out what to do from there. We should also keep our eyes and ears open on the news so if one of her visions references somewhere we'll have an idea of what's going on." Jade says.

"That's a very good suggestion." you agree.

"See? If we work together and TALK to each other then I'm sure we'll get this. You wouldn't get these visions for no reason, right?" Jade tries to say reassuringly.

That's how it used to be at least, but certain people have been putting doubt in your mind about that now.

"I should probably go catch Karkat up about what's happening." you say.

"Oh, yes, of course." Dave nods and there's a sneaky little smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. Sollux has a nasty habit of telling Dave everything so you're certain that he knows all about Sollux's pet theory regarding you and Karkat.

"Shut up." you snap and leave, not willing to stick around for a retort.

You find Karkat in the library reshelving books but when you make it clear that you want to talk to him he sneaks you into one of the offices and leans against a table to listen to the whole tale. He does so quietly until you're finished, his expression grim.

"Well?" you say finally, it's not like him to not interrupt with a running commentary. He's not as bad as Dave but who when it comes to that?

"I was going to tell you about something that I think is related to this." Karkat says unhappily.

"Go on?" you say.

"So I've been following NASA news for obvious reasons since I got back from the moon and they did a press release this morning. I've got the hang of working out what their press releases tend to mean behind the things they actually say. There's something up with the sun right now." Karkat says.

"What kind of thing?" you ask.

"It's a..." Karkat closes his eyes and frowns as he tries to remember, "a coronal mass thing. Basically there's always solar wind and weather coming from the sun and little flares and whatever but right now it's looking like it's ramping up to barf up an unreasonable amount of plasma and other sun stuff right at the Earth. At the moment it's just flaring up like crazy and they've no idea why. I remembered that your other self said about staying in the light and how that light thing your mom made heightened your ability to see, plus you lying in the sun in your attic to get the safe combination..."

"You think my ability to see is connected to the sun, beyond the mundane way that everyone's is I mean." you conclude.

"It seems like a reasonable conclusion to draw." Karkat says with a shrug.

That could easily have been what your other self was pointing you to without saying as much. Perhaps without your patron fully accessible you've reached out to other sources, perhaps a minor sun god that escaped the Event just as June did. But you feel that's not the case, not unless the sun as a physical thing is influencing you and you don't think that's possible.

"What does this coronal mass ejection-" you start.

"That was it. I forgot the exact name." he nods.

"-what sort of effect is it going to have on Earth?" you ask, just how powerful is this thing?

"Well part of what NASA was doing was warning power companies to change their methods of delivery to be more magical and to not use the Sun as a tether for anything. Witches are being advised to stay away from solar things as tethers too and to not use anything premade that relies on it lest it overload. But there might be technological fallout, communications problems, if it gets really bad they'll have to cancel teleportation. It sounded pretty rough even if they were couching it a lot in that being the worst case scenario." Karkat explains.

"So you think this heightened sun activity is charging me." you conclude.

That's wrong, you're sure of it. It sounds wrong in your head.

"It makes sense to me." he nods.

"I guess we just have to keep an eye on it." you say.

Karkat agrees to keep you updated but unfortunately he has to go back to work. There's no Kanaya about so you head back to your dorm alone. It is quite a bright and sunny day out, albeit understandably chilly because of the time of year. When you return to your dorm you find that the sun is streaming through the windows, leaving bright squares of light on the floor. You stand for a moment, coat in hand and on impulse you toss your coat at the hook and pick the cushions up off of the sofa. Tossing them on the floor in the sunbeam you settle down on them and close your eyes.

The warmth of the sun bathes your skin in a pleasant glow and given how badly you slept it's easy to drift into a light doze.

_You sparkle, the sun refracting through you so you cast rainbows on the paperwork below you. You're on a desk and once more immobile._

_"He can't keep going around asking us to do his work for him, it makes it look like he needs us. We're supposed to be nothing to the ruler of hell, but him relying on us like that makes him look weak." a woman says disapprovingly._

_"Be that as it may we have to follow orders. I for one do not want to be subject to Cal's wrath should he return and I dread to think of the aftermath of that." another woman's voice says tersely._

_"Yeah but it's not like Sollux is even the leader, he's just the... it's not right. He wasn't meant to lead, he was meant to follow the orders of his maker." a man tuts._

_"Did Cal?" someone else asks._

_"We would be best served to not speculate on the motives or thoughts of our former leader or his right hand. Whether he acted entirely on the orders of our former ruler or semi independently is neither here nor there. Sollux represents our Heir to the throne's will and that is all we need to know. Now get to it." the woman says and you hear her march off, a door shuts behind her._

_"We're all fucked if this goes sideways." the man says regretfully and another set of footsteps walk off._

_The remaining two people in the room, the first woman and the person who asked about this Cal person stay. A woman sits down at the desk before you and starts to type. Her face is distorted, like through a fisheye lens so it's hard to make her out. She glances up repeatedly at the other demon and finally pauses in typing._

_"Between us... my moirail heard about this guy." she says lowly._

_"You have a lead?" the other demon says in surprise._

_"No, no, I don't know anything. I'm just saying there's definitely going to be a power contest here and given what our former ruler was like to people who betrayed him... maybe we should think about who's side we're on." the woman says and then goes back to typing._

Oh... oh shit. That's not good.

Instead of trolling Sollux you just call him.

"Sollux, I think I might have just seen in Redglare's office. I have a feeling it was there anyway." you say.

"I was just there an hour ago, did- is everything okay?" Sollux asks worriedly, you can hear what sounds like city traffic in the background.

"There was a woman saying about carrying out your orders but some of the others sounded pretty dubious about your authority and one woman was going on about how her moirail might know where the demon you're looking for actually is." you tell him.

You hear Sollux growl, the microphone just picks the noise up but he draws in a deep breath and finally talks.

"Did she have long hair or short hair?" he asks.

"Long." you didn't get a great look at her but you saw that.

"Yeah, I know who you mean. Thanks, I have a lead now." he says but he doesn't sound happy, rather grimly determined.

"How... are you going to get her to tell you?" you ask warily.

"...Don't worry about it. I'll see you later." Sollux says and hangs up.

Well, that was... morally dubious, but you can't really throw any stones there. You would have done anything to Eridan to get information about Karkat if it'd come to that. At least you were helpful, you hold on to that thought.

Dinner is a subdued affair and you're missing both Sollux and June for the whole thing. You relay about what you saw but leave out what you suspect Sollux is about to do, or already has done by now.

You've never been great with sleeping on time but knowing that your dreams could be the key to knowing vital information makes you far more inclined to go to sleep.

You rather wish you hadn't.

_You are a beaming spotlight pointing to a stage, the incandescent glow of your bulb is powered by solar panels on the roof, redirecting the sun's power indoors. The stage is lit up brightly as a man with a smile faker than a three dollar bill walks back and forth and charismatically talks about how great his god is and how all the terrible outcomes of the Event could be reversed. If only the thousands in the audience would show their faith, financially, to him. He lectures and talks with polished patter, his face blown up on the screen behind him and his voice amplified by a subtle flesh toned microphone taped to his jaw, the cable running down the back of his crisp white shirt._

_You watch and illuminate as he enthralls and embezzles at once. There's a puff of purple behind him that's no pyrotechnics, nothing of his. The smoke fades away revealing the lazy stare of the purple eyed demon. He holds the puppet still in one arm and gently sets him down on the ground._

_The preacher whirls around in shock but, seeing an opportunity, tries to 'cast out' this terrible demon from his church._

_Said demon merely blinks at him and idly scratches at his face painted jaw. You can tell the audience is wary, not sure what to make of this but they're thrown that the preacher's words haven't dispelled such an evil being. Despite that having not worked since before the Event._

_Becoming nervous the preacher backs up and armed security rushes around the front of the stage, pointing weapons at the demon. He smiles and picks the doll up once more. There's a pulpit of sorts in the centre of the stage and the demon ambles over and carefully arranges the plush doll with its plastic face so it's sitting up and watching everything. With that done the demon stalks back towards the preacher and his armed guards._

_One panics and opens fire, setting the others off to do the same. You watch as bullets rip through the purple eyed and, you can now see, purple blooded demon. He jolts and judders a little as the shots hit him but as soon as they're out of bullets he straightens back up, bleeding profusely but somehow unharmed._

_He smiles properly now, a terrible sharp toothed thing that it is. He holds his hand out as you've seen Sollux and Karkat both do, only instead of a sword or a sickle he summons a heavy looking juggling club. He raises it as the man who fired first starts to reload and then with an almighty swing he throws it._

_You're horrified, you're just a light, you can't scream or look away so you have to watch. You watch as the demon walks over and pulls the club out of what remains of the guard's head and then see him turn on the others, still smiling. The audience is screaming and the preacher is frozen in abject fear. The demon lunges for another guard, his arm drawing back and-_

"ROSE!"

Your ears ring and you flail awake, your hands clawing at arms on your shoulders. It's Karkat, looking down at you.

"You were screaming." he says in a quieter voice.

"How- h-how did you hear?" you gasp, barely able to catch your breath to talk.

"You left your door ajar, mine was open too. You were REALLY screaming, what did you see?" Karkat asks. He lets you go and sits down on the edge of your bed, letting you sit up properly. You press your hand to your mouth as nausea rolls through you. Having to watch all of that was just too much.

"That demon, he's going to attack a... a mega church I think. I didn't recognise the guy preaching but he was pretty shitty. He started attacking the guards and-" you shudder.

"Okay, alright. Let's go tell Sollux." Karkat suggests.

"How do you know he's back?" you ask. Karkat gets off of your bed and you swing your legs out to get up as well.

"He came to see me when he got back." Karkat answers in a very neutral voice as he doesn't look at you. You bite back a comment about Sollux perhaps needing some kind of stress relief after the day you think he's had, after what you've just seen you really don't feel up to it.

The two of you head upstairs and Karkat bangs on the door, his knock as loud as his voice or near enough. A somewhat bedheaded and bleary eyed Sollux opens the door and past him you can see a tired Dave leaning around his bedroom door peering at you.

"Rose had another vision about this asshole demon." Karkat announces as he walks in and pulls you with him.

"Oh shit. What?" Sollux asks, suddenly a lot more awake.

You detach a little from yourself as you speak, recounting the details of your vision as clinically as you can. Both what you saw directly and your feelings and interpretations on the matter. You only saw him kill the one person but you're sure there will be more fatalities than that. You believe that the doll watching was key, either for the doll or perhaps just important to the demon. The more you talk the more grim Sollux looks.

"It's a display of power. _He_ hated anything to do with your god but people being hypocritical about it pissed him off even more. He wasn't really one for half assing something and those kind of people... yeah. It's a statement that he's strong enough to kill that many people right in a church and that the target was that... yeah. Fuck." Sollux says miserably.

"But it's not happened yet, right? We can stop it." Karkat protests.

"Maybe. Sometimes Rose's visions are of stuff that can be changed and sometimes it's more 'here's a thing that'll happen' and it's just set. Which did this feel like?" Dave asks, familiar enough with your visions in the past. Or rather what you've told him about them before.

"It felt like the second kind but I would rather assume it's the first and try to stop it. I didn't get the name or any audio in the vision but I could probably recognise his face." you say hopefully.

Sollux looks wary but willing to try, Dave seems as if he'll support you but is trusting your instinct that you can't change it, Karkat... he's far more set on helping. He would be.

"I'll just start googling mega churches and see if we can find a face you know." Karkat declares and starts doing just that on his phone.

Sollux sighs and floats his laptop down from where it was resting in his hammock. He starts searching too and the next few hours are a game of guess who with generic looking men. Dave tries to draw the man based on your description but he was pretty much just a bland kind of white guy with stage makeup on so he looked good for the cameras and a phony smile. Two hours later you're about ready to give up when Karkat shows you the exact man that you're looking for.

"That's him! That's him!" you exclaim, suddenly alert and awake once more.

"Yes! Alright, okay, he's in a church in Kentucky based on the tag for this picture. Let me Google his name and-" Karkat's face freezes.

Sollux leans over and he winces.

"It's already happened, hasn't it?" you ask, knowing the answer.

"Midnight mass. He killed all the guards, cut the preacher's head off with his own mic cord and got ten people in the audience before vanishing, everyone else got away. It's all over the news. Fuck." Sollux whispers.

"So... so this was the second kind of vision. There wasn't anything you could have done Rose. You shouldn't have had to see that, I'm sorry." Karkat says gently, as if this is in any way his fault. It's not like this is the first grisly thing you've seen, your patron was hardly sanitised and PC after all.

You knew this was going to happen though, even as you woke up. A part of you knew that you hadn't seen all of the deaths that would happen there.

"What does this mean for you, Sol?" Dave asks uneasily.

"This means... it's a challenge of power. I'm not going to go out and murder people to assert myself. My only way out of this is going to be to catch and kill him." Sollux answers.

Can he do that?

You get the feeling that he might have trouble with it, though you’ve no real basis for making that judgement. Again, you just sort of… know. You’re not sure if you’re a fan of this knowledge, or rather how it’s just been appearing in your mind of late. Though given the choice you wouldn’t stop it, knowledge is power and even though what you’ve been learning lately hasn’t been pleasant it is still useful to know things. You just wish that came with less witnessing murders.

“I… need to go. I have to try to fix this, or damage control at least.” Sollux says wearily.

“Can I help?” Karkat asks, casting a sympathetic glance at Sollux.

“Somehow I think showing up with an angel isn’t going to make a great case for me being a good de facto leader of all demons. Probably going to hurt my case more than help.” Sollux snorts.

“What about June?” Dave asks.

“Showing up with a god that’s not mine is also not a good look. People know I’m cool with June but she can’t be seen to be making a power grab here, much less with me supporting it.” Sollux says with a shake of his head.

“So you’re just all on your own?” Dave asks, clearly pained at the idea.

Anguish flickers across Sollux's face for just a moment but he shoves it down and gives Dave a weak smile.

“I’m ok. See you later.” he says and then he’s gone.

Breaking the news to June and Jade at a more reasonable hour in the morning is no less fun, though at least Karkat and Dave do most of the talking for you. Having to recount what you saw personally isn’t an enjoyable experience.

It’s hard trying to focus on classes when your mind is constantly on edge for more foreign knowledge or the beginning of visions. It’s also a little hard to forget about your visions when the power keeps flickering or discussion in your classes focuses on the sun’s strange activity. The news informs you that places across the world are having problems with their technology and an overbalance of solar power is upsetting a lot of delicate elemental magic.

You need something else to occupy your mind. Not a frivolous distraction but something else you’re invested in instead.

Kanaya.

Here’s the thing, you like Kanaya. You really like her, you want to go on a date with her to get to know her better and in the hope that you can, for lack of a better term, woo her into liking you back. But you can’t simply walk into her office with no preamble and ask her out on a date, regardless of what Karkat might tell you. You need to subtly show that you’re interested first, allow some stages in your courtship. After all, Kanaya has been around for a long time, she’s probably seen many formal traditions of courting someone and you’d hate to let her down by being so basic about all of this.

So this is your brilliant plan and not in any way you not having the guts to go up to her and ask her out plainly as that. Not at all.

You need an excuse to stay and talk to her, you need to plan this.

tentacleTherapist [TT] began trolling  carcinoGeneticist [CG]  
  
TT: Karkat, where are you right now?  
CG: AT WORK.  
TT: Yes, I know that, but where exactly.   
CG: IN... BOTANICAL PLANTS (EUROPEAN) WHY?  
TT: Are you going to be there long?  
CG: I'M RE-SHELVING. *WHY* DO YOU NEED TO KNOW?  
TT: I want to know if I can come and see Kanaya.  
CG: YOU CAN COME AND SEE KANAYA REGARDLESS OF WHERE I AM IN THE LIBRARY ROSE. YOU DON'T NEED ME AROUND.  
TT: I was somewhat hoping for you to not be around.  
CG: OH.  
CG: OH I SEE. YEAH I CAN MAKE MYSELF SCARCE.  
TT: You're the best.  
CG: I KNOW BUT TELL ME MORE LATER.  
  
carcinoGeneticist [CG] ceased trolling  tentacleTherapist [TT]

You hurry off to the bubble tea and noodle place that you went to before with Kanaya and the others. You’re puzzling over what to order her when you see a fruity bubble tea and immediately know that you HAVE to get that for her. It’s perhaps not the smartest move but your impulsive brain has committed to this action and you’re going to see it through.

With two drinks in hand you about face and head to the library until you realise that it’ll look weird if you turn up without something for Karkat, which forces you to go back and order another drink for him. Finally you make it to the library and thank goodness Kanaya is in the office on her own.

You can see her moving through the soundproofed glass, her perfect hair curled and sweeping gently across her gorgeous face. Her makeup and her clothing are classic, stylish and perfectly polished. You hesitate, your heart making a good attempt to climb up your throat. You’re not sure that you can do this, you don’t know why she would be interested in you.

No, no. Every time you’ve talked to her you’ve enjoyed being in her company and it’s seemed like she’s enjoyed being in yours. Karkat says she’s interested in women and that she likes you. You’re smart. You’re talented with magic and you have a sense of style that you’re proud of. You grit your teeth and assure yourself that no matter how unfairly amazing Kanaya is you still have something to offer. She could like you back. She could. You just need to get to know her better, to hint that you’re interested.

You can do this.

With a quick and determined march you stride across to the office and nudge it open with your elbow. Kanaya looks up at you, her beautiful emerald eyes focusing on-

Shit, you’re not going to get anything achieved if your thoughts are in prose this purple, regardless of your usual typing colour online.

Kanaya looks up at you, surprise on her face.

“Rose, how nice to see you. Karkat’s off… doing something. He was reshelving but I’m guessing he got caught up in something else because he’s been a while.” Kanaya says and frowns a little.

“I’m sure I’ll find him. I ah… I brought you this. I remembered you liked bubble tea, so I picked you one up.” you say and hold her drink out to her.

Kanaya seems genuinely surprised, her hands frozen halfway to taking the drink.

“You didn’t have to, are you sure?” she asks. You nod and she takes the drink.

You watch as she has a sip, her black lipstick leaving a mark on the straw and possibly also your soul.

“Is this… blood orange?” she asks slowly and you smile a little sheepishly.

“It seemed… fitting.” you smile, hoping like hell this comes off as charming and not rude. Especially after your first meeting with her, good god.

Kanaya smiles, the corner of her mouth quirking up a little around the straw and showing off a fang that gets your heart thudding so loudly in your chest that you’re sure she must be able to hear it. You lower your eyes, setting Karkat’s drink on his desk as you perch on the edge of it.

“So, I was wondering,” you start, “your academic work is all about fabric and obviously you’re very into creating fabric such as my blanket. You’re also very stylish.”

“Why thank you.” Kanaya smiles, perhaps a little flattered. You hope so, that’s what you’re going for.

“I was wondering given how long you’ve been alive and your interests what your view on fashion throughout time is. I mean we see trends repeating within living memory but what’s your perspective on it? I would imagine you would be the most qualified person possible to answer a question like that.” you ask.

“That’s very complimentary and probably vastly overestimating my skills. Still… an interesting question.” Kanaya muses as she leans against a table and thinks.

“I would say that I was always a big fan of corsets, they’re not nearly as uncomfortable as people make them out to be if they’re the right kind and fitted well. Garments used to be designed with much more care and craftsmanship than now. Also needless to say the early attempts at bras were… unappealing.” Kanaya grimaces.

“Ah, the pointy chested early Madonna look you mean?” you guess.

“Quite. But I’ve come around now, though not fully converted. Corsets do work wonderfully with dresses but they’re a little much for tshirts.” she concedes and brushes invisible dust off of her tshirt. You would say that the ‘Vampire Weekend’ tshirt is the most casual that you’ve seen her if not for the structured and tiered blood red skirt with the semi thigh slit up the side. It’s actually still attached instead of a true slit, sort of held together with delicate strips of fabric in a way that almost calls to mind the structure of hoop skirts whilst being nothing of the kind. It perfectly shows off her delicate black knee high boots that are pristinely laced. The whole outfit is a study in glorious contrast.

“Fast fashion certainly has its downfalls, I can’t deny that.” you agree.

“Quite but it has lent itself to a number of fashions and designs that I’m quite fond of. A double edged sword really. But… oh the middle ages in Europe and watching the introduction of silk there was something to behold. I mean, embroidery is obviously quite an interest of mine because of my work and how it was typically if not exclusively the work of women. A way to communicate history, culture, political messages. The designs and motifs sewn into a noble’s clothing could be a sign of allegiance or an insult in a way that was just…” Kanaya sighs wistfully.

“Have you ever written books or anything about this?” you ask her curiously.

“Oh, no. I mean… I was there, I travelled all over the world, usually with my mother or close enough to her that we would know more or less where the other was. It’s only now that international post is so much more reliable that we’re able to spread apart across the world more. Of course vampires have only been accepted very recently from my point of view. It wasn’t too long ago that I was having to move every ten years or so and start a new life because it was apparent that I wasn’t aging at all. It’s also hard to cite your work when you’re your own primary source and everyone else you could have asked is dead or another “monster” by human standards.” she shrugs.

“Things aren’t quite that bad anymore though, right? I’m sure there are plenty of long lived or similarly immortal species around you could ask to be other sources for you. Your boss is fae and I’ve no idea how old she really is. You deserve recognition for all of your knowledge and skill.” you insist.

“That’s a lovely thought. I don’t know, perhaps one day I might publish something. It’s not as if I’m in any rush.” she says lightly.

Yes, you suppose that she isn’t. Before you can continue that line of conversation any further the door swings open. You turn expecting to see Karkat but it’s some guy with stuff written all over his face. And… it seems a crudely drawn cock across one cheek.

“Your stupid books didn’t work.” he says without so much as a hello and tosses the stack of books on the table near you, nearly knocking Karkat’s drink over. You scramble to catch it so it doesn’t fall.

“I doubt it was the books that were the problem.” Kanaya says icily. She sets her own drink down and you pass her the stack of books as she comes closer to you to pick them up.

“Thank you.” she says quieter and in a softer tone, a marked difference from how she spoke to him.

“I haven’t seen you here before.” the guy remarks and looks you up and down.

As you read the word ‘cheater’ emblazoned across his forehead you realise who he must be, Karkat told you about this guy.

“No, but I’ve heard about you.” you say dryly.

“Oh, really?” he grins, clearly entirely misinterpreting your statement.

“Actually, after you were here last I worked on a spell for when you came back. Here.” Kanaya says and hands him a bag.

The confused scumbag takes it from her and opens said bag, pulling out a handful of small crystals about an inch in length and perhaps as wide around as a pencil.

“Just give the pink ones to each of the women that you suspect have hexed you and when you’ve done that crush the blue crystal in your hand.” Kanaya instructs him.

“And that’ll fix things?” he asks dubiously.

“It should work wonders.” Kanaya smiles, the expression stiff.

Kanaya turns to his books and starts quickly scanning them back in as the guy returns the crystals to the bag. Her posture abruptly stiffens and she turns back to the guy holding up two halves of a book, not even torn along the spine but lengthways.

“Oh, that. Yeah I just found it and I wouldn’t take something like that out so I thought someone left it as some fucked up joke but after I tore it in half I saw the return thing for here inside it, so it must have been put in by mistake or whatever. I’m sure you can fix it with lady library magic or something, sew it back together or maybe just toss it because it’s worthless.” the guy shrugs.

Kanaya is staring, holding the top half of the book in one hand and the bottom half in the other. The two could even open up like little books of their own. Needless to say it’s completely ruined.

“I ripped that in half with my bare hands you know.” the guy says lowly to you and flexes a little.

Kanaya slowly sets the book down, both halves of it, and reaches for the phone. She presses a couple of buttons and holds the receiver to her ear.

“Ms. Paint, a… patron here has just returned a book that he tore in half. Deliberately. Lengthways. ...Yes, the office. Okay.” Kanaya hangs up and looks at the guy sternly.

You wish you had popcorn to eat as you watch this but your drink will suffice.

Ms. Paint merges out of the shadows in the wall behind the unwitting and halfwitted douchebag. Kanaya holds up the two ruined book halves and Ms. Paint stares. Her face shifts right before your eyes, you suppose her glamour is dropping but every part of her seems shaper. Her eyes solidly black, her cheekbones blade sharp and when her lip pulls back her mouth looks to be full of needle teeth. She looks too real, too heavy and sharp to exist in anything out of a nightmare. Her hands reach forward, fingers and fingernails sharp and pointed. As she moves the very library around you seems to thrum and pulse, the architecture twisting in the corner of your eye like an optical illusion. Her fingers sink into the guy’s shoulders and she drags him back into the shadows as he screams loud and blood curdling.

The moment he’s gone the library returns to normal and Kanaya picks up the phone once more, this time pressing a green button on it.

“The library staff would like to remind you that all books must be returned in the condition they were lent in. Thank you for abiding by the policies you agreed to.” she says in her most polite customer service voice and then hangs up.

“What’s going to happen to him?” you ask with an eager smile.

“That’s entirely up to how he behaves. He may be released, he may not. Either way, he won’t do this again. Something which the local female population will be glad for, I’m sure.” Kanaya mutters that last part.

“As in if he learns his lesson and repays the library and Ms. Paint for what he’s done he can leave again?” you ask curiously.

“If he learns.” she says but the dubious tone of her voice tells you enough.

“Is it like that for all damages?” you wonder.

“It depends on the damage and the reason. We had a student once who was in a car accident and she had her book in her coat. She was thrown into a river and thankfully was mostly unharmed. She apologised and offered to replace the book or to buy whatever materials we needed to repair it, Ms. Paint waived the charges for her. We also had a student who had tics and sometimes ended up tearing pages when their hand jerked, the solution for them was making an intangible projection spell that they could attach to any book. They couldn’t damage it and we were able to just fix what damage there had been. We know accidents happen and we’re not cruel, but lack of care or outright malice isn’t tolerated. Those people have to pay, exactly what they pay is up to Ms. Paint.” Kanaya explains.

“It says a lot about the library that you’re willing to assist people with their reading and that you understand their lives. A lot of places aren’t like that, I think.” you muse.

“The job of a library is to promote learning and understanding for everyone who wants to. We protect knowledge and we aid people who want to seek it out, it’s our job. It’s the whole reason we hired Karkat, he cares about people and books.” Kanaya tells you firmly.

You wonder how many dark periods of history she’s seen where people have repressed knowledge that doesn’t fit what they want people to think. Probably far more than you’d like to consider.

The door opens again, breaking your grim train of thought and this time it is Karkat.

“What the hell was that? I heard screaming and then you.” Karkat says, wide eyed and alarmed.

“Your attempts to teach that asshole feminism didn’t go well. Ms. Paint took exception to this.” Kanaya informs him and holds up the two book halves.

Karkat looks instantly horrified and steps forward to take the book halves.

"It's not your fault." Kanaya assures him.

"It's at least half my fault, poor thing." Karkat says obviously riddled with guilt.

"Would a drink make you feel better? I brought you one." you offer, holding his drink out to him.

Karkat looks around at you and unhappily sets the book halves down on the desk. He takes the drink from your hands and sips at it with a melancholy little expression on his face.

"You know, actually I'm good at magically putting things back together that have been split in two. My mother has a habit of separating things in two so I'm quite practiced. Would you like me to try or is that a librarian only thing?" you ask Kanaya.

"By all means." she says and gestures to the book.

You align the book on the desk so the top of bottom half are in the right place relative to each other. You call the spell you need to mind and quietly chant the words. The book shudders and sticks together, fusing along the cover and you hope the pages within. Picking it up you peer at it and conclude that you've repaired it properly. Handing it back to Kanaya she seems to approve as well.

"I'll have to show it to Ms. Paint but it looks good to me, hopefully everything is alright with the book and we can return it to the shelves." Kanaya smiles.

"Thank god. Or, at least thank Rose." Karkat agrees and shoots you a relieved look.

"I meant to ask by the way, what were the crystals that you gave that guy?" you ask curiously.

"Ugh, you just reminded me I need to go to the lab with Dave at some point to work on our homework for that language." Karkat groans and drinks his bubble tea some more.

"Oh, it's a little spell that makes you feel what someone else feels. He has all these women that he's wronged and if he handed it out to each of them and activated the spell he'd know how they felt about how he treated them. I hoped it might teach him or at the very least even the score a little." Kanaya explains.

"I know that spell, my mother used to use it on me and Dave." you say, pleased to know the spell she means.

"Your... mother used to curse you two?" Kanaya asks in obvious horror.

"OH! No, no, it was more... ah, how can I explain? I can be quite stubborn and Dave can too at times. When we were about... thirteen or fourteen, all hormonal and angsty, we'd argue every so often. Teenage siblings, what can I say? If we got stuck on a disagreement that was related to how one of us had hurt the other's feelings and refused to apologise and admit it or if one of us couldn't empathise with the other then we'd do that. Or rather my mother would say that if we were SO SURE that we couldn't possibly be in the wrong then there'd be no harm in experiencing the other's feelings or physical state. Usually we'd just back down but there were times where we were both stubborn enough to agree." you explain.

"Like what though?" Karkat asks.

"One notable exception was 'stop whining, period pains can't be that bad' which was swiftly disproven, a few other emotional hiccups of various kinds. I forget." you lie.

The thing about cramps not being that bad was true, Dave hurriedly changed his mind on that although why he'd dismissed the sworn statements of both you and your mom you don't know. But there was one other time that you don't think Dave would like you sharing. When he was thirteen he went through a phase of having a lot of panic attacks for no obvious reason. Sollux helped him through all of that of course but at the time you couldn't understand how that really felt. You wanted to help Dave but you didn't understand why he couldn't just calm down or why the knowledge that nothing was wrong didn't help.

Your mother hadn't wanted to make you experience that but you'd insisted and Dave eventually relented too. Feeling Dave's directionless terror for yourself really rammed home what he was going through. You had no real explanation for why it happened, you can only conclude teenage brain development and hormones because Dave's life was fine. You don't think he has an anxiety disorder because barring very rare cases like Mindfang's test he doesn't tend to panic much any more. Still, it helped you help him and you think your willingness to go through what he was going through brought you two closer together.

You're not going to tell other people about that though.

"That's... an interesting approach." Kanaya says uncertainly.

"Really we both had to emphatically agree before she'd do it. I have heard of therapists using it before as well." you point out.

"I can see how it could be helpful, especially if you were dealing with a communication issue or something. Couples therapy or what have you." Karkat muses.

"Pretty much, yeah. It's classified as a curse but it does have good uses. As they say the dose and use make the poison." you say with a nod.

The phone next to Kanaya rings and you watch as she picks it up and listens, interjecting only the occasional yes or no to the question. After a little bit she says goodbye and hangs up.

"Ms. Paint?" Karkat guesses.

"Yes, I have to go and see her. We need to make a record of what happened to the book, I'll bring it to her and hopefully Rose's repair will meet her standards. If not I'm sure she'll just have a few minor details to tweak, I'm sure she'll thank you for helping next time she sees you Rose, but if you'll excuse me for now I must go. And thank you for the drink, it was very thoughtful." Kanaya smiles at you.

Kanaya scoops up the book and breezes out of the office in a swish of elegant fabric and poise.

When your gaze drifts back to Karkat he's giving you a knowing and slightly smug look.

"So, how'd it go?" he asks teasingly.

"I'm sure I don't know what you mean. I had a lovely conversation with Kanaya until we were interrupted by that creep who maimed your book." you tell him.

"You brought her a drink from her favourite bubble tea place." Karkat observes.

"I did." you say.

"Did you ask her out yet?" Karkat asks you.

"You can't just leap into these things-" you start to protest.

"You literally can." he interrupts.

"Shut up. Look, I'm getting there. Besides, if we're talking about romantic failures do I need to bring up the Justin Timberlake thing again?" you ask threateningly.

"I'd rather you didn't but that's really more Dave's dumbassery than mine. Not that I'm not a dumbass, I'm not in denial about that but that's not the point." Karkat grumbles.

"I will ask her out, I promise." you vow.

"Good. You'd be good together." he says, and of all the things that is what makes you redden in embarrassment. The idea of you being a good match for Kanaya, of looking good together with her as a couple... it's really overwhelming. Karkat notices your embarrassment and laughs.

You really think that you need the focus of romancing Kanaya because left to its own devices your brain is seemingly on a mission to drive you crazy with visions. That same night a vision that you're sure is about Karkat comes to you.

_You stand in the church that you found Karkat in before. Through the stained glass windows you can see that the sun is just rising, casting coloured light all across the room. You stand there observing the church, the paintings on the walls and ceiling, the statues, all of it. When all at once there's a terrible sound of breaking glass. You spin around to see something hit the floor and rush over to investigate, your heart in your throat._

_A white dove is splayed out on the floor, broken stained glass shattered on the ground around it. The worst part though is the shard of bright red glass through the poor little bird's chest, the wound bleeds and stains the dove's pure white feathers a terrible red._

You get up after that one and go to knock on Karkat’s door but there’s a sticky note taped to it.

IN DAVE’S ROOM. NIGHTMARES.

Ah, that’s fair. Dave has been suffering with bad dreams too and with Sollux vanishing all the time to try to fix things and track down this demon he’d be alone and so it’s not unusual for Karkat to sleep in his dorm. You don’t really want to go up there and check yourself though for… obvious reasons.

tentacleTherapist [TT] began trolling  twinArmageddons [TA]  
  
TT: Sollux, are you with Dave and Karkat right now?  
TA: no ii'm 2neakiing around a criime2cene  
TA: why what'2 wrong? diid you have another dream?  
TT: Yes but I don't think it's relevant, I just wanted to see if Karkat is fine but there's a note on his door saying that he's with Dave in his dorm.   
TA: two 2econd2  
  
twinArmageddons [TA] ceased trolling  tentacleTherapist [TT]

You wait for a moment and, as you suspected might happen, Sollux appears.

“They’re asleep and fine. What was the dream?” Sollux asks you wearily, you can see the concern etched into his face.

“It was about Karkat, I’m pretty sure.” you tell him.

“Go on. What happened?” he prompts you.

“I don’t think it was a prophetic dream, not like the one in the bus or the church. This was either just a nightmare or it was a really symbolic dream.” you warn him but Sollux just waits expectantly.

“I was in this church, the one down the way. I was there with Karkat the other day and this white dove crashed through the window. I ran over and it had glass in its chest and there was glass and blood everywhere, it was awful. I’m pretty sure it was Karkat because, well, bird. But also dream logic I suppose.” you answer him.

Sollux seems to relax a little at that and nods.

“Sounds like you’re just worried about him. I am too, Earth isn’t a great place to be for an angel right now, not with all this going on.” he concludes.

“Plus I think he was having more concerns than usual about his assigned side in this whole heaven and hell deal, especially as we’re finding out more about June and the Event.” you agree.

“That tracks. Still, he’s fine, I checked.” Sollux tells you.

You suppose you don’t have to go check if he’s fine then. That was all you were seeking Karkat out for, after all.

“I suppose that I should… try to sleep again then.” you say slowly.

“Alright.” he agrees.

You hesitate, the thought of having to go back to bed when you feel like nightmares are all that awaits you. You suppose that Sollux must sense your hesitation because he throws you a bone with his next offer.

“Unless you’d rather watch a movie or something.” he says casually.

“Sure, if you want to. I’m already awake and everything.” you shrug, not wanting to see eager.

You and Sollux settle onto the sofa and end up watching the Truman show together, it’s not something either of you have seen but even so it’s late and your attention is a little hazy. The premise of the movie revolves around the titular ‘Truman Show’ which is a live and constantly running tv show surveilling Truman Burbank without his knowledge or consent. Literally everyone on the seaside and water locked town is a paid actor. Truman’s entire life is orchestrated and scripted out around him and the film centers on him coming to realise this.

“This… is actually really horrifying.” you say softly as you watch Truman start to become aware of what’s happening around him, the suspicion that something isn’t right.

“It’s pretty fucked up, yeah.” Sollux agrees.

Truman’s feeling that everyone is lying to him, that people know more than they let on and that the truth is just behind the thinnest wall if only he knew how to get to it is… familiar. From the inside you feel very much like Truman, starting to discover details about your world that make it not as it seems, but part of you wonders what this is like for Sollux.

“You didn’t write the spell that started the Event, did you?” you ask him.

“It wasn’t me.” Sollux says somewhat stiffly.

“That makes you kind of like the characters in this then, the actors I mean. You don’t write the scripts but you know it’s a show. Maybe like her.” you say and point to the screen where Truman’s actual love interest, instead of the scripted one, is trying to get him to realise that his world isn’t real against the wishes of the director.

Sollux doesn’t seem to have anything to say to that but the parallels between this girl onscreen and Sollux’s reunion with Karkat are quite plain to you.

“What was it like for you? After the Event had happened and you knew what the world was like now.” you ask him, lifting your head from his shoulder to better look at him.

“I didn’t know what had happened. I knew something had happened and vaguely what, I could make a smart guess, I knew I wasn’t allowed to fuck with it. But the details were something I had to find out myself.” Sollux shrugs.

You wonder if he just couldn’t talk about anything to do with the Event before or if current circumstances have made him able to. Perhaps he just doesn’t care to uphold the lie so much anymore.

“What was that like? What is this like compared to what it was before?” you ask, curiosity making you unable to let the idea go.

“It was better in a lot of ways and…” Sollux looks away, “and worse in a lot. I didn’t really get a choice, so.”

You don’t really know what to say to that, and in part you wonder if you should say anything more. Pressing him on that seems cruel somehow, even if he can answer more.

You allow your attention to shift to the movie once more as does Sollux’s. You watch as Truman Burbank escapes his false world and his final words to the director of the show that’s kept him prisoner his whole life. He’s nice about it and the way the movie is shot suggests that it’s because he knows this show is bigger than him or the creator of it, that it means something to all these other people. That doesn’t sit well with you, not one bit.

“If that was me I’d burn that whole town to the ground. I’d find that man and destroy him to dust.” you hiss angrily.

“Of course you would.” Sollux doesn’t say that in a patronising way, not like ‘sure thing little powerless girl’. It’s more like ‘no shit you would, as if YOU would do anything else, duh’.

“Would you help?” you ask him and his bony shoulder shrugs a little.

“Depends on who you’d cast as the director. I’ve kind of come around on not destroying June. I mean, I could do it theoretically.” Sollux says quietly.

“You could kill a god?” you sit up in surprise and stare at Sollux.

“Pro tip for my job, plan how to kill anyone who’s powerful enough to cause you problems.” Sollux says in a way that’s upsettingly casual.

You would ask him if he planned on how to kill Karkat but that’s already come up and he couldn’t do it, doesn’t mean he didn’t once consider it a real option. Best not to bring it up.

“How do you kill a god?” you ask quietly.

“It’s easier with a smaller god like June. Cut off their supply of belief. Kill all their followers or make them forget the god, destroy every temple, statue and monument to them. Then you either starve them out or wait for them to become corporeal in an attempt to get new followers and then fight them and win, they’d be at a lower power anyway. It’s a lot harder to do to bigger gods though, not that I haven’t tried.” Sollux mutters that last part.

“You mean _him_? The Devil?” you ask, Sollux nods.

“Even with just a minor god that’s a lot of murder. To do it to him… I mean you’d be hard pressed to find people who haven’t at least heard of the concept of him.” you point out.

“Not to mention all demons knowing he exists and being connected to him, or his position at least. If there’s a way to do that I’ve never worked it out.” he says and sighs. He seems so very tired.

You don’t know what else to say so you instead habitually flip over to another movie, not one you or Sollux make it through awake. He actually drifts off before you do, his tail curling around your leg as if he was a balloon that might float away if left untethered. You sleep for the few hours until dawn rolls around. You hadn’t intended on sleeping in here so you hadn’t closed the curtains, so when the light of dawn falls on your closed eyelids you stop dreaming.

And start _seeing_.

_You see yourself smoothing your hands down your favourite fancy skirt and adjusting your headband in the mirror. Your makeup is perfect but nonetheless you examine it carefully and then pick up your Lime Crime ‘cherry slime’ lipgloss, an unappealing name for sure, and wipe a good amount onto your fingertip. You smooth the gloss over your black lipstick giving you a glossy sheen with a hint of green glitter to it, a subtle nod to Kanaya’s pretty eyes._

_Satisfied with your appearance and knowing that things are how they should be you nod at yourself and leave your room. You sweep your winter coat on and leave your dorm. You walk quickly to the library with your heart hammering in your chest. When you arrive you go straight to the office, seeing Kanaya standing inside in a black skirt slit up to her mid thigh at the sides and a fancy blood red silk blouse._

_“Rose, good morning. Karkat isn’t-” she starts._

_“Oh, no, I know. He’s not in this morning. I wanted to see you.” you smile at her._

_“Really?” she says back._

_“Listen, I hope you’ll forgive me for being upfront but I really like you and we’ve spent a good amount of time together but I’d like to get to know you better. Normally I would suggest going for dinner but would you perhaps like to get a drink of some kind with me? Coffee or… anything else you might want to get.” you suggest in a rush of words. You’ve never done this before so it’s nerve wracking, even when you know how it’s going to go._

_Kanaya’s eyes widen and a hand rises to her face, she nervously tucks a curl of hair behind her ear and you can see her look you up and down really quickly._

_“Rose, I-” Kanaya stammers._

“Augh, fuck.” Sollux hisses and bumps against you, knocking you from your vision. His phone is ringing loudly but he’s muttering to himself as he goes to answer it, something about not even being able to catch two hours of sleep.

“Hello? Yes. ...Yes I know of it. What?! What do you mean ON FIRE? The building or- it’s a whole city and a country how can… oh. Shit. I… I might be able to do some damage control on that but don’t ask me how. I’ll be there in a second.” Sollux says hurriedly.

Sollux hits the contact for someone else immediately.

“What happened?” you ask him but he just shakes his head.

“Karkat, I wouldn’t be asking you this if I wasn’t really out of options but I need a favour right now can you get down to your dorm? I can’t stress how urgent it is. Okay, yes, thank you, thank you.” Sollux says and hangs up.

“Sollux, what’s happened?” you ask him once more.

“The guy I’m looking for has started gaining followers and he’s going to get a shitload more if I can’t fuck with what he’s done. I need Karkat’s help.” Sollux explains and gets up off of the sofa, hurriedly texting other people as he does.

Not a minute passes before Karkat bursts through your front door, wild eyed and alarmed. His hair is sticking up at all sorts of angles but he’s dressed and he’s here.

“What’s going on? What’s wrong?” Karkat demands.

“The demon’s set the Vatican on fire. The whole thing, the whole city/country thing too. You can take fire back and you’re better at not being seen. If he destroys that whole place it’s a huge win for him and I’m fucked. I need you to help me ruin this for him. At this point I don’t even care if someone sees you. He just can’t win.” Sollux says desperately.

“The whole Vatican? I- yeah, sure okay. Whatever you need. I’ve got you, let’s go.” Karkat nods and holds his hand out for Sollux to take and teleport him.

Sollux stares at him for a second, seemingly in shock that Karkat agreed instantly.

“Fuck, I love you.” he whispers, grabs Karkat’s hand, and they’re gone.

That certainly was something. You switch on the news and contemplate what you saw. You ask Kanaya out and you’re pretty sure that was today. It seems a little in contrast with what Karkat and Sollux are dealing with but you can’t put out a fire in the Vatican, can you? There’s no way you can help, but you can try to get the hot vampire you know to date you.

Thanks to your seer abilities you know exactly what to wear and do to get to that future. You shower and do your full skincare routine, even the steps you often can’t be bothered to do despite the fancy products that you mentioned in passing to your mother so she gifted them to you. You do your makeup and it comes off as perfectly as you saw it in your vision. You find your favourite skirt, a purple, grey and black tartan patterned tennis skirt and then your softest black turtleneck. You grab your black boots, soft grey woolen tights and then look yourself over in the mirror.

You mimic what you saw in your vision exactly, you add your lipgloss and go to the library, absolutely buzzing with anticipation. You’re mentally considering coffee places that are a little classier than your usual haunts, or perhaps you should look into food places that do interesting drinks. Damn, if only there was a cat cafe in Salem. Actually, given the association between cats and witches you’d be surprised if there wasn’t somewhere. If not you might need to convince someone to start one.

The library looms ahead of you and with your heart in your throat you head inside. You step into the office and Kanaya is wearing the same jaw dropping outfit you saw in your vision, mind you, everything she wears is perfect.

“Rose, good morning. Karkat isn’t-” she starts, just as you knew she would. Your line next.

“Oh, no, I know. He’s not in this morning. I wanted to see you.” you smile, knowing full well where Karkat is now.

“Really?” she says back.

“Listen, I hope you’ll forgive me for being upfront but I really like you and we’ve spent a good amount of time together but I’d like to get to know you better. Normally I would suggest going for dinner but would you perhaps like to get a drink of some kind with me? Coffee or… anything else you might want to get.” you suggest in a rush of words. You try to remember everything but even without perfect recall you feel the words just flow off of your tongue.

Kanaya’s eyes widen and a hand rises to her face, she nervously tucks a curl of hair behind her ear and you can see her look you up and down really quickly.

“Rose, I-” Kanaya stammers.

She looks away for a moment, still fiddling with her hair and then back at you.

“I do like you, I think you’re very smart and funny and incredibly well dressed.” Kanaya says, looking at you once more.

“Oh, thank you.” you smile and fuss with your skirt absently.

“But I’m a vampire and you’re a human.” she says slowly and regretfully.

“Kanaya, that doesn’t bother me. Really it doesn’t. I don’t mind your differences, and I’m not interested in you just because of them either. I like you for you.” you insist, trying to walk the line between dismissing her species and being grossly fetishising about it.

“That’s… well that’s good to hear, honestly. I’ve had some people in the past…” Kanaya grimaces but seems to shake the idea off.

“Still, Rose, that wasn’t what I meant. I’m effectively immortal and you’ll be alive for… what? Another sixty years? Eighty at a stretch? Do you know how fast that time goes for me? I don’t really do casual relationships anymore and the idea of only being with someone for less than a century and losing them is too much for me. It’s not that I don’t like you but I just can’t. I’m sorry.” she says regretfully.

Your heart sinks like lead in water, you almost feel it clank down in the pit of your stomach. You want to argue with her, to try to talk her around but you can’t. Her reasons aren’t based on some misunderstanding of you, it’s not as if you could insist that she didn’t know something vital. She’s right, you’re human and you’re going to die of old age incredibly soon by her standards. She’s saying she would consider you a romantic partner if not for that, it’s not that you did anything wrong. Moreover her reasons are entirely understandable and not something you’d want to pressure her out of. The literal best outcome for you here is that you marry this gorgeous woman and live the rest of your life with her and die happily but that’s her worst case scenario. It’d be easy for you to opine on the merits of having loved and lost when you’re not the one doing the losing.

“Oh.” is all you can say in a voice that’s pathetically small.

“This is probably my fault, I was probably leading you on. I am attracted to you, but I just can’t do this. That feeling on my part probably slipped out without me meaning to. I am _really_ sorry, Rose.” Kanaya says regretfully.

“No, don’t be. I… can’t say that I’m happy but I entirely understand. If it’s alright with you I think I’m going to go now.” you tell her.

Kanaya nods softly and you turn around and quickly walk out of the building.

Humiliation makes your cheeks burn. You went in there so confident, so sure that your vision was leading you to success rather than warning you of disaster. God, she must feel so bad for you and there’s little you hate more than being the object of pity. It’s not even like you can hate her for this, her reasons were legitimate and she was impossibly nice and understanding about it. She even admitted to liking you back!

In your hurry back to your building you skid on a patch of ice, thankfully you don’t fall but you’re sure SOMEONE must have seen you and that embarrassment on top of everything else has you all but sprinting for your dorm the moment you get in your building. You throw yourself on your bed the moment you get in, not bothering to take your makeup off or caring that you’re acting like an overdramatic thirteen year old.

Also, fuck classes you’re not going today.

You cry for a while, emotionally bleeding the hurt off of the experience, the embarrassment and humiliation away from it all. It doesn’t fix anything, nothing is going to “fix” this, you’ll just have to deal with this. Crying stops helping after a while and you lay there sadly on your side lamenting not being a vampire or a fae or any other species that doesn’t have a pathetically short human lifespan. You briefly flirt with the idea of finding someone to make you a vampire but that’s crazy.

Then there’s the wonder if Kanaya is also thinking wistfully about how things could have been different if you were a different species. That thought doesn’t so much comfort you as it does hurt. After that you pick up your phone, you’re not in the mood to talk to anyone today but if you don’t let people know where you are then it’s entirely likely that your group will just burst into your dorm to track you down. You slip onto trollian in offline mode and see that you have messages from several people, you’re only willing to deal with one right now.

turntechGodhead [TG] began trolling  tentacleTherapist [TT]  
  
TG: hey rose where are you  
TG: you ditching  
TG: you cant ditch rose we have this worked out im the cool twin and youre the academically responsible one who gets good grades  
TG: if you start ditching were gonna have to switch and i havent studied enough for that  
TG: uh  
TG: rose you there  
[turntechGodhead is idle]  
TT: Cover for me.  
TG: with everyone or just school  
TT: Everyone.  
TG: stomach bug ok  
TT: Sure  
TG: ok i got you  
  
tentacleTherapist [TT] ceased trolling  turntechGodhead [TG]

Dave is a good brother. You two drive each other crazy sometimes but when it comes down to it you have each other’s backs. At school when you were younger sometimes your mom would have a bad enough day that Sollux alone couldn’t handle her. If one of you was able to go in you’d construct and agree upon a lie to tell about it to get the other out of the situation. You have rules to this lie that you both understand. Dave doesn’t need to ask why you’re not in class or what’s wrong, he just knows that he needs to lie for you and he will do exactly that.

You drop your phone over the side of your bed and just stew in your own cathartic misery. You could have got your phone to look at things online to try to take your mind off of it but to do that you’d have to reach over the edge of your bed and pick it up again and that’s just too much. Your phone is effectively dead to you.

After some time you hear the familiar displacement of air in the main room.

“I think I need like six showers to get all the smoke smell off of me.” Karkat complains.

“Yeah, well.” Sollux mumbles.

“So do you, but that’s more of an always thing- ow!” Karkat yelps at the end and you hear a sound a little like a whip. You think Sollux might have smacked Karkat with the tips of his tails.

“Never talk. But… seriously I.” Sollux draws a deep breath in, “I owe you one.”

“You really don’t.” Karkat tells him, his tone more fond and less teasing.

“That wasn’t _nothing_ Karkat, you just-” Sollux protests.

Karkat interrupts him by saying something in demonic and it seems to shut Sollux up instantly.

“So, you really don’t owe me. It’s part of the whole thing. You call me and tell me you need me to do something like that and I’m there. You’d do it too.” Karkat points out.

“Of course I would.” Sollux says instantly.

“There you go.” Karkat says, a smugness creeping into his tone.

“Shut up.” Sollux grumbles and you hear him move and suddenly they’re both quiet. You can guess why.

They’re so in love, or hate you suppose, they’re happy together and you’re so… not. Your breath hitches and your vision goes a little misty again. You hear one of them step back.

“I’ll leave you to that.” Sollux says and then he’s gone.

“To what?” Karkat says to himself.

You sniffle and then there’s footsteps outside your door.

“Rose? Are you in there? Can I…” Karkat trails off and nudges your door open.

You lift your head up from your pillow as he looks in your room and get a good idea of how terrible you must look by the horrified look that goes over Karkat’s face that he rapidly clamps down on.

“Oh, ok, just give me a minute.” Karkat says and ducks out of your room.

You hear him hurrying about outside from room to room. The kettle boils and a few minutes later Karkat peeks into your room again. In one hand he has a mug of tea and in the other, inexplicably, one of your blankets is being used as a bag. He sets the tea gently on your bedside table and puts the blanket bag on the foot of your bed, currently unoccupied as you’re curled into a pathetic ball.

“I have no idea what’s wrong so I got everything.” Karkat tells you.

He pulls the blanket open and you sit up enough to have a look at what Karkat brought you. There’s painkillers, chocolate, a Cthulhu plush doll that you crocheted and had previously been displayed on a shelf, Karkat’s laptop, a half empty box of tissues and several DVDs. He really doesn’t know what’s wrong but like an anxious puppy he’s fetched you everything that might possibly help.

It’s sweet enough that you end up crying again. Karkat dithers for a second but then gets on the bed and lets your cry into his shirt.

“‘m sorry, I’m probably ruining your shirt.” you mumble into it.

“It’s ok, it’s not a real shirt. Also I was just in a lot of burning buildings so even if it was I’m pretty sure that beat you to it.” Karkat says reassuringly.

That makes sense. You should probably ask him what happened but you’re too burnt out for it. Pun not intended of course.

“What happened?” Karkat asks you instead.

“I asked Kanaya out.” you tell him miserably.

“Oh!” Karkat says, delighted at first.

You can just hear him reading the situation and reconsidering.

“Oh. What… what went wrong?” he amends.

“She said no.” you say, obviously.

“Oh. Do you want me to fight her? I would rather not, I’d probably get fired and get my ass kicked and if I ever lose my body again her brother might fight me too so that’s not a great idea for me.” Karkat offers.

“No. She just said she couldn’t date anyone who was going to die so soon. Human lifespan I mean, I’m not on death’s door or anything.” you say hastily before Karkat worries that you’re dying of something terrible and didn’t tell him until now.

“That’s… pretty shitty. I really thought she liked you back.” Karkat says and gives you a reassuring squeeze.

“I think she does?” you say uncertainly.

There’s a moment of silence and then Karkat says WOW so loudly that it’s just on the edge of believably human.

“That fucking sucks. That really sucks for literally everyone involved. Holy shit and you say I’m a disaster unsupervised, I left you alone for a few hours and everyone’s heart is broken!” Karkat exclaims.

“Hey! I didn’t nearly die, or get stabbed through the chest. Not… literally anyway.” you argue, sitting up properly now to scowl at Karkat.

“You say that but you look like death, or at least like you’re a member of KISS.” Karkat points out, gesturing to your face.

You touch your cheek and your fingertips come back smudged with black, a glance at your pillowcase and Karkat’s shirt tells you that your flawless eyeliner and mascara is now EVERYWHERE and on EVERYTHING.

“Look, how do you feel about romcoms and ice cream?” Karkat suggests.

“No rom coms. Horror. Also we don’t have ice cream.” you tell him.

“Yeah well, I’m willing to abuse wings given to me by literal God to go find some and bring it back here for you if you go shower when I’m off doing that.” Karkat tells you.

You don’t really want to go shower. You should, your makeup is all over your face in ways it shouldn’t be which isn’t doing great things for your self image but part of you feels like since everything is so terrible why should you bother doing that. But you do want ice cream and you probably would feel better for it. You pick up the mug Karkat got for your birthday that has since been repaired and sip at the chamomile tea within.

“Yeah okay.” you agree quietly.

“Good.” Karkat nods and gets up.

“Shower and find something you want to watch either on that or the tv.” he adds and heads out of the door.

That must have been why he brought his laptop in here, in case you wanted to watch something here and he couldn’t convince you to move. From the other room you hear the window open and the fluttering of wings. You realise that he didn’t ask you what flavours you liked or what you wanted and you have a creeping suspicion that he might try to come back with everything again.

You shower and grudgingly admit that there’s something metaphorically soothing to cleaning yourself off as if rubbing your mascara smeared cheeks clean can rinse your sadness and heartbreak down the drain too. It can’t but it does help a little. You feel more human when you get out at least. Glumly you think that you being human is the whole reason for this problem and after a quick detour for pyjamas and a fluffy black bathrobe you fall onto the sofa and start flicking through horror movies.

You settle on the first ALIEN movie. Mankind might have given up on the practicalities of space travel after the whole moon thing but artists and science fiction writers still dream of a future beyond the stars. Some of them decide to fill it with horrible things and frankly you’re here to watch other people have a terrible time because if you have to feel shitty then other people should too. Fictional people at least.

Karkat returns through the window with all the grace of a maimed seagull but you don’t call him out on it. He stands up again with his wings away once more and shuts the window like that never happened, you’re charitable enough to act accordingly.

“Alright so I got three tubs.” he announces. You called it.

“The first is salted caramel because that’s great and if you don’t agree I’m very sorry that you’re so wrong. The second one is ‘death by chocolate’ which is, uh, let me read the label again.” Karkat walks to the kitchen and takes the bag of ice cream tubs out, fetches two spoons and then holds one tub up to read.

“Milk chocolate ice cream with dark chocolate chunks, chocolate brownie pieces and a chocolate fudge core in the middle. Although where else would a core be, dipshits?” Karkat grumbles that last part as he makes his way over to the sofa.

“And the third one I will admit I picked because of the look.” he says and hands you one tub. The lid of it reads ‘I shall eat midnight’ on a little label.

Apparently this is a black cocoa and charcoal ice cream with white chocolate stars, blue popping chocolate candy pieces and edible glitter on top. You pop open the lid and stare at what looks to be the night sky in an ice cream tub, holy shit.

“I’ll have this one, hand that spoon over.” you tell him, making grabby hands for it.

“Knew it. Ok, I’ll throw the chocolate one in the fridge so it lives longer.” Karkat snorts and hands you the spoon as he goes past.

When he settles back into place the two of you start on your ice cream, both of you also having a try of the other’s but however nice salted caramel is it’s not like eating the night sky. Karkat doesn’t make you talk about Kanaya or try to problem solve something that can’t be solved, he’s just there. He’s also kind of a wimp when it comes to suspenseful sci-fi horror but he sits through it anyway and does participate in heckling the dumber cast members who end up endangering themselves and others.

It’s… good. This isn’t how you wanted today to turn out, or how you thought it would. You don’t know what’s gone on yet with the Vatican and that’s going to be a huge detail for lots of people, not just Sollux. There’s not the space in your head to deal with that right now, the same goes for talking to other people about what happened or if you even want to admit what happened. For now you’re happy to just live in a very small world that just comprises of your dorm and watching Karkat nearly leap off of the sofa when the titular alien of the movie jumpscares him.

You’re good with that for now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, I thought it worth mentioning also that I remade my tumblr after... years of being off of it? If you want to follow me and give me more homestuck people to follow back then please do https://evil-unda.tumblr.com/


	35. For Everything A Reason

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I didn't update last week, I managed to hurt my back so bad that I had to have paramedics called for me and then after several days on super SUPER strong painkillers unable to do anything I started recovering. ....and then got sick with a cold, so it's been a crazy two weeks for me.

“It was a sign from God.” a priest on the TV insists.

“Oh no.” Karkat mutters, staring at the screen.

“It’s fine you said they were unconscious.” Sollux tells him, leaning over the back of Dave’s sofa where you’re all gathered to watch the broadcast.

“I mean… I think they were.” Karkat says, obviously anxious.

“An angel.” another agrees with a nod.

“...Mostly.” Karkat finishes lamely.

“Fucking… no, maybe they just mean- it could be metaphorical. You spend all day with your face in bibles then everything’s going to look like-” Sollux tries.

“He struck me across the face and I felt absolved of all sin, yet I didn’t die, he saved me.” another priest nods, there’s a bruise on his cheek.

“Karkat, did you bitchslap a priest?” Dave asks, leaning around you to stare at him.

“He wasn’t breathing right! I was trying to snap him out of it!” Karkat protests.

“And people bitch about my medical skills.” June snorts.

“He didn’t tase the man.” Jade retorts.

“I didn’t do shit with his sin either but okay.” Karkat says waving a hand at the TV.

Sollux has slumped face down on the back of the sofa and is whining pitifully.

“Damnit, damnit just _GOD_ damnit!” Sollux snarls, suddenly lifting his head off of the back of the sofa. His voice has this strange tone to it and you hear Karkat yelp in surprised pain. The sound of his voice doing… what you imagine is an invocation of his god leaves a strange feeling in your ears and at your side Dave shudders slightly too.

“Hey!” Karkat says, clearly still stinging from that.

“Sorry, just… augh, I’m fucked. That’s it, it’s over. I’ve publically aligned myself against the old rulership and put myself on the side of an angel, not even one that’s fallen but one that’s actively saving churches. I mean it wasn’t a win for him but I fucked up WAY worse! I basically just shot myself in the dick here!” Sollux says hysterically.

Karkat squints at him a little.

“In the foot, that’s the expression. No one says the thing you just said.” Karkat says slowly.

“He’s got a point. Not about dicks, about how bad this is. Even without Karkat there going after the _Vatican_ of all places… yeah, Sollux has lost this. Unless we can track this guy down so Sollux can murder him it’s kind of a done deal.” June says grimly.

You watch as Sollux just flops onto the floor and stops moving.

“I’m… I’m sorry.” Karkat apologises meekly.

“It’s not you.” Sollux tells him, slightly muffled from the carpet.

“Are you just living on the floor forever now?” Jade asks and Sollux makes an affirmative noise.

“Sol, this really doesn’t seem like the kind of situation you should be handling on your own. Doesn’t- I mean shouldn’t your maker be doing… something?” Dave says uncertainly.

Sollux winces like Dave just stood on his tails and instead of answering he teleports away. You can hear that it was only into the next room and you’d wager that he’s being miserable in one of his hammocks. Dave slumps, clearly unhappy that his attempts to help just upset Sollux more.

June mutes the TV, the news reporters are just going over and over how much of the Vatican is burned, the fact that demons started the fire but then reports of various miraculous places where the fire stopped and people were saved. There’s the same circular arguments that demons ought to face consequences for this, that these reports of angelic assistance indicate that the gods might be coming back or at least THAT god is coming back. It’s crazy.

“What really happened?” June asks.

“There was… a lot of fire. Sollux mostly wanted me to save as much as I could rather than fight demons. We saved almost everyone and I stopped the fire around most of their largest library but…” Karkat shudders.

“What?” Jade asks.

“Sorry, working in a library gives you a feeling about books. Feeling a library burning is not something I want to repeat. I saved a lot of stuff though, art… inaccurate art but still. And the pope, so that was something. I guess.” Karkat trails off, his gaze fixed on Sollux’s bedroom door. It’s pretty clear that he feels he didn’t do a good enough job if Sollux is this down about it.

The low mood is contagious and the overwhelming sense of hopelessness settles over your whole group.

“Did you see other demons? Did you see the one from Rose’s vision?” June asks after a moment.

“I didn’t see him but he’s clearly got a bunch of demons on his side, which means they’re not on Sollux’s.” Karkat answers unhappily.

“So there’s nothing we can really do. Damnit. We’re stuck playing defense now, great.” June groans and rubs her temples.

“What does that mean for us?” Dave presses her.

“For all of you hopefully nothing, as for me I’ve got to go see my dad and get the word out that unless they have it on good authority that a demon is on Sollux’s side they’re not to help out with anything. Can’t risk playing both sides by mistake.” June says.

You jump as she seems to just… dissolve. She fades into nothingness and a breeze whips through the room once and then is gone.

“Was that weird for everyone else too?” Karkat asks in a slightly strangled tone.

“Oh good I thought it was just me who thought that.” Jade nods.

“Look, I’m going to see if I can help Sollux, I’ll see you guys later.” Dave says. A not to subtle code for the rest of you to excuse yourselves so he can try to talk his moirail around. You bid Dave a polite goodbye and soon enough you, Karkat and Jade are standing in the hallway.

“Would you like a drink, Jade? We have tea, or coffee if you’d like.” you offer her.

“We have an almost hoarder level of tea and coffee.” Karkat adds with a snort of derision.

“Much of which you bought.” you point out.

“I never said you were the only guilty one here.” he shrugs.

You roll your eyes at him and then turn your attention back to Jade who seems more than a little amused at your antics.

“Sure! That sounds great.” she agrees with a smile.

The three of you head down to your dorm and you put water on to boil as soon as you get in. Karkat is listing off all of the teas and coffees that you have so that Jade can make an educated choice but as you look in the open cupboard that has been slowly overtaken by tea and coffee you find your eyes drawn to one box. It’s nothing special, just a black tea with chamomile pollen in it, but the light from the window is just gracing the corner of the box and you feel compelled to choose that one.

You put the teabag in your mug and pour the water over it. Karkat slides his and Jade’s mugs over and you fill theirs too.

“I kind of wish green tea came out bright BRIGHT green, you know?” Jade says wistfully.

“I think what you’re looking for there is mountain dew.” Karkat tells her.

“Ew! Can you imagine that hot?” Jade laughs and Karkat’s face scrunches up in a grimace.

“I have now and I think you owe me compensation for ruining my mind with that concept. Blech.” he says and shudders.

You pick up the tag on the end of your teabag’s string and lightly tug at it, intending to agitate the tea. However as you pull on it the whole bag suddenly comes up with no tea in it at all. It does have a big split in the bottom though.

“Surprise loose tea I guess.” Karkat says as you throw the ruined bag away.

“I suppose so.” you sigh, peering into the swirling mess of tea and tea leaves in your mug.

When the others have taken their tea bags out the three of you retire to the sofa and armchair together. Despite the moment of levity Jade and Karkat had over making their tea it seems that there’s something on Jade’s mind. She runs her fingertip around the edge of her mug for a moment, chewing on her lip thoughtfully.

“Karkat, would… would you do something for me?” Jade asks, looking over at him.

You open your mouth trying to cut in and ask what it is Jade wants before Karkat blithely agrees to do what a fae asks of him. Of course Jade is your friend and has no ill will to Karkat but good god he can’t keep doing that.

“Anything.” Karkat says immediately.

Idiot.

“June was talking to me about her dad being related to my grandpa and based on what he wrote down June thinks that his ‘gentleman caller’ is pretty definitely… the actual devil.” Jade explains.

“I guess the song was right, he did steal a soul in Georgia.” you murmur. It’s only when Karkat shoots you a look that you realise that might have come off somewhat tasteless given that you are speaking about Jade’s grandfather.

“Well that’s actually what I was hoping you could find out for me. Your boss is married to that psychopomp, right? Would he be able to find out where my grandpa ended up?” she asks.

“I don’t know if he’d know or be able to find out subtly but I can ask for you. That’s a pretty heavy thing to know the answer to.” Karkat warns her.

“I’m not gonna make you promise to get me the answer, but if you get the chance to ask for me, could you? I think knowing would help with… everything.” Jade trails off a little at the end and you get the feeling that you’re missing a few details here of Jade’s past.

“I’ll ask for you.” Karkat tells her.

You sip at your tea and contemplate fae deals, promises and obligations. How they can tie you. As you do so your eyes drift down to your nearly empty cup and a thought takes you.

“I couldn’t use things like this to see before, was it… that deal I made in Winter? It must have been, right?” you blurt out. If that’s true then all that frustration in class was of your own making.

“That makes sense actually.” Karkat says thoughtfully.

“Does that mean you can do all that stuff now? Nothing worked, right?” Jade asks.

“I- maybe?” you stammer out.

“Finish your tea then, find out! I’m going to get something for you to tip it onto.” Karkat says eagerly and leaps the back of the sofa to sprint the small distance to your kitchen cupboards. You drink quickly and you’re about finished when Karkat scrambles back and hands you a saucer.

You eye the tea, take a deep breath and flip the cup. It’s not the greatest cup for it but you’re well aware that really you can read the future in anything, the method is neither here nor there, it’s just a framework. You try to clear your mind and turn the cup back over.

There’s tea leaves in it.

Karkat is either holding his breath or has forgotten to keep breathing as he waits for you to say what you see. Jade looks just as eager so you’d better get to reading.

Your eyes scan the cup, there’s a largeish shape on the side which indicates the near future by position alone. The shape is angular with straight lines and the word your mind immediately leaps to is ‘coffin’.

“That’s a coffin.” you say slowly.

“That sounds bad.” Jade winces.

“It could be okay, death’s a good card in tarot.” Karkat says hastily, already looking it up for you.

“Karkat, it’s a coffin, it’s not going to be a sign that I’m winning a free meal at red lobster any time soon, is it?” you sigh.

“That would be so specific and also very weird marketing.” Jade laughs loudly.

“I… oh. Uh. Are there other things in there too by any chance? Anything that might change the meaning of this?” Karkat asks in an anxiously higher pitched voice.

“Yes but tell me what the coffin means first.” you insist.

Karkat looks from you to his phone a few times.

“...Lengthy sickness or death of a loved one.” Karkat answers quietly.

“Oh.” Jade says, suddenly not so amused.

“I’ll keep looking.” you sigh and look back into your mug.

“It could be, uh… the death of the loved ones of your enemies? No, that’s still bad. Better comparatively for us but-” Karkat cuts his ramble short and waits anxiously for whatever else you might see.

“A snake.” you say as your eyes identify a trail of tea leaves.

“Oh, hey, that could be Sollux!” Jade says brightly.

“Combined with ‘death of a loved one’? I don’t like that! Also snakes are supposedly a bad omen, that’s all it says. Anything else?” Karkat asks.

You squint, there’s just one more but you have to turn your cup to see it better. The shape is familiar.

“A mushroom I think?” you say and show it to him.

“I’m going to eat my phone.” Karkat groans.

“What does that mean? Poison or something?” Jade guesses.

“That’d be on par for how the rest of this has gone, but no. Mushrooms are ‘sudden separation of lovers after a fight’, apparently.” Karkat says and puts his hands over his face.

“Okay, no, let me see that.” Jade tuts and holds her hand out. You give her the mug and she has a look as well.

“Yeah, that is what those look like mostly. But think about it this way. The snake could literally be Sollux and the coffin could mean an actual place, that’s what you had before wasn’t it? Maybe it means Sollux is going to go to some famous crypt or something.” Jade reasons.

“And the mushroom?” Karkat challenges her.

“Could be a spade. Like you and him, could mean you go with him.” Jade says with a wink.

“I’d prefer that reading but it’s supposed to be the first impression of the person who did the reading, not us rearranging it as we like.” Karkat says, quite reasonably.

“True, but there’s nothing to say we can’t get more data. Could I borrow your tarot deck?” you ask.

“Yeah, okay. I’d rather know more about what’s coming our way.” Karkat agrees and gets up.

He walks over to his bag and pulls the deck out in its now slightly worn box. Looking at your narrow coffee table with drinks on it you figure that’s not the place for this. Karkat hands you the box and you stand up too.

“Let’s use the big table.” you suggest.

As you walk you open the box, shaking the cards out into your other hand. Somehow your shoe catches on… something, a bit of the carpet, who knows? The point is you stumble and the whole deck flies out of your hands and spills over the floor.

All the cards show the same thing. The Tower.

Karkat stares at the deck in horror. What you’re looking at shouldn’t be possible but here it is and the meaning couldn’t be any more clear.

“Disaster. The Tower means disaster.” Karkat whispers.

As your grip slackens in shock the last card slides out of the open tarot card box and into your other hand. Numbly you look down at the card, The Devil.

Karkat sucks in a sharp breath and quickly walks past you and into his room, shutting the door after him.

“What-” Jade starts.

“I think he’s screaming in there. It looks like my first reading was pretty accurate then, disaster, loss and death.” you say slowly as you peer at The Devil card. As soon as you see Sollux next you’ll have to tell him about this, not that he’ll like it.

“Actually, I should go tell Sollux now. If something bad happens because I didn’t pass information on in a timely manner then I’ll never forgive myself, especially if someone dies from it.” you say and after a moment’s thought you take a picture of the tarot cards on the floor and the one in your hand.

“I’ll wait until Karkat is done having a ragefit then let him know.” Jade agrees.

“That would be good, thanks.” you nod and leave her to however long a wait that’ll turn out to be.

You take the return trip upstairs and knock on your brother’s door. He doesn’t answer, you suspect because he’s busy with Sollux but your information is too important to wait. You unlock the door yourself magically and consider that for a magical institution they really ought to have better locks.

The dorm is quiet and you wait for a moment or two after closing the door for one of them to see who you are, but no one comes.

People often don’t get that Dave and Sollux are actually dating, they aren’t just ‘best friends’. People wrongly assume that just because their relationship isn’t sexual that it’s not incredibly intimate. You’ve no more desire to walk in on Sollux and Dave like that than you would like to find either of them with Karkat at such an inopportune moment. You have, though. Years ago you walked in on Dave and Sollux having a full ‘jam’ as Sollux called it. Because it’s not something that humans have culturally you didn’t realise just what you were looking at right away. You can still remember the way that Sollux was draped over Dave’s lap almost bonelessly as they quietly talked.

As you said, it’s… intimate.

“I need to talk to Sollux. It’s important.” you call out loudly.

You can tell they’ve heard you from the shuffling and voices in the next room but you keep your thoughts to yourself as you wait. You’d like to point out how different moirallegiance really is and how silly it is that anyone could confuse you and Karkat for that.

Without your conscious intent your mind flickers to the church, to holding Karkat’s hand. It reminds you of Karkat bringing you anything he could think of to make you feel better. But it’s not the same, it’s not. You’re not interested in Karkat like that because he’s a guy and you’re not interested in guys. You respect pale romance as real romance and you won’t belittle it by claiming it’s not the same as ‘real’ romance so- so you don’t- it’s different with Karkat.

It is.

A treacherous little part of your brain reminds you about you seeking him out when you’d had terrible visions but you shut that shit right down. It’s not like that.

Sollux thankfully breaks your train of thought by stepping out of his room. He looks a lot less like he’s about to throw his hands up in the air, scream and leave the room so he must be feeling a little better. Although now he mostly just looks miserable so you’re not sure better is the word.

“What terrible news do you have for me now?” Sollux asks you wearily. Yeah, maybe not better as such.

“I have good news and bad news.” you warn him.

Sollux does not look enthused.

“On the plus side I can now do tea leaf readings again. On the down side I got three things in my mug. First a snake which is an omen of grave misfortune.” you start.

“Sounds speciest but ok.” Sollux says flatly.

“Secondly I got a coffin, which is death of a loved one. I also got a mushroom which is ‘separation of lovers after a fight’. So that’s not great.” you tell him.

“Oh good, great. Just what I need. Anything else?” Sollux asks, edging closer to a hysterical tone of voice.

Behind him Dave emerges from Sollux’s room with his cheeks all pink and his hair suddenly all bedheaded when it hadn’t been earlier. He casts a wary look at Sollux who is obviously not happy to say the least.

“Yes, there’s more. I thought I needed more data so I asked to borrow Karkat’s tarot cards and I dropped them. This is what I got.” you say and turn your phone around to show him. Sollux’s eyes widen and one of the little ones even twitches slightly.

“Fuck. FUCK! We’re- great, it’s official, we’re screwed!” Sollux shouts.

“Wait, no, I’m sure there’s something we can do.” Dave protests.

“I really doubt it at this point. I- look, the very least we can do is all stay together. Really really all together, okay?” Sollux insists, turning to Dave and looking at him pleadingly.

“As in sleeping in the same place? We could maybe drag mattresses between dorms and try to do what we did at Jade’s island.” you suggest.

“Like that but not here. At your mom’s place, it’s the only place that’s close to safe.” Sollux says quickly.

“At night maybe but what about classes?” you ask him.

“Fuck classes! It doesn’t MATTER! None of this matters! It’s not-” Sollux grits his teeth and growls, clearly unable to tell you more.

You know that Karkat is going to protest about leaving his job but maybe he can talk Sollux into taking him there and back, or bribe him to let him go. Although you think if he tried to make an argument about the library being safe that Sollux might point out how he was literally possessed by the actual devil there recently.

Dave gives you a look, you don’t know how much danger he believes that you’re all in but he seems convinced that going home is the thing to do. For his part Sollux looks so desperate that you really don’t have the heart to say no, and besides which you warned yourself to trust yourself. Ignoring your own predictions is a fool’s errand.

“I’ll tell the others.” you say simply and Sollux sags with obvious relief.

June takes no convincing at all, as if walking away from her classes is nothing to her. Jade seems uneasy but you suspect that she doesn’t like the idea of being left behind.

Karkat though… he takes the most convincing.

“I have a job, I can’t just leave. I made a commitment to the library, to my boss and Kanaya. To the books!” Karkat argues.

“To the books?” you repeat in disbelief.

“They have feelings, Rose. And what about Abraxas?” Karkat protests, waving a hand at his stack of books and the bookworm within curiously watching you both.

“You can bring Abraxas with you.” you tell him in exasperation. You honestly don’t know how your mother will react to the idea of having a bookworm anywhere near her library but you’ll deal with that problem when you get to it.

“No, Rose, I can’t just go for an indefinite amount of time.” Karkat says firmly and crosses his arms as if that’ll convince you any more that his words will.

“Are you saying that my visions are wrong?” you challenge him and Karkat winces at that, he knows how much of a sore point your loss of vision was for you. To discount the ones you’re finally having now would be not the best move on his part.

“No, but-” he tries.

Time to play dirty.

“Fine, how about this?” you suggest and move to his desk to grab his deck of tarot cards up off of it, he must have tidied up while you were away. You shake the cards out of the box and start to shuffle them as you turn to him once more.

“I’m sure you wouldn’t stay here when you were in real danger. So, I want you to make me a _vow_ like the one you made with me about Kanaya. Vow that if you pull a card with any negative readings attached to it in the way it’s drawn, and I’m including the death card in that, that you’ll come back with me to my mother’s house. Because that’d prove that you’re really in danger, and you’ve already said you’d go if there was real danger.” you tell him, still shuffling.

“You said that, not me. But…” Karkat hesitates.

“Well you vowing wouldn’t change your actions then, would it? So come on.” you say and hold one hand out to him.

Karkat looks at your offered hand for a few seconds but you see him crack.

“I… vow that if I draw a card with negative associations in the position it’s in, including the death card, that I’ll go back to your mom’s with you.” Karkat offers. You shake his hand before he can change his mind and you feel the tingle of magic.

“Can’t help notice that you didn’t say how long you would stay for but I trust you. Pick a card, any card.” you say and fan them out for him.

“I’m not as stupid as I look, I’m not getting stuck there for eternity.” Karkat grumbles and draws a card. He looks at it, groans and turns it around to show you.

The Death card.

“I’ll help you pack.” you tell him sweetly.

Karkat grumbles the entire time he packs up but he has to follow you to meet Sollux so you can leave, he vowed he would after all. Sollux takes one look at his arm with his smaller set of eyes, proceeds to roll them and calls him a ‘fucking moron, seriously watching you deal with her is like watching a fly slam its stupid bug head into a window for eternity’.

You tune out the resulting insult match and wait for everyone else to show up. Jade and June show up right about the time that Karkat is calling Sollux an ‘impossible to deal with, taint-licking idiot’.

“Some things don’t change.” June observes.

“Should we be going or should they be getting a room?” Jade asks, deliberately loud enough to make the pair of them realise that they have an audience.

“Whatever, I don’t care.” Sollux lies. Badly.

He holds a hand out and quickly a teleportation circle marks itself out around you all, it seems like it’s a lot easier than it was before. Although that being said Sollux does have to pause before casting the spell because June excitedly bounces up and down and points out the now familiar symbol in the edge of the circle.

“It’s me!” she declares gleefully.

“So are you footing the magical bill for this spell or something?” Jade asks curiously.

“She better, she owes me.” Sollux grumbles and then, with a snap of his fingers, you’re home.

There’s a million little things that combine to tell you where you are, even blindfolded you’d know. The feel of the familiar flooring under your feet, the little sounds of your childhood home, even the familiar scent of the air. It’s probably a thousand little things, the plants in the forest, the soap and perfume your mother favours, the smell of burning from the fire. A demonic coup or not it’s still reassuring to be home.

“I’m going to check the wards.” Sollux says and teleports away, rather than take the stairs.

“I’ll go find- nevermind. Hi Mom.” Dave waves behind you. Turning around you see your mother in the doorway, looking at you with surprise. Her eyes narrow when she looks at June though.

“Liar, get out of my house.” she hisses at her.

“Oh for- look!” June snaps, she throws her hands up in the air in exasperation and you stare as she… changes.

It’s still June, still identifiably the same person but she seems too real somehow. Her eyes glow a featureless blue and her hair sways and curls in a wind that seems to exist just around her, beads and braids glitter silver and blue in it as her hair shifts. June’s clothes are blue and elaborate with the same symbol on her chest and a long windsock like hood floating around in the air behind her. June folds her arms and glares at your mother irritably.

“The hood’s kind of cool but a cape would be better.” Dave says as he flicks June’s long hood.

“What? No, capes are lame.” June scoffs.

“No they’re not!” Karkat, owner of a cape in his native magical form, protests.

“Ah, a man of taste.” Dave nods.

“Ms. Lalonde, I know you don’t like us but it’s an emergency. There’s a big demon war starting up and we need to hide somewhere to be safe. I could go to Joey and Jude but I’d be scared to put them in more danger and be away from my friends.” Jade says, ignoring the cape debate and getting to the actual issue.

“It really is important.” you agree.

“Don’t… don’t put those kids in danger. But… fine, I’m watching you.” your mom warns them both.

For a moment you’re not sure if your mother has fully grasped that Joey and Jude aren’t kids and haven’t been for a long time, but then again she still calls you and Dave her babies despite you both being adults. Perhaps it’s the same thing, she looked after them, she may well still consider them ‘her’ kids.

“Wait, really? I didn’t expect you to actually listen.” June says in surprise, touching down on the floor from how taken aback she seemingly is.

“Yeah, well, you have good people vouching for you.” your mom shrugs.

“What? We’ve always said June is good.” Dave protests.

“Who else do you mean?” you ask her slowly and full of suspicion.

“Oh. Oh no, not _her_.” June groans in despair.

“She said you’d say that. Unless you’re arguing with her judgement and want to leave?” your mom asks.

June grits her teeth but you hear a grumbled ‘no’, making your mother look highly entertained indeed. With that done she turns her attention to Dave.

“Could you get Sollux here? I need to warn him about something.” she asks sweetly.

“Sure. SOLLUX!” Dave yells that last part and Sollux appears a second later looking alarmed.

“Mom wanted you.” Dave says by way of explanation.

“Why don’t you come when I yell your name?” Karkat asks.

“Usually it’s you that does that.” Sollux retorts without missing a beat. Your mom barks out a startled laugh but you can see Karkat not getting it yet.

“Why would I come if I was yelling your…” Karkat trails off as the innuendo dawns on him. The venomous look that he gives Sollux does nothing at all to take the shine of glee off of his expression, getting to turn Karkat’s own comment around on him was one thing but watching him work it out was a wholly different delight by the looks of it. It’s not helped that June is wheeze laughing in the background with Jade.

“As soon as we learn how to curse people I’m cursing you.” Karkat threatens and Sollux just grins at him.

“You two are adorable. Sollux you need to not go in the lab, I’m working on some stuff that could really hurt you if you went in there. In fact, no one in the lab except maybe Karkat. Hm, actually I might need to borrow him for some experiments, maybe get some feathers or… hmm.” your mom’s expression goes unfocused and you know from experience that she’s off in her own head now. Sure enough she pats Sollux on the shoulder vaguely and wanders back off towards the lab.

“I guess we all get to stay this time.” Jade says happily.

“You can stay with us Karkat.” Dave says quickly, looping his arm through Karkat’s.

“Oh and the rest of us stay in my room then? Have we devolved back to being six, Dave? Do girls have cooties again?” you ask him teasingly. Sollux, of course, has his own room and if you wanted you could spread out into there as well but that doesn’t work so well for teasing your brother.

“We definitely have cooties.” June agrees.

“I don’t know about that but me and Bec had fleas once.” Jade adds and at her side Bec makes a deep ‘boof’ of a bark. Honestly you’d forgotten Bec was even there, especially as your mother hadn’t so much as commented on the hellhound suddenly in her home.

“Hey, he’s my boyfriend, you don’t get to monopolise him all the time.” Dave says and pokes his tongue out at you.

“Heaven forbid anyone ask me. I’m just going to take bags upstairs.” Karkat mutters.

“I’m gonna go check the perimeter of the spell bubble from the inside for a change. Wanna come for a walk Bec? Oh yes you do, who’s a good boy, who’s a good boy?” June coos at Bec who jumps about eagerly. Jade laughs and the pair of them walk off with an excitable hellhound accompanying them.

“Of course…” Sollux says slowly, levitating and inspecting his claws, “if you were dating Karkat it’d be different.”

“We talked about this.” you say stiffly.

“We did. Worked out that you’re wrong yet?” Sollux asks, radiating smugness.

“We’re. Not. Dating.” you say between gritted teeth.

“Hey, Sol, it’s cool. She doesn’t have to call it that if she doesn’t want to.” Dave says gently, getting between you two.

“It doesn’t matter what I call it because that’s not what’s happening here. It’s not.” you insist, despite the introspection you’ve been ignoring lately.

Dave gives you a look, you’re too used to the sunglasses to have them be any barrier for you in understanding his expressions. He’s looking like he wants to gently break something to you and you don’t like that one bit.

“It kind of is though. Karkat likes you, obviously he does, but despite the shit he says he’s actually a pretty friendly guy. He befriends books, Rose. Books. But you…” Dave gestures vaguely at you.

“Before you fall in that pit, Dave, he’s not saying you’re a bitch or anything. You can just be prickly and reserved with people sometimes. I know you like Jade for example but how much does she really know about you? The deep down stuff? But you compare that to Karkat and it’s not a contest. You took one look at that idiot and decided he was yours and you were going to look after him.” Sollux points out.

“I don’t have to listen to this.” you snap and storm past them.

You think you hate the way they’re acting like they know you better than you do the most. You hate that you can’t possibly back down or else they win. You hate ALL of this and-

“Whoa.” Karkat’s voice interrupts you, you’d nearly walked right into him.

“Oh. Sorry.” you say out of habit.

“It’s fine, I didn’t see you either. It’s a tight corner and I was distracted by the… art.” Karkat says diplomatically as he looks back at one of your mother’s terrible decor choices.

“Looking at that is the last thing I need.” you mutter.

“You alright? Wait, let me guess, Sollux and/or Dave?” Karkat snorts, then it turns into an outright laugh when you nod.

“Yep, I know that brand of annoyance well. Regretting making me come along here when we could have been in a separate dorm back in Salem?” Karkat asks you with a teasing grin.

“No, I’d rather we were all alive. I think I want to go and meditate though, or at least sit quietly in a room without annoying boys in it. No offence.” you tell him.

“Please, being in a room without me in it is my dream too. Go, let at least one of us get that. I’ll distract them for you.” Karkat says, walking off and shaking his head.

You walk to your doorway and just as you’re opening it you hear a startled yelp from Sollux downstairs and Dave cracking up laughing. Whatever they’re doing seems to have them thoroughly distracted from you.

Slipping into your room you shut the door behind yourself and settle onto your bed. You sweep your plush toys onto the floor, your mother seemingly having replaced them in your absence. You manage to stand a minute of their shiny plastic eyes judging you before you pick them up and set them on your shelves with a silent apology to them. Your penance to your plush playmates completed you settle on your bed in the weak sunlight and close your eyes, you allow your breathing to level out but still your mind circles back to that stupid conversation.

You really should have expected this.

_”Rose Lalonde, I am going to fucking kill you.” Karkat hisses at you, his arms delicately around your waist as he lets you stabilise yourself with your arm over his shoulder._

_“No you won’t.” you say a little weakly._

_“I will. I’m going to remove your fucking kneecaps and play croquet with them, I’m going to fling your entrails around like wet streamers. I’m going to end you.” Karkat snarls and gently helps you over a fallen tree._

_“Mixed messages.” you point out._

_“Shut up and tell me what the fuck you were thinking of back there.” Karkat snaps at you._

_“Well which is it?” you ask and Karkat’s look is withering._

_You look back over your shoulder and see nothing but woodland, you wonder if you would normally see more._

_“I did what I had to do, what I saw would save all of us. I needed you with me and I exchanged-” you start._

_“You gave your VISIONS away, Rose! For years! What are you thinking?!” Karkat demands._

_“I was thinking that this needed to be done and I’m unneeded for a while anyway and if I’m wrong then it’s a bad deal for them and it won’t matter for me.” you tell him._

_Karkat’s mouth moves silently and you catch a few stunted and abandoned beginnings of words but he can’t seem to pick one._

_“Can you just take me home? I… I feel a little worse than I thought I would.” you admit._

_Karkat’s expression shifts from anger to sympathy. No, pity, you remind yourself._

_“Of course I can. If I didn’t you might barter something else away on your way there.” Karkat grumbles but nicely. He’s like that._

_He pulls you close and you watch his wings unfurl. He takes off in a whisper of flight and you close your eyes against the sun and simply hold on. When he lands barely any time later you find yourself a little unsteady and so Karkat makes the executive decision to bear most of your weight for you. The two of you totter over the rooftop of your penthouse apartment, the small garden you’ve grown fragrant around you but not enough to dissipate the smell of exhaust from the New York City traffic below._

_You unlock the door and Karkat skips the spiral steps, instead briefly fluttering down to your main floor with wings that are gone in an instant. He steadies you for a moment then lets you go._

_“Why on Earth would you give the fae or anyone your sight?” Karkat presses you._

_“Don’t worry, I looked in advance at all I’d need to know. I have every date and location you need to be for your little rendezvous in the future, they’re all stored away.” you assure him._

_“I wasn’t asking because I was worried you weren’t going to be useful anymore! You know I-” Karkat bites back his words and scowls out of the window._

_“I wasn’t saying you were.” you tell him._

_Neither of you are saying what you really mean. You’ve both talked at length with each other many many times. At first your motives had just been curiosity and knowing that he was a piece in your puzzle, you needed to understand him to know where best to place him. But it’s more than that now, you’re friends. You’re… well._

_Angels are very interesting of course, their society is very different from your own and even their basic biology. Perhaps you shouldn’t say biology because Karkat’s human form is very human or at least his best approximation, but parts of his actual form tie to this physical one in odd ways, there are quirks as it were._

_“I wouldn’t do this if it wasn’t needed and I needed you there. Not just for support but because you’re vital. But… I very much did need your support. Giving up a whole sense is…” you swallow thickly, you don’t admit things like this._

_“Frightening.” you admit._

_“And you couldn’t have given me a heads up?” Karkat asks, not accusingly but he’s assuming correctly that things had to go down that way._

_You nod and Karkat sighs, more exasperation than irritation. You take advantage of his not quite human-ness and reach for his face. Your intent matters, it’s like a spell almost, activated by touch. Your intent is to soothe, to apologise for frightening him and to make it up to him. Your fingers trace along what textbooks have told you would be the zygomatic bone on humans, under the orbit of his eye and the dark circles that always reside below. You feel the quiet intent to shush at his anxieties like a disapproving librarian and as your fingers trail across his cheek there’s a hint of golden glow there. It’s like a magic eye picture and before when you’ve done this if you relax your vision and unfocus your gaze you swear you can see turning rings in the glow before it fades._

_For angels this kind of thing is, well, romantic. They have a whole system of romance built around it but at least for you it doesn’t mesh well with your own understanding of romance. To you this isn’t romantic but Karkat also is not just your friend. He’s…_

_It’s complicated._

_“Are you going to be okay without your vision? I mean, obviously you can see normally but… uh… you…” Karkat’s question trails off as your thumb traces the same path that your fingers had._

_“I’ll survive.” you tell him._

_There’s a moment of quiet after you’ve stopped derailing his brain, your eyes are on his cheeks even though the glow and hint of rings has long gone and he too is just watching you. You’ve both settled on behaving this way and just not calling it anything, which has suited your inclination to keep poking at this thing but stopped him referring to it in a way that makes you feel weird. An arrangement which you’re aware suits you more than it does him._

_You decide that you’re going to sit down and do so, pulling him with you and making him curse in startled alarm as you drag him down. There’s a black faux bearskin rug on your floor that’s perfect for this._

_“Give me a little goddamn warning.” he bitches._

_“Hm, no. Let me see your wings, since you flew me here I should check them over.” you tell him._

_Karkat knows how this is going to go so he just shakes his head fondly and settles down on the rug on his front. When he’s comfortable he stretches his wings out of nowhere and spreads them out on your expansive floorspace._

_“Only,” he says and jerks one back as you reach for it, “if you tell me how your visit with your mother went.”_

_You pull a face, you hate talking about her and you never would for anyone else but for Karkat you’ll oblige. You start to answer and Karkat lowers his wing into your grasp again. You comb through his feathers with your long black nails, setting them in place and working loose any feathers due to shed out. It’s meditative in a way that knitting is for you, your hands and eyes are occupied on a reasonably detailed task and it leaves your mouth free to talk without so much anxiety or self censorship._

_“Same as always, really. She’s still not right. I tried to get her to cut back on the drinking but at this point she just won’t listen to me. It does stop her from cutting things up all over the place but the things she brews in her lab when she’s drunk are so dangerous. I feel like I should still be back there sometimes.” you admit guiltily._

_“But you said it was so fraught, that you couldn’t be in enough places to help. If she’s less stressed without you there then being away is you doing the right thing for her.” Karkat reminds you._

_“I know, I know, but it feels like I’m a terrible daughter who abandoned her mother.” you say grimly._

_“That’s an understandable thing to- ah-” Karkat gasps and you work your fingernail over a feather that’s nearly ready to go. You carefully wiggle it and it comes out easy as anything, leaving Karkat boneless on your rug. You twirl the molted feather between your fingers, it’s longer than your forearm._

_Karkat burbles some nonsensical syllables into your rug and you feel yourself smiling despite the previous topic at hand._

_“Say again?” you suggest and tuck the long feather into the band of your hat._

_Karkat mumbles and turns his head a little so he’s not talking into the floor anymore._

_“Your… your situation sucks but you’re doing what you can. You feel guilty because you care.” he assures you, his tone slightly dreamy._

_You contemplate his words as you preen more of his feathers for him. His logic makes sense but it doesn’t feel true in your gut, you feel like you should be doing more, that your family shouldn’t be as it is. But Karkat is right, you are doing what you can do. You do go back and help when you’re able, you send her everything she needs. You try._

_“You’re allowed to have conflicted feelings about it because of how you were brought up.” Karkat adds, really hitting the nail on the head and making you wince. Instead of saying anything you shift to the other wing and take the cue to talk about his things now. That’s the deal, one wing is your issues and the other is his._

_“How’re things with your maker?” you ask him and you feel his muscles tense in his wing, you have to rub soothingly between the feathers to stop it._

_“He’s.” Karkat grits his teeth, “His moirail is giving him ideas. I told you about Eridan, right?”_

_“Your sort-of-friend?” you ask. Karkat can’t tell people about the things he does or really thinks because it’s too dangerous, too unsafe. He’s sort of friends with this guy from what he’s said, he likes him and they talk. They hang out and talk about what Eridan wants to talk about but Karkat can’t express anything more than shallow thoughts and opinions on trivial matters without putting himself in danger. It’s a strained and uneven relationship and Karkat has expressed guilt before at not being able to be a better friend._

_“Yeah, him.” Karkat sighs and his wing sags despondently._

_“What about him?” you prompt and preen more._

_“He- ow- his maker and mine are moirails. His maker was the one who got Kankri to make me to ‘make him better’, he wants me and Eridan to be moirails to make me better.” Karkat says miserably._

_Your fingers freeze on a slightly wonky feather that you were setting back in place. Karkat being Eridan’s moirail? No, that’s- no. Aside from the obvious risk there to Karkat the mere thought of someone taking all the good things out of Karkat to make him dull and compliant is so deeply wrong. It’s so wrong that you want to ask Karkat how to kill an angel and then how to summon Eridan and his bitch of a maker so you can personally take them both out. Moreover your hands are trembling with rage at the thought of this Eridan guy being KARKAT’S moirail!_

_Karkat’s wing moves, folds, and Karkat rolls over to look at you._

_“Rose?” he asks softly._

_“Don’t- don’t do it.” you plead._

_“I don’t want to, I don’t feel that for him. Really I don’t.” Karkat assures you._

_The thought hurts and Karkat’s expression tells you that he knows and he wishes he could make it better._

_You don’t- it’s not romantic. Not like when you see women in films and your heart races, when you imagine yourself sweeping the heroine off of her feet or being that heroine to the female lead in whatever you’re watching. It’s not when you see a girl in a bar and you want to taste her lipgloss and take her home, though you never do that you still want it. It’s not that desire to touch and find a connection with another woman, to wear matching sweaters and cuddle up in front of the fire with her. To adopt a cat or two and give them absurd but wonderful names._

_It’s not that._

_But it’s not NOT that too. You want to stroke Karkat’s cheek and make him feel better, to preen his wings and talk to him. You don’t want to be a hallmark couple with Karkat but you can see yourself trading gossip with him when you’re old and leaning against a railing in the snow, holding mugs of coffee. You don’t want to get him into bed but the thought of someone hurting him makes you want blood and violence. He isn’t just your friend._

_You’re not an angel and humans don’t do moirallegiance but._

_But here you are._

_You lean forward and you kiss him and it’s nothing like the kisses you’ve imagined with girls. It’s not a gasp of excitement it’s a sigh of relief, it’s the furthest thing from sexual and is chaste even by kids cartoon standards but it’s a lot. You’re still gay and this isn’t that kind of romance but it sure as shit is SOME kind of romance._

_There’s an attempt to mentally catalogue the kiss in what little of your brain isn’t absorbed in actually living the sensation. It feels like when a spell hasn’t been working and you’ve finally found what part of it was off, a sense of satisfaction to see everything right and working in harmony. It’s cooling, soothing an emotional way somehow. You’d been upset a moment ago at Karkat being someone else’s moirail, someone who wasn’t good enough for him and anxious about this very kiss but now all that has gone quiet. You’re okay and he’s okay, you’re both here and it’s just better. That’s how it feels._

_You pull back from Karkat just enough so your noses are ever so slightly touching. You can feel him breathing even though he doesn’t need to and it occurs to you that the air he’s breathing was air you just breathed. ...Which may be the dumbest thing you’ve ever thought but there you go._

_“I don’t want him to be your moirail.” you say, emphasising the ‘him’ in that statement._

_“I don’t either.” Karkat agrees quietly._

_“I want to be your moirail.” you add, in case that wasn’t clear._

_“But you said-” Karkat starts._

_“I know what I said.” you tell him._

_“Oh.” Karkat says quietly, “Cool.”_

_Karkat pulls back and grimaces as he realised that he just said ‘cool’ to your confession but that’s it, he said it now. It’s probably mean to laugh in your moirail’s face but you can’t help it._

_“Shut up!” Karkat snaps, shoving you in the shoulder. You smile back at him and shove him in return, you can enjoy this. Besides, what’s the harm in enjoying this now? You won’t remember it soon._

“Rose?” your eyes snap open. Dave is looking at you around your bedroom door.

“It’s been a while and we have pizza now so… wanna come downstairs? Also, I’m uh, sorry about earlier.” Dave apologises.

Right, he’s apologising about acting like Karkat was your moirail in all but name, apologising for Sollux saying that Karkat IS your moirail. Which, apparently, he was. Only you and he both forgot and yet when you met him you both gravitated back towards… this. This thing that you have now, this not but sort of is moirallegiance.

You curl over and cover your face with your hands.

“Fuck.” you whisper with feeling.

“Uh. Concerning. Concerned is how I feel now, is this about pizza?” Dave asks worriedly and you hear him edge his way into your room.

“It’s not about pizza.” you laugh a little helplessly.

“So it’s not that you don’t have pizza or that you don’t want pizza?” Dave says uncertainly.

“Pizza is not involved in this equation. I’m fine.” you insist and look up at him. He looks dubious.

You get up, sidestepping both Dave and the topic at hand and walk past him down the stairs. There’s the scent of fresh pizza wafting up towards you and despite everything your mouth waters.

“Nonono! Give it back! That’s not for dogs!” Karkat yelps distantly.

You hear the skittering of claws on polished floor and watch as Bec sprints past with a large slice of pizza in his mouth, Karkat hot on his heels. As you hurry down the stairs to see you can hear the others howling with laughter. You and Dave peer around the corner to see Karkat trying to wrest a slice of pizza from an unwilling hellhound.

“Drop it. Drop!” Karkat orders him but Bec growls and sinks his teeth into the crust a little more.

“Bad. Bad dog.” Karkat scolds Bec.

The hellhound’s growls become deeper and in a flicker of movement Bec suddenly has three heads with gnashing teeth. Karkat yelps, lets go of the pizza and falls on his ass as Bec turns back to normal and chomps his prize down in one.

“Aaaa! He’s leaving his adolescent stage!” Sollux exclaims delightedly and zips over.

“His adolescent stage?” Dave asks from the step above you.

“Mmm-hmm, as puppies hellhounds have all these defence mechanisms like venomous spines or tentacles, acid spit, things like that. When they’re adolescent they move to a more dog or wolf like form like Bec is now, they can still do that stuff but it’s not always out. Adult ones tend to have multiple heads a lot of the time and they get real big, him shifting like that means he’s growing up. Aw, who’s a big boy? Yes you are, yes you are.” Sollux switches from explaining to baby-talking Bec without pause.

Karkat watches in mild horror as the previously multi-headed hellhound who stole his pizza flops over and gets belly rubs from Sollux.

“What do they look like as adults then, I mean what do you think he’ll look like?” Jade asks eagerly as she hurries over and gets in on the Bec petting.

“I’ll just… get more pizza then. You coming?” Karkat asks, looking up at you.

“Yes, I’ll try to keep it out of Bec’s range if there is such a thing.” you nod in agreement.

Looking at Bec is easier than looking at Karkat, especially knowing what you know now. That wasn’t some dream, that was a memory. It was what happened after your first visit to Winter. He… Karkat was your moirail. Still is, you suppose. Or does that even count when neither of you remembers it? It seemed to count when Sollux was the only one who remembered that he and Karkat had been dating but now you’re in the same position as he was.

You follow Karkat to the kitchen where you find June distractedly eating pizza with one hand and texting with the other. It’s strange seeing her in her more godly form like this the whole time but as your mother is loitering suspiciously near the coffee maker you suppose it’s the only thing that’s allowing her to be here.

“You millennials on your phones.” Karkat says deadpan.

“I am so much older than-” June starts.

“Like I said, been around for millenia. Therefore you’re a millennial, obviously.” Karkat grins at her.

June snickers and points her phone at Karkat.

“You got me there!” she agrees with a laugh.

You look at Karkat and it sticks in your mind, the thought that you got him here on what you will admit was something of a mean trick just so he’d be safe. You protected him. You were his moirail. Having an existential crisis? You? Never.

Dave moves past you and sits next to Karkat, slinging his arm around Karkat’s shoulders.

“I’m back.” Dave tells him.

“No shit.” Karkat replies and rolls his eyes.

“You smell like pepperoni.” Dave says without prompting.

“I’m SWOONING over here Cassanova, got any other lines like that?” Karkat snorts.

Dave seems to consider this.

“I like pepperoni?” he tries and in response Karkat shoves a slice of pizza at his face that Dave just catches in time.

The coffee machine clicks on the counter and your mother takes her now full cup away. She eyes Sollux as he walks back into the kitchen carrying Bec on his hip. Despite being a huge dog, or at least dog shaped thing, he’s incredibly delighted at being carried. Bec’s mouth is open in a canine grin with his glowing green tongue lolling out to the side. Sollux stops next to Dave who manages to multi-task giving ear scratches to Bec and keeping his own slice of pizza away from the hungry hellhound.

“You keep him out of the lab too. Don’t wanna test on animals.” your mother reminds you all ominously.

“He’ll stay out.” Sollux promises quietly, squeezing Bec a little closer.

Your mom nods, steals a slice of pizza, and then retreats to her lab.

You try to eat dinner and not consider everything you now know about Karkat. You don’t know what to do with all of this information and though Karkat has a right to know it’s not something you’re ready to bring up just yet. Instead you just eat your pizza and wait.

It feels like waiting, you don’t know what you’re waiting for exactly but each day you pass at your mother’s home feels like another day closer to _something_. Your dreams seem to get more fragmented the closer you get to the full moon, unnerving and unhelpful all at once.

One night you dream of sitting in your cat’s mausoleum repairing that grey Sollux doll, crocheting the split in his side back together. Another night you dream of a bird on fire, shrieking in pain. That one wakes you up sobbing, though thankfully you slept in late enough that it’s not strange to seek Karkat out until that panic fades. Another night you dream of June pinned beneath bricks of a fallen tower, her breathing ragged.

On the twelfth of February your dream is both very visceral and not your own. The images and sounds slide into your mind on thin inky tendrils belonging to your former patron, reaching down from the full moon hanging in the sky above you. You dream of the same impossibly dark place that you saw before, you feel great and hungry things stalking each other but your focus is directed to one such hunt. A flicker of green in the dark, enough to snag Cthulhu’s attention as he sends out an impossibly vast inky tendril to observe.

She flees, tired and seemingly afraid, but he’s close behind. Stalking in the dark, invisible but leaving an impression of orange. There’s movement, a shout, and green blood bubbling around teeth dug in tight.

You startle awake that morning, jabbing Jade in the ribs with your elbow as you jerk into alertness. You grab June and Jade both and walk across the hall to Dave’s room. Sollux is on the windowsill, eyes already turned to you. Dave and Karkat are curled up together but Sollux jumping down to the floor disturbs Dave enough to wake him up.

“I had a dream.” you tell him and Sollux’s face falls.

Karkat and Dave sit up in bed as you explain your dream, more impressions than anything but the feeling seems important to you. Important enough for Cthulhu to pass it on to you.

“She’s green. G- sorry, Sollux. My uh… deity I mean. She’s green and that sounds like-” Karkat starts.

“He’s killed her. Your god is dead.” Sollux says gravely.

“I… mean that might not be terrible news. It’s not like we were the biggest fans of her. They both suck, it just isn’t great that he’s the one who would have got that power spike.” June reasons.

“If he gets out he’s going to be more powerful than ever.” Sollux argues.

“If. It’s a closed system, being that strong will put a target on his back and backstabbing is kind of what a lot of them are known for. They’re burning power just existing in there, as long as things stay okay… it’ll be okay.” June assures him.

“We passed ‘okay’ MONTHS back June! This is terrible news!” Sollux snaps.

“Can we actually do anything about it though?” Dave interrupts.

Sollux’s shoulders slump and June shakes her head.

“So we’re in the same position we were before, we just know a little more. And that’s good, but if there’s literally nothing we can do then panicking isn’t going to fix anything.” Dave reasons.

“I guess we just have to be on alert, which we already were really.” Karkat agrees.

“Great, so go back to bed.” Dave says and falls back onto his bed in a very pointed indication that the conversation is over.

You do, but it doesn’t set you much at ease and the next day you’re on edge.

On the thirteenth of February when you go to sleep that night your dream is different.

_You glint off of the mirror and you hear a muffled noise of displeasure. The mirror is adjusted and you can see Dave’s face, partly covered with shaving foam. He pulls a dumb expression as he runs the razor over his cheek. You watch as he rinses his razor and moves to his neck, you can see up his nose with the way he’s tipping his head back and you have to say you’re not a fan._

_A knock on the door makes him pause, though it’s not the bathroom door because that’s open._

_“Can you get that?” Dave asks._

_“Sure can.” Sollux says, playing on an old gameboy and not moving towards the door at all. In fact he stays sat on Dave’s bed and you get to witness Dave’s red eyes roll in irritation._

_“Open the door, dumbass.” Dave tells him._

_“Fiiiiine.” Sollux sighs and floats over to the door, he opens it and looks at whoever is on the other side._

_“Sorry, we didn’t order any idiots, you have the wrong address.” Sollux sneers._

_“Then why are you here?” Karkat’s voice floats through the door._

_You watch Dave shave as behind him Sollux and Karkat smack at each other through the partly open door, Karkat only winning by surprising Sollux with a sudden deployment of his wings._

_“Hah-HAH!” Karkat cheers victoriously as Dave presses his lips together to shave just below his nose._

_“What do you want, bird brain?” Sollux asks and gets slapped with a wing for doing so._

_Dave examines his face, free of hair but still somewhat foamy and then bends down to splash it with water from the tap. You get to see Karkat’s attention derail as he looks at Dave._

_“Oh, sure, Dave bends over and your ability to pay attention goes out the window.” Sollux snorts._

_“Wh- what, no. That wasn’t-” Karkat protests hotly._

_“Karkat, how could you objectify me so?” Dave simpers all fake falsetto, he even goes all duck-lipped and arches his back a little to really push the joke. All three idiots break down in laughter that goes on for a silly amount of time. Eventually Dave stands up properly and dries his face off._

_“What’s up, aside from my hotness levels?” Dave asks, leaning against the bathroom door._

_“I was thinking about tonight.” Karkat begins._

_“I know we were supposed to do something for Valentines day dude but we’re kind of stuck here, we can’t have just two of us going out. I know it’s not ideal but-” Dave starts._

_“No, shut up, I had an idea.” Karkat interrupts._

_“Ah, telling your boyfriend to shut up, peak romance.” Sollux sighs._

_“Works with you. Anyway, my idea was this. We were going to go do something but we can’t go places alone. Jade isn’t dating anyone but wants to keep Bec with her and Rose, uh. I mean she…” Karkat hesitates._

_“We know about the Kanaya thing.” Dave tells him._

_“You do? Oh, thank fuck. I was trying to work out how to talk around it.” Karkat sighs in obvious relief._

_“She is my sister, we do talk sometimes. Besides she needed to explain why I had to cover for her, sucks that Kanaya shot her down, I really thought that was going to be a thing.” Dave says sadly. It’s more emotion than he’d expressed when you told him privately, you think he was trying to play it cool to avoid upsetting you._

_“Well, good. I figure Valentines day might be a sore point this year so all of us going out together might be a good alternative. Plus demons don’t do Valentines day so I’m guessing you don’t have other plans.” Karkat says and looks at Sollux._

_“No, but what were you even thinking?” Sollux asks._

_“I looked online and there’s LOADS of stuff going on in central park. Food stalls, market places, rides, obviously a lot of it’s pricey exclusive stuff but there’s plenty of stuff that isn’t and it’s dog friendly.” Karkat says eagerly._

_“That sounds really cool for everyone actually.” Dave nods._

_“Plus June got ditched.” Sollux agrees._

_“I thought June dating Terezi was a secret.” Dave says in surprise. You didn’t know that, that’s for sure._

_“Well it’s not now, is it? But whatever, I can be petty about June’s secrets. Yeah Terezi is apparently spending valentines with her other girlfriend so June’s all on her own.” Sollux explains._

_“I didn’t know about that. But I guess it would have been hard to explain how she was dating a dragon unless she could also fly and was also really strong from being a god. Wait, are they pitch too?” Karkat asks eagerly and Sollux nods._

_“Is this even something we can do, though?” Dave asks Sollux, getting the conversation back on track._

_“It’s… we might have to bail but as long as we stick more or less together it’s doable. Besides I’ve already lost a lot of credibility, acting like I’m hiding isn’t going to help. I am hiding but that’s not the point.” Sollux shrugs._

_“So, yes then?” Karkat asks. Sollux nods and Dave grins._

_“I’m gonna go ask June, then I’ll hit up Rose. I’ll make coffee so she doesn’t claw my face off for waking her up.” Dave says eagerly._

_“I’ll run it past Jade but I bet she’d be up for it.” Karkat nods. Dave throws a shirt on and hurries out of the door, leaving Karkat and Sollux alone._

_“So… you said demons don’t do valentines day but I uh… made you this.” Karkat says and pulls a thick paper card out of his bag and hands it to Sollux. Despite being on nice cardstock and carefully lettered in black ink it’s clear that it’s very handmade._

_“Oh, what you made me a card? What are you, fouuuu...r…” Sollux’s speech trails off mid-word as he stares down at the card in his hands. His eyes flicker over it and you watch with interest as he gently opens it, you know Karkat poured over all the books for that for hours upon hours. As Sollux looks at the inside there’s a soft glow on his face for a moment and you know it’s the spell that Karkat put in there, a variation of the one you saw on your first day of class._

_“You don’t-” Sollux’s voice wavers and he pauses to collect himself, “How did you learn to write this? You couldn’t write this before.”_

_“I am a student, I do study things sometimes. It’s not all life and death escapades, sometimes I study how to write things in very closely guarded languages for, uh, you. Is my spelling alright?” Karkat asks that last part nervously._

_“There’s one bit where- I mean spelling is stupid, it phonetically makes sense and you learnt this for me?” Sollux seems quick to brush aside any errors Karkat made in trying to transcribe those recordings he had into written demonic._

_“Yeah.” Karkat nods._

_Sollux ever so carefully sets the card down on Dave’s desk, even stepping back from it with his hands held out ready to catch it should it fall. Satisfied that it’s not about to come to any harm Sollux nods and then turns back towards Karkat._

_Karkat’s still got his wings out and you can see from the way they’re pulling in close to him that he’s a little nervous._

_“Is it alright? I didn’t do anything wrong or…” Karkat backs up as Sollux advances on him. Sollux shoves him backwards until his wings and then back hit the door and then kisses him. Oh, you really don’t need or want to see this. You instead study the floor and try to will this vision away._

_“Sollux, Sol- the door!” Karkat squeaks._

_You glance up to see Sollux gesture vaguely at the door as a silencing spell inks itself up there in glowing gold demonic letters._

_“There, now-_

“Rose? Don’t kill me, I have coffee.” Dave says.

You open your eyes, you’re alone in bed and you can see that it’s late morning both from where the sun is on your wall and the clock on your bedside table. The door is slightly cracked and you can see Dave’s hand holding a mug of coffee through the gap. That sure was some good timing.

“You haven’t thrown anything at it, I assume I can come in.” Dave says and peers around the door.

“Yes, please. I was… I was in the middle of another vision.” you tell him, opening your hands to accept the mug of coffee.

“Oh, not a bad one, right? Please, man, not more bad news.” Dave says freezing in place. You sigh and lean over to retrieve your coffee and sit back and sip it with satisfaction.

“No, it wasn’t. Also I would love to go to Central Park with everyone tonight.” you say with a smile.

“How did- man, that’s not fair.” Dave grumbles.

“It’s not as if I choose what to see. Also, thank you for waking me when you did because I was stuck seeing in that room and you left just as Karkat was giving Sollux a thoughtful valentines day gift. I didn’t need to keep watching any further, thanks.” you say with a grimace.

Dave glances back in the direction of the hallway and his room on the other side and laughs knowingly.

“You’re welcome I guess. You think we can drive to Central Park? I mean it’s not close but Sollux HAS a car and we never use it and that’s got to be some kind of crime. Besides, all piling into a car together and going off to do something dumb is like a primo college experience.” Dave says suddenly gleeful at the idea of the experience. You’d almost suggest sneaking out to do this to add to it but that might actually worry your mother and you don’t want to do that.

Your heart sinks a little at that thought and you drink your coffee in silence for a moment. In that memory you had about Karkat you’d talked to him about your relationship with your mother, you were clearly in a worse place with her then compared to now. What was so different?

“I’m sure if you ask Sollux he’ll drive us there. Just perhaps ask him later.” you suggest.

You pass a lot of the day knitting as you have a lot lately and by the time you’re all getting ready to go out you’ve finished a scarf for Karkat that is grey with a diamond knit pattern to it. It’s only when you’re holding the thing that you realise the implications of that and have to take a moment to scream into the thing. Still, you give it to him anyway.

“Here, it’s cold.” you say offhandedly to Karkat as you hand the scarf over as you’re about to leave.

You expect some remark from Sollux as Karkat puts it on and marvels at the pattern but you suppose you have Karkat to thank for the suspiciously good mood that Sollux has been in all day.

“It’s so soft. I promise not to give this one away.” Karkat says sincerely.

“If you feel the need, by all means.” you laugh.

“Ok Mom, call us if you need us, right? You gonna be okay on your own?” Dave asks her worriedly.

“Aww, sweetie. I’m not going to be on my own, Terezi’s coming over!” your mom says cheerily and kisses Dave on the cheek.

Wait.

Wait, no, Sollux said that June was dating Terezi and she wasn’t around because she was seeing her… her other girlfriend. Dave and June’s expressions flash through horror and total denial in sync while Karkat’s face morphs into the far too blank look of someone pretending not to know something.

“Huh. Have fun. C’mon.” Sollux sighs and pulls Dave away by the back of his hoodie.

“Bye?” you say uneasily and leave. Your mother has never dated anyone and you suppose that Terezi is old enough, has spent time with her and knew her from way back but… still. Wow.

“What.” Dave whispers as you walk along.

“I don’t- there’s no way. I’m texting her. She has to be pranking me.” June says, fervently tapping away at her phone.

“What am I missing?” Jade asks as your group all tries to process this information. Except for Sollux who has seemingly decided that this is fine and he doesn’t care.

“June’s dating Terezi and it turns out Terezi might be getting with Roxy.” Sollux explains.

“Sollux!” June hisses at him but Sollux seemingly couldn’t give a fuck.

“Did your girlfriend fuck my Mom, June?! Is- are they gonna get married? Is my stepmom gonna be a dragon?!” Dave demands, bordering on hysteria.

“I suppose she could have worse influences and she does seem to enjoy the company.” you reason.

“That’s a good way to look at it, and she deserves to be happy.” Karkat agrees and though this feels weird, certainly, you feel a little better about it.

“No one should be fucking my mom! She’s my MOM!” Dave insists, loudly.

“I mean surely someone did, how else do you think you got here?” Jade points out.

“I don’t- mitosis, that’s how I got here.” Dave insists.

“We’re twins so I suppose you’re not entirely wrong.” you concede.

“He’s not wrong, but also, ick.” Sollux says from ahead and grimaces. Right, he’s not a fan of reproduction.

“Alright, yes, but fucking happened before then.” Jade says, persisting on her point.

Dave very maturely jams his fingers in his ears and insists that he’s not listening.

“A...pparently not a prank. They are dating. I guess. What the hell?” June says slowly.

“Did you all fail biology? You’re fraternal twins, no separation involved. Although you’re blatantly missing Jade’s point.” Karkat says with exasperation and hops off a large rock to land on the path near the front with Sollux.

You suppose he is right about that, silly that it didn’t occur to you but you figure that the shock of your mother dating a literal dragon excuses you. Actually you shouldn’t be surprised, her getting involved with powerful magical forces is basically her life mission. You could trap your mother with a button labelled ‘very dangerous do not touch’ and come back to find her dismantling it to see how it works. All you’d need is a box around it and a stick to pull away and drop the box.

“Ah, road.” Sollux sighs. You blink and one moment there’s no red car there and the next there is.

“This might be a bit of a squeeze actually.” you say as you consider the car.

“It’s fine.” Sollux shrugs and gets in the driver’s side.

Dave hops in the front passenger side pulling Karkat with him. You open the back door and stare in amazement that the front of the car now appears to be a bench seat set up when it decidedly wasn’t so before. On top of that the back seats of the car have shifted back and there’s a wide open space with a big steel ring protruding from the front seats and a large pillow under it.

Seeing his place Bec hops up onto the large cushion and Jade ducks in to clip his leash to the ring provided. Not that you’ve ever seen Bec need a leash, he only has one so Jade can take him places that get funny about dogs without them. With Bec secured the three of you settle comfortably into the back and you pull the door shut.

Sollux pulls away and idly clicks the radio on. The same voice you recall from the last time you were in this car comes on. They sound nervous, their voice hushed.

“Welcome back, it… this one’s for the- for someone _familiar_ to me.” they say quietly.

“Why’d you call me that instead of the second in… oh. Right. Order change.” Sollux mutters.

You listen as the song slowly plays and thrums through the speakers.

_Spent the last year going out of my mind_   
_Looking for reasons I could never find_   
_Until I put my finger on it and saw every sign_   
_Take all you can get, keep your fingers off of mine_

You lean back in your seat and think about how crazy things have been lately, about how a year ago you couldn’t have anticipated any of this.

_Sitting in the tower without a clue or care_   
_Anchored by opportunists hangin' off of m’ hair_   
_Handing silver ladders out to anyone who dares_   
_To climb all the way up to the top just to get kicked down the stairs_

Sollux winces a little at that line though you don’t know why.

_Bein' pulled a million ways all at the same time_   
_It's enough to make anyone go insane_   
_When you find yourself forgetting all your own rhymes_   
_And givin' up on dreams floating 'round inside your brain_

Your mind starts to drift, as does your gaze. Out of the window the moon hangs heavy in the sky, filled with terrible things. That said, Dave is right in his own way that there’s nothing you can do about it, so you may as well just relax.

The song on the radio ends and fades out to short, sharp and panicked breathing. You can hear a quiet scuffling and then, with the sound of a voice too close to a microphone, the demon speaks again.

“Now something- anything by… by ‘I don’t know how but they found me’. I’m sorry.” there a slam of the mic against something and after several seconds of frenzied footsteps from several sets of feet and a crash a song starts.

“Fuck, Cirava. Lose them, please.” Sollux whispers in horror.

Despite the lyrics the song sounds upbeat and when it ends there’s nothing coming through the radio but static. Several minutes go by before Sollux turns the radio off in grim silence. June and Jade try to carry the conversation on and though it’s uneasy and awkward it does pick up and by the time you’re in New York City properly everyone is a lot more relaxed. Sollux seems to magic a space out of nowhere and does something to avoid paying for it at all. Despite living in the same state you don’t come to New York City itself all that often. Your mother could never take you and things that you may have wanted could either be found in your own town or acquired online, failing that you could bribe Sollux to take you somewhere or bring you something. So it’s nice to be here with everyone on just a nice trip out and not to, say, break into government buildings. Not that you’d ever do that.

Jade laces her fingers with yours as your group walks to Central Park. There’s pink and red lighting scattered around, gorgeous art displays just set up and all sorts of people. There’s an ice rink set up that looks fun despite Sollux’s insistence that he’s not interested in ice, you all decide you’ll have a go, at least until you see the eye watering price and decide to move on.

“They are just… disgustingly cute.” Sollux says into your ear as he throws his arm around your shoulder and nudges your field of view just enough so you can see Dave and Karkat lingering over a stall selling heart shaped churros.

“But he’s being so sincere.” you whisper back with a giggle as Dave seems to make the decision to buy one for him and Karkat to share. Karkat is predictably aflutter about the whole thing, the romantic that he is.

You and Sollux snicker together and despite knowing that Karkat set this up so you wouldn’t be alone on valentines day it is actually helping and genuinely a nice night.

The path you wind through Central Park becomes a little less artsy and a little more county fair.

“Hey, demon!” someone shouts out, making your whole group jump and look around. Standing by a booth is a man who you can only assume lives in the gym and also off of steroids.

“Your kind is supposed to be strong, right? Think you can beat me at this?” the man brags and gestures to a machine.

“That is one hundred percent rigged.” June says under her breath.

There’s a split second before you see Sollux clearly decide to play along, you know that far too well from watching him with Dave.

“Oh, sure I can.” Sollux smiles.

“Five bucks, one swing. You gotta beat me.” the man says with a flash of a smile.

“You’re on.” Sollux nods. He hops over to the booth, pays up, and the man very deliberately hands him a specific hammer. The man flexes, swings his hammer down onto the button at the base of his booth. The screen flashes as little buzzers beep and trill, reading out ‘587’.

Sollux seems to consider this for a moment and then does the same but the number of his swing reads only ‘58’ and the speakers make a sad trombone noise for him.

“Aw, too bad little man.” the buff guy at the stall says.

“Um, can I try?” June asks meekly in a way that’s entirely unlike her and steps up to the booth.

“It’s your five bucks, this is rigged anyway.” Sollux tuts and the beefy guy opens his mouth to protest.

“Oh, hey, I’m sure this nice guy wouldn’t trick me. I mean look at all those muscles.” June laughs girlishly.

“Now this just seems unfair.” the man chuckles.

“What’re you gonna do, ask him for his cash if you win? It’s not a movie.” Sollux says with a dismissive snort.

“Aw, no. Hey, how about this man? I give you double you let me play and if I win I just get my money back and you keep all those honest dollars in your wallet and… ooh! And I get a picture with you! And if you win you get ten instead of five, yeah?” June says enthusiastically.

The man pretends to consider this for a moment before shrugging and smiling.

“Okay, sure thing little lady.” he says to her and hands out the same hammer he gave to Sollux after she’s paid her ten dollars. June pretends to struggle with the hammer a little and giggles.

You exchange a look with Karkat who raises a thick dark eyebrow in skepticism. You can’t help but agree, June is laying it on a little thick here, she’s just lucky this moron doesn’t have the brains to spot a trap when it’s closing around him.

The guy swings, his score this time being 601. He grins at June and gestures for her to have her turn. June steps before the machine and eyes the hammer for just a second before she lifts it above her head with both hands. She jumps up a little in the air and both feet leave the ground as she swings the hammer down on the machine like a goddamn cartoon character. The machine rocks unsteadily under the force of her blow, the button cracked and the screen flashing up a triumphant ‘999’.

The man stares open mouthed at the machine and then at June whose eyes flare in blue for just a second.

“I’d let people use a normal hammer for the rest of the night if I were you.” June suggests sweetly.

Sollux grins meanly and raises his phone, June quickly throws up a peace sign and grins as the flash goes off. She puts her hand in her pocket and with faux surprise pulls out ten dollars.

“Oh, look! I got my money back. I sure hope the rest of the money in your wallet was honest or else it’s gonna be awfully empty.” June says in a singsong voice.

The man panics and fumbles for his wallet.

“Can’t trick a trickster. Play honest and you won’t have aaaaaany problems, promise.” June beams and saunters back to your group.

“That seemed a little mean, everyone knows carnival games are rigged.” Karkat tuts.

“Lighten up Karkat!” June laughs.

“That seemed pretty well practiced.” Karkat accuses Sollux next.

“Hey, helping June set idiots up for cosmically appropriate and funny downfalls was my favourite hobby back when I had more free time.” Sollux shrugs.

“It was pretty funny.” Dave agrees with a snicker.

“I mean, yeah, but unsporting.” Karkat protests.

“Like you're so perfect, your halo’s gonna slip and strangle you someday you know.” Sollux sneers at him. Karkat frowns, reaches into his pocket and rummages for a moment before pulling out his hand with his middle finger brandished which he shoves in Sollux’s face.

You tune out when Sollux tries to bite Karkat and instead consult the map on your phone, this little event got its own little app to promote it and you can see that you’re heading into the more amusement park area of the valentines event. A sense of unease fills you as your group wanders in, an itch of something on the back of your neck.

You look over your shoulder but see no one paying you any amount of attention, not beyond the stall owners glancing at you in case you might buy something.

“A pie eating contest, what is this, a county fair?” Dave snorts, reading over your shoulder and poking at your screen to enlarge bits.

“Holy shit they have jolly rancher flavoured candyfloss, I need it now.” June gasps, pointing across at a stall over the way.

“And a strongarm thing. Also, Dave, you have your own phone so use it.” Karkat reminds him.

Dave gives his boyfriend a considering look and shifts from poking at your phone to instead doing the same to Karkat’s.

You wander past the medical tent as you feel another tingle of observation on you. You look but there’s nothing there.

“Are we-” you start to say to Sollux but he talks over you instead.

“Aradia?” he says.

Everyone in your group freezes and sure enough on an otherwise unoccupied bench sits a girl with long black hair and a sad expression on her face.

“Whoa, you’re not really thinking of going over there are you?” Dave asks incredulously.

“How is she here without anything dying? She can’t manifest without a purpose or else she just starts killing things off but…” June trails off. Nothing is dying around her at all, nothing at all.

“It’s not me, or anyone else that I can hear.” Sollux says slowly as he looks around.

“Dude.” Dave hisses.

“Just- just give me a moment.” Sollux insists and walks off towards Aradia.

He stops a cautious distance from her and the two start talking. She just seems really sad and soon enough Sollux sits down on the bench facing her with a puzzled look on his face. It looks like there are apologies going on but you’ve no idea what brought the sudden change of heart on.

“I don’t like this, I’m gonna go look around. Karkat, stay with the others.” June says lowly and fades into the evening breeze.

“I’m really not cool with her coming back.” Dave says darkly and glares at Aradia from across the way, not that she seems to notice or care.

“I mean she’s not trying to kill him so that’s an improvement.” Karkat reasons.

“Can the bar be any lower?” Dave retorts.

“She’s Death, let’s maybe not challenge her on what she can do, yeah?” Karkat suggests.

Awareness prickles you again and you turn around looking for the source.

“What-” Dave starts to ask.

“Someone’s watching me. I keep feeling it.” you say quietly as you scan the stall and booths around you.

“I’ve had nightmares about a carnival lately and I thought they were just that, or were symbolic but now I’m feeling… they might be a little more literal. We should go.” you say, trying to keep your volume down and your expression subtle so people out of earshot won’t know, they might just think you’re looking around at the attractions.

“You maybe could have mentioned this before, but yeah, let’s go.” Jade agrees.

“I’ll go tell Sollux.” Karkat nods and takes a step towards Sollux and Aradia.

Movement catches your eye around the edge of a booth and you have a moment of recognition. A dark figure in the shadows, curvaceous yet sharp. Your foolish brain has a confused moment of thinking ‘Kanaya?!’ before you’re hit square in the face with something.

You stagger back in shock, just missing bumping into Karkat who has paused partway to Sollux.

“What?” Sollux asks irritably, looking up at him. Karkat flounders for a moment before answering.

“June’s just… having a look around.” Karkat tells him lamely.

“Yeah, I can see that.” Sollux says waspishly.

“I- right, sorry.” Karkat backs off, walking right in front of you. His shoe kicks something on the ground, whatever just hit you. Looking down in horror you see that it’s your baby blanket. You snatch it up from the ground and experimentally wave your hand right in front of Dave’s face to no response at all.

They can’t see you. Great, and Kanaya had the box because she was investigating it at work and you never got it back because you’ve been avoiding her like a coward. You turn back towards the stall that you saw Kanaya behind and sure enough she’s lingering there. When she sees you looking she ducks out of sight.

Trying to get anyone here to notice you is futile, they can’t even remember that you said you should all leave and now they’re just awkwardly waiting around for Sollux to finish talking to Aradia. If you want any chance of being able to talk to anyone again you’re going to need to get this blanket back in its box which you’d bet is with Kanaya.

Gritting your teeth you march to the back of the booth and find Kanaya there.

“What are you doing here and why the hell did you throw this at me? No one can see me now!” you demand, the urgent nature of your questions thankfully helping you sidestep any awkwardness.

“I’m sorry, I know I followed you quite a distance.” Kanaya apologises.

“Across state lines, yes!” you agree, not caring about your volume because no one but her can hear you.

“I had a reason for it, I promise you.” Kanaya assures you.

“Well let’s hear it. You need to put this back in its box right now.” you insist, wagging the balled up blanket in your hand at her.

“I can’t, not just yet.” she says.

“Why not?” you ask through gritted teeth. Gorgeous or not this is unconscionable behaviour and you won’t stand for it.

“I’m following your instructions. In the letter you left me telling me where to find you in England there was also a sheet telling me to be right here today, that I had to make you invisible to everyone or else you’d die and that I wasn’t to change it back until later tonight.” Kanaya explains.

“If my life is in danger then what about them? You have to warn them at least, they can’t hear me!” you insist, waving a hand at your friends and family behind you.

“It says not to. I’m inclined to believe this letter after everything, I’m sorry.” Kanaya shrugs.

You grit your teeth and march away from her, angrily stomping through the dirt to get back to the others. As you reach the group June reforms from the wind around her.

“Sollux, we need to go now. I just looked around and she’s not the only horseman here.” June says, pointing to Aradia.

Sollux looks between June and Aradia with an expression of mounting panic.

“There’s a fight breaking out at the strongarm area because Meenah’s goading people on and Jane is watching the pie eating contest. Three horsemen is a bad sign, we have to go.” June insists.

“But- but you’re not…” Sollux whispers, getting to his feet.

“Snowman’s in the medical tent too.” Aradia says softly, sadly even.

Sollux sprints the few paces to the rest of the group, pulling car keys out as he goes.

“We need to get the fuck out of here but if I teleport to Roxy’s I could lead people there, we need to drive like the wind.” Sollux insists.

“I can help with that.” June nods.

Shit, if they teleport to the car without you then you’ll lose them! Out of the corner of your eye you can see Kanaya gesturing for you to return to her but you’re going to ignore it.

Dave’s back straightens and he gasps, you watch as he turns and makes a soft noise of alarm.

“Demon clown? Uh, demon clown.” Dave squeaks, pointing.

You look the way he’s pointing and freeze in terror as the demon you’ve been dreaming of stalks closer, his eyes red with pinprick pupils. In one hand he carries a dented and stained juggling club and in the other he’s holding a long limbed doll with a horrible plastic face.

“Jade,” Sollux says in a low and quiet voice, “you remember where the car is, right? Take the keys, get Bec to bring you there. Take Dave back to Roxy’s with Karkat.”

“If you think I’m leaving you here with him you’re out of your tiny mind.” Karkat hisses.

“I’m not leaving without you!” Dave agrees.

“Do it Jade, I don’t care what you have to do.” Sollux says and passes her the keys.

Jade takes them and now that Sollux’s hands are free he reaches into his chest and pulls out two swords, one the same black one you’ve seen before and the other some gaudy circus themed one that matches a hammer that June seems to pull from the very air. Lightning creeps over her skin and up her hammer as she and Sollux square up against the slowly approaching demon.

“I guess we’re ditching subtle.” Karkat mutters, pulling his own weapon out as people nearby scatter from the scene.

“He’s not complete yet, it’s not too late.” Sollux says in a hushed voice.

“Yeah, well, maybe if we can stop that demon clown then whatever you’re trying to prevent will be halted in its tracks. There’s one of him and all of us. Damara said-” Karkat starts.

“There ain’t going to be any stopping here.” the demon says lowly as he comes to a stop a good ten feet away from your group.

“I’ll stop you if it’s the last thing I do.” Sollux snarls at him.

“IT WILL BE THE LAST MOTHERFUCKING THING YOU DO.” the clown yells at him, his hand tightening on his weapon.

“Why would you _say_ that?!” Karkat hisses at Sollux.

“But it won’t stop me.” the clown smiles and squeezes the puppet in his grip a little tighter.

“We’ll see about that.” June says.

You stare as your friend’s eyes glow like neon lights, she lifts off of the floor as her hair whips around her in a building funnel of air. She lifts her hand with the hammer in it skywards and the heavens rumble, the clear night sky filling with ominous clouds. With a crack so loud you hear it in your very bone marrow lightning snaps down from above and redirects through June’s hammer and out of her fingers which point right at the demon.

The thing shrieks and is flung back with a contortion of muscle. Sollux doesn’t give him time to recover and instead lunges forward to attack the very moment the lightning is gone. The crowd has run screaming from all of you so when you see people walking towards you it catches your attention.

A woman with long glittering braids grins as she leans against a tree and watches the fight, she’s eating popcorn of all things. At her side Jane watches with curious eyes that look through you. You turn around to see Aradia and find her standing by the bench she and Sollux were sat at before, only now there’s a strange woman at her side in a stained white labcoat over an evening dress. Aradia watches Sollux fighting the clown demon with red rimmed eyes and an expression of deepest sorrow on her face.

She’s here for someone and you kept dreaming of a doll like Sollux mutilated. You look back with your heart in your throat as the clown demon kicks Sollux away, leaving Karkat to lurch forward to catch him. In his attempt to get there faster his wings slip out, giving him a boost of speed but the sight of them seems to only enrage the demon further.

“Get the FUCK away from him, Gamzee!” Sollux snarls as he parries a club strike meant to Karkat. Sollux pushes Karkat back towards Dave and Jade just in time for Karkat to throw up a shield that blocks another thrown club. If he hadn’t that would have surely hit Jade in the face.

Shit, you can’t hang around being useless like this. You turn and sprint back towards Kanaya, as much as it hurts to leave the fight you can’t do anything when people don’t know you exist. Kanaya at least hasn’t run off but she’s watching the fight with terrified eyes.

“Rose, you need to stay here.” Kanaya whispers urgently to you.

“No, YOU need to put this back so that I can help!” you insist.

“I can’t!” Kanaya says in a strangled tone of voice.

Your eyes flick to her bag of holding at her hip and you lunge for it, but you’re no match on the speed and strength of a vampire. Kanaya grabs both of your wrists in one hand and pulls you back.

“I’m really sorry.” she apologises.

Before you can do anything more you hear Jade and Dave scream at the same time and your head snaps around to look.

Karkat is standing between the clown painted demon and Dave and Jade. He has his arm raised and you realise that’s the one his sickle is held in and right now it’s embedded in the demon’s guts. The demon grins, an expression that goes a little slack as he slides lower and lower on Karkat’s defensively raised weapon, slicing him in half in a gruesome and slow motion fashion.

“I- oh God, I didn’t mean-” Karkat blurts out. He seems unsure of what to do as the demon drops the terrible puppet and his weapon on the dirt by Karkat.

“That was… way too easy.” June says suspiciously.

“EASY?!” Karkat shouts hysterically as the two halves of the demon slap wetly on the floor on either side of him.

“Why would he let you do that and… why isn’t he-” Sollux freezes, staring down at the ground.

Kanaya’s grip on you has slackened in shock so you break free and run to the others. The demon’s body is still in two halves on the ground, it’s not changing like the dead ones you’ve seen before. In fact purple blood is seeping over the ground towards the puppet. Bec’s hackles raise up and he growls, deep and low.

“Wait. No, no no!” Sollux yelps and dives for the puppet.

He…

He doesn’t make it.

Before Sollux can grab the puppet and jerk it away from the spreading blood on the ground the puppet’s arm jerks up and wraps around Sollux’s neck. The demon’s bisected body fizzles into nothingness and the puppet rises on strings that you can’t see, dangling Sollux by his throat. His face is still a plasticky rictus as it was before but now it somehow seems far more alive as it leans in towards your struggling and terrified friend.

“HAA HAA HEE HEE HOO HOO.” it laughs at him in tones that make your blood freeze.

Sollux’s eyes are wide and terrified, his ears flat and low in a way you’ve never ever seen before. Everyone seems stuck to the spot in utter terror, except for one person.

“BEC! SIC!” Jade shouts, pointing at the puppet.

With an almighty snarl Bec launches himself at the puppet like a furry missile, radioactive green mouth open and teeth bared. His teeth sink into the plush arm holding Sollux aloft, and he scrabbles, shaking his head and pulling stuffing loose.

The puppet continues to laugh but with its other arm it swipes for Bec. You don’t see the attack, or what happens to Bec. There’s a bright flash of green and Bec skids across the ground on all four paws right by Jade, you think he dodged. Bec’s attack seems to have distracted the puppet enough for Sollux to teleport away and get himself between the puppet and Dave.

“What the fuck is that thing?!” Karkat demands, raising a hand and a glimmering shield around their group.

“That’s… he’s the other thing like me. We’re fucked, we’re so fucked, I’ve never been able to beat him in a fight.” Sollux whimpers.

“Yeah, well… you’re not on your own now.” Karkat tells him uneasily. Bec growls and barks angrily at the puppet who has started laughing again on the other side of the barrier.

You pull your needles out, you’ve no idea what spell might possibly damage something that’s got all of Sollux’s freaky extra-demonic abilities and is also stronger than him but you have to do something, surely!

“HAA HAA HEE HEE HOO HOO!” the puppet laughs and flings its noodly arms up in the air.

June snaps her hand shut and lightning hits the puppet but the thing doesn’t so much as twitch, it doesn’t leave even a mark and speaking of which all the damage Bec did is gone now.

“HAA HAA! HAAAA HAAAAA!” it howls, its hands trembling in the air.

“What’s it doing?” Karkat hisses.

“I don’t- I don’t know.” Sollux whispers in terror.

You stare at the puppet’s hands. Wait, if it’s a puppet then…

Squinting, you turn your gaze just above its hands and there, you spot the tiny glimmer of gossamer thin strings stretching up into the sky. Your eyes follow them up, up into the clouds. A puppet needs a puppetmaster, right? Those strings are leading into the sky and thick as the clouds are, you know the moon is hanging just above you tonight, full and ominous.

You know what’s in the moon.

There’s no point shouting your realisation to the others, they won’t help you because they can’t hear you. Your best chance is to try to stop this monster yourself. You point a needle at it, brute force won’t work but a spell might. You reach for one of the earliest ones you learnt, one that might just work on a piecemeal assembled being like this.

You try to _open_ the monster puppet. It’s clearly made of different things, so all you need to do is rip them out at the seams. Though you hold the spell clearly in your mind it refuses to catch and when you try to force more energy down it it backfires, snapping shut on you and throwing you backwards.

“That won’t work.” Aradia says softly, looking down at you.

“You can see me?” you say in shock.

“No one can hide from Death.” Aradia says as if it’s simple and obvious, she’s not even looking at you now but rather up at the sky. From your position on the ground you stare up at the clouds in dread. A shockwave rushes through the air, dispersing June’s clouds in an instant.

The moon hangs huge in the sky, bigger than should be possible or real and you realise that the puppet which is now illuminated by its light has sharply lowered its arms at what passes for its elbows.

It happens slowly and then all at once.

There’s a line on the moon, faint and you’re not sure if it’s there at first and then in one horrible motion the moon _splits open_. The two halves separate like an eggshell and the inside is filled with impossible squirming darkness. There’s a rush against all of your magically inclined senses and then, in the blink of an eye, the moon is in two halves that hang open and hollow.

You tremble in terror at the impossible sight above you and it’s only when something inky and deep dark nudges your head that you look down at your friends once more. You get to your feet, legs shaking like a baby deer all while the puppet continues its horrible, grating laugh.

Sollux is holding Dave’s hand so tight his knuckles are going white and you are somehow not surprised when fire rolls through the air and recedes a moment later, revealing a figure ten foot tall looming over the others. He is imposing in ways that aren’t just to do with his height.

His skin and hair are white. Though his hair is white like Dave’s his skin is an actual unnatural porcelain shade where Dave although pale is at least human. The man’s face is as impassive as the exact white ceramic you likened him to and his eyes are hidden behind pointed black glasses, his mouth is a flat line although green blood drips from his chin onto the white shirt he’s wearing. He waves a hand ever so slightly and the puppet immediately falls silent. The man opens his mouth enough to lick his green stained teeth and the world around is somehow so silent that you can actually hear him do it.

“Dirk, you can’t-” June starts.

“You helped make that spell. Put a lot of god power into it.” the man… Dirk, the Devil, says.

“I-” June starts.

The Devil raises a hand and a katana appears in it. He swings for June in a motion so fast you can’t even make it out. One moment June is raising her hammer to block and the next she’s not even there. A distant explosion grabs your attention off in the direction behind where June had just been and you watch open mouthed as a far off skyscraper tumbles down on itself.

The puppet starts to laugh and Bec has the good sense to grab Jade and bail.

“He doesn’t know, please.” Sollux begs, putting himself between the Devil and Dave.

“What.” the Devil says simply. A statement, demand and question in one flat tone.

“He- whatever the details of the spell were, it needed more power. Dave’s powers and memories. They’re gone, he doesn’t know. I mean, maybe he can use them now since… but he doesn’t know anything.” Sollux babbles in nonsensical explanation.

“Oh fuck this. This isn’t happening!” Karkat snaps and raises a hand, the air around him, Sollux and Dave shimmers defensively.

“Karkat, that won’t…” Sollux tries to warn him but the Devil’s sword smashes through his barrier with ease. With his free hand the Devil grabs Karkat up like a toy and THAT finally snaps Dave out of his stunned terror.

“No! Karkat!” Dave yells, reaching over Sollux’s shoulder for him. Sollux was also partway to reaching up for Karkat but freezes at the look the Devil gives him. For once there’s a flicker of actual expression there and it’s anger.

“YOU FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT DICKPRINCE EX-ANGEL, PICK ON SOMEONE YOUR OWN SIZE, PUT ME DOWN!” Karkat screeches at him, making you slam your hands over your ears to protect yourself.

The Devil turns his head and you see it just as he does. Several of the stalls have been flattened in the escape of the innocent bystanders and in the blast from the moon’s destruction, with some of them gone it’s easier now to see the mid size ferris wheel just across the way.

Your dream. Karkat and the fairground ride and the man- THIS MAN. You scream and break into a run but the Devil’s already thrown Karkat. You sprint after him as fast as you possibly can, leaping fallen stalls until you get to the ferris wheel.

There’s a bit in the middle of it. A pin or something only it’s huge because it’s a huge wheel by comparison to Karkat’s size, maybe the width of your leg. It’s… sticking out of Karkat’s chest. He gasps, clawing at it and then dissolves into light that flashes upwards into the sky. Horror and agony has made you numb, frozen to the spot as the scarf you made Karkat falls to the ground without him. It must have been the only real thing he was wearing.

You stare at the grey wool on the ground and numbly pick it up. Your hand tightens in it and a cold rage boils through you, your nails digging into your palm through the scarf. Turning around you storm towards the Devil, Sollux and Dave. Clearly they both saw what just happened given the horror on their faces.

“-for what? To be human? You want to be human so bad? Fine.” the Devil is hissing at Dave and Sollux as you get back.

“Bad human kids get grounded, and their toys get taken away.” he snarls.

Panic flashes over Sollux’s face as the Devil snaps a hand out at him. Sollux chokes and gasps, which is understandable given the hand suddenly in his torso. With a sharp jerk the Devil yanks his hand back, a glowing red rib held there instead. The lights of Sollux eyes flick off and he tumbles to the ground lifeless.

Dave screams but as the Devil sinks into the ground with a red glow so does he, you can’t get to him in time to stop it and he wouldn’t see you to grab your hand anyway. So you stand there for a moment, your moirail’s scarf in your hand, your friend dead at your feet, your other two friends either dead or missing, your brother dragged to hell and a cold anger burning inside you.

The Devil is god, right? Add something to your to do list then.

KILL A GOD.


	36. Woke Up A Rebel

You kneel down over Sollux and look at his body, the gash along his side where his rib had been before. His face is slack and his eyes black and lifeless. Aradia kneels down on the other side of Sollux and gives you a solemn look. With care she dips her fingers into Sollux’s chest, phasing through him like a ghost, and when she pulls them back there’s something gold and glittering in her palm. She holds it to her chest and stands up once more. A door opens behind her and she steps through it, just like that she’s gone.

“That was a little underwhelming.” Jane tuts from her place next to the girl with the braids.

“The Devil’s got an army to rally again, plus he’s gotta get his energy back for all of this ending. Nothin’ sayin’ we can’t get started already. People are already scared, I’m gonna make ‘em scared and ANGRY.” the girl grins.

“No, I meant Aradia. But that fight too.” Jane clarifies.

“I wouldn’t be so gleeful, when there’s no more people around what becomes of us? Aradia comes for us all eventually.” the woman in the doctor’s coat interrupts, walking past you without seeing you.

“Oh come on, like you and I haven’t worked together all the time. Wars and disease, hand in hand.” the girl with the braids points out.

“And this is the last one there’ll be. Forgive me for not being so gleeful to rush to my own end.” the one in the labcoat says dismissively.

“We still have a job to do and so does she.” Jane points out and nods at the place the door had been.

“Of course. If nothing else we are professionals. Ladies.” she nods and sweeps away into the air. The one in the braids and then Jane follows suit and then it’s just you, near enough anyway.

You stand, numbness vying for anger within you and take a moment to slip Karkat’s scarf around your neck. Then you walk to the nearest destroyed stall and pick up one of the broken wooden poles. You heft it in your hand and decide that it’s a little too heavy so you press your foot to it and snap the end off. You’re not entirely sure if a stake to the heart kills vampires but it works on an awful lot of things.

“Rose? Rose you should read this. I’m just going to… put this here, on the ground.” Kanaya says warily.

You turn and see Kanaya setting the box on the ground near Sollux’s body along with a slip of paper on the side.

“I’ll grab the blanket, you dropped it earlier.” Kanaya adds, she backs off further as you walk towards the box.

You kneel, open the box. It’s empty. The note, then.

This was the best outcome, trust the process. Go to the building, then the car, take Sollux. Go home and wait there.

“I would appreciate it if you put that down.” Kanaya says as she carefully drops the blanket in the box.

“The Devil himself just showed up, either killed or maimed one of my best friends, destroyed the body of-” you hesitate for a second, “of my moirail which sent him to heaven where he’ll probably be killed by other angels or tortured forever. He then murdered someone I consider family and dragged my twin to hell so I would have appreciated none of that happening. I would have appreciated being ABLE to help at all.”

“If he’d seen you then you’d be dead or dragged to hell as well, I was only doing what you asked of me.” Kanaya argues.

Your hand moves, you’re too angry and lost to really be sure if you intended on stabbing her with your makeshift stake or not but she stops you either way. She grabs your wrist tight and stares you down. Fine, you can’t hurt her with the stake so you drop it.

“I would have thought you’d have known what it was like to watch your brother get dragged to another plane of reality by a sick god.” you say coldly. There are other ways to hurt people, things that cut deeper than sharpened wood.

Kanaya jerks back with a pained expression. You don’t care, you’re wildly beyond caring somehow. You put the box and blanket in your bag and then move to Sollux’s body. You pick him up and try not to think about how light he is.

Jade and June, you need to find them.

Looking around you can see the path June took as she was smacked across the landscape. You shift Sollux against your shoulder and start walking in that direction. You’re aware after a time that Kanaya is following you but she’s choosing for now not to say anything, which is fine by you, you’re not feeling all that conversational or flirty right now.

At the point when you notice Sollux’s blood is seeping through your shirt it starts to occur to you that you’re probably in some state of shock. However, shock is more useful than curling up in the middle of Central Park sobbing so you'll use it until it runs out.

Your numb feet carry you through the park in a straight line, you only divert when you get to the edge of Central Park and have to find a wall short enough that you can get over it with Sollux. It’s pretty obvious which building June hit, it’s just rubble and twisted metal now.

“Rose.”

You look around and see June propped up against a wall, blood dripping down her face and bandages pressed to her shoulder.

“You’re alive.” you say, walking closer to her.

“Just about. Jade’s using Bec to get survivors out, I managed to slow the building falling a bit but… thank goodness it was evening I guess. Is… is Sollux…” June trails off, staring at Sollux’s body.

“He ripped Sollux’s rib out and destroyed Karkat’s body. Then he dragged Dave down to hell.” you say quietly.

“I think she’s in shock.” Kanaya supplies from behind you, though you don’t have the energy to do anything about it.

“JADE!” June shouts loudly and then holds a hand out to Kanaya.

“Help me up.” she groans and then gasps in pain when Kanaya does just that.

“We need to go home.” you insist.

To your left Jade and Bec show up and you can hear June and Kanaya explaining the situation. It’s like it’s a radio station slightly out of tune.

“You still have the car keys?” you ask Jade.

Jade seems a little surprised by your question but pats herself down and pulls them out of her pocket. Alright you have everyone you need and the keys to the car. With a moment’s concentration you work out what direction you need to go to and start walking.

You don’t really notice how heavy Sollux becomes over time, nor the reactions anyone you walk past may have, you pay no attention to the others behind you and the worried conversations they have. As you walk Sollux’s tail tips bounce off of your right shin. It’s not right, when he’s walking his tails are always moving, they don’t just hang there. It’s not right.

You hold onto him a little tighter and keep walking.

When the car comes into view Jade hurries ahead and opens the door after you zap it with the key she gave you. The back is still stretched out so you climb in with Sollux and lay him out on the back seat. June grunts as she falls in the front and Jade crawls in the back with you.

“Is he really- why is he taking so long to come back? That didn’t happen before.” Jade asks as she shuffles over and reaches for him, feeling his lack of pulse and peering into his black eyes. Bec moves over and snuffles at Sollux’s face, nudging him with his nose to no avail.

“Augh. What is- oh, Rose, look.” June calls to you from the front.

Looking around you see June holding up Karkat’s belt of holding, he must have left it in the car. Some numb part of you wonders why Karkat would leave a vitally important magical object in the front seat of a car unattended but you don’t have time for that kind of thinking now. What you DO know is that the belt that you put together has a pouch for Sollux in it, one with a wound suture kit in it.

You grab the belt from June and hurriedly open the Two of Swords pouch and grab inside for the wound suture kit. It hits your hand and you pull it out immediately. You waste no time in getting to Sollux’s side. His shirt is completely ruined and not in the way at all but you take the time to use one cloth bandage to wipe the blood away and then thread your needle.

“We need to get home, June can you drive?” you ask as you pull the thread through and knot the end of it. Your only experience with this is with sewing fabric but Sollux isn’t alive enough to complain.

“No, I can fly. Also even if I could I’m not really in a state to. Jade?” June asks.

“My island didn’t have roads, let alone cars. I can sail a boat but I can’t drive a car! I mean… I could give it a try, how hard can it be?” Jade says dubiously.

You start to sew Sollux up, it helps somewhat to think of him as the doll with the tear in its side and not…

He talked to you about Karkat. He’d laugh with you about Dave’s antics and chill out in front of the fire with you when you read at home. Sollux looked after your Mom, he was always there for all of your family. He was your family.

You pull another sitch taut and try to focus only on the task at hand.

“You’re not driving for the first time in Manhattan. Give me the keys and tell me where to go.” Kanaya insists.

If she hadn’t made you invisible you could have helped more, you wouldn’t be the only one left. If-

“June give her directions.” you say instead.

Jade climbs over the seat back into the front and you stay crouched on the floor in the back, sewing Sollux’s side back together. Your thoughts keep trying to start but you can’t allow them right now, you can’t stay together if you think them.

Karkat’s scarf smells like- no.

Dave had no idea what was going on when he clearly- no.

He was so scared when he was being dragged into- no.

June is way too hurt for a god to- no.

Will Sollux even heal up if you finish stitching- stop it.

You keep stitching, keeping the stitches neat and even in length. You don’t pull too hard but you make sure if his blood starts flowing again that it’ll stay in place. When you’re done you tie it off neatly, looping the thread out of the way. You clean and put the needle back in its kit.

Aradia took Sollux’s soul, that’s never- shut up.

With shaking hands you clean his side with an antiseptic wipe. You cut what remains of his shirt there away and ever so carefully lay out and stick down gauze.

Sollux doesn’t wake up.

You lean against the door of the car and stare at nothing. Bec wriggles close to you and presses his head against your shoulder but you barely see him, instead you just stare into the whiteness of his fur for a while. When the city fades from view you look out of the window and see the split moon still stuck there in the sky radiating wrongness.

The moon, it occurs to you, only reflects the light from the sun. That’s how you can see it in the sky, and whatever was up there is either not there anymore or dead. It was the moon but now it is broken rock that reflects the sun. You can use the sun, and so, you stare.

You reach out mentally through the dark, towards the light. You reach for Dave first of all but your fingers can’t reach low enough, instead you move up and mentally brush the sky.

You look, and you see.

_Your breath catches once again as the rings circling your arms and going through your form into the rings of your true form tug. As your real body tries to rotate it can’t. You’re a celestial fucking being and you’ve been done in by a magical goddamn bike lock._

_“Noted. Alright, the next thing on the list it says you… you slapped a priest, in the Vatican.” the woman across from you says slowly._

_“In my defence, I was trying to save his life. Which I did in fact.” you protest._

_“So he could tell other humans about seeing you.” the woman says tersely._

_“Yes, but if I hadn’t woken him he’d be dead. Would you rather a dead priest than a live one and one barely credible account of an angel from a hugely religious man?” you argue, it’s a pretty obvious conclusion to you._

_“Not really, we have new priests all the time. He would have died a martyr if you’d let him. It also says you called him a… ‘useless, unconscious, scrotum-faced idiot.’ as you slapped him.” she says, squinting at you._

_“Yeah, well, I’m sure he’d have harsher things to say to you people if he knew how little you cared about him. The man dedicates his life to your religion and you couldn’t care less if he burnt alive.” you sneer at her._

_“You’re missing the point. I’m moving on to bigger topics. Your maker, tell me about him.” the woman sighs and makes a note._

_“He’s- I can’t believe you altered my vocabulary so I can’t describe him properly.” you hiss at her. All of your profanity, gone just like that._

_“You’re not going to sully this investigation. Tell me about your maker.” the woman insists._

_“He was a self righteous, self aggrandising- waste of consciousness and I’m glad he’s dead. How about that?” you hiss at her._

_The woman gives you a flat look and pulls another very long scroll over to her and writes something at the end of it._

_“Just adding charges to the list, aren’t you? Speaking of your maker that way is abhorrent, especially as he gifted you with life, a chain of creation leading back to our divine-” she says as she writes._

_“Our DEAD god, yeah.” you snort._

_“You are the worst angel I’ve ever met.” she says tightly and writes more on the second scroll._

_“That’s the nicest thing you’ve said to me. I’m pretty sure I’m past the point of sins where you’re going to kill me so I may as well keep going and invite you to suck my human accurate anatomy, you self righteous-” you start but she gestures and your mouth sticks shut._

_“I think we will stick to yes and no questions for now.” she says tightly and you glare at her._

The car goes over a bump in the road and you’re jolted back. So they’re going to kill Karkat too then, or that’s what he thinks at least. He’s… they’re going to kill him. Sollux is dead, June is hurt and you’ve no idea how to get to Dave or even what you’d do if you did and… and…

Whatever force was holding you before and giving you the ability to keep going finally sputters and runs out. You squeeze Bec close and cry into his fur. The car jolts as it's taken off of the road but you barely notice, you don’t look up until your Mom reaches into the car and pulls Bec from you.

“Sollux.” you protest.

“Terezi’s getting him.” your Mom assures you and sure enough Terezi ducks around your Mom’s side and nods. She moves back so your Mom can pull you from the car and hold you outside of it. She leads you slowly towards the house with one arm around your back.

“Mom, he.” you swallow thickly, “The literal Devil came and dragged Dave to Hell and he couldn’t see me because of that blanket and-”

“I know.” your mother says softly.

You think you’re talking still, though who knows how much sense you’re making and as you babble and walk you think about how you’re probably never going to walk this path through the woods with Dave again.

“Put him in Jaspers’ mausoleum, over there.” your mother says over the top of your head.

“Yeah, that’ll work.” Terezi nods and you look over your shoulder to see her walking off with Sollux’s body.

“I’m going to stay outside, the wind is… it’s good for me.” June says, grimacing partway through her words.

You start to ask questions, to ask why your Mom seems so calm, why Terezi is taking Sollux away, why any of this happened.

“It’s late sweetie.” your mother whispers, wiping your face with her fingers. You must have still been crying.

“I need to know!” you protest.

“Terezi says in the morning we’ll all talk and explain things. It’s gone three AM, go to sleep. We’ll talk then.”

You walk up the stairs numbly with Jade and Bec behind you. You hear the front door open and shut again and Terezi talking to Kanaya and your mother. You don’t want to wait but you’re so emotionally and mentally exhausted, not to mention physically with how late it is. Sollux is dead but… but you figure he’s not getting any deader.

“I have concrete dust in my hair and this isn’t my blood.” Jade says a few seconds after you get into your room.

You look down and see that your hands are gold from Sollux’s blood.

“Come on.” Jade insists and gently leads you to the bathroom.

She strips, showers, and washes everything out of her hair and skin as you absently scrub your hands and then stare at nothing. Jade braids her hair and puts her pyjamas from last night on and nudges you into bed first.

It should be some relief that you fall asleep immediately.

That you dream is less of a relief.

You’re shaking and shuddering through and through. You’re pretty sure that if someone peeled all of your flesh away then your bones would be rattling. You’re so cold that your thoughts are slow and foggy, yet you’re coming back into being awake again.  
  
You’re trapped, that’s the first thing that you realise, you’re bound up from head to toe. But the moment you try to move you find that whatever is around you moves easily enough and more than that it’s soft and warm. You peel your eyes open and realise that you’re wrapped up in several thick blankets and laying in what feels like one of Sollux’s hammocks.   
  
You shudder a little harder and feel the blanket around you crunch slightly. Confused, you pull back and look, only to find that your breath has seemingly been freezing on the outside of your thick blankets. You’ve no idea where you are or what happened so, instinctively, you reach out and pull into the ether to summon Sollux. And find… nothing there.   
  
That is enough to wake you up fully, enough for you to remember Sollux getting his rib pulled out and keeling over dead. But- but he always comes back after dying, he does! He can’t just be gone. You try once more to call him but still get nothing.   
  
A noise like a pickaxe in ice outside of the hammock makes you realise that you might not be alone wherever you are. You keep still and wait, listening as hard as you can. The chipping noise keeps up and then there’s a thud that reminds you of what it sounds like when snow slides off of your bedroom roof back home.   
  
“Finally.” a female voice sighs in relief and then there’s a scrape of metal once more.   
  
Curious but cautious you wiggle forward in your blanket cocoon and peer out of the end. Your first impression is that you’re in some ice cave, but as you look a little longer you see that the edges of the ice show the faint trace of walls behind them. You’re in a frozen room. Adding to this picture is a bed that’s frozen solid against one wall with a desk next to it that has icicles hanging from the edge.   
  
Below you there’s a roaring fire from a neatly stacked bonfire that somehow isn’t cooking you. You’re not alone in the room either, across the other side you can see a demon with wide almost animal ear shaped horns on top of her head and a blue furred tail swishing behind her. She’s chipping away at the ice covered walls with metal claws strapped to her hands like she’s cosplaying Wolverine or something.   
  
She starts to turn and you panic, shutting your eyes and pretending that you’re not awake. Playing dead isn’t a great defence but you’re a blanket burrito right now so you’re kind of fucked when it comes to any other defense. You hear the demon moving towards you and something sliding against skin. Her breath comes out in short huffing breaths and then without warning she presses a hand to your forehead.   
  
“Getting there. You with me?” she asks, jostling you.   
  
Well, you can’t keep pretending to be asleep and it could be dangerous to do that anyway. You open your eyes and wince at how cold the air still is on your naked eyeballs. Speaking of, where are your shades anyway?   
  
“Oh, good, I’d be impawsably fucked if you actually died. How do you feel?” she asks with a smile that shows off long, sharp, canines. Her eyes are bright green in yellow, not glowing like Sollux’s and Mituna’s do.   
  
“Cold as fuck.” you answer her through chattering teeth.   
  
“Well, yeah. The place is still warming up, I’m working on your room specifically but turning the air back into a gas again is hard. Maybe stay put for now.” she suggests and moves to turn away.   
  
“Wait,” you blurt out and she stops to look back at you, “what’s your name?”   
  
Best to start with the basics, right?  
  
“Nepeta. You really don’t remember me? I mean I know we weren’t friends ‘cause of… and Sollux didn’t like other demons near you but you don’t remember anything? I thought Bro was being hyperbolic when he said you didn’t remember ANYTHING.” she says in surprise.  
  
”Who’s Bro?” you ask and Nepeta stares at you in complete shock.  
  
”Alright, I’m just gonna…” she says slowly, gesturing to the frozen wall she had been working on.  
  
“Wait.” you tell her and squirm out of your blanket burrito and drop to the floor. It’d be hard to land that if you weren’t practiced at getting in and out of these things thanks to Sollux. As you land the somehow colder air hits you and you instinctively edge closer to the fire.   
  
“Where is this? Where am I?” you ask her.   
  
“Oh, well all the frozen stuff probably makes it hard to tell but it’s your room still under there. See, you can just about see the pictures on your wall through the ice.” the girl says and points behind you.  
  
Cautiously you turn your head to look. You can see some shapes behind the ice that could be polaroid style square photographs but it’s too distorted to see.   
  
“This isn’t my room.” you tell her when you look back.   
  
“It is, though. Um…” the demon girl looks pretty uncomfortable with you saying that so you figure you should move on and try another track, not that the previous one was much better.   
  
“Alright, alright, where are we? Not this room I mean but where is this, here, outside this room.” you try.   
  
“The old palace grounds, technically. But it’s really just called the tower now because it’s a tower building.” she answers you.   
  
“Okay, palace grounds of where?” you press.   
  
“Hell?” Nepeta answers uncertainly.   
  
“Hell.” you repeat.  
  
She nods. Hell is frozen, you know that but then so is this room. You also distinctly remember being dragged downwards into the dirt and out when you were at Central Park. If you look you can see dirt under your fingernails still. Alright, it’s improbable but Hell it is.   
  
“The psycho who dragged me here was the Devil?” you ask and she nods, warily glancing around as if he might appear.   
  
“Great. Why can’t I get through to Sollux?” you ask her and just for good measure you try to summon him once more then and there but still you get nothing.  
  
“He’s… dead. He’s dead Dave.” she tells you.   
  
“That happens sometimes, but he comes back. Where is he now, why isn’t it working?” you press on.  
  
“He’s dead, Dave. Sollux is dead.” Nepeta tells you again.   
  
“No, see, he’s basically immortal. He just comes back when he gets killed. I saw the Devil kill him but-” you start.  
  
“He’s DEAD, Dave. He’s dead-dead. Sollux is dead.” she insists.   
  
Sollux can’t be, you won’t accept it.   
  
“No.” you insist and shudder more, the cold is getting to you more with each passing second and behind you the ice on the walls is creeping in again.  
  
“No.” you repeat. He can’t be.  
  
You open your eyes and for a moment none of it is real, but pretty much right away after that it all comes rushing back. You saw where Dave is, he’s unhappy and locked up but given that he’s in hell things could be far worse for him. That’s the closest thing to a silver lining you have right now.

Jade’s arm is heavy on your waist and you can hear her slow deep breathing. Looking at your alarm clock you can see it’s six thirty AM, you’ve barely slept. Probably just enough to dip into a deep enough sleep to reach Dave and now you’re back.

Slipping out from under Jade’s arm you roll off of your bed onto your floor so you can leave the room. Bec lifts his head up from the end of the bed, obviously having noticed you moving, but he doesn’t stop you or follow you. Your whole house is dark still, the lights off and the sun outside having not yet risen.

The familiarity of routine drags you through on autopilot. Set water to boil, coffee filter in drip filter, rinse in water, you’d normally make one for Karkat but you can’t. Coffee grounds in filter, wait for water to finish boiling. How are you going to get to Dave? Can you summon him? Water’s boiling, carefully pour over grounds, wait.

“Rose?” Kanaya asks from the doorway that leads to the back garden. You remember Dave out there with Karkat when he was an ostrich.

More water, wait for it to drain through the filter.

“I’m sure you’re still processing everything, I understand if you’re angry. I know I was following your instructions but you don’t remember writing them so it probably doesn’t feel like you.” Kanaya continues.

Coffee filter in compost container, plastic drip filter in sink.

“Losing someone you love is-” Kanaya starts again.

“Give me the note.” you say without turning around.

Kanaya sighs but you hear the rustle of paper, when you turn she’s holding it out to you. You take it, unfolding it and reading your own handwriting.

Kanaya, please do hold onto this note as I will be needing it back later. Do not give this to me in England, you need to give this back to me after you have done what I ask of you in this note. It is vitally important that you be in Central Park on Valentines day this year. I’m not yet sure what’ll happen to the numbering of years after this so all I can say is it’s the year in which you get this note.  
  
You will need to go there at sundown, you need to be past the booth with the hammer and before the ferris wheel. Wait for me there but do not be seen by anyone. When I see you and the situation starts looking dangerous you must use the blanket and hide me. I will not be pleased with this but you must not allow me to be seen at all until HE is gone. I have included a second note for you to give to me at this point giving instructions for how to get back to the house and the things that must be done, you need to go with me.  
  
It is very strange from my point of view having not met you yet as an adult to be entrusting something so vital to you but I’m afraid you’ve been entangled in this for far longer than I have. I can only thank you for following my instructions and I have to stress this, the fate of everyone relies upon this.   
  
Yours,   
Rose Lalonde.  
  
“I don’t know what I’m supposed to do with this.” you say finally.

“It is your note, I was hoping that you would know. I’m… I’m worried for Karkat. My brother got dragged to heaven and he never came back.” Kanaya says unhappily, glancing out of the dark windows as if she might see him out there.

“They’re putting him on trial. I don’t see a good outcome for that. On top of that my brother is stuck in a frozen hell that I don’t know how to rescue him from” you tell her blankly. You can’t get Karkat down, not unless you can find a way to break into heaven, nor can you get Dave up unless you can do the same for Hell. Are either of those things you can do?

“Oh… oh no.” Kanaya whispers.

You ball up the note and toss it in the trash, you’ve read it and you don’t remember writing it. It has no further information for you so you don’t need to keep it.

“You followed my instructions. I don’t like it but thank you I suppose. You’ve given me the note, you don’t need to stay.” you tell her and sip your coffee.

“Well- that’s… I want to, if that’s alright with you. Karkat is my friend and I’ve heard all about what falling does to a person, Mituna told me. If they kick him out instead of kill him he’s going to need us. Karkat’s my friend and, well, I rather hoped you were my friend still. Despite everything. I know there’s a lot going on and Dave is in a terrible situation and Sollux is _dead_ but this seems like a very dangerous time and I don’t want to leave you without help.” Kanaya insists.

Her refusing to date you isn’t even in your top twenty list of concerns right now. It’s laughably low on the list.

“Unless you’re insisting that I leave.” Kanaya adds uneasily.

You open your mouth to try to come up with something to say but you just don’t have anything.

“I don’t… care? I think. I have no idea what I’m going to do or how, I don’t know why I wrote that note, I don’t know what’s happening, what’s supposed to happen or what will. Whether you stay or go is beyond what I can decide now.” you admit and shrug helplessly.

“Well perhaps until you know that I can take care of other things for you. I could make you something to eat, that’ll help you think and steady you a little. You could go talk to your god friend outside, I was talking to her in the night. June is… quite something. Go on, I’ll bring you food.” Kanaya assures you.

Presented with the opportunity to just do something you’re told you latch onto it, numbly nodding at her and walking outside the house. June is sat on one of your deck chairs with her phone propped up on a small table. She still looks rough but better than before. As you step outside she notices you and waves a little weakly as a tinny sound of laughter comes from her phone.

“Sorry, I was just eating.” June apologises quietly as you sit on the chair next to her.

“What was it?” you ask.

“Comedy videos. Japanese prank shows specifically, my followers are feeding me by giving up offerings of my elements so it helps. There’s not a lot of natural comedy and pranks going on around in the world right now, just a lot of fear. It’s making healing a bitch.” June explains.

“You went down in one hit, is he that strong?” you ask, trying to size up the monster that has your brother.

“A lot of my energy was wrapped up in the whole spell with Doc Scratch, the moon being ripped in half didn’t do me any favours and Dirk had just ate his maker which as sources of power goes is pretty fucking strong, Rose. Also he was… very angry at me for locking him in a moon prison for years. So, yeah, being thrown several miles and getting a building dropped on me kind of hurt.” June says defensively.

“I just want to know how strong he is so I know how to beat or kill him.” you say.

“Rose, I’m a fully fledged god and I got my ass kicked. I’ve only ever managed to trick him or spar with him. Maybe on turf more suited to me than him, fully healed, powered up and if I got the drop on him I could do it, MAYBE, but you? I’m sorry.” June says gently.

You have to find a way, you have to.

You sit there and drink your coffee, holding onto it like a life ring in the open ocean. At your side June keeps watching her videos and the two of you sit in the cold February air. Eventually Kanaya brings you breakfast, setting it before you with a look of concern.

“She’ll feel better when the sun rises. We’re getting there.” June reassures Kanaya, although how that’ll help you don’t know.

You eat your food mechanically and when you’re done you can’t quite recall what it was, that’s how little attention you paid it.

Over the forest treeline the sky starts to lighten. You watch the line of the trees unblinking as a certain feeling starts to overtake you. A certainty that you saw all of this once, though you have forgotten it you did once know. Even the most hidden and impossible of things can be discovered if the right light is shone on them, if you know the right thing, ask the right questions. Knowledge is power isn’t it? You’re not powerful enough to fight the god that has your brother, but maybe if you knew the right thing you could.

The sky behind the trees lightens and in your hands you hold your empty coffee cup and will the universe to give you the answers you need. So help you, if it does not you’ll wring what you need to know out of the fabric of reality like it was a wet sponge. You’ve passed pain and numbness, you’re now getting into a quiet and dangerous sort of wrath.

“Rose are-” Kanaya starts.

“Sh, don’t. She’s doing something, I think. She’s not blinked for like five minutes at least.” June says, you ignore them.

The sun crests the top of the trees and you _SEE_.

Karkat is on his knees, mouth twisted in a snarl. Angels surround him in both humanoid form and in their more impossible ones.

“-lot of nerve acting like this. None of you care about them down there. Either you’re up here pretending to do the right thing, acting like your hands are tied and letting them SUFFER by keeping yourselves ignorant of it; or else you’re going down there and you see it and somehow DON’T CARE. I don’t know which is worse but you’re all monsters, how dare you! You all suck and your god sucked too.” Karkat shouts at them.

The crowd parts and a man walks forward. He doesn’t look a great deal like Karkat beyond being both vaguely the same ethnicity perhaps, but there’s something in the set of his face that you’ve seen in Karkat’s when he’s being unthinkingly good to people that reminds you of him. The physical resemblance to Kanaya however is… striking.

“Karkat.” he says gently.

“Signless.” Karkat gasps, sitting up a little straighter as best as he can with his arms still bound behind his back and being forced to kneel.

“You know you’ve broken about every law and rule we have up here, right? There’s some they didn’t even think of that they’re starting to write now because of you.” Signless says, walking closer.

“The rules are wrong.” Karkat insists.

“Must you undermine every authority we have?” one of the angels hisses at Karkat.

“Authority? But…” Karkat frowns and looks up at Signless who shrugs lightly.

“My father, ah… other mother? God. She’s dead now, but I am part of that divinity. The father, the son, all of that and we can’t be without a God in a time like this so I’m here. They’ve made it pretty clear to me that you don’t fit in here with all you’ve done and you’ve defied and rejected my divine parent several times since you’ve been up here.” he explains.

Karkat stares at him for a moment, his jaw slackening as horror spreads across his face.

“Don’t tell me you got in charge and suddenly you’re just as bad as she was. Please.” Karkat whispers.

“Like I said, continued rejection of her. You’re no angel of hers, Karkat Vantas and I won’t have you as one of mine. I doubt the Devil will take you and without a god you’ll fall and die. And… perhaps to teach her not to get involved with angels you can fall to your human born moirail.” he goes on.

“Moirails with a human that’s- ugh!” several other angels around react in clear disgust.

“No, no, don’t do that to her. If you’re all angry at me then fine, but Rose didn’t do anything wrong.” Karkat insists.

Signless steps before Karkat and pulls him onto his feet, his hands tight on Karkat’s shoulders. He leans in close and whispers.

“Tell my sister I said hi, and sorry, this is going to hurt a lot.”

With that he pulls back to look Karkat in the eye, all mercy erased from his expression.

“Karkat Vantas, you are hereby ejected from heaven, you are no angel of ours. I commend your soul to any god who claims you because you do not belong here. Now, fall.” he says and pushes Karkat backwards.

Karkat’s feet suddenly sink and he plummets with a scream.

You leap to your feet and let go of your coffee mug, something you only realise when you hear it shatter on the floor. Your heart is in your throat and all you can do is stare at the sky in terror.

“Rose, your eyes were glowing!” Kanaya exclaims.

“What did you see?” June asks, getting up from the chair.

“Karkat. He’s falling. Karkat!” you yell that last part and sprint out into the barely lit grounds around your house with your eyes scanning every inch of sky. He’s falling and you know it’s happening now, but where is he coming from? For a moment your eyes stick on the still broken moon just faintly visible as dawn brightens the sky, but then another light catches your eye.

You saw Karkat scorch through the atmosphere before, looking like a meteor streaking through the sky. This is like that but so much worse. The path is erratic, like he’s trying to slow down and stop but can’t manage to. Light, of course, travels faster than sound but you can hear him now. Karkat can project his voice like no one else you’ve ever heard and now he’s not holding back at all and his scream of agony only builds the closer he gets. The birds roosting in the trees around your home explode into the sky to escape it and though you press your hands to your ears it is still unbearably loud.

Karkat sears his way through the sky, burning as he falls. You run in his direction as fast as your feet will carry you and the dirt is still hitting the ground around you as you dive into the crater he just made in the ground. Karkat is arched over in the dirt, his forehead pressed into the smoking ground as his fingers scrabble in the dirt. His wings once such a beautiful stretch of pure feathers are burnt and the flesh beneath is burning and peeling further still.

“Karkat!” you shout, tripping and scrabbling as you fall to your knees at his side.

You grab Karkat’s arm out of desperation and recoil when your hand goes IN. His physical form glitches under your touch and gives way to rings among rings crashing together and falling apart. The eyes within them look at you desperately and something within you snaps.

“NO! No, you’re not doing this! You can’t!” you shout at him as if that’ll help anything.

“You’re my- my moirail.” you insist loudly and shake him. He can’t do this, you won’t allow it, you’ve lost too much already and you WON’T lose him too. The universe can pry him and everyone else from your cold dead hand and even then you’ll fight. Fuck this and everything about this whole situation.

“You’re MINE.” you snarl, not at him as such but at… reality itself you guess. He’s your friend, your moirail and you won’t allow any of this. You refuse, as simple as that. You will not allow this to be true. Karkat doesn’t die from this and that’s a stone cold fact, you don’t CARE if you have to will it into reality.

Karkat gasps and goes still and for a horrible moment you think that’s it, that he’s dead.

But you were right, Karkat DOESN’T die from this. It is a stone cold fact.

You stare as Karkat’s form stabilises, your fingers no longer glitch through his arm but instead hold onto warm bare skin. His normal clothes reform around him, replacing the burnt leftovers of what survived the atmospheric reentry. But his wings… they’d been burnt down to nothing but bone and you watch in stunned silence as they shift into a glittering gold cast of bird wing bones. Then as if they’d been waiting for a frame, feathers form, or rather feather shapes. Panes of stained glass shaped like feathers and edged with gold fan out where his white feathers had been before. You can see through them, see the dawn lit world on the other side of him though it’s tinted in a hundred shades of red, orange, yellow and gold. Karkat breathes in shakily and as you look at his face you see his head surrounded by a halo of glass like art deco made its own church and worshipped him.

He’s alive.

“Karkat.” you say weakly and shake him. His wings jostle with the movement and it sounds almost like windchimes.

“Fuck. Ow.” Karkat rasps.

You grab him into a hug that lasts several long grateful seconds. Maybe a little longer.

“Kanaya?” Karkat says and coughs a little, he’s looking over your shoulder.

“Yes. Are… are you alright? You fell but I’ve never seen anything like this. June, have you?” Kanaya asks.

“I’ve got some idea, but I’ve not actually SEEN this before.” June says.

“Cool, great. I don’t even know what you mean but I’m not thinking about that. Kanaya, your brother says hi and also I’m going to personally punch him when I see him next. That was the single most painful thing I’ve EVER been through, oh god.” Karkat groans.

He tries to move a little and then pats you on the back a bit until you let him go. Karkat leans back when you do and looks at one of his wings with obvious confusion.

“Right, great, I’ll deal with whatever the fuck this is later. Come on.” Karkat grumbles.

He gets to his feet and then pulls you to yours. With a little effort his glass wings and halo fade from view and he takes a second to check that he’s really free of them before looking around.

“Alright, so, I’m not a bird that’s something. What time is it? Early? Tell me I was just gone overnight, it didn’t feel long but time can be weird there. I mean June you still look kind of like shit and Kanaya is here for some reason so…” Karkat trails off expectantly.

“Thanks, uh, it’s the next morning. Karkat about Sollux-” June starts.

“Yeah, I know, he’s going to kick my ass for this I’m sure. But he got you all out by the looks of it, I guess that the Devil can’t find you in Roxy’s magic warded property?” Karkat sighs and looks around.

“Sollux is dead.” you say quietly.

“Oh, shit, he died? I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, when he was using my body to attack him he cut Sollux’s head off so… eesh. How many times did that happen before you all got here? Shit, I need to apologise to your mom for putting holes in her property.” Karkat grimaces and pulls you up the crater with him.

“No, Karkat-” you pause and try another way, “the Devil dragged Dave to hell.”

Karkat’s eyes go wide in shock.

“Shit. Oh fuck that’s- right, okay. I can help. I know angels can get into hell and if Sollux somehow hasn’t already gone there to try to get him back I can go with him. I mean can you go there too June?” Karkat asks and looks over at June.

“Sollux isn’t doing anything because he’s DEAD.” June insists.

“No but-” Karkat starts.

“He got his rib ripped out!” June shouts.

Silence falls around all of you as Karkat stares back, his face going ashen in horror.

“No.” Karkat says, his voice small.

You take him by the hand and walk away from the crater.

When you were a little kid you had a cat, Jaspers. Unfortunately he eventually died through circumstances as upsetting as they were stupid and your mother being the person she is erected a stone mausoleum for him and it has sat ever since on the property. You lead Karkat towards it and push open the door. You have the feeling that Sollux would find it funny that his body is laid out on top of a stone cat crypt, but it’s not like you can ask him that.

Karkat stands in the doorway staring in silence.

“I tried the suture kit. I sewed up where his rib was but it didn’t do anything.” you say softly.

Karkat is silent, eerily so. He’s not breathing, just standing there staring at Sollux.

“No.” he finally says.

“No?” you repeat.

“No.” Karkat says firmly and walks out of the mausoleum.

“Dave is stuck in hell, we need Sollux to get to him. Sollux can’t stay dead so we need to fix that.” Karkat declares as he marches towards the house and the place where June and Kanaya are still stood. You walk quicker and grab him by the wrist.

“I tried the suture kit and it didn’t do anything, he didn’t come back. Unless he needs to stay that way for a certain amount of time then I don’t know what else to do.” you insist.

“I don’t know either, not yet. But you gave us that stuff, you knew this would happen and no way would you give us a suture kit when it wouldn’t do anything. If Sollux was just going to die and stay dead you wouldn’t have done that, that means he doesn’t stay dead. We have now and we have that, we just don’t know how to get from this to that and that’s what we need to do. THIS-” Karkat says with an angry gesture at the mausoleum, “this isn’t staying like this.”

“Nothing in those bags would fix death, it’s death!” you insist. It’s not as if you haven’t been thinking about this yourself, and it’s not like humans haven’t spent millenia trying to reverse death either!

“Yeah, well, I don’t care. Fuck death. Oh, shit, that’s why Aradia was there. Whatever, look, I don’t know how we’re going to do this but I know you gave us those things for a reason, I believe in you.” Karkat insists.

As he says that, that he _believes_ in you, something in you glows. Not metaphorically either, your skin literally thrums with light for a second.

“If you two want to stop yelling outside we should talk.” Terezi shouts from the edge of the house.

“Right, two seers, the chance of getting answers is going up already.” Karkat insists.

You’re not sure how much that’s true but at least you want to go and see what she’s talking about. Plus, looking at Sollux there hurts a little more than you can handle right now.

“Okay.” you nod and the pair of you walk back towards the house where Terezi, June and Jade are gathered outside. Arguing in fact.

“Did you know this was going to happen?” June demands of Terezi as she waves a hand at Karkat.

“Not exactly.” Terezi shrugs.

“We thought he was going to die or be stuck up there forever! You can’t- you can’t just not tell us that it’s going to be okay!” June snaps angrily.

“We could be halfway through some explanations by now if you weren’t pitching such a fit. Anyway, now that Karkat’s here we have a lot to talk about.” Terezi says and without waiting for a response she turns and walks in the house.

June looks angry to say the least but none of you have any choice but to follow her. Standing outside just leaves you in ignorance and the faint smell of scorched mud and grass. You find Terezi in the living room along with your mother who is pacing anxiously by the fireplace. Your mother takes one look at Karkat and rushes over to grab him into a hug. Karkat looks at you with bafflement for a second but hugs her back.

“I’m sorry, it’s all my fault.” she sniffles.

“It’s really not.” Karkat assures her.

“You don’t know!” your mom insists and squeezes him.

“Roxy, no matter what you actually did you didn’t throw me into a ferris wheel or take Dave or kill Sollux. So it’s not all your fault, yeah? It’s going to be ok.” Karkat says gently and pats her back.

“Roxy, he’s fine, come on.” Terezi says gently and pats the sofa next to her.

Your mother sniffs but lets Karkat go, she walks to the sofa and sits next to Terezi although her expression is still downcast and deeply unhappy. June and Jade sit on the sofa as well, with June giving Terezi a sharp look indeed. You follow suit and sit on the sofa next to June and Karkat hops up onto the edge of the fireplace, entirely unconcerned about the fire within it. Kanaya lingers at the edge of the room, seemingly intending to listen but not intrude.

“Talk.” June says sternly.

“I guess I can now.” your mother says softly.

“Maybe I should start. Rose, you’re a seer too, tell me what you know about prophecies and how to mess with them.” Terezi says.

“I…” you hesitate having not expected to be asked anything, “I’m not really sure what you mean. When I see something that’s what happens, sometimes it doesn’t play out quite as I thought it would or I misinterpret something symbolic but…”

“Hm, maybe it’s more my field. Okay, when you’re dealing with prophecies they’re not always right. They’re always true in a way, just not always obviously.” Terezi says.

“I don’t really understand.” Jade says with a frown.

“Maybe give an example?” Karkat suggests and Terezi nods.

“So a seer that hates you can tell you something totally true that they’ve seen but phrase it in such a way that you don’t know what’s going to happen but you not knowing makes it happen. Sometimes they don’t even hate you, it just has to happen a certain way. Take Oedipus for example. His father got a prophecy that he’d be killed by his son, he sends his son off to die and because he did that his son ends up killing him.” Terezi explains.

“You left so much out of that, but fine.” June groans.

“But think of it backwards, you can screw with prophecies just like you can curses and other magic. If I prophesied that Rose Lalonde from New York will win the lottery tomorrow and there’s two people that fit that description then the other could take you out and it’d HAVE to be them that won, or someone could change their name to Rose Lalonde and do something similar. Prophecies have to be true, they just don’t have to be obviously true.” Terezi explains.

Prophecies, then. Your predictions of the future and the predictions of other seers all lighting the way to the future to come. It is relevant, of course, and it’s highly possible that Terezi was approaching a point. You do want to know what’s happening with the future and where you go from here but you have far too many questions about the past before you get there.

“That was an awful lot of highly unhelpful information.” you say slowly.

“Not really.” Terezi says with a shrug.

“No, it was. How about I ask the questions now? Which is a polite way of saying stop screwing around with philosophical answers and give me actual ones. Aside from Jade you all know things that I don’t know and I’m going to find out what they are!” you say sharply.

“Hey, what about Bec?” Jade asks.

You look at the hellhound who is watching you very intently for a beast without eyes. He whines, ever so softly.

“Bec is fine.” you concede.

“Bec? What about me?! I thought you’d worked out by now that I know fuck all about shit! I have negative knowledge, when you met me I didn’t even know my own species, that’s how little I know!” Karkat protests.

“But I do have questions for you about where you just were so even if you’re not hiding things from me you do have things I want to know.” you argue and Karkat hunches his shoulders a little and grumbles under his breath. You’re making the executive decision to ignore him for now.

“Okay, we’re going to work backwards.” you say and take a deep breath. You hold it, let it out and start.

“What just happened with the moon? I saw that puppet-” you start.

“Cal.” June cuts in.

“I’ll come back to that. I saw him pull at it, he had strings going up there and then it split. I felt a lot of something escape and I felt Cthulhu, so I’m going to assume the rest of the gods are free. Whichever ones are still alive that is.” you say.

“That’s accurate, he broke the prison which fucked Scratch’s dimension up fully. He’s probably dead, or maybe not he was always kind of slippery.” June says.

“I killed the clown demon, Damara said that’d set her free so I’m guessing she escaped which might mean that she survived so Scratch would or maybe it killed him and that set her free. Either way I hope this turned out well for her at least, it’d be nice if someone got what they wanted.” Karkat says unhappily, his gaze on the floor and his expression somber.

“Tell me about Cal then, June. Sollux said they’re the same thing. How does that work? What sort of thing are they and how did him being alive and… assembled I suppose, cause the moon to open. I’m sure cracking it open wasn’t as simple as just wanting to and waving your hands at it.” you ask her.

June thinks for a moment scratching at her temple and frowning as she seems to work out how to phrase what she has to say. You can wait, you need to hear this.

“So gods, right? We’re not entirely all alike, we’re not really a species or whatever so we don’t all work the same. But some gods at least can have these… things. Familiar is sort of the go-to term but that’s because for a lot of gods it ends up being an example of their representative animal or whatever. It’s like when you have a demon making a demon you make a sacrifice of something important and a commitment and you create a person. What you make varies on what you put in, for a lot of gods you’ve got a magic animal that’s super intelligent and you can possess or guide. You want to watch something but don’t want to be there? Familiar.” June explains.

“Sollux is quite a bit more than that.” Kanaya points out.

“...Yeah. So, with Cal at least Dirk- the Devil, put some part of himself and who knows what else in to make him. He’s very powerful, very creepy and honestly I hate him. I’m not sure how much of a personality he has because he doesn’t really talk in words as far as I can tell, or not to anyone but Dirk. I’ve seen him get in the brains of demons to get meaning across but it’s clearly not good for them. Sollux is pretty much his opposite. He was made from a rib and hope and- a lot of stuff. That’s why he’s an actual real whole person.” June explains.

“Sollux’s name referenced him being made from hope and love, companionship and loyalty, protection. All of that.” Karkat says softly.

“Right, you put that much in and have intentions that good you get Sollux instead of Cal.” June nods.

“But why did Cal break the moon?” you press her.

“The spell there was meant to contain the gods locked away. But Cal IS part of Dirk too, so he’s both inside and outside. He just pulled it really hard and the logic of the spell couldn’t withstand it. Familiars are useful for that sort of thing, and reviving you from effective death because if one part of you is alive you can heal the rest. They can be a weakness but they’re a real strength too. The Event broke Cal into bits but… he reformed. The more parts of him got together the weaker the spell got, if that wasn’t obvious by now.” June sighs.

“I think the who and why of how he was reformed is probably important but just not so important now. The question is more can the same work for Sollux?” Kanaya asks, getting there before you could.

“Normally I’d assume yes. But… Aradia was there. I don’t think she was just going to hang out with Sollux’s soul until his body got back. Given how the hierarchy goes it’s possible that Dirk can just override the authority that made Sollux, or maybe he can’t but Aradia knows we can’t get the rib back so it’s permanent even if it’s theoretically-” June cuts off with a groan and holds her head in her hands.

“I don’t know, it’s all too complicated.” she says quietly.

“Aradia did take his soul, I saw it.” you say.

“Well, hey, that’s good news.” Karkat says and perks up immediately.

“How is that good news?” Jade asks incredulously.

“Because her domain is Midnight City, I’ve already been there. I could go back! I could sneak in and steal his soul back, or- or barter for it somehow! There was a death pouch on that belt, it had a diamond in it! What if Aradia would trade his soul for a diamond?” Karkat babbles, clearly overcome with excitement.

You pull the belt out and Karkat eagerly whips the diamond out of the Death pocket and holds it up.

“Let me see that.” Terezi says, holding her hand out.

Karkat practically vibrates with excitement as your mother and Terezi peer at the diamond, inspecting it magically and in Terezi’s case, with her tongue.

“This is just a really big diamond. There’s nothing special about it.” she says and hands it back to you. It’s unpleasantly slippery with dragon spit.

“Maybe that’s what she wants.” Karkat says.

“Karkat, not to put a damper on your hope or anything here but death is not so easy to defeat. Cultures throughout history have stories of people trying to get loved ones back from beyond the veil and they very rarely end well. On top of that she’s a literal force of reality, beyond gods even. Why would she be swayed by what is technically speaking just a lump of interestingly arranged carbon?” Kanaya asks.

“I don’t know, okay? But we know where he is now and Rose put that together for this whole situation, so it has to help. Just because I don’t know how yet doesn’t mean that it won’t. I know it’s going to work.” Karkat insists, his fists clenched tight at his sides.

That feeling comes back, like sunshine inside your ribcage and for a moment your skin brightens from within once more. Whatever it is, it's connected to Karkat. Before you can ask questions about that Jade moves on without you.

“Okay but about Sollux, if he’s a familiar then whose familiar is he? ...Was he.” Jade corrects sadly.

“Is he.” Karkat counter-corrects in the sharp tone of someone fully in denial.

June looks around uneasily, her gaze finally landing on your mother. After a moment of silence June answers.

“Dave’s.” June says simply.

“But familiars are made by gods, unless someone made him and gave him to Dave?” Jade asks.

“Dave made him.” June says, more explicit in her words this time.

“Dave’s not... human? You’re saying he’s a god? Dave. What? No.” Karkat snorts.

“He seems very human to me.” Kanaya agrees.

“Of course he does! No god would eat that many doritos or attend basic mandatory classes or- wait, no I forgot June does that. So he’s not human, really?” Karkat asks in surprise.

“Oh, no, he’s fully human too. In, like, complete defiance of how percentages work. One hundred percent human and one hundred percent god.” June says.

“Wait. Like… like my brother?” Kanaya asks in a whisper, staring wide eyed at June.

It’s Terezi who replies, not June who is sinking lower in the couch cushions as if that might help her escape the stare of the suddenly very alert and ominous vampire at the edge of the room.

“Exactly like that, and also the exact opposite of that in a way.” Terezi chirps.

“Okay, no, all of you stop. Dave can’t be a god because he and I are twins.” you insist.

“There have been times when that’s happened though. Hercules and… wait let me google this, Iphicles. Yeah, one god, one mortal. Castor and Pollux were too and-” Jade starts listing off, reading her phone.

“Alright, alright, but… mother, say something. This is somewhat relevant to you being that we’re talking about both of your children, will you clear this up for us please?” you sigh, turning to her.

Your mother looks lost and upset but when Terezi lays a gentle hand on her shoulder she seems to gather herself a bit.

“Start at the beginning.” Terezi says gently. She brushes her fingertips at your mother’s temple and teal glimmers in the air for just a moment. Your mother nods and starts to speak, keeping her eyes on the floor.

“When I was a postgraduate I started seriously studying demons, I’d already learnt everything else we knew and it wasn’t much, much of it wrong. So I set things up to interview them directly, I learnt so much. People either weren’t brave enough to do it before me or not good enough. I only really had backup from my supervisor Jake Harley and he was almost always off somewhere in the ass end of nowhere doing things that I couldn’t have ever got away with.” your mother sighs.

Yes you imagine that an older man in academia got granted a lot more leeway than his younger, female, black graduate student would have. Although given what you’ve heard about the man you do think he could have done with having people say no to him more.

“He worked with demons too and when I became all doctorified we co-collaborated on a lot of it. The more interviews I did the more the demons warned me not to keep up what I was doing, that I’d attract too much attention. I hadn’t been too worried because I was always careful and I knew enough to defend myself and didn’t go around agreeing to deals with anyone who came up to me and asked. Jake said he’d been managing to call a couple of demons but was seeing one in particular over and over which I generally didn’t do much. He said they talked about me, my work.” she says slowly.

Wait, does she mean that other demons warned him that your mother was in danger or that Jake Harley was talking to other demons about your mother’s work? Those are VERY different things!

“I didn’t realise until it was way too late just who he’d been seeing.” your mother says, and you can tell she regrets this even now.

“Dirk.” June says just as unhappily.

“The devil found out about your work?” Karkat asks.

“He showed up, made me an offer. There was this prophecy, the first born and only son of the devil ends the world. The antichrist. He said I was the most powerful witch in the world and the most powerful for generations. That kid would be fully human and god so he wanted the human half- whole, to be as strong as possible. So, me.” she says with a half shrug.

“He- what, or he’d kill you? Send you to hell?” you ask in horror.

“No, nothing like that. Just would I do it?” your mother says, shaking her head.

“And this is where the fucking with prophecies part comes in.” Terezi grins gleefully.

“You did say something about a prophecy to them when you first met Dave and Rose.” Karkat says suspiciously.

“If I said no he’d pick someone else, someone less smart, less magically skilled. There’s billions and trillions of lives and souls on this planet. I couldn’t let them all die because some bored god wanted to end everything! His prophecy was some weakly phrased shit, a first year could see the holes in it! It could be stopped but I had to do it!” your mom snaps, clearly livid.

What was the prophecy again? First born and only son? You could break that by having another child with him first that wasn’t a boy, but then arguably the boy born after would be the first boy so… you could try to twist the situation so the logic of the prophecy would pick a different devil, after all it’s just a job isn’t it? There was one before this one.

“I was the first born.” you say slowly.

“The scans you found, there was one of you then two.” Karkat gasps.

“Dave isn’t his first born, Rose is. But Dave is his only son, but not his only child. Also neither of them are the child first conceived but also they both are together.” Terezi explains.

“So, wait, how does this work? If the antichrist ends the world, I mean that’s what he does isn’t it? Then if Dave or Rose just doesn’t do that then the prophecy is just going to magically shrug and be like ‘nah it’s some other devil’ is that what you’re saying?” Karkat demands disbelievingly.

“Exactly that. Normally a prophecy like that would lock Dave into doing what he was prophesied to do, any action he took would draw him inevitably to that outcome. But with Roxy altering the conditions like this that’s not the case.” Terezi explains.

“Magic is bullshit and I hate it. I quit school, I’m going to go live in the forest and be a lumberjack or something.” Karkat groans, covering his face with his hands.

“The woods are full of magic, Karkat. You can’t escape. Although here’s a related question, if Dave is a god and wow this keeps happening that my friends are suddenly gods, does that mean Rose is too or is she just a mortal human?” Jade asks.

“I don’t know, Jade. Do you think the most powerful seer in hundreds and hundreds of years is human? The one who was glowing just now when Karkat had faith in her? The one who pulled some riddlemaster clue shit with that belt of nonsense, the one who literally just grabbed an angel out of falling and recruited him to serve HER? I don’t know!” June exclaims, throwing her arms up in the air.

Jade stares at June for a long second then very deliberately picks up a crocheted throw pillow from the sofa and flings it at June’s head where it connects with both speed and force.

“You deserved that.” Karkat snorts.

“Rose is just as human and god as Dave is.” Terezi says sweetly, presumably just to contrast June’s sarcastic moment back there.

“You’re… immortal?” Kanaya asks slowly and you turn to look at her.

Oh. OH.

This really isn’t the time but OH.

“So, if Rose and Dave are gods what are they gods of?” Karkat asks loudly enough to snap you out of that line of thought.

“I mean they are gods. Sort of… eh. Okay so, gods like me come FROM a concept and that’s the thing you’re a god of, easy. But gods born FROM gods or any other way a god makes another god is a different thing. Sometimes you get part of the domain of your parent or you emerge into your own domain, which basically always leads off of your aspect to one extent or another. The fact that Rose gets stronger with sunlight and all her visions are through light reflecty things, as well as the glowing and what she did to Karkat… it’s pretty light. So either you’re looking at something sun based or more likely the concept of knowing, learning, seeing that sort of thing. Dave is a lot more emerged because he didn’t grow up thinking he was human, he’s a god of time but he’s not totally narrowed down yet.” June says.

You’re… a god. You’re a god?

Have your divine powers been simply building for your whole life? You don’t feel like a god, you just feel like a witch. Granted you have no way of knowing what godhood feels like but June seems to have absurd amounts of power and you were previously defeated by a blanket.

Speaking of which.

“The blanket, the magical one that hides me from existence, you commissioned it from Kanaya to hide me then?” you ask, looking up at your mother. She nods, still looking unhappy.

“I couldn’t just avoid the prophecy by keeping his child. I made this place after I became pregnant to hide you, it could never have hidden all three of us the whole time. He would have found us eventually because he’d look endlessly, he’d send demons to look and kill as many people as he could to make us have to leave. I had to give him a child, it had to be Dave, he was expecting Dave. So I hid you and- and I took you back here-” her voice hitches and she can’t seem to go on.

“But, no, I grew up with Dave. We lived here.” you insist.

“You grew up here.” June corrects you.

“No-” you try but June waves you off.

“We’re getting ahead of ourselves. I can go on if you want?” June asks. Your mother doesn’t answer despite June clearly directing that question to her but Terezi nods in her stead.

“Me and Dirk used to be friends, but after I found out that he was trying to end the world and had made Dave to do it, that was the very last straw. I know he was the devil but he used to be my friend and sure it’s not a nice job but I figured someone had to do it, you know? I guess I made a lot of excuses for him. I don’t know.” June trails off a little.

You wait as she pulls her train of thought back to where she’d intended to go and not the morose reflection that she had ended at.

“When Dave was nineteen Dirk sent him and Sollux up to this plane to experience it for a year before ending everything I guess. I went looking for him because you hear about these things, on the wind, you know? Heh. I made friends with them, I wanted to talk them out of it if I could or at least just be a friend you know? Sollux was not my biggest fan at first, he REALLY wasn’t used to sharing Dave with people but we got past it. He’s… he was really great to me.” June tells you sadly, no doubt remembering Sollux’s body outside.

“Then Karkat started showing up, although I didn’t meet him for ages. I didn’t know you were sending him to us because he didn’t say and I also had no idea you existed, neither did Dave because that blanket meant that Dirk had no idea about you either. You showed up with Karkat just before the year was up, not that you’d missed a lot, Dave was mostly just driving around with Sollux to every tourist trap he could find, I swear I found him once at the world’s largest ball of twine!” June laughs a little.

Your mind goes to the Disney souvenir t-shirt that you found in the car the first time, that’s where that was from.

“I had a dream where I talked to Karkat about giving him information on where to find Dave and Sollux, but I also remember growing up with Dave here, and with you!” you protest.

“Yeah, me and Dave came up with an idea last minute. And by last minute I do mean last minute, that’s why Sollux and Karkat didn’t actually have anything to do with it. Dave’s a god of time, remember? We found Scratch and lent him Dave’s powers, all of them, a huge chunk of mine and all of Dave’s memories. Rewinding time is incredibly hard but to do it for the whole world is just impossible. But you can make everyone forget the change in time and then magically alter details that would give the spell away. Dave wanted to grow up with you, to be human, to not end the world and have nothing else to do with Dirk. His whole narrative, the story or whatever of who he was just was completely taken over by Dirk and this destiny he didn’t want. He didn’t want to end the world or hurt people. So the two of us decided to rewrite everything, take all of us and put us into a plot that we wrote. Where we could go to school together, grow up, then go study magic together. We wanted Karkat to not have to live with his shitty maker and for him to not have to deal with anything he went through up there. So we locked Dirk away, but just doing him would unbalance everything. We had to put every god away aside from the three of us.” June says in a rush.

“How did you even have the magical power to do that? Normally I’d say you being a god would explain that, I know what it’s like growing up with one after all but you were against who knows how many other deities as you tried to lock them all away. How?” Kanaya asks.

June shifts a little uncomfortably and scratches at the back of her neck.

“It was hell, right? Hell froze over and in class we covered using heat as a source of magical power. If hell was infinitely hot then you could freeze a whole dimension for power, that’s why the demons all left, right?” Karkat guesses.

“We did do that, yeah. Dave as an heir to the place had enough authority to make that bargain apparently, that gave us a lot of power because hell is REALLY BIG and bonkers level of hot so that’s a lot of juice there. But we uh… maybe had some other sources of power. Dave’s god powers and his memories for one, big significant things, but also the memories of people in the time that was lost as well as some further back for some people, the spell went a little wonky with that. The logic on it was meant to completely erase people who’d died in the start of that apocalypse because we’d brought them back but we couldn’t paper over that so we took everything, or people whose species made selecting memories too hard to do.” June continues uneasily.

“Like me?” Karkat asks flatly.

“Ah… yeah. Sorry. We may have also, uh, used all of the souls in hell and all other afterlives, and ghosts. Not that we destroyed them, the universe is a closed system and everything so people still go back into everything. Just all of their memories and… look, in our defence they were all going to be destroyed if the universe ended anyway so we were giving them a chance to come back if we succeeded, plus some of them were in hell and that was terrible so really it was a good deal for some people.” June insists.

“That’s- holy shit June that’s really not your decision to make!” Karkat says in horror.

“Yeah, well, if it makes you feel any better as soon as Sollux found out the details of the spell he punched me and then ghosted me for a month. For a guy designed off of a demon and raised in hell he’s surprisingly ethical on some things. I think he was also mad that whatever I did meant you weren’t around anymore, although we figured that you were just back in heaven sorting out the chaos. Either that or you were living happily not knowing about Kankri but trying to find us and you’d show up sooner or later. Not that I was worried because I’d set things up in the spell so we’d definitely all meet up again at Salem. I could have pretended I didn’t know your name though, screwed that one up, huh?” June laughs awkwardly.

“June…” Karkat says slowly, making June look over at him, “am I right in thinking that your plan was a very elaborate version of ‘if I can’t see the problem it’s not there, la la la, I’m not listening’, is that about it?”

“It’s a little more than that.” June says indignantly.

“It’s really not.” Terezi snorts.

“No, really, you just locked everyone up in the hopes that they’d, what? Form a support group and realise the error of their ways, that the other gods would talk the devil out of trying to end the world? Or were you hoping they’d kill him and avert the prophecy that way? It seems like you had the beginning of a plan and then decided to fucking WING THE REST OF IT!” Karkat snaps.

“No!” June protests, although Karkat is absolutely right.

“But I knew this was going to happen, I remember thinking about it in the vision I had where-” you freeze, you haven’t told Karkat about this because it’d mean admitting that you’re moirails and that you’d been so for years and years. Although you did more or less say the same earlier when you were somehow bringing Karkat back from falling with what you can only assume are god powers, but you think he was a little too consumed with that very painful process to hear you.

“Yeah, of course you knew. You set this whole thing with the belt up, so this was always going to happen. That means we can do something about it like bringing Sollux back so he can get us into hell so we can rescue Dave. If he’s having to unfreeze hell that’s going to take time and energy, he could be weaker, this is the best time to do it. Also, I don’t want to leave Dave in hell or Sollux dead for longer than I have to.” Karkat insists.

“Do you have some kind of plan for getting to wherever Sollux is?” Jade asks.

“Well I’ve been to Midnight City before, I could just ask Slick to take me.” Karkat says casually.

“The man isn’t interdimensional Uber! You can’t just call him up for a ride to Midnight City! Not to mention that his boss is hardly our biggest fan given that we delayed an already in progress apocalypse before and stole a bunch of dead people back from her, powered by the souls of other dead people. I doubt she’s just going to let you in or allow one of her employees to do that.” June argues.

“I can ask my boss, his wife, to get him to agree.” Karkat says hopefully.

“You know Dave did borrow a lot of things from the library,” Kanaya says slowly, “and Sollux held things for him. With them both gone we’d have books that were unreclaimable and as a librarian you’d be well within your right to retrieve your property. I doubt that Sollux’s extradimensional body works when he’s dead.”

“I could go there on library business.” Karkat repeats in a delighted whisper.

“You could go there on library business.” Kanaya agrees with a wicked grin.

Of course Kanaya is just as enthused for library based soul theft crimes, somehow you’re not surprised.

“How do you get back without Sollux?” your mother asks, speaking for the first time in a while.

Ah, yes, getting Karkat back from that realm last time wasn’t exactly the easiest thing in the world and very much relied on Sollux being here to pull him out. It also killed him and made him a snake for a while which is less than ideal to say the least.

“Actually… getting Karkat back might not be the hard part. He’s her angel now, he might even straight up be a familiar, I don’t know what Rose did exactly to switch him. Either way commanding and summoning should definitely be something Rose can do.” June says slowly.

The idea of commanding Karkat against his will really does not sit well with you, but equally you suppose that Dave had the same power over Sollux and Sollux did whatever he wanted basically all of the time. You’ve no intention of manipulating Karkat unless it’s to literally save his life or something like that. Being able to summon him out of Midnight City would be very useful indeed.

“Alright, would you be okay with me trying that, Karkat?” you ask.

“If it means I can get back and if it makes this plan possible then absolutely.” Karkat nods.

“Okay, so… how do I summon him? Dave never used a summoning circle but I suppose I’d always thought he was silently chanting a version of it.” you admit. You never really thought of it as strange and you wonder if you were at some level aware of what was really going on so it didn’t strike you as unusual.

“Like I said I’ve never had a familiar so I can’t say for sure but from what I know Dave said it was like reaching out to Sollux and just telling him something or being like, hey, you come here.” June says and whistles, snapping her fingers and pointing at the ground before her.

A mildly confused Bec trots in front of June and looks up expectantly.

“Oh, no, buddy she didn’t mean you. It’s okay, come here I’ll give you cuddles.” Jade says sympathetically and when Bec comes to her he gets plenty of attention.

This is a solid plan for reviving Sollux and rescuing your brother, also for getting you to a place where you can murder your apparent father, the ruler of hell. You need to be able to crack this. Sitting up straight on the sofa you pull your legs up and cross them under you, almost as if you were about to meditate. You’ve got so much new information and you still have so many questions that your mind is simply buzzing, yet you must push all of that aside to do this.

You ignore… you ignore all of it.

You try to- okay, no. You have so many questions you’re physically itching from the not knowing. With a huff of frustration you open your eyes and frown. Karkat is giving you a look of concern.

“I have more questions.” you say.

“I think we probably have more questions than answers at the moment.” Jade agrees.

“You can say that again.” Karkat snorts.

“I think we probably have more questions than answers at the moment.” Jade repeats with a wide grin. Karkat gives her a completely withering look and June bursts out in surprised laughter.

“Pfft, amazing, thank you for the snack there Jade. Very delicious, very helpful.” June giggles.

“I’m glad my suffering makes you feel better.” Karkat says through gritted teeth.

“It does!” June chirps.

“Okay, well, on that note if comedy and things like that feed you then what feeds me?” you ask.

“No idea, you have to work that out yourself. I’m guessing sunlight is one but you just have to see what helps, sorry.” June answers.

“What about Dave, then? If he was advanced enough to wind back time for people then surely he was… emerged as a god enough to have things power him, right?” Karkat asks her.

“Oh, yeah for sure. Music played at a certain BPM did it for him but I don’t know what it was exactly, I think it changed depending on what he was doing or… I don’t know. People counting down time was nice for him. We went on this ride at a theme park somewhere where it had a count down to launching you on the ride and people waiting were all counting it down and that really fed him, New Years eve was big for him. Anything that kept time being observed, repaired, focused on… that kinda stuff.” June explains.

“It’s funny how that sounds like the beginning of a tradition, like how people have prayer beads and specific things they say in certain situations for their god.” Jade notes.

“That’s how those come about, yeah. You tell your followers that something’s good, they do it more, codify it and think specifically of you to make it stronger and you get tradition.” June agrees.

That makes a kind of sense but it’s strange to think of Dave that way, of a Dave who knew this was what he was. That’s so different from the Dave that you know.

“And Dave didn’t remember any of that?” you check, June shakes her head.

“He deliberately gave up all his memories and powers for the Event. So, no, he didn’t.” she confirms.

“I don’t get that. I really don’t. I mean I REMEMBER growing up with Dave, I remember things we did together our whole lives.” you insist.

“Anything after the Event is totally real, anything before that is not so much. Dave’s whole point is that he hated his life, he didn’t hate you for yours when you two met or anything. Honestly it didn’t seem like you’d have it easy either, he wanted to fix things for both of you and remake things. Like a big ‘what if’ situation. What if you’d been allowed to grow up together the whole time, that’s what this is.” June explains.

“So their memories are fake before the Event?” Karkat asks.

“No- yes, well… I don’t know exactly the logic it uses when it does its thing but generally the Event has that kind of ‘don’t look here’ vibe that some spells have.” June starts.

“Like how I didn’t know I’d forgotten about making the blanket until I saw it, realised it was my work and that I couldn’t recall it?” Kanaya interrupts.

“Right, you don’t know what you don’t know. If you lost everything, sorry Karkat, then obviously you know that but otherwise you tend to smooth over not knowing stuff. People forget stuff about their own past all the time. What did you eat for breakfast yesterday? Who the hell knows! But if you’re deliberately trying to remember something like the birthday you got a certain present or something then you’ll remember that and your memories somehow get edited in to include Dave, or if they don’t then you come up with a plausible reason he wasn’t there. Dave got an edited copy of your memories as far as Sollux could figure out. If the two of you talked through everything you’d probably find you both remember being the one who did something. I don’t know how it does it, decides whatever or if it’s collaborative… I don’t know.” June explains.

You think back to the conversation you remembered with Karkat when you were preening his wings for him. About how hard things were with your mother, how you were living somewhere else without her. You’ve often thought that it’s hard dealing with her with the three of you but one child growing up alone with your mother would have been tough. It’s not like Dave was some cuckoo chick muscling you out of your nest, she’s his mother too and things do seem to be better this time.

It’s a lot to take in and you think you could use a moment to focus on something else instead of examining every part of your past to see if it was ‘real’ or not.

“Alright, I’m going to try to see what I can do with Karkat.” you say and shut your eyes once more.

You centre yourself, focus on clearing your mind as much as you can. It works better this time because you really don’t want to touch your other train of thought right now. So, first order of business, you need to reach out for Karkat.

You think of Karkat, the totality of who he is and- oh. In the darkness of your closed eyes you can perceive a light like a struck match. It burns bright and hot despite everything and as you mentally reach out to it you can feel the prickly defiance, the popping and spitting anger like a candle wick throwing burnt pieces around. You can also feel its warmth, the soft and safe heat radiating away. Mentally you touch the burning light and you’re flooded with the idea of Karkat, his soul as a strict ideal and most accurate presentation of him.

“That’s new.” Kanaya remarks and you open your eyes briefly to see Karkat faintly glowing. Alright, you’ve found him then.

Once more you close your eyes and try to get him to… come here? You’re summoning him but it seems a little redundant.

“Don’t take this the wrong way Karkat but can you go away?” you ask.

“What’s the RIGHT way to take that?” Karkat says, in obvious offence.

“Into a different room because summoning you pointlessly into a room that you’re already in feels stupid to me and I don’t think it’ll work.” you tell him.

“...You could have just asked me to go into a different room.” Karkat mutters, but you hear him walk off.

“That perhaps could have been phrased better.” Kanaya agrees.

Whatever, it worked. You can feel that the lit match of light that represents him is going further away but it doesn’t seem appreciably dimmer or harder to reach for you, which is encouraging as too short of a range on this power would ruin your current plan.

You want to get Karkat to come to you but you also don’t want to order him as such, you’d rather not take his autonomy away so you’re trying to be delicate about this. Keeping your awareness on his light you try to subtly pull him but all that achieves is a lot of nothing. Abandoning that you politely think that he should come to where you are but that also doesn’t work.

A little frustrated you reach out mentally, grazing his light with your senses and then you open your eyes.

_”Ugh.” Karkat grumbles and your vision goes dark for a moment, when it comes back you see hands that aren’t your own pulling away from your face._

_The library swims into focus around you and shifts as your field of view is turned to the window. You are left to gaze out at your now very cratered property around your house._

_“What is…” Karkat says to himself and half your field of vision goes away for a moment. When it comes back it sweeps around a moment or two before landing on the wall behind one of the desks and a small ornate mirror hanging up there. You walk towards it and when you step before the mirror it’s Karkat’s face that you see and his eyes are glowing bright yellow._

You jolt out of it and back into yourself right as you hear the alarmed yelp from across the house.

“I was just seeing through Karkat’s eyes.” you say in disbelief and to the background track of Karkat distantly hurrying across your house to get back to you.

“My eyes were just-” Karkat starts.

“I saw through them!” you exclaim.

“Oh, it was you. Well, that could be useful for one thing and for another I’m glad I can be AWARE of when you’re doing that.” Karkat grimaces.

“That’s... you’re right it’s a huge invasion of privacy, I’m sorry.” you apologise quickly.

“It’s fine, I’m sure you’ve seen the inside of your own library before. I’ll go back.” Karkat nods and turns to head back the way he came.

“Sight through one of your followers is very interesting, for how many gods claim to be all-seeing you might end up that way when you’re done growing.” Terezi says with a sharp grin. That sounds like a special kind of hell so you really hope that you don’t end up seeing through everyone’s eyes, everywhere, all the time.

You close your eyes again, half to focus on your light powers and Karkat, but also half of your motivation is to blot out Terezi’s sharklike grin. Regardless you can see Karkat’s light in the darkness just fine. Once more you politely try to ask that he come to you, that you can summon him but nothing happens.

You don’t want to hurt him, you know what Kankri summoning him did, how Sollux had to teleport him to save him from that agony. But… well, he’s only in the next room over, if you do pull too hard then you can easily sprint to him and be there in seconds if you have to. You need this plan to work and you know that Karkat wants it to as well.

The mental voice you use isn’t angry or a snap of a demand but instead you tell him to come here, you issue the instruction in as neutral a manner as you can. Karkat’s light flares for a second in your mind and then right through your eyelids. Opening your eyes you see a glow fading as a startled Karkat is stood before you, stained glass wings and halo present and accounted for.

“Augh, that was like looking at the worst camera flash!” Jade exclaims, both she and June are rubbing their eyes. Your mother is blinking quickly as she looks Karkat up and down and Terezi just laughs.

“Perks of being blind!” she cackles.

“Holy shit that worked. I didn’t even have to do anything I just showed up. You could get me back from Midnight City like that!” Karkat says gleefully.

“Oh, you have not proved that in the slightest. The next room is hardly another dimension.” Kanaya says flatly.

“Well do YOU have another dimension I can test this in that I can get in and out of easily in case it doesn’t work? Because I’m pretty sure I’m banned from heaven now, not that I want to go back.” Karkat says that last part with a bitter scowl on his face.

“Well, no but-” Kanaya starts.

“Then let’s go for it! I’m calling Ms. Paint now.” Karkat says and pulls his phone out.

Hesitation rises up within you, it’s not that you don’t want to revive Sollux, you deeply do. But… something about this feels wrong.

“Karkat, can I borrow you for a second?” you ask and catch his wrist before he can press to dial on his phone.

“You’re not talking me out of this.” he says suspiciously.

“Heaven forbid that I ever do that, I just want to talk to you for a moment.” you insist.

“I don’t give the tiniest fuck what heaven forbids or not, fuck heaven. But, fine, talking.” Karkat says reluctantly and puts his phone away again.

You pull on Karkat’s wrist and lead him up the stairs, ignoring the curious stares that the others are giving you. Dave’s bedroom door is still open so you pull Karkat in there without thinking, it proves to be something of a mistake as you both pause when you’re inside. The card Karkat gave Sollux is still there on Dave’s desk and the room is scattered with Dave’s things. Dave who is in literal hell right now.

“I can’t leave them like that.” Karkat says quietly.

“I can’t either, I just- I’ve already lost them so please don’t just throw yourself into the grinder as well to save them. I lost you too, you just came back.” you say, feeling something like hysteria bubbling up within you whenever you think of the enormity of what’s happened in the last twenty four hours.

“You brought me back, you mean.” Karkat points out.

“About that… I didn’t know what I was doing and I didn’t ask you.” you say.

“I was burning up in unimaginable pain, even if you had asked I couldn’t have given you an answer that wasn’t screaming. So thanks, I’m not sure what to make of… this, but it’s not bad.” Karkat says and stretches out his wings to look at them. The plates of glass seem to not be entirely physical, shifting through each other and creating new shades of colours as they overlap each other. Karkat shrugs and pulls them back into himself.

“I don’t want to command you to do things, like ordering you to come to me or seeing through your eyes without permission. Your maker was awful, I don’t want to be that.” you insist.

“You’re not. Also, I could feel you in my sight when you were looking. Not that it hurt, I was just aware of it and it felt weird. And my eyes glow like flashlights when you’re doing it so it’s not like I won’t know, I’m not going to worry about you spying on me without me knowing. Although it might mean that you can’t use it to subtly watch what I’m doing when I’m in Midnight City.” Karkat admits.

“Who cares about subtlety?” you scoff.

Karkat gives you a look up and down and his entire expression suggests ‘clearly not you’ in a way that’s entirely uncalled for.

“Shut up, you could always wear sunglasses. I’m sure Dave has a spare pair.” you suggest and look around to see if you can see one. He may have been the recipient of many pairs over the years, some novelty themed but some normal.

“I’m not sure that sunglasses will fool the literal embodiment of death, and I don’t think Dave cosplay will help either. I’ll just deal with glowing. Look, you’re fine, you’re not Kankri and I’d rather be alive to do this than not. Was that it?” he asks.

You hesitate, but you think you’re starting to learn the lesson about saying important things lest you risk losing people without having told them important things.

“No, I… got a memory before. It was before the Event, you were there at my home. Not here, a different home that I don’t recognise, this was right after us going into Winter.” you say slowly.

“Oh?” Karkat says, you suppose he can sense your hesitance.

“We talked about a few things, mentioned Eridan a little. Apparently his maker and yours were trying to set you two up as moirails.” you tell him, putting as much procrastination as you can between this and what you have to say.

“I have complicated feelings about that. I wish he hadn’t died, now I’m never going to get to talk to him about what happened.” Karkat says unhappily, looking off to the side with regret plain to see on his face.

You can’t stand to see him like that, you need to take his mind off of it.

“We were moirails.” you blurt out.

Wait, no, that’s not how you wanted to distract him. He definitely is distracted though, Karkat stares at you with eyes so wide you almost think they might drop straight out of his head.

“What? But- I-” Karkat stammers.

“I know.” you groan. God, this is so agonisingly awkward, why did you do this?

“You said you weren’t alright with that, not that I even entirely understand the concept because I don’t remember how that even works.” Karkat points out, entirely reasonably.

“Yes, I know. That is what we said and what happened.” you agree.

“So what does that mean? Wait, fuck, why am I even asking? You’re so obviously uncomfortable about this and I don’t remember anything about it and we have bigger problems right now so why am I even asking?” Karkat mutters, more to himself than you probably.

“I knew a little while back, the night Bec took your pizza. I didn’t know what to say or what to think about it but when you… when my _father_ destroyed your body, I was in agony. It felt like I’d lost the chance to tell you and I said it when you fell but I think you were in too much pain to hear. I don’t know what to do about this either but hiding the information from you now didn’t feel right either, not after everything.” you tell him.

“So what now, then?” Karkat asks.

“I don’t know, I haven’t got any idea what’s going on anymore. Apparently I’m a god, my life is a lie or at least in large parts it is but apparently I knew about that going in. My brother is in hell and Sollux, who’s family to me, is dead. My mother was involved in this, also she’s dating our friend’s girlfriend too, my father is the devil and the world might actually be ending as well!” you say in a rush.

“Yeah, it’s… it’s a lot. But, look, we need Sollux back to fix things and I’m going to go get him back somehow. I don’t know how exactly but I trust you and I trust that you planned for this. That’s about the only thing that I’m certain of right now so I’m going to lean into that. Alright?” he asks.

Your skin glows again as Karkat says that. It’s faith, he has faith in you, you’re a god and that faith is powering you. He’s your only follower, your only angel, so you can’t let him down can you?

“Right, okay. Step one: call your boss and get a ride to the afterlife, step two: something else, step three: steal Sollux back and defeat the literal concept of death.” you say with a weak laugh and hold your hand out to Karkat.

“Oh, yeah, of course. We should be able to do that by lunchtime I think, or dinner at the latest. No problem.” Karkat snorts but takes your hand anyway.

The two of you leave Dave’s room and head back downstairs. You linger off to the side as Karkat calls his boss and tries to convince her that he needs to go to Midnight City for library business, eventually handing the phone to Kanaya so she can convince her. When she’s on the phone Karkat starts gathering things up that he might need to take, including the belt of holding and you watch him check that the diamond is in there. You’re paying attention to Kanaya’s argument that losing library patrons and books are both detrimental to the library and if standards can’t be upheld even in these times then when can they, when your mother reaches over and tugs on your sleeve.

“I’m sorry.” she whispers hoarsely, looking up at you from where she’s sat.

“What for?” you ask in surprise.

“For not being able to say and- and doing this to you both. I gave him up, what kind of mother d-does-” she chokes out.

“Mom, no, you didn’t have a choice. You were trying to protect everyone you could, and when we get Sollux back we’ll get Dave back and then I’m going to work very hard to find a way to kill my terrible excuse for a father and I will make him pay.” you hiss in promise.

“She agreed.” Karkat says after a moment, taking your attention from your mother who doesn’t seem to have anything much to say about your vow of murder. She’s still holding it together far better than you would have guessed she might in a situation like this.

“How long do you think it’ll-” you start but the slamming of a door that wasn’t there a moment ago interrupts you.

You turn your head to see an angry looking man storming towards Karkat.

“I-” Karkat starts, not that he gets any further because he’s slapped on the side of the head before he can even get to his second word.

“Ow!” Karkat protests.

“Do you KNOW how much trouble you are?!” Spades Slick snarls at him furiously.

“A lot, I assume, I just need to get to Midnight City. Can you take me?” Karkat asks, rubbing his ear.

“Actually before you go can I ask how you even got in here? I’ve never been able to get in when she’s banned me, how do you just show up?” June asks, jerking her head in your mother’s direction.

“Nothing escapes Death or her messengers. As for you… actually, yeah, I WILL take you. I’m not taking you back unless my boss tells me to though, how about THAT, huh?” Slick sneers at Karkat.

“Sounds fair.” Karkat agrees.

“Unless you have any OTHER absurd afterlife shit to pull? Nosy question to ask? Impossible favours?!” Slick growls, just dripping with sarcasm.

“Oh, actually, we do.” Jade gasps, seeing her chance.

“Yeah, right! I do have a question about someone who died, we just want to know where they are now.” Karkat says quickly.

“I wasn’t being sincere, ya fuckin’ idiot. Besides do you KNOW how many people die all the time? I don’t deal with all of them and I don’t care much where they go so I doubt I’d even remember.” Slick sneers.

“My adopted ‘grandfather’, Jake Harley.” Jade says, with a bit of a sour look on her face as she says it.

“Oh THAT guy? Ugh. He’s on our most wanted list, boss lady’s pissed about him. He’s not dead. Should be, but isn’t.” Spades Slick answers with a growl of disdain.

“He’s… not dead.” Jade repeats carefully, something in her eyes having gone very hard and dangerous. She’s been alone all this time on the assumption that he was indeed dead, not an unusual idea since you saw his body in her house.

“Yeah, well, when you’re fucking the Devil himself turns out he’s willing to twist deals with mortals of all kinds to give up their bodies. He’s been body hopping from one to the other ever since he started getting too old in his human form. Demons make a deal, yank some poor soul out of their body, let him in and then he keeps the living soul in something else until its time runs out. Creepy as fuck and like I said boss lady ain’t cool with that. If you see him and end him that’d probably do something to get you all back in her favour again.” Slick says with a grimace.

“Oh, I’ll keep that in mind.” Jade hisses, her physical form suddenly a little too sharp, her eyes a little too dark. The part of your genetics that evolved alongside fae have learnt that you tend to survive more and pass on your genes if you’re NOT near fae who look that sharp and angry. Still, she’s not angry at you so you push the instinct down.

“Good to know. Can we go then? I have, uh, library business to attend to.” Karkat lies.

The psychopomp scowls, clearly well aware that Karkat is not in library business at all. In the end though he shoves the door he came through open. Karkat casts one glance back at you and as he does you close your eyes and then see through his.

You are KARKAT VANTAS.


	37. No one lives forever/ San Narciso

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for not being around last week, I had a pretty bad bipolar dip but I'm more or less out of it now. Thanks for sticking with me <3

You step through the door to Spade Slick’s messy office. You didn’t pay all that much attention last time but it’s kind of a mess, there’s papers all over the desk and bottles of whiskey in various states of emptiness scattered about. A corkboard is covered with notes and profiles on people and every single one is pinned there with a dagger. In a rare display of wholesomeness there’s a photo frame on his desk which is the only thing not covered in papers and inside it is a lovely picture of him and Ms. Paint.

“So, what’s with the glowing?” Slick asks suspiciously, pointing at your face.

“Got kicked out of heaven, got a new god. It’s been an eventful twenty four hours. It’s a thing.” you answer, acutely aware of Rose looking through your eyes.

“Yeah, it ain’t exactly been great here. Got all these dead gods kicking up a fuss because their souls got out of moon jail.” Slick grumbles and opens the door on the other side of his office.

Yeah… all of those dead gods. You’re trying to keep that number from becoming one more, you need to rescue Dave as soon as possible. But… if you can’t then what?

“Where do gods go when they die?” you ask him.

“Nunya.” Slick answers, stepping through the door but holding it open for you.

“Nunya?” you repeat, following him out into the greyscale world of Midnight City.

“Nunya business.” Slick says with a harsh bark of laughter. He slams the door and it vanishes.

“I hate that you just said that and I hate that I fell for it.” you groan.

Slick is lighting a black cigarette with a smug grin on his face, evidently he needs a moment to revel in pulling that off on you. With the time his self satisfaction buys you, you might as well look around. You’re obviously in Midnight City again but this time you’re walking towards a large ornate building, outside of which is a long line of very irritated looking people. There are several arguments going on along the line of people arguing who had been there longer. Needless to say you get a lot of sharp looks as Slick leads you into the building past all of them without lining up at all.

“So… where uh… where exactly are we?” you ask uneasily as you walk through greyscale hallways towards a large ornate and confusingly red doorway. It’s the only thing here with colour on it that you’ve seen since you looked at yourself before.

“You wanted to see the boss right? So here’s the boss’ office. Not going through the front though, the waiting room through there is full of gods right now.” Slick says casually and opens a side door. He pulls you into what seems to be an antechamber of sorts, crosses the room in two long legged paces and yanks the next door open. He shoves you through the doorway ahead of him.

“I have Karkat Vantas here on “_important library business_” boss, so I had to bring him to you!” Slick says meanly.

You look up, having stumbled somewhat as you were shoved in the room. On one side of the desk is Aradia, looking at you in surprise and on the other is an angry man wreathed in stormclouds.

“Uh.” you say in a dumb panic.

Aradia blinks and then calmly looks back to the stormy man in a toga on the other side of the desk.

“I don’t care if you don’t think you should be dead, you are.” Aradia says bluntly.

The man on the other side of the desk raises a hand, a lightning bolt crackling in his grip. Aradia snaps her fingers and the man turns into vapour. Casually she slides a drawer open and pulls out a bottle. The mist that was moments ago most likely a god suddenly flows into it. She caps the bottle which is crackling angrily inside.

“Slick, put him in the vault for now. I’ll deal with him later.” Aradia sighs, holding the bottle out. Spades Slick obediently takes the bottle and makes himself scarce. As he leaves you hear him tapping the glass bottle and taunting the god-vapour within.

“Should I let the next one know that you’re ready?” a smaller and rounder man by the door asks. He looks like Slick if he was smaller and shaped like a friend, instead of being taller and somehow made entirely out of pointy elbows.

“If you tell them that I want another one of them in here any time soon I’m going to disassemble you and swap your limbs around.” Aradia says cheerily, albeit ominously. The small man at the door looks alarmed but wisely stays still and doesn’t let anyone else in.

“You, sit.” Aradia tells you, pointing to the chair on the other side of her desk. The one so recently occupied by a man she vaporised.

You swallow thickly and do as you’re told, going to sit down to face her.

“I’d rather not be dealing with those gods out there so for now let’s hear from you. Why are you here, again?” she asks. She leans back in her chair and rubs at her temples in the universal signifier for a stress headache.

“Uh. Important library business?” you say, your voice squeaking a little because you KNOW she’s not going to buy this.

She does not buy this.

“Library business.” Aradia repeats.

“Sollux might have… books… and such that I need back? For the library?” you try and wilt under her stare.

“Karkat-” Aradia starts with a sigh.

“Alright, that was a lie. I just needed an excuse to get here. Listen, I need to talk to you about Sollux. I need him back.” you tell her.

Aradia pauses, her fingers on her temples and looks at you for several seconds.

“He’s dead, Karkat.” she says finally.

“I know that, that’s why I’m here.” you agree. It’d be pretty stupid for you to come here if he wasn’t dead, wouldn’t it?

“Everybody dies eventually, it was his time.” she tells you and the way her voice is gentle hurts far more than anything else.

“I know they do, but it wasn’t his time. It wasn’t. This shouldn’t have happened and we need him, he’d want to be back with us, he has things he needs to do. It’s not fair either, he barely got to live for all that long and so much of it sucked!” you protest.

“Life isn’t fair.” Aradia says simply.

“Fuck life, what about death? You’re Death, aren’t you supposed to be fair?” you demand, grabbing the edge of her desk and glaring at her.

“I am fair. I treat every soul equally, everyone goes where they’re supposed to, every soul that dies comes through here. I am the only fair thing in the universe.” Aradia tells you sharply. Her red eyes bore into you and your throat catches.

“But it’s not fair, he didn’t- he deserved better. I love him, I hate him. We need him.” you say thickly.

“It was his time.” Aradia tells you again.

“It wasn’t!” you insist, slamming your fists on the desk. Your vision goes misty for a moment and you realise that you’re on the verge of crying. Every bit of your sanity had been resting on this plan of getting Sollux back and then getting Dave back. If any part of that falls apart then you do too.

“Come with me.” Aradia says softly. She stands up and you stumble over yourself trying to follow her as quickly as possible.

Aradia leads you through a door, different to the one you came in through and you’re not sure if it was there a moment ago. It leads to a winding grey passageway that seems endless. As you follow behind her, being that the passageway is too narrow for you to walk side by side, she starts to talk.

“Everything in the universe has a lifespan, you see. Being dead is really way more common than being alive. In the span of everything that’s ever been and ever will be the amount of time people spend alive compared to dead is tiny.” Aradia explains.

“It’s not that there’s no free will but I know how long someone is going to live for, sometimes things change that unexpectedly but we adapt to that. The fact is that when you’re out of time you’re dead.” she goes on.

“Couldn’t you give him more time then? Or check to see if he really did run out?” you ask hopefully.

“No. To both. Come here.” she says and stops at a hatch in the wall. You’re not sure if it was there a moment ago.

The hatch is black varnished wood with a silver handle set into the bottom. At the side is a stone tablet that Aradia waves her hand at and unfamiliar runes dance across its form for a moment. Behind the hatch something rumbles and when Aradia pulls it up there is a timer. Like an hourglass of sorts. In the bottom is a decent amount of white sand, the middle pinches in so tight that you can only just make out a grain of orange sand going through it. In the top bulb you see a whole bunch of multicoloured sand, orange, yellow, red, even some gold dust. The whole thing is held within a simple frame of brushed steel with your name inscribed on it in angelic.

“This is you. Your kind lives for a long time so each grain of sand for you represents a longer amount of time, you’ve still got a lot of time left.” she explains.

“So the world isn’t going to end then? If I’m alive for ages after-” you start.

“You’re serving a god, aren’t you? She can survive the end of the world for quite some time as you’ve already seen with gods. Just because you live longer doesn’t mean that the world doesn’t end.” she says and shuts the hatch. Oh, great, so if you fail to stop this you have a lot of time in the vastness of space to look forward to. Or maybe on a scorched and dead Earth. Wonderful.

Aradia goes for the hatch again. Once more runes appear with a wave of her hand, there’s another rumble and she opens the hatch for a second time.

This hourglass looks like a rube goldberg machine made entirely in glass, bits clearly detach and move, shifting sand from the lower parts of the hourglass to the final bulb at the bottom. Sollux was reusing his time when he came back to life each time but now his sand is all spent.

“The parts still move but he’s got no more life to shift around.” Aradia says, as if sensing your thoughts. She nudges a part with a nail and it spins, empty and sad.

“There must be something- can’t you do something?” you plead.

“No.” she says sympathetically, her voice kind and understanding yet very final.

“But- but- _please_ there has to be something. Isn’t there anything I could give you to get him back?” you ask, thinking of that diamond but in the face of all that Sollux is some rock can’t compare.

You pick up your hourglass and Sollux’s, maybe you can- can threaten her or something?

“Do you want to see him?” she asks, halting your thoughts in their tracks.

“I can see him?” you croak.

Aradia nods and starts walking again. You follow her like a lost little lamb and after a bit she stops at a door that you’re sure wasn’t there before. She opens it and steps inside, you follow her of course.

The room seems boundless somehow with fog rolling around up to your ankles. There are no walls, floor or ceiling that you can see yet you feel very sure that it is a room. You can see the door you came through and maybe a hint of wall around it. It’s not what you’re focusing on though, not at all. Ahead of you Sollux is floating in the air, his eyes shut as he drifts in a dreamlike state.

“He can’t go anywhere until his maker is dead too, so now he’s just sleeping. He’s at peace. No one can hurt him, kill him, torment him. Nothing can get to him here, he’s safe. He’s not sad or in pain, he doesn’t know what’s going on so he’s not worrying. A lot of his life wasn’t great, you know that, but this is safer and better than Earth right now isn’t it?” Aradia asks you.

“I…” you don’t know what to say.

Aradia reaches up and brushes her fingers along the hair at the edge of Sollux’s face, the little bits by the front of his horns that never fully sit right. He reacts a little, stirring slightly as if he was only dreaming.

“You can stay here with him for a bit, you care about him too so… it’s a lot to deal with, I know. I’m in the unusual position of being sad when someone dies for once. I’m happy for him that he’s safe now but I’m going to miss him.” she admits.

Your throat is too choked up to say anything so Death herself just sets a hand on your shoulder and gives you a slightly weak smile.

“Take as long as you need, the door will be there when you want to go. Just leave the timers behind on the floor and someone will put them away later, okay? I’ve got gods to deal with unfortunately so I’ll leave you here.” she says, squeezes your shoulder and then leaves.

The door shuts behind you and you set the two timers on the ground. With hesitant steps you get closer to Sollux, you reach for him but when you go to touch him your hand slips through him like he’s just air. He can’t stay dead, he can’t, you need him alive.

Is that wrong of you? Sollux has been through so much shit, doesn’t he deserve a rest? But then would Sollux rest or would he help Dave? You know the answer to that but now that he’s finally got the chance to rest… no. It’s not fair, it’s not okay that so much rests on his shoulders and that you’re trying to yank him back from a peaceful afterlife, but you can’t let Dave suffer. Sollux wouldn’t forgive you if you did and he doesn’t hate you because you just take what the universe hands you without a fight.

But what can you do?

You look around warily to check but the door you came in through is still closed, you’re alone except for Sollux’s sleeping soul. Satisfied that you’re not being observed, except by Rose that is, you pull the diamond out of the belt of holding. Now that you’re here the idea that this could in any way help seems absurd.

You stare at the diamond and then at Sollux. With little else in the way of ideas you wave it through him but of course that does nothing at all.

“Sollux, can you please just wake up? We need you.” you plead but of course he doesn’t respond, just floats there.

The hope you had is quickly leaving you and it’s taking your energy with it. You sit down on the floor amid the fog and look up at Sollux in heartbroken despair. It’s not fair. You know life isn’t fair, you’re well aware of that but this is just far beyond what you know how to deal with.

Your hand drifts to his hourglass and you drop the diamond in your lap so you can hold the complicated machine that timed Sollux’s life in both. Shaking the thing doesn’t do much and when you turn it upside down out of desperation you find that nothing happens there either.

He didn’t have anywhere near enough time and you need him to have more. Not just because he needs to help you save Dave but because you love him and you can’t face the idea of not being with him anymore. Your eyes drift to all that extra time up the top of your hourglass and as you stare a thought slides unbidden into your brain.

Extra time. You have extra time.

Setting Sollux’s hourglass on the floor once more you pick the diamond up from your lap and look at it, at the sharp point it comes to at the end. This isn’t a bribe or something to barter with, it’s a tool.

With one hand you brace the top of Sollux’s hourglass and with the other clenched tightly around the diamond you score a somewhat wonky circle on the top bulb of the hourglass. To be on the safe side you go over the lines you scored a few times. With your heart in your throat you press your thumb against the glass and the small piece pops inside with a clatter.

“Rose you’re a goddamn genius. Go get to his body, I’m waking him up.” you say under your breath.

You feel the light in your eyes fade away and you wisely use the rest of the time to cut a similar hole in your hourglass. You just need to funnel sand from one timer to the other, give Sollux your extra time. You don’t want to lose any though, so what do you do?

Shoving your hand in your bag you think of your tarot cards and one brushes your finger. You pull it out and look at it, the lovers.

“You’re just mocking me now.” you grumble at the card and roll it up tight. You poke it through the hole in your hourglass and balance Sollux’s in your lap so you can tip the directed sand right into his hourglass. All you’re waiting for is- ah, the feeling of Rose looking through your eyes comes back and so with as much care as you can, you pour.

Multicoloured sand rushes from your timer to the top of his, resting on the side of the top bulb. You pour and pour, not knowing how much the sand will be worth in his compared to yours. When you’ve given away half you stop and settle your timer back on the ground.

Ever so carefully you take Sollux’s timer out of your lap and set it on the ground the right way up.

You stare as one grain of bright red sand falls through from the top to the chamber below and at once some mechanism whirrs and swings, shifting sand from the full bottom half up through other chambers towards the top once more.

Sollux jolts from his dreaming state and stares at you.

“What- what did-” he starts.

WHAT?!  
  
“We need to get out of here now! Rose!” you yelp.

You jump over the hourglasses, reaching to grab Sollux. You have a split second of realising that your hands slip right through his body before there’s a flash and you’re standing in Rose’s cat’s tomb over Sollux’s still dead body.

“What? He’s not waking up.” Rose says in horror, staring down at Sollux.

“My hands went through him, I think his soul is still there, but he’s alive!” you say back in a panic.

“Him dying must have disconnected his body and his soul, he might not be able to get back here.” June whispers from the doorway in utter horror.

“Well can’t we just-” you freeze.

In a scramble you shove your hand into your bag and jump off of the stone coffin Sollux is on and onto the floor.

“Lift him up, make him sit up.” you tell Rose quickly and pull a sheet of paper out of your bag.

Sollux wrote this, a summoning spell for him done in his then living blood. If anything can get his soul HERE it’s this.

Rose hauls Sollux’s upper half upright and you spread the summoning circle out onto the stone below. You gesture and Rose carefully lowers Sollux back onto it. You ball up your feelings of spite to the universe and the mere concepts of life and death and slap your hand onto the spell, you’re NOT leaving Sollux down there to die.

The spell flares into life and Sollux’s back arches off of the paper, his eyes snapping open as he drags a breath into his finally living body.

You and Rose 1, Death 0.

Sollux drops back down onto the summoning spell, gasping for air. You freeze when you see how very wrong his eyes are, instead of blue and red they’re now just black and white. What had been blue is now black and white replaces red. His face twists in obvious pain and his hand flies to his side where Rose stitched him up before.

“What-” Sollux rasps, his claws digging against his skin so hard that you have to pry his hand away from his side lest he hurt himself. As you do you notice the faintest amount of gold blood seeping into the bandages.

“Careful, careful. You’re okay, you’re alive.” you tell him gently, still holding his hand back.

“No he’s not, he’s mortal. Without Dave’s rib he’s… he’s mortal. We didn’t get all of him because Dirk has his rib still.” June says in quiet horror from the doorway.

“It hurts. It- it hurts.” Sollux chokes.

You did this, you brought him back to life in this body, you did it. You share a look with Rose and see that she looks just as guilty.

“We have pain medication in the house, help me pick him up.” Rose tells you.

“What? No, bring it to him, don’t take him to it!” June exclaims.

“Right, yes, just… stay here.” Rose tells you and hurries off.

You kneel down on the side of the stone coffin that Sollux is laying on and hold his hand tight. He grits his teeth and tries to keep his breathing even.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know you’d be in pain when you came back.” you apologise.

“What… what- I can’t feel. I can’t feel Dave.” Sollux says in a strangled voice.

“I guess because his father ripped his rib out of you. Which is a thing I know now. Just breathe, okay?” you urge him.

“Where is he?” Sollux asks, turning his head to look at you. His eyes are so wrong, it makes your blood chill in your veins.

“Dave? He got… uh.” you hesitate. Sollux is already hurt, should you tell him this right now?

“He got dragged to hell, he still doesn’t know anything. Rose said she saw him there too.” June says, taking the choice away from you.

“No! No, no, he- no!” Sollux gasps, he tries to sit up and you have to lean your weight on his shoulder to keep him in place.

“We’re going to get him back, we’re already working on that. I had to get you back first, you were dead.” you tell him, but Sollux just stares at you.

“I also don’t think Aradia can take you back now if you’re worried about that. I… uh, I got to your hourglass thing that has all your life left in it and gave you half of what I had left.” you tell him.

“You what?” Sollux says at the same time as June.

“I couldn’t leave you there!” you insist defensively.

“You cut your remaining lifespan in HALF.” June repeats.

“In… two?” Sollux asks with a wince of pain.

“Yes, but I hate that it serves your duality thing. I hate it a lot.” you grumble.

Rose hurries back into the crypt with a glass flask in her hand, it’s a toxic blue that’s glowing in a way that’s deeply unsettling.

“Mom says this will numb the whole area but it’ll take a few seconds to do it.” Rose explains as she comes closer to Sollux.

“What’s it do before that?” June asks suspiciously but Rose just shoots her a very sharp look indeed. Unfortunately Sollux sees that too.

“Oh, this is going to suck. I can just deal with this.” Sollux whines.

“You really shouldn’t.” you remind him.

“Just think of something else.” Rose suggests, crouching down and picking at the edge of Sollux’s bandage but even that makes Sollux whine in a desperate high pitch and clench his hand hard around yours.

“Like _WHAT_?!” Sollux hisses at her through gritted teeth.

Rose whips the bandage and tape off with one quick rip and Sollux wails, his claws jabbing into your hand hard enough for little rays of light to shine out. That’s… new.

“Maybe just don’t.” Sollux pleads.

“You’ll feel better, just think of something else.” Rose says again.

“Nothing is going to distract me from how much that’s-” Sollux starts to snarl at her.

“Me and Karkat are moirails.” Rose says bluntly and upends the flask before Sollux can manage more than a loud ‘WHAT’ at her statement.

Sollux arches off the stone coffin and nearly falls off the end as a jet of blue flame bursts out of his wound. You have to haul on his arm to stop him clawing a hand into his stitched up side as Rose does the same with his other one.

“Moirails!” Rose says again loudly and the flame flickers away.

Sollux is half off of the stone cat coffin now, gasping for air and his head slumped awkwardly on the floor.

“I… fucking called it.” he says breathlessly.

“We were moirails when you were still stabbing Karkat apparently too, so there.” Rose adds.

Sollux sits up sharply and then shoots a concerned glance at his midsection.

“That really should hurt and I’m really worried that it didn’t. Also, WHAT. You can’t say that and not explain that!” Sollux says, pointing a finger at her.

“I mean maybe don’t bend the giant wound in your side just because you can’t feel it but, yeah, focus on that.” June groans from the doorway.

“What’s happened to us when you’re the reasonable one?” you ask, looking over at June.

“I KNOW.” June says exasperatedly.

“You didn’t tell- when did you remember that? I never knew about that!” Sollux insists.

“I only just remembered it a few days ago.” Rose shrugs.

“What else happened when I was dead?!” Sollux demands, flailing his arms about. You cast a worried look at his side but he seems fine for now. Maybe you should keep him distracted.

“Also I got kicked out of heaven, Rose is my god now apparently.” you tell him as bluntly as you can.

“Wait, really?” Sollux whispers, staring right at you.

He seems almost like he can’t believe that, or like he’s afraid to hope that could be the case. So, careful of the small space that you’re in, let your new wings out and allow your new halo to fill the room with soft hues of red to yellow. You glance at your wings just to see how close to the walls you are and see that there’s some light filtering through them despite being in a small crypt with no other light source.

“It’s light, it’s… Rose. You fell and Rose took you?” Sollux whispers as he rolls off of the coffin and kneels in front of you.

“Yeah, it hurt like a bitch to fall but I’m this now, I guess?” you shrug and your wings chime softly as you move.

Sollux reaches out and pushes at one of your glass feathers with a fingertip and it moves free floating and unattached but it still feels nice in the way that having your normal feathers touched did. His fingers brush the surface of several feathers and he moves from staring at them to you.

“You got out. You got out and away from them and they can’t- they can’t order you or lock you up or- _you got out_.” he whispers.

Without warning he crushes you into a hug. Your wings curl around him automatically, unfortunately forcing Rose to duck on the way there. You should be telling him not to stretch his torso like that but you also really _really_ missed him when he was dead, you’re so glad that he’s back so for just a second or two you’ll hug him back.

“We should get you inside.” you say after several moments of self indulgently holding Sollux’s finally living form against you.

“Yeah. Yeah why did you put me in the cat crypt?” Sollux asks, looking around at Rose.

“Terezi did it. I wasn’t really… I mean I guess it’s the place on the property where dead things are.” Rose says with a helpless shrug. Sollux laughs so hard he wheezes and you look down in concern to see that he’s leaking some blood.

“Alright, enough, you’re still bleeding.” you tell him.

You get up and pull him with you and you have to pull him closer when he wobbles on his feet.

“Do- wait, do I have a finite amount of blood now? That’s lame.” Sollux says a little weakly and leans against you.

“Like pretty much everyone else. God, okay let’s- oh, shit, I’m sorry!” you gasp in apology, realising that you said ‘God’ again and the last thing Sollux needs now is more pain.

“Dumbass, it doesn’t work now.” Sollux with his teeth gritted as he tries to straighten up more on his own and not be so held by you.

“What-” you start to ask.

“_God._” Sollux says right at you but it has no effect at all, even though you can hear it was a specific god he was calling on, not just speaking about gods as a general thing. He was taking a name in vain just like you were, using it as a curse.

“Your gods aren’t diametrically opposed anymore, because it’s me and Dave.” Rose says in slow realisation.

“Well, good, great. Whatever. Indoors now.” you insist and start walking while holding onto Sollux, forcing him to come with you. Sollux might be taller than you but he’s not exactly physically substantial so it’s not hard to make him move. Besides, right now he seems to have all the magical prowess of a room temperature cucumber sandwich so you doubt that he’s going to stop you.

You lead him back to the house, following June with Rose walking along behind you.

“Why is there a huge hole in the ground? Did you do that?” Sollux asks, looking around.

“Listen, I care about you enough to break into Midnight City and steal you from Death herself and perform what is probably illegal necromancy to bring you back but if you don’t shut up, go inside and take care of yourself I’ll send you right back to her.” you threaten him.

“Liar.” Sollux mutters.

“I’d say try me but don’t.” you say and when June holds the back door open you lead Sollux through it with you.

“No one’s ever done that you know. People have got dead people back from actual afterlives very VERY rarely but no one’s ever stolen anyone from Death herself.” Sollux says quietly and you can’t quite look at him.

You’ve told him how you feel, that you love him and hate him. You’re not subtle about your feelings. All the same what you just did is insane, the amount of dedication to steal someone’s soul back is unthinkable. Sure, you can say that you needed to do it to save Dave and the world, but you didn’t do it just for that. You know that, he probably knows that too. It’s just a lot is all.

You avoid that for now and take him inside. Jade is standing between the kitchen and the main room with her phone pressed to her ear.

“-need to stay inside. I’m serious. No… it’s fine, I’m safe, I just need to know you are too. I have to go, just stay in. Okay. Love you, bye.” Jade says and hangs up.

“What was that?” Sollux asks, leaning heavily on you.

“Sollux, you’re alive!” Jade exclaims and rushes towards him.

“Alive and with a big wound! Don’t squeeze him, I want his insides to stay there!” you yelp trying to stop her before she can make it over. Thankfully Jade skids to a halt in front of him and just squeezes his free hand gently.

“I’m glad you’re back, it was awful seeing you like that.” she says sincerely and gently kisses his cheek, which seems to genuinely fluster Sollux.

“Who were you talking to?” Rose asks as she diplomatically moves on and doesn’t tease Sollux.

“Joey and Jude, telling them to stay home where it’s safer. It’s crazy out there.” Jade says with a wince.

You’ve not actually watched the news yet but if you listen you can hear it on in the other room.

“So we’re back to full on apocalypse again, then?” Sollux asks with a look at June.

“Yeah, Meenah’s having a lot of fun last time I checked. But, hey, at least it’s not raining blood or fire yet so we’re not too far along.” June says hopefully.

That’s wildly not reassuring. You lead Sollux into the main room and gently set him down on the sofa. Roxy takes notice of him immediately and squeezes him close to her, saying how worried she was and calling him that ‘baby baby’ name again. You suppose that sort of makes sense in a way, it’s not like Dave is Sollux’s dad or anything but Sollux was seemingly made from Dave so… baby of her baby?

You tune out Roxy’s questions about Sollux’s eyes or how he feels because right now the TV is far more distracting.

“-in the white house. Inside sources have led us to believe that several white house staffers and interns have killed the President, upon which time the Vice President started to make a statement and was allegedly shot in what is currently being called a military coup.” the reporter says gravely.

“Uh, I need to call my dad, I have people in there. Fuck, Meenah’s really going ham on this.” June hisses and walks off.

“Should we be concerned about nuclear war? If this kind of thing is happening here then might it elsewhere?” Kanaya asks.

“Uh-uh. They can’t end things too soon, that’s not their job. Until _he_ comes back to Earth things are going to suck but within a set limit. They can’t end the world without him, it breaks prophecy.” Sollux explains.

“We need to get Dave back.” you insist.

“How? I’m cut off from him in case you didn’t notice.” Sollux says and points at his stitched up side.

“You can go to hell manually right? Through a volcano.” you point out.

“We have your car still.” Rose adds.

“What exactly- you can’t just drive into hell and up to the tower and pick him up! Everyone’s going to be on edge even if we can get in there and I have negative authority anymore. If anything dragging my mangled body to Bro is going to be a win for whoever manages it, not to mention the mother of his son, his other child, the sister of fucking Christ, a literal angel, one rogue god with bonus dragon and fae! That’s not a plan, it’s a suicide stunt!” Sollux snaps.

“I won’t leave Dave there again. And if we don’t go we die anyway.” Roxy points out.

“I mean… yes, but…” Sollux hesitates.

“Actually, on the topic of me…” Jade starts.

“Were we on the topic of you?” Sollux replies.

“You mentioned her, don’t be an asshole.” Rose says sharply.

“Thank you, Rose. Why did you never mention that my grandfather was in hell?” Jade asks.

“Is he? I don’t know. I didn’t know you then, do you know how many people were down there?” Sollux says, seemingly baffled.

“The whole Devil Went Down To Georgia song was about June and the Devil having a showdown and Jake was there for that.” you add helpfully.

Sollux squints at you and then at Jade.

“Yeah? I mean… June fucked his shit up every so often. It’s June. I got the impression they talked a few times but every so often dumb mortals do get fixated on him and he’s big into puppeting people into their doom, it’s sort of the whole deal.” Sollux says slowly.

“Spades Slick said that he’s still alive, that they’re fucking and he’s been switching bodies.” Jade says icily.

“What? No. He’s thinking of a different guy, I know who he’s talking about and there’s no way that…” Sollux pauses, seemingly thrown by the certainty on Jade’s face and on yours.

“No, no, that's the Xenobiologist. He’s a MONSTER, he’s not- I- he was human once I know that but… I mean he doesn’t use the guy’s name we just know his title and… and… what year did he die? You said he died before.” Sollux says, wide eyed and horrified.

“2007, just before my birthday.” Jade answers.

“Oh. Oh shit it is the same guy. Jade, your grandfather is a MONSTER. He tried to DISSECT me once! I WAS ALIVE AT THE TIME.” Sollux shouts.

“Seriously?! What happened?” Rose gasps.

“Dave stabbed him and we got in so much trouble, his body died and Bro had to put him in a backup until they got a new one for him.” Sollux says with a shudder.

“What do you mean a backup?” Jade asks.

“He makes like… so you can’t live in a body if the soul it’s connected to is dead, not without it being necromancy which isn’t what that is. The Xenobiologist needs a living body or else he starts losing the last bits of his life because it’s taking from his soul. Bro gets people the Xenobiologist is interested in studying to agree to give up their bodies as a wager for whatever dumb thing they think they can get because the only person who actually wins in deals with him happens to be June. He yanks their souls out of the body, puts the Xenobiologist in who lives in the body until the soul would have died anyway and then he gets a new one. Bro makes these horrible dolls that he puts the original body’s owner’s soul into until their life runs out. It’s literally the worst thing. Then they just haunt the things after and they watch you wherever you go, I absolutely HATE puppets and dolls and…” Sollux cuts off with a shudder.

Well. That explains Dave’s instinctive aversion to puppets and dolls then. That is literal nightmare fuel, what the fuck? You thought it was amoral enough for Jake to be okay with stealing a child and studying her for her whole life, but this is unfathomably awful. Does he not know what happens to the people whose bodies he takes or does he not care?

“He’s not even a demon either, he’s got no place in the hierarchy but you can get in trouble for doing what he says and you can get in trouble for not doing what he says too. All he has to do is go and tell Bro and-” Sollux starts.

“Why do you keep calling him that?” Kanaya interrupts.

“Oh. So your brother’s god parent whatever went by the whole ‘father’ thing. Our father who art in blah blah blah? He wanted to be not that so brother instead of father. I don’t know if it’s him sincerely avoiding it and an attempt to seem more like the demons that he commands or if it’s an ironic way of mocking that whole… I don’t know. But, it’s Bro.” Sollux explains.

“We still have to go get Dave back. You’re in no shape to go on your own.” you point out.

“Though I have no doubt that if you were then you would try to do just that and leave us out of it.” Rose adds, she’s likely right on that if you know Sollux.

“The world is ending anyway, right? You stand a better chance with everyone working together.” Jade agrees.

“We’re going.” Roxy says, and she’s telling, not asking.

“I don’t even know if the car will work for this, it runs off of Dave's magic but if Bro has him then that might not reach us and normally I’m the conduit for that stuff but I’m…” Sollux hesitates, his hand floating near his mutilated side. He’s not whole right now.

“Well maybe we can do to the car what Rose did to me. Convert it to her. She’s as much her father’s child as Dave is, right? So anything running on her magic ought to work for getting into hell, surely?” you suggest.

“Do I have enough power for that? Also I don’t even know how I did that to you, I just couldn’t let you fall and die so it just… happened. I don’t know how to do that to a car.” Rose says.

“I can change it for you. Changing a power source is nothing.” Roxy says. She’s nervously picking at the skin around the edge of her nails.

“Mount Saint Helens in Washington is probably your best bet, not that it’s close or anything so driving will take a bit. Teleporting isn’t a good idea right now even if it is running.” June says.

“Not close is a bit of an understatement.” Terezi snorts.

“I’ll see you when you get there.” June shrugs, seemingly shaking off Terezi’s comment.

“Wait, you’re not coming with us?” Rose asks.

June sighs and runs her hands through her hair, it flows and small beaded braids reform here and there after her hands have moved and seemingly without her thinking about it.

“I’ll go to hell with you, but it’ll take time to get to Mount Saint Helens, which is the closest volcano that gives you the best shot into Hell. The demons are all going to be running around fixing hell and doing whatever Dirk says. No one’s going to be looking for Sollux because he’s supposed to be dead, no one will care about Roxy because she’s already done her part as far as they’re concerned and they have bigger problems. The other gods don’t know about Rose or if they do they don’t have a grudge against her, so no god is coming down to take you out. Me, on the other hand…” June trails off.

“They’ll want revenge on you for locking them away.” Jade says in slow realisation.

“Exactly. I meet you there and we go to hell together, but if I stay with you the whole journey it’s a target painted on your back. This house is designed to be god-proof. I wait here, you call me when you get there and we go.” June explains.

“We didn’t want you in the car anyway, I can smell you from here.” Terezi teases and Roxy snorts in amusement.

“Because you’re blind and smell is how you SEE!” June retorts.

“Alright, well, I’m not looking forward to driving across the apocalyptic United States without you but I can certainly understand your reasoning.” Rose nods.

“I’ll go pack whatever we might need.” Jade says and stands up. At her side Bec perks up his ears and when she starts to move he scrabbles to his feet and hurries after her. Rose nods and turns to head upstairs with her.

“I have things in the lab.” Roxy says, presumably whatever she warned you about before that could be harmful to demons. That would certainly be handy to have right now.

You sit down on the sofa next to Sollux and look him over. The painkillers or whatever their magical equivalent is seems to be working still, though his injury clearly isn’t good. His eyes being so wrong is unsettling but you can’t imagine that it feels great to be him right now either.

“How’re you holding up?” you ask him.

“I… it doesn’t hurt. But. A huge part of who I am has just been ripped out and I feel like I’ve lost my soul.” Sollux answers.

“Your soul is what I took back.” you point out and Sollux makes a halfhearted gesture as if he gets your point but it’s not what he meant.

“You don’t remember it, being made. I remember it. People are broadly speaking creations of deities but only in a technical kind of way. You and me were LITERALLY made by a person with purpose, I was made by a god no less. I’m alive but that spark of life isn’t with me, Dave isn’t with me. Sure Kankri’s not alive anymore and he wasn’t a god but you’ve still got what he made you with.” Sollux elaborates.

Your hand drifts to your chest, hovering over your heart. Kankri ripped this out to get rid of the agony of empathy, of moral decisions, of genuinely caring about people. You don’t remember being made but you do remember after that, being so sure that you had a good purpose and then finding out that you didn’t. For Sollux to have that removed from him must be awful, it’s got to be the closest that someone like him can come to a crisis of faith.

“We’ll get him back, you’ll get your rib back.” you tell him.

“You don’t have to do this, it’s dangerous and-” Sollux starts.

“Oh, go to Hell.” you snap at him.

Sollux stares back at you, wide eyed and then laughs weakly.

“Fine, after you.” he smiles.

Good, you will.

MEANWHILE, 3,598.8 MILES BELOW THE SURFACE OF THE EARTH, AND ALSO IN ANOTHER DIMENSION ENTIRELY…  
  
YOU WILL BE DAVE  
  
“I’m going to set myself on fire.” you say through chattering teeth as you edge ever closer to the bonfire in your room. As things near it melt they drip and dampen the fire which really doesn’t help.

“I’d say that might help but the fact that you’re this cold might mean you’re working purrtly on human rules right now so it might hurt.” Nepeta says as she hacks at the frozen wall near a window.

You eye the fire. Maybe.

“Th-this place doesn’t- physics doesn’t work like this. If that’s f-frozen air what am I breathing? Wh-hy aren’t I dead?” you ask, shivering violently.

Nepeta looks around and shrugs, clearly having no good answers for you. You’re so unimaginably cold and you’re starting to feel warm which you’re pretty sure is a sign that this is going to be fatal. You might be about to die soon. That… that sucks.

“Think I’m… gonna die.” you say and shudder.

“Please don’t. You’re really important and I’ll definitely get killed if you do.” Nepeta says and then with a grunt she manages to chip enough ice off of the window and leverages it open with a snap of shattering ice.

“Ah, look, see? The lava’s starting to come back over there. Or it’s glowy at least.” Nepeta says, stepping back from the window.

You turn your head a little to look, your joints stiff from cold, only to jerk back when something flies by your head and smacks into the ice. It’s a sheet of paper, pinned in place with a shuriken. In the middle it reads:

Get good. Stop wasting my time. Now.  
  
No sooner have you finished reading the note, that your eyes have graced the very last letter, then the whole thing is swallowed up by rapidly encroaching ice. The fire snuffs out in an instant and the walls of ice start shifting in towards you like they’re a trash compactor and you’re yesterday’s garbage.

Nepeta yelps and throws a jet of fire out where she is to fend the ice off but that only succeeds in melting what’s around her and the ice is still growing, trapping her in a melted bubble inside. You cling tight to the blankets around you with one hand as you hold the other close to your side for what little warmth you have. You’re sure you’re going to die here and you’ve no way of getting help from Sollux or anyone else for that matter.

The ice slides closer and closer to you. You wish Sollux was here, he could do magic to help you, he’d save you. The ice presses against your body, the resistance of your foot trying to push it back meaning nothing at all. You wish you weren’t here, you wish you were back before you were in hell, when you were out of this place.

The ice presses sharply into your back, crushing you towards your knees and then suddenly-

It isn’t.

You unfurl in a rush, flopping back onto the ground with a gasp of blessedly warm air. There’s no ice, no cat demon, just grass under your back. Opening your eyes you see tree branches and clear blue sky above you. Shuddering from residual cold you get up and look around, your feet clumsy with how numb they are.

You’re standing in a wooded clearing, right in the centre where there’s soft grass growing. Scattered about are standing stones that have symbols carved into them which bear demonic signs but the exact specifics of their meaning are lost to you. The ground is scorched here and there in thin lines of burnt grass and cooked mud.

You’ve no idea where the fuck you are but this doesn’t seem like a good place to stay given who you’re hiding from. With care you step out of the stone circle but nothing goes wrong when you do. You ditch the icy blankets which by now are holding in more cold than warmth and start walking.

What just happened? You’re clearly somewhere else but you don’t know how you got here at all. You also don’t have any of your stuff on you at all. Maybe it was Sollux? Some left over magic to get you out of a bad jam or something?

You pause and out of desperation, you try to summon Sollux again. You reach out into the ether out of sheer instinct and this time you find him there. Instantly you jerk on that connection, begging him to come to you, and with a sudden puff of smoke Sollux appears before you in the woods, alive and unharmed.

“Sollux!” you gasp and fling yourself at him.

“Whoa! Cold! Why’re you so cold? Also why did you call me in such a huge hurry? And why are… oh.” Sollux pauses and you carefully let him go enough so that you can lean back to see him without going cross eyed.

“You’re jumping through time. You’re from my future.” Sollux says.

“What?” you say dumbly because what the hell can you say to that?

“I know, don’t ask questions. Preserve loops and all. You have ice in your hair.” Sollux says and runs a hand over your hair that just radiates heat.

He’s here. He’s here, he’s here, he’s here.

Your throat feels like it’s closing up so you drag him in tighter and half fall and half drag him to the ground with you. He squeaks a little in alarm but you end up with Sollux settled in your lap, his tails curled around your waist and his jaw resting gently on your shoulder.

“I know you can’t say in detail but… Bro, right?” Sollux says softly. You squeeze him a little tighter and try to think.

Sollux’s hands trace soothing patterns on your back as you start to calm down. You were in Hell, the Devil- Bro was the one who put you there. He made the ice attack you and now somehow you’re here.

“Did you pull me here?” you ask.

“You summoned me.” Sollux snorts.

Oh.

“Before that, I mean.” you ask, just to be sure.

“No? Why did you jump to this point?” Sollux asks.

“I don’t know. It just happened.” you admit.

“Ah. So you didn’t need something here, aside from cuddles I guess?” Sollux asks and squirms out of your grip a little so he can look at you. His tails are still around you and he’s still in your lap but now he’s able to look you in the eye again.

“I don’t know. I feel like I don’t know shit. I don’t have any of my stuff either.” you say bitterly.

“Wait, you’re unarmed? Seriously?” Sollux gasps, clearly horrified.

“I guess?” you answer him even though that’s not how you’d been thinking about it.

“I can give you a sword or something, I’ve got loads of regular swords and, well, THE sword. You really shouldn’t be wandering around unarmed, especially if you left your Sollux in whatever time you came from. I can give you whatever, future me will get it.” Sollux offers.

“Wait, THE sword? That was a lot of emphasis, maybe that’s why I’m here? What’s THE sword?” you ask urgently, there’s got to be some meaning behind you suddenly being in this place and apparently time. Right?

“You don’t remember? You’re from the future though, how do you not know about stuff we’ve already done?” Sollux asks as he squints dubiously at you.

“I don’t remember it. Or apparently a lot of things.” you admit.

“That sounds like Bro shit to me, but fine, I’ll explain things you should know. We stole THE sword whose name I can never pronounce from Bro on the way out of hell because he told us to grab swords but he didn’t say not to take his. Not that he’s used it really since killing Caliborn. I don’t know if we’re going to use it or if we’re just taking it to piss him off since we’re not in his plane anymore. I don’t think it’s a good sword to use just because though, I’m pretty sure it’s basically cursed.” Sollux explains.

“Can I see it?” you ask him slowly.

Sollux squirms out of your lap enough for him to pull a sword out of his void and hand it to you. It’s pure white and although it’s a dumb descriptor it just looks magical as shit. The edges of it seem unnaturally sharp and you’re careful not to go anywhere near them. Something about this just feels… right.

“It feels like I should have this.” you say slowly.

“Then I guess you should. Let me give you something you can actually use though.” Sollux says and pulls another out. He hands you a sword with a red and black hilt and a steel blade, the guards of it are kind of pointy and impractical though.

Oh, and another small detail, really something you could easily overlook IS THAT IT HAS A SNOOPY SNO CONE MACHINE IN IT.

“This is ridiculous and hideous. I love it.” you whisper in awe.

“It’s dumb as shit, it’s great.” Sollux grins at you.

You take the sword from him and then hesitate, you can’t just wander around with TWO swords like it’s a normal thing.

“Do you have a bag of holding or anything? I can’t go around with these without people freaking out.” you tell him.

“Earth is so weird about that shit, I’m still getting used to it. Not to mention having to pretend I’M human. It’s bullshit is what it is, but I can make you a bag.” Sollux grumbles.

Magic flares in his hands in a sparkle of bicoloured light and a smallish bag of holding with a long messenger bag style strap appears in the air and falls into his hands. He holds it out to you and you take it gratefully.

“So you’re new to Earth?” you ask him, trying to work out when this is.

“Mmm. Are you going to a different ‘when’ now or are you going for a ‘where’ in this time? If it’s a ‘where’ kind of thing then I can give you a ride since your Sollux isn’t here. I mean I say that like we’re different people, we’re not, I’m yours regardless of when time is.” Sollux says and you can see him getting slightly tangled in that sentence, but you get his meaning all the same.

Okay, okay if Sollux doesn’t seem able to tell you much then… then Rose would be best. Right?

“Can you take me home?” you ask him.

“To Hell?” Sollux says with some surprise.

“No, no! I mean Mom’s.” you say hastily. You’ve no desire to go back to Hell, thanks.

“Mom’s?” Sollux repeats, clearly having no idea what you mean.

“Mom’s house?” you try again, but no Sollux still looks lost.

“I don’t know who that is so I’m guessing it’s someone I’ve not met yet, but if you’re sure that’s where you need to be then I can take you if you can give me an address.” he offers although he still looks dubious.

“Right okay, I can bring it up on your phone if you like.” you say and Sollux willingly hands you his slightly older model phone than you’re used to.

Nevertheless you pick out your Mom’s home on Google Maps, or rather you get the road by it because it doesn’t show up on Google Maps for obvious reasons. It’s just easier to pick the point on the nearest road. You hand the phone back and point at the road.

“Okay, come on.” Sollux nods.

Sollux stands up and pulls you up with him by the hand, he looks around for a moment to be sure that you’ve not dropped anything but you’ve already put your swords in the bag he made you. He flashes you a sharp toothed smile and at once you’re gone. The smoke clears and you’re on the familiar road closest to your Mom’s house, to your house.

“This place feels… weird? I can’t put my finger on it.” Sollux frowns and turns around on the spot, trying to locate whatever it is.

“It’s fine, come on.” you tell him and start off into the woods. It’s only a few paces in that you realise Sollux isn’t behind you.

“Sollux?” you call out warily.

Sollux teleports to your side with a confused expression on his face.

“I swear I was following you and then I was on the road again.” he says warily.

Is your Mom ramping up the magic right now? Even if she was you’ve never known it to screw with Sollux being able to find the place. Certainly she’s messed with it enough to stop anyone getting in or out including you, a particularly bad bout of paranoia on her part once locked you in the house for days but never hid the place from Sollux. Unsettled you slide your hand into his and lead him on. You know where you’re going and as long as you have a hold on him you can take him with you.

“I don’t- what’s doing this? This isn’t Bro’s magic, it’s like the route keeps just… not being? This isn’t even fae shit but it’s the same sort of bullshit.” Sollux says, bumping into you again as his feet keep trying to lead him away.

“It’s something like that.” you hedge, feeling a little like you maybe shouldn’t say although you can’t place why.

You don’t get much further before Sollux pulls on your hand and stops walking.

“I don’t like this place,” he says as his eyes search the woodland that leads to your home, “it’s making me itch. My skin literally is crawling trying to get to whatever this is.”

“It’s fine, we just need to get there.” you tell him.

Sollux looks highly dubious but when you start walking again he goes with you. You only stop when you hear a pained noise from him. Turning around you stare in horror at Sollux’s skin, he’s holding his hand up before his face and his skin is going black. Not like it’s sick or frozen or anything but like someone’s trying to cut him out of the universe bit by bit. It reminds you of the endless vast void that Rose used to talk about when she mentioned Cthulhu stuff.

“Oh shit, get out of here!” you tell Sollux.

“But what about you? I can’t leave-” he starts.

“Go!” you order him and feel yourself push him away as much as you had summoned him before. Well… shit, that’s new. You don’t think you’ve ever anti-summoned Sollux before, you hope you didn’t hurt him or anything.

Still, he’s tough and you need to get into your Mom’s house to fix this. You can call him back up when you’re outside at the road again. Not that it’d surprise you to find him there already.

With grim determination you continue your path to the house. Why would the spell protecting the house affect Sollux? It’s never done that, not ever. It was leading him away and attacking him when it didn’t drive him off with the misdirection alone. Everything is seriously fucked up, you need Rose’s advice and you need your Mom.

You finally leave the treeline and walk into the open area that your Mom’s house sits on, you open the front door and step inside.

This… this isn’t your house.

Or it is, but it also subtly isn’t. The furniture isn’t quite where it should be, the art is all off and the photographs on the walls are all in really elaborate frames and not where they belong. You glance over at several of the photographs by the door and your blood runs cold to see them. Pictures that you know had you and Rose in now just show Rose, pictures that you took aren’t there at all and it’s all wrong. Rose’s expressions are off in many of them, they’re mostly guarded and resting bitch face like. That expression she puts on when she’s not comfortable with people, despite the name it’s not her resting face at all but she acts as if it is when she’s not feeling cool with someone.

What is going on?

“Rose? Mom?” you call out. Your voice echoes around the house but you hear no one call back to you. Alright, creepy, but you need to keep looking.

You step further into the house and your new bag just brushes a giant stack of mail on a decorative plinth that isn’t usually there. Cursing you scramble to catch it all and start picking up the letters that escaped. This is all mail from the mailbox down the road but it’s such a huge stack that it’s got to be weeks and weeks of mail. There’s the usual junk from the places in town, fliers and notices about local government and whatever. There’s more, though. Multiple handwritten letters in Rose’s handwriting.

Why is Rose writing letters to her own home?

You pluck one such letter up and turn it over. There’s an instruction on the back.

If not collected within two weeks please return to:  
  
The address after that lists Rose and it’s a Manhattan address. Again, you have to ask: what the fuck? You shove the letter in your new bag of holding and go looking for your Mom. The first place you check is the lab and you’re only halfway down the stairs when you realise why she didn’t answer you. You can smell the alcohol in the air from all that way away. She’s slumped over a desk with a bottle of gin dripping slowly onto the floor by her. She’s got a spell running on another table which she really shouldn’t be doing drunk but you know better than to fuck with it.

Damnit, if she’s this trashed she’s not going to be any help to you or anyone else for a long time. You sigh and right the bottle, setting it on a different table and then tossing a cloth on the spilled alcohol and letting it soak. Your mom is fine, she’s not barfed on herself or anything thank goodness so you’re probably best off leaving her where she is. You toss the cloth in the trash and go back upstairs.

Mom’s no help and Rose is for some reason somewhere else, also your house is all wrong. You have more questions and no answers. You’ve got no choice, you have to go find Rose. That said you can’t summon Sollux here if your Mom’s spell is going to hurt him so you leave the house and start walking back to the road. How did he not know where your Mom’s house was anyway?

You’ve been trying to avoid thinking about it but Sollux said you were from his future and Nepeta had said some stuff that didn’t make sense to you and…

Are you really in the past? Before Sollux came to your house? But even if that is the case it doesn’t explain why your house is all wrong or why Rose is somewhere else. If this is pre-event she’d be thirteen which is definitely not an age at which she’d be living in Manhattan alone. You can’t be in the past, time magic is fucking bonkers, people can’t do it and even if they could it’d be so dangerous. What if you did something in the past that you hadn’t done in the original past? You could ruin everything!

Maybe you shouldn’t call Sollux back if that’s the case, you’d hate to get him in trouble or endanger him in any way. You could get a taxi maybe but you don’t have any of your stuff and if you’re in the past there’s no way to be sure that if you found a taxi that they’d have an account with your mom.

The decision is taken from you when you get back to the road and find Sollux waiting for you, texting away on his phone.

“Oh, you’re here still.” you say in surprise.

“I didn’t want to leave you around that, are you alright? You look okay.” Sollux says as he looks you up and down carefully.

“I’m fine, it doesn’t affect me. I don’t know why it affected you, it shouldn’t have. Are YOU okay?” you ask him in return.

“You worry too much, you know I can walk off way worse than a weird magic burn.” Sollux snorts.

You have a horrible feeling you know where he got that experience from with a little more detail now.

“Who were you messaging?” you ask instead of saying that.

“You. Just telling you that I’m doing a time thing for a different you so he doesn’t call me back without it being really urgent. But it’s cool. What’re you doing now?” Sollux asks, putting his phone away and looking at you expectantly.

If he already has some protocol for this then maybe it’s okay to rely on him in this situation. Maybe. You take the letter out again and suddenly get a strong feeling that you shouldn’t show the whole thing to him.

“If I read you an address can you take me there or near to it?” you ask, holding the envelope closer to your chest so he can’t see it.

“You know I can.” Sollux nods.

You read him off the address carefully and stash the envelope back in your bag so he doesn’t see it, that doesn’t feel like you did something wrong so you’re going to go with that instinct.

“Hm, it’s pretty busy around there. Alleyway or rooftop? I’m trying to not be seen just appearing out of nowhere is all, unless you don’t care about that?” Sollux asks.

“Uh, rooftop maybe. Your call.” you tell him.

Sollux nods and then teleports you both away. The smoke clears almost immediately and you’re on the top of a skyscraper near what sounds like an electrical generator based on the hum coming from the wall of the smaller room on the rooftop behind you.

You probably need to find a way to get off of this building and back down to the ground so that you can find whatever building and apartment that Rose sent this letter from. You’re considering how to do that when a voice catches your attention, and Sollux’s too judging from the way he immediately bristles at it.

“It was a lot of stabbing, it wasn’t fun.” Karkat’s voice drifts to you.

You look around and up and see that Karkat’s there leaning on the railing that runs around the roof of the building next to the one you’re on. He’s facing inwards so he can’t see you but it’s definitely Karkat.

“It’s that _angel_ again! I’m gonna kill him as soon as I work out how!” Sollux snarls and drags a sword out of his chest.

“What? No! No, don’t do that!” you hiss and grab him.

“Oh, right. You’re temporally out of step, he probably shouldn’t see you, right? Shit. Fine, you get off this time, angel.” Sollux hisses, not that Karkat can hear him.

“Wow, even now you’re trying to get him off. Bigger things to worry about right now, man.” you snort.

“Huh?” Sollux frowns, clearly not getting what you mean. Huh, very much in the past then.

“You’ll get it later. Look, I’m where I’m meant to be I think. You don’t need to stay, I’ll call you back if I need you, right?” you tell him.

“But-” Sollux starts, you shush him as Karkat’s talking again.

“No, I know that. I get why… I get it.” Karkat says unhappily.

You think you hear Rose reply to him but her voice is lost to the sound of some angry New York drivers below. Karkat nods and straightens up and just like that he vanishes from view. Sollux makes a chittering sound of banked irritation, like a cat stuck watching birds from behind glass.

“Go on.” you nudge Sollux.

Sollux takes a step back and looks at you then very deliberately pulls you in for a hug. You’re a little confused at the sudden move but you’re certainly not upset about this turn of events. Honestly, everything else is crazy right now and you can’t help but be comforted by the fact that no matter what you can always rely on Sollux.

“You looked like you needed that.” Sollux says simply when he lets you go.

“Yeah.” you agree a little numbly.

Valentines night flashes through your mind again, being attacked, losing Sollux… all of it. Your hand drifts to his side and the forever warm stripe on his side that reassures you of his presence.

“I can go with you.” Sollux offers but you shake your head, you distinctly feel like he shouldn’t.

“‘kay.” Sollux nods and leans in to press his forehead against yours and then teleports away. If you need him again you can call him.

You take a moment to breathe and then look for a way off of this building, if you had your Unreal Air on you still you’d just fly on over to the building that Rose is in but you don’t. Because of that you have to find a stairwell and go down that like a chump. It’s a lot of stairs too but at least you’re walking down them and not up. You slip out of the back of the building and then circle back until you get back out onto the main street and find the front of the building Rose’s letter directed you to.

The building is fancy and you freeze when you see a doorman on the outside and a security guard at a desk on the inside. You don’t know if they’re going to try to stop you but you don’t have much choice at all here. Warily you make your way over and walk to the doorman.

“Uh. I’m here to see my sister, Rose? Rose Lalonde.” you say uneasily, very aware that at first glance you and Rose look very little alike at all.

“Oh, yes, Ms. Lalonde did mention you coming by. Please, go on in.” the doorman smiles kindly and opens the door for you, hence the name you guess.

Gratefully you step into the building thanking everything for your seer sister’s amazing abilities. You walk quickly through the very fancy entranceway and poke at the button for the elevator and get stuck awkwardly smiling at the security guard until it FINALLY dings and slides open so you can escape. Once inside you check the envelope again and see that it says the address is the penthouse of this building so you press the button for the highest floor and wait.

You wait as the elevator rises and feel slightly cheated that it doesn’t have some sort of elevator music in it, there’s just you reflected back in the mirrored walls. When the thing finally stops you step out into a fancy pants hallway and aside from an access door around the side there’s only one doorway on this floor. The door is painted a rich purple and you figure you should at least knock.

Your fist is almost at the door when it swings open showing Rose on the other side. She looks you up and down from head to toe with a curious expression on her face.

“It’s really something to see you properly. Come on in, I was expecting you.” she says and steps aside.

You walk into what is quite clearly her apartment, everything about it just screams Rose but you don’t understand how this can be here and how she can be the same age as you if you’re supposedly in the past. Rose shuts the door and you look around a little more, your eyes fall onto two things tucked into the corner of a desk that are very familiar to you by now. The carved black chest that last you saw contained the blanket that makes Rose not exist and the belt that Karkat took from that box that has all sorts of random shit in it. Interestingly not all of the pockets are attached yet and you can see one on the desk that’s not sewn on yet.

“Absolutely nothing makes sense, what’s going on?” you ask her.

“Well, I can’t possibly explain everything but I can certainly explain some things. Would you like something to drink and we can sit down and talk?” Rose offers.

“Sure. Coffee would… coffee would be good.” you say wearily, this has all just been so much.

Rose nods and leads you into a fashionable kitchen and you’re so full of questions that no single one can seem to rise to the surface to pass your lips. Instead you just rest your head against the cool glass of her kitchen windows and watch as Rose makes coffee. She makes two mugs, both just how she likes them which is fine because you take your coffee the same way.

There’s a small breakfast bar with two high stools and Rose gestures for you to go that way, you take one chair and she sets both mugs on the table then seats herself on the other chair.

“Might I suggest that as you have a lot of questions that we take turns in asking and answering, that seems only fair.” Rose says and curls her hands around her steaming mug.

“Fine, but I’m going first.” you tell her.

“Be my guest.” Rose says with a casual little shrug.

“What- how-” you try to think where to start and then decide, “when is this?”

“Some context clues would have saved you a question there.” Rose smiles and points a finger towards the calendar on the wall just to your left on the side of a cabinet. December 2019, specifically the eighth if the way she’s crossed the dates off are to be believed. There’s some symbols marked down for this day that you guess mean something to her but nothing to you, a slash with some lines coming down from it and a… cogwheel maybe?

“What date is it from your point of view?” Rose asks and leans over to pick a pen out of her chaotic organiser on the side of the breakfast bar.

“It’s Valentines day, 2020. Or… I guess it’s the 15th now? Oh, I have this from Mom’s.” you say and hand her the letter you found since she’s got a pen in hand and seems to be looking for something to write on.

“Oh good, another one never read. But I suppose that’s how you found me, right?” Rose grumbles and uncaps the pen with her teeth and takes the letter from you. She tears it open at the top and takes the sheets of paper that her letter was written on and turns them over. On the back she writes down the date you just said.

“That doesn’t make sense though. You don’t live here. When it was… sixty eight days ago you weren’t here. Mom’s house was all wrong, I don’t understand.” you tell her.

“Did you really just work out how many days that was in your head?” Rose asks in surprise.

“Math isn’t magic.” you huff.

“Debatable. Still, I’ll take that non-question as your next question. So, yes, although I assume that you are correct in saying how many days are technically between those two dates there are more than those from my perspective. In order to get from where I am now to where you are there’s a lot more time than it might first appear.” Rose says.

“You’re saying words like they mean anything.” you sigh.

“Consider this,” Rose says and flips the envelope over and starts to draw, “time is an interesting concept. It’s linear and in a single direction pretty much all of the time, but much like a lot of rules in physics it breaks down in odd situations. Quantum physics doesn’t work with Newtonian physics but that doesn’t mean that Newtonian physics is wrong for pretty much any normal thing you would want to use it for. So, time is like this.”

Rose gestures to the straight line that she’s drawn on the paper.

“Mother was born, time goes on, we were born, time goes on, and here is now. For me this has all been perfectly simple. This is today.” Rose says and makes a little dot on the line.

“Alright?” you say.

“A few days ago on our mutual birthday you came back to Earth from Hell for the first time since you were born. When we were both born I was kept hidden and you were surrendered to our father, the Devil himself. You’ve been in hell up until a few days ago.” Rose tells you.

You think of the room you awoke to in hell, of the Devil dragging you down there, of what Sollux said. It fits but it can’t be true.

“But-” you start.

“Let me finish. In a little less than a year from now, again on our birthday you will decide to avert the apocalypse. There are people who are right now trying to talk you out of ending the world but it’s not so simple. The method you choose ends up rewinding things in a way, but not strictly speaking. To go back in time you slide back along a track of time that exists. You don’t do that, you curve things as it were. Sending us into a different alternate version of this world in what everyone believes is 2013.” she goes on, drawing along her line then curving it and looping backwards without touching the original line.

“The point you remember is from that point, as far as I understand things so far. I will also only remember accurately from then, which is why I have to work so hard now to facilitate what is going to happen then. You live through that time until… you said Valentines Day 2020? At which point I can only figure shit starts to get, as they say, real.” Rose says primly. She lowers her pen and sips at her coffee for just a moment.

“You are from this point in time more or less, you have individually travelled back to where I am right now, here.” Rose says and taps on the paper from one point to another.

“How? How did I do any of that?” you ask, completely lost.

“Ah-ah. It’s my turn. Tell me about what happened on Valentines Day in as much detail as you can. I’ve had visions of part of the day but I know I’m missing some.” Rose says and picks up her pen once more, ready to make notes.

With little other choice you tell her everything you can remember about Valentines day and Rose notes down especially places, people and times. She doesn’t ask you extra questions, probably knowing that it would count against her but you do try to tell her what you can. You weren’t a lot of help at the time, maybe you can help now.

“So tell me how I’m able to do this.” you press her when you’re done catching her up.

“Our mother is the most talented witch since who knows how long and our father is a literal god. I might not be a full god just yet but I’m becoming one and I know I get there. You have time powers which are powerful but rather self explanatory, mine are a little more unusual. That’s all there is to it, you can time travel because you’re a magic time god. I don’t know how you do it beyond that because they’re not my powers.” Rose says with a shrug.

She leans forward and looks at you intently.

“I’m doing everything I’m doing because I know it has to happen, I know it’s for the best outcome and sometimes I have to just trust my instincts. But you’ve seen a future I’ve only glimpsed and felt the threads of, you’ve lived that. I need to know if things are better then. Is the time you came from worth it? Prior to our father showing up and ruining everything I mean.” Rose asks.

You want to say that you don’t have a point of comparison, you don’t remember this past that she’s in. But you’ve seen your Mom’s house, you know the things in Sollux’s past that he can’t talk about and the things he has nightmares of, you saw your room in hell, you saw what your so called father did to Sollux and his attempts to crush you in ice.

“It’s better.” you answer her. It’s no comparison.

Rose relaxes a little at your words and nods silently for a moment. The ambient sounds of traffic and city noises from below filter in around the windows as well as the background domestic hum of Rose’s dishwasher. You have such a hard time believing that this is real but it’s happening around you and denial isn’t a good strategy anymore. It probably wasn’t ever and it sounds like magically powered denial is what you’ve been doing all this time.

“What do I do now?” you ask, barely above a whisper.

“I don’t know, I knew you were going to come here and that we’d talk but I don’t know what you’re supposed to do from here on out.” Rose admits.

That doesn’t really help you though, does it?

“You must trust me a lot to be asking me to tell you what to do. From my perspective this is the first time we’ve met, well, not counting being born of course.” Rose says.

“Of course I trust you, you’re my sister. I’ve known you my whole life, or I thought I had anyway. You know everything, you know way too much most of the time. It drives me nuts normally.” you laugh a little weakly.

“I’m really looking forward to that, I’ve really not enjoyed being an only child. But… hm, if you’re looking for something to do you could help me get something that I’ve not been able to get by myself.” Rose says as a sneaky smile spreads across her face.

“Like what?” you ask suspiciously.

“Oh, nothing. Just an instrument.” she says lightly.

Somehow you get the feeling that it’s not as simple as that.


	38. Time/Battle scars

“Now, try not to overreact, but I need you to steal this instrument from a god. Made by the Devil himself it’s a solid-” Rose starts.

“Oh, June’s gold fiddle. Yeah I’ve seen that before.” you nod.

Rose frowns at you, she’d clearly been building to the reveal of her dramatic quest and you’ve accidentally undercut her with your words.

“When I said don’t overreact I didn’t mean you should underreact quite that much.” Rose reprimands you.

“Hey, I’m sorry, but I’ve seen it before. I know about it, the whole Devil Went Down To Georgia thing. I’d really like to know what’s up with Georgia as a place but I guess I gotta prioritise my mysteries right now. I could just go ask her for…” you trail off as you feel that idea unfolding. Tracking June down and asking her for the fiddle, that path feels wrong and dead somehow.

“What?” Rose asks.

“Uh, I think I have to steal it without her seeing me. I just get that feeling.” you tell her, even though it feels like a weird thing to say.

“I would listen to that if I were you, in my experience with powers of a divine nature they’re intuitive. Even if you don’t know just yet why you think something it’s worth paying attention to. Now, do you happen to know where the fiddle can be found?” Rose asks.

“No clue.” you admit.

“Well, lucky for you I do know. I’ve tried to take it before but whenever I get anywhere near it now the goddesses’ followers just move it from me, they seem to delight in tricking me. I can’t tell you how many fake fiddles I’ve nearly stolen by mistake.” Rose sighs and rubs her forehead.

“And you think I’m going to have more luck? Why?” you ask.

“Just a feeling. Besides, you said you’ve seen it before which means it ends up in my possession eventually doesn’t it?” Rose asks.

“Well, yeah. Okay. Tell me where it is and I’ll get it.” you say.

Rose smiles that smile she gets when she’s won something and tears a strip off of the envelope and neatly writes an address in purple pen.

“It’s in an address on Coney Island right now, because of course it is. You’ll need to sneak in without being seen but I’m not sure how you’ll do that, I trust you’ll work it out when you get there.” she says and slides the paper across to you. You pick it up and look it over.

“On a related note I- uh, don’t have any money. I don’t have anything except for two swords and a new bag.” you say awkwardly.

“It’s just one subway ticket,” Rose says flatly, “how much could it cost? Fifty dollars?”

“That’s, like, five bananas.” you shoot back immediately and snicker at your own mutual reference.

Rose perks up, a smile creeping over her mouth giving her a look of genuine surprise and delight.

“People never… people don’t get my jokes like that. Are we always like that?” Rose asks, quietly hopeful.

“Yeah.” you shrug and lean back in your chair a little. “It’s not like we don’t drive each other nuts sometimes, you’re my sister, it’s part of the job description. But we grew up together for my whole life as far as I can remember and when we went to Salem for college we still shared friends and hung out all the time. Obviously you’re cool, we’re related, but you know it’s not like… I don’t know. Of course I get you, of course I like you.”

Rose seems a little… not disbelieving. You don’t think she suspects you’re lying or anything but it’s almost like she can’t bring herself to believe that you’re telling the truth. She nods and gives you a slightly weak smile, sentimental and bittersweet.

“I’m really looking forward to that.” she whispers.

Rose reaches across the table and squeezes your hand for a moment and then gets up, papering over her moment of human emotion with arrangements to leave the building together and get money out of an atm for you as well as suggesting that you stop by a phone store to get a phone that she’ll keep active for you in case you need to look something up or call her.

As soon as you’ve started the phone up you dial her number from memory and it’s only after you’ve hit call that you consider she might not have the same number, but that worry fades as Rose jumps and pulls her phone out.

“I… suppose you have my number and I have yours now.” Rose says, a little taken aback.

You have coffee with her and let your new but also technically old phone charge as you both eat your Starbucks sandwiches. You probably ought to avoid talking with her about things that are too significant and you should definitely not have discussions about time travel and gods in a public Starbucks of all places. So instead you continue your question games, asking each other about more mundane details about your lives. You tell her about the school you both went to and find out that she didn’t go to school, Mom was too paranoid and also too much of a danger to herself for Rose to leave so she homeschooled herself online.

You talk about relationships, although you don’t name names. You say that you’re dating two guys but you’re not exclusively interested in guys, she tells you how she’s never had the time to date even though she regrets that. You tell her about your classes and what you’ve learned so far, she tells you about what she’s studied on her own. You describe her dorm room in Salem and she tells you about why she had to move out from Mom’s house, that she and Mom were just making each other worse and Rose couldn’t help her alone or get anyone else to help because of the spell.

It’s jarring, this whole parallel timeline to yours where you just seemingly took a handbrake turn and rewrote things. Where you said what if you weren’t in your shitty situation and she wasn’t in hers and instead you both got to be happy together. Where your Mom was better than before because she wasn’t relying on just one kid to help care for her so all of you could be better off. It’s all so different.

When you finish your food you hug her goodbye, unplug your phone and go off on your way. Sollux’s teleportation would certainly be easier but it’s probably safer to be an anonymous nobody for now. Looking the route up on your new phone you ride public transportation down to Coney Island and then walk on your own as you follow the directions on your phone.

The address Rose gave you is for Luna Park, which given the time of year isn’t exactly heaving with people but those who are there are bundled up and laughing and talking beyond the gates. You use some of the money Rose gifted you and buy a ticket into the park, not that it’s huge or anything but there’s some stuff there. Notably there’s a rollercoaster called ‘The Cyclone’ which if you were a video game designer making a lair for a weather powered boss god you’d put it right there. June’s way of thinking isn’t all that far off from yours and the obviousness of it would probably strike her as funny so you casually meander closer to it.

There’s people queuing for the ride, chattering away together all bundled up in their coats and holding sweet treats from all of the stalls and stands nearby. You get a whiff of candied peanuts and wonder if June really is allergic or if she was just pretending to seem more human.

With that thought pointlessly whirling around your head you continue to wander around the edges of the Cyclone rollercoaster, looking for anything amiss. Only when there is something you don’t see it until it’s too late.

“Sup?”

You jump at the sound of your own voice and look around to see a figure that you know all too well from the mirror just leaning against a support beam to the rollercoaster. It’s definitely you. This other you is wearing black ripped jeans, the same style of red and white shirts that you like and a thick leather jacket over it to keep out the December New York cold. What really sells it for you and convinces you that this is a version of yourself that you’re looking at here is the bobble hat that he’s wearing. It’s in so many clashing and tacky neon colours with no discernable pattern that it’s so hideous you feel the need to ask him where he got it so you can possess this abomination too.

“Uh, me, apparently.” You reply dumbly.

“Yeah, that’s the feeling that I got. I could feel some other me hopping about around here and since I don’t remember this I’m guessing you’re from my future. I got the feeling that I should be here so here I am.” He says with an easy shrug.

“Well, just to throw it out there I remember jack shit with a side of nothing and I’ve been having to have all kinds of basic shit explained to me so don’t expect me to be able to tell you anything.” You warn him.

“Oh, shit. How come?” He asks, raising an eyebrow.

“Shenanigans?” You say helplessly.

“Ah, say no more.” Other you nods.

“Glad that I can finally talk to someone who gets it.” You say, only half joking.

“What can I say? We’re just the best there is and that’s just all there is to say on the matter.” He jokes.

“Hey, uh… where’s Sollux?” You ask because as you look around you can’t see your moirail lurking about anywhere.

“Oh, hm, this felt like just a me thing. Besides, he’s off looking at cars. I’m gonna make him a magic one because he’s always flying and teleporting me around, I wanna repay the favour back to him. And yeah I know we gave all that up as the price for making him, along with the physical stuff but still. Humans are so cool, you know? Their cars are just really fascinating and I may as well tour the world in style, you know?” He says and flashes you a grin.

“Oh, I’ve seen that car. Very cool.” You say because you’d rather think about that cool car than the memory of a rib being ripped out of Sollux’s body.

“Aw yeah, don’t tell me anything else though, I want it to be a surprise. Anyway, what are we doing here?” Other you asks.

“I need to steal a golden fiddle back from a… god.” You trail off and cast a suspicious glance at Other You. You think that’s you, he looks like you, talks like you and everything but what if this is a trick? What if June is pretending to be you to stop you stealing her fiddle? But no, June doesn’t know you that well yet if she knows you at all. You’re the time traveller here, not her.

“Really? Huh. Which god and why?” Other You asks.

“June, and because of reasons.” You answer him.

“Like, the month?” He asks. Okay, so he doesn’t know June at all yet.

“No, she’s a trickster god, she’s all stormy too.” You explain, probably inaccurately. You haven’t talked a lot about June’s species because it’s pretty obvious that she preferred things as they were when no one knew and as far as you care June is June and that’s all you need to know. Only now it’s actually relevant.

“Huh, ok. Not one I know but I’m down to steal a thing if I need it someday. So where is it?” Other you asks.

“Here, I think anyway.” You explain, gesturing at The Cyclone.

Your past self nods thoughtfully and then starts to walk off, suggesting that you follow with an incline of his head. It makes the gaudy bobble on top of his hat jiggle atrociously in a way that makes you so jealous that you don’t have the same hat.

You follow other you around, keeping an eye out for anything out of place. Soon enough you find it, a building that looks like it’s for maintenance and possibly housing the mechanism that powers the roller coaster, only it looks a little too big and the two supposedly surreptitious people outside look a little more conspicuously like guards than they probably should.

“Bingo. I can feel it now, it’s all faith-y in there.” Past you whispers as you both peek around a crate at the building.

You close your eyes and sure enough you can feel something. It’s subtle, the closest you can get to describing it is if you could have something brush your skin that feels the way the rainbow sheen on a soap bubble looks. A subtle highlight of something other coming from that building. It doesn’t feel like it’s for you though, like the frequency is wrong or something.

“How about I go ahead, rush in, cause a commotion, get caught and thrown out and you can rush in and grab the thing after?” He suggests.

“Well, R- I mean I was told that there are fakes in there, so if you try and steal it and they try and take it back we’ll know it’s the real one.” You say back in a whisper.

“Okay, beware of fakes and actually steal one before I run off, got it. I’m going in.” Past you nods and then peeks out of the hiding spot.

“First, a diversion. For the diversion.” He says and puts a hand in his chest and pulls out a watch. Holy shit, you’ve seen Sollux do that but you didn’t think you could!

Other you flicks the watch open, it’s like a pocket watch of some kind, rendered in reddish brass. Inside it intricate gears and hands tick along in a perfect metronome tick and tock that is precisely on time. Its tick is quiet but it resonates in your bone marrow and as you look at it the hair on your arms stands on end.

Your past self peers around the crate once more, hypnotising watch in hand, and you lean around as well. The lot that the rollercoaster is on has a long strip of cars along it, you presume for the people who work here and in the park nearby although it seems like a lot of cars to you. He lifts a hand and several of the cars start to rust and corrode, aging decades in mere seconds. The doors fall off, banging loudly into other cars and setting their alarms off.

The two guards on the door shout out in alarm and hurry over to the cars. Your double flashes you a grin and runs off towards the building, leaving you behind. What the hell kind of power was that? It was… it was incredible. Not magic, just raw power over a basic function of the universe, over time itself. You rest your back on the crate and press a hand to your own chest, your fingers rest on your body and do no more. Whatever past you did you’re not doing it now.

Above you and to the right a little a full coaster full of people are waiting for the ride to start, you can hear the announcement about making sure the safety bars are on and such. It all washes over you until the people on the ride start counting down to the ride starting.

You feel them, delineating time with each word, all in unison with anticipation of what’s to come and a faith that what they’re anticipating will happen. You shudder and your fingers slip through your chest and within you, where your heart should be, you feel the pocket watch. You pull it out and open it on sheer muscle memory alone. The dials turn, the hands move and as you hold it you feel the universe move to every beat and every countdown in the world to birthdays, weddings, New Years, dates when people are predicted to be born and die… it all thrums through you like a prayer.

You hold the watch in your left hand, not certain yet of what you have to do exactly but knowing that since you’ve seen yourself your actions are in some way predetermined. Calmly you stand and walk towards the building. The door is unguarded for the moment and you walk right in. From within the building there’s shouting as people must be spotting the other you, but you ignore it and keep going as you follow the trail of your own footsteps that you’ve left before.

This shouldn’t make any sense, none of it should and yet just like Rose said, it’s a kind of instinct.

The walls of the building inside certainly give no hint that the place is the maintenance building it pretends to be. Photographs and paintings of jesters and fools line the wall, comedians, silent film actors… there’s a whole section on Buster Keaton over there.

“Hey!” a woman calls out to you.

Your hand clenches on the watch that you pulled from your chest and everything stops dead. The woman in her formal suit is frozen and you can feel that everything else is as well. You walk forward past her and along the hallway. At the end is an open door to a room beyond and other you is clutching a golden fiddle and is midway through hauling ass out of there at speed.

Like a dream you walk past him and into the room. The room itself is filled with small end tables with thick blue covers over them, each with a pale hand sticking out of the top clutching a golden fiddle. The one that other you stole it from is a little off to the left in the room but you think he got the right one, it just… feels right. Coming to a stop before the table you eye the hand sticking out of it and then you look at your own and an idea occurs to you.

With your right hand you pull the dumb snoopy sword from your bag and with a sweep of icy blade you separate the fake hand from the table, exposing the hole underneath. You hurry under the tablecloth, your legs pressed tight to your chest so no part of you sticks out and then you stick your hand up through the top of the table and hold it there.

You release your hold on the watch in your hand and like a sigh being gently released time starts to flow again.

The door to the room bangs and there’s a scrambling sound.

“Whoa!” other you yelps.

“And where do you think YOU’RE going with that?” June’s voice calls out. You miss June so much already and it takes a lot of willpower to not just go out there and see her yourself.

“I’m… uh. Taking your magic gold violin for a walk. Can’t keep ‘em locked up in here. The people for violin welfare will be on your ass about it if you don’t.” other you lies, badly.

“Hah, is that so?” June snorts.

“Oh, heck yeah. They’re very strict about these sorts of things. I shouldn’t be telling you this but I’m working undercover for them, you know?” he goes on.

“I see!” June giggles.

“So I’ll just be going then.” other you tries.

“Nah.” June says and there’s a crackle of electricity.

“Ahhh, you’re June. Right. Violin? What violin?” other you says with obvious nerves.

“Yup, that’s me. Wait, you’re Dirk’s kid, right? The whole antichrist deal?” June asks excitedly.

“Dirk? I- oh, Bro. Yeah, not that I’m all that fond of that title when it comes to me. Just call me Dave instead, yeah?” other you says uneasily.

“Of course, Dave. I’ve been wanting to meet you, actually. You wanna go walk around the park or something? Have you seen much of Earth?” June asks and moves over all of that with grace.

“A little, we’re still working out where we wanna go. I kinda want to see all of the places that I can, everything humans would put on their must see list and all.” your past self says.

“We?” June asks.

“Right, sorry, Sollux. He’s normally with me, he’s my moirail and my familiar.” you explain. Wait, what was that second thing?

“Cool! Oh shit, have you been to Vegas yet? You HAVE to go to Vegas. I’ve got these two followers there, they’re awesome magicians and so fun to talk to. Well, one of them is. They do these big shows, you have to go!” June tells him eagerly.

“That does sound pretty cool actually. But uh-” other you pauses.

“Yeah, I’m taking that back. You can’t keep my golden fiddle, I won that fair and square!” June snorts, you hear her walk over to you and place the thing right in your hand, assuming that you’re one of the fake stands and not a real person.

“Aw. Okay, okay. Hey, can you drive in Vegas because Sollux was picking out what kind of car he wanted me to make him and I really wanna try it.” your past self says brightly and you hear June walk back to him.

June leads your other self out of the room, telling him all about Vegas as they go. When you’re confident that they’re out of sight you slide out from under the table, take the violin from your other hand and stick it right into your bag. After a moment of pulling your hand free you hurry out of the room and down the hall, you’re wondering where everyone is when you step outside and see all of June’s followers standing outside watching her walk off with your past self.

They’re all just facing the other way so you could… just… sneak off around the side. Like some looney tunes character you sneak away with your back pressed to the building as everyone else is dumbly looking in the direction their god left. As soon as you think you’re safe you run like you stole it, which you did, actually.

Several streets away you slow down to a walk and figure that you should make your way back to Rose. She’s got a date with a stolen holy violin.

ELSEWHERE IN NEW YORK STATE, SEVERAL YEARS IN THE FUTURE BUT ALSO ONLY SIXTY EIGHT DAYS IN THE FUTURE…

“Stop fussing with it.” you scold Sollux.

“I’m sorry, I’m missing literal parts of my anatomy, it’s not exactly comfortable!” Sollux retorts.

“Is it actually hurting again?” you ask Sollux, looking up from his bandage. You’re on the floor in between his knees as he’s slumped back on the sofa with a petulant expression on his face and one hand holding the ruined remains of his shirt out of the way of his stitches.

“It’s not pain exactly.” Sollux shrugs and then grimaces.

“I wonder if I could heal you. Is that something angels can do? It feels like a thing I should be able to do but I don’t know if I should tax Rose like that, or if trying to heal you would hurt you.” you wonder.

“I’m not your guinea pig, don’t try.” he grumbles.

That’s probably a good idea. You’d hate to kill him and have to go steal him back again, you’re pretty sure that Aradia won’t let you do that twice. You’re kind of surprised that Aradia hasn’t shown up here to requisition and repurpose your skull into a particularly goth chalice to drink from.

You try to distract yourself from that thought and gently prod around Sollux’s stitched up side, trying to see if he’s bleeding internally or not. It doesn’t feel like it, it’s starting to bruise in a nasty way around the wound itself now that he’s alive again. The worst part is the ochre bruised finger marks leading to the stitched up line where his rib was, yet more evidence of the Devil ripping that out of him. Still, he’s not bruised up in any way that makes you think his chest is filling with blood or something. To be honest you’re not a medic, you don’t know much what you’re looking for. He does seem mostly okay though, especially considering what happened.

“Do you think Aradia’s pissed about me taking you back?” you ask him uneasily and unroll new bandages from the stash that Kanaya located for you from the medicine cabinet upstairs. You don’t know where she is now, probably talking to Rose if that ‘OH’ you heard from her earlier about Rose being immortal is any clue.

“You stole me from Death herself, yeah, I think she’s pissed. Plus, you vandalised two lifetimers.” Sollux tells you flatly.

“She’s not shown up here to take you back or get even with me though.” you point out.

“Aradia’s… strange like that. She was pissed that Dave pulled the trick he did and messed with everyone’s lifetimes in doing it, not to mention the effect it had on the afterlife, eesh. She was furious at me because I’m as involved with Dave’s stuff as anyone could possibly be. It doesn’t mean she didn’t care about me, she was sad we wouldn’t see each other again with me dead.” Sollux says softly.

That makes sense in a way. Maybe she prefers him being alive as well, even if it breaks her own rules. But… still. She had a good point about how Sollux was when he was dead.

“I don’t know if I owe you an apology or not.” you admit.

Sollux looks at you with a predatory and menacing smile that shows off all his sharpest teeth.

“Never going to say no to having you in my debt, but do you want to be specific so I know what I’m holding over your head?” he asks with a mean teasing lilt to his voice.

You look up at him from your place on the floor and how even though he’s hurt and his eyes are wrong it’s still him, he’s still alive and here and you so nearly didn’t have that ever again. Your lip wobbles slightly even though you try to stop it, but Sollux catches the shift in your expression and the meanness drops away. He doesn’t really mean it, he hates you but he doesn’t really _HATE_ you and now he’s concerned.

“KK?” he asks, gentle and wary.

“It’s… when you were there you were this spirit sort of thing. Aradia gave the impression that you were like that until Dave dies, but you weren’t hurt or stressed or anything bad. It was like you were sleeping.” you say and drop your gaze to his bony knees.

“You weren’t worried about Dave or any of us, you weren’t hurt, missing parts or being dragged on some end of the world mission. I brought you back because we need you and I couldn’t- the idea of never seeing you again wasn’t something I could think about or deal with. But now you’re hurt and you have all this danger to throw yourself at and-” you go on as guilt wells up within you like an ever flowing fountain.

“I’m glad you got me back. I have shit to do still and I’m not leaving Dave with Bro. If I’d woken up in some afterlife with you and you told me you’d just left me sleeping through all this I wouldn’t have forgiven you.” Sollux tells you emphatically, staring you down as if daring you to look away first.

“That’s ok, I don’t think I’d have forgiven me either.” you admit.

“So you feel guilty about either outcome? Stop stealing my duality thing.” he says mockingly.

“Shut up, I’m a master of guilt. You should know that, you’ve got more memories with me than I have with you. Even if I have picked some more up through dreams and whatever.” you say glumly. You can’t help but feel like you’ve forever lost something really important there.

“Wait, I can tell you about it now. The spell doesn’t apply anymore.” Sollux gasps.

“Yes! Please tell me, I have to know!” you say eagerly, your focus narrowing in on him.

Sollux’s eyes go wide and he jerks back from you a little. His mouth opens and you can see him hesitating for a second before he finally speaks.

“Don’t… take this the wrong way but you’re kind of COVERED in eyeballs right now.” Sollux tells you and carefully points at you without coming close enough to touch.

You turn your head and look down at your arm and even though you’re wearing a hoodie there are glowing eyes all over your body. They’re not quite spectral, more like a holographic illusion or how 3d films look when you have the glasses on. They’re floating not quite touching you but clearly very much part of you. Each eye is edged with gold, the whites of them glow and their irises are blood red. Looking down at your chest you see yourself similarly covered and figure it must be near enough your entire body.

Closing your normal person eyes you find you can still see Sollux but from all these different angles at once. There’s this energy flowing between the two of you, warm and intense in its feel.

“I can see you with them, and some connection between us.” you tell him and open your eyes again.

“It must be a light thing or light via blood anyway.” Sollux says and leans a little closer to one of your arms to see the eyes there better.

“Just keep saying things like they mean anything. So what if I’m doing another weird angel thing, tell me about us.” you remind him.

“Fine. After the time in the bar-” he starts.

Your eyes focus sharply and all at once you’re not in the Lalonde house at all, you’re drifting in the back of the red car. You and Sollux are somewhat translucent, which helps to separate the Sollux you have with you from the one sprawled on the back seat. 

“What did you do?” Sollux asks in alarm.

“I don’t know.” you tell him, just as lost. 

Dave is driving the car, his fingers idly tapping out a little beat on the steering wheel as he goes. To your side the sleeping Sollux shifts and groans. 

“Did the nap help?” Dave asks, glancing back for a moment.

“Oh, fuck, this is after the bar. Dave came back after you left and we drove off.” Sollux groans.

At Sollux’s side his past self rolls over on the back seat, his cheek smushed against the leather.

“I’m never drinking again.” he croaks. 

“There might be somewhere between NEVER AGAIN and what you did that might work better, you know.” Dave says teasingly. 

“Just kick me while I’m down why don’t you?” past Sollux grumbles and pushes himself upright on the seat. He looks blearily around and then clumsily wriggles over the top of the passenger seat and falls into place with a thump and some cursing. 

“Could have teleported.” Dave points out. 

“Woulda either left my brain behind or barfed.” past Sollux mutters. 

“I still don’t like drinking that much now. That sucked so bad.” your Sollux complains and moves into the seat that his former self just vacated, you move up as well and it gives you the height to see the sneaky little expression on Dave’s face. 

“So this is your memory that I’m somehow seeing?” you check. 

“Yeah, light shit I guess.” Sollux shrugs. 

“So, about kicking you when you’re down…” Dave says from upfront, interrupting the two of you. Past Sollux makes an unhappy sound but doesn’t comment. 

“That angel guy saved your ass. Put up protective spells, gave you food, didn’t try and kill you.” Dave says. 

“Don’t remind me. I’ll stab him next time and then we’ll be fine. Back to normal.” Past Sollux grumbles. 

You give your Sollux a flat look and he shifts uncomfortably. 

“I was feeling REALLY bad, okay?” he says defensively. 

“Or maybe we could not stab him next time. He could have hurt you and didn’t, not that he’s ever tried to attack either of us any time he’s shown up. Maybe we could talk to him.” Dave suggests, because he’s a nice person. Unlike certain stab happy demons you could mention. 

“He’s an ANGEL, you can’t trust them.” Past Sollux argues. 

“I didn’t say we should trust him, I said we should talk to him. Come on, you know I don’t trust anyone besides you.” Dave tells him gently. 

“You trust June.” Past Sollux mumbles rather sullenly. 

“I… was not good at sharing Dave back then. It’d always just been us and then it was like he just ditched me for her. That wasn’t what he was doing but-” Sollux admits. 

“It felt like it?” you guess and Sollux nods, he doesn’t look especially proud of this. 

Dave’s jaw tightens and he flicks the indicator on the car and gently pulls over to the side of the road. He turns the car off and faces his Sollux who is sinking a little lower in his chair under the scrutiny. 

“So you get to have Aradia but I can’t have another god as a friend? That’s not fair.” Dave says, his voice carefully measured. 

“That’s different.” Past Sollux says quietly. 

Dave doesn’t look impressed and Past Sollux doesn’t look happy about what he said either, neither budges for a few long seconds.

“I’m just saying that if that angel wanted to hurt us he’d have done it. If he tries you can absolutely end him but he hasn’t and repeatedly showing up so you can destroy his body doesn’t seem like some master plan to me. Pretty sure heaven would have jumped at the chance to get their hands on you but they didn’t. It can’t hurt to find out what he wants. It’s not like he ever gets past ‘I mean you no harm’ before you stab him through the chest.” Dave says. 

“Why take the risk?” Past Sollux asks.

“Why not? Anyway, you talked to him, didn’t you? What did he say to you?” Dave asks. 

Past Sollux frowns like he’s trying to dredge up his memories from a well of alcohol that saturates them. 

“We didn’t talk about why he comes down here, something about it not being fair when I was trashed.” Past Sollux admits. 

“Huh. I like him already. Next time we see him we’re talking to him.” Dave says with a nod and indicates to pull away from the side of the road and start driving once more.

In the back of the car Sollux turns to you.

“So the next time-” he starts and everything around you shifts to a diner. It takes you a second to recognise Sollux because he’s pretending to be human right now, his horns hidden by a baseball cap though not especially well because the cap is barely touching the top of his head. There’s a glimmer of ‘don’t-look-here’ magic that explains why no one is noticing and his skin is… sort of human.

“You’re very yellow.” you point out, past Sollux does look pretty jaundiced right now. 

“I hadn’t worked out the blood colour change yet.” Sollux shrugs.

“I need to get one of these everywhere we go.” Dave groans in delight and puts another forkful of pie in his mouth. 

“You’re just going to order the apple everything everywhere, no one is surprised.” Past Sollux snorts. 

Your Sollux elbows you and nods at the window, as you look out you can see a past version of yourself walking around on the street, glancing at a note in hand and checking the numbers on the buildings he passes. The note must have been from Rose. 

“Oh, shit, look!” Dave gasps and points out the window with his fork. 

“I could just stab him, can I not sell you on stabbing him? His face is always so funny when I do it.” Past Sollux grins meanly. 

“For a guy not into violence you’re way too into stabbing this one guy.” Dave points out. 

“Hey, it’s fun. He shows up, tries to stop me stabbing him without actually fighting back and then I have to try to stab him. It’s like a game. A game I always win, which are my favourite kind of games.” Past Sollux snickers. 

“Yeah, let’s not examine why you find this cat and mouse thing with Karkat so engaging, you moron.” your Sollux heckles his past self. 

“Oh, is that a black thing? All pitchways kind of romance?” you ask curiously. 

“It’s pretty fuckin’ textbook, yeah. Which, by the way Dave has already clocked this and hasn’t pointed it out to me yet. Look at that look on his face.” Sollux huffs and sure enough Dave has a knowing look on his face that you associate more with Rose. 

Dave scoops up his plate of apple pie and his fork and gets up out of his diner booth, Sollux scrambles after him, not stealing any crockery or food as he goes. 

“Hey you can’t just-” a staff member calls out. 

Dave doesn’t even look, just snaps a finger and time in the diner hangs weirdly as Dave and Sollux leave at normal speed. Across the street your past self looks around and sees Dave and Sollux, looking in equal parts eager and wary.

“When I saw you coming over I thought you were going to stab me again.” you say slowly, somehow knowing that for certain.

Your Sollux takes your hand and pulls you towards your past selves and Dave.

“Oh shit don’t stab- why do you… why do you have a plate?” past you asks, clearly thrown off from what he was saying by Dave standing there with diner crockery and a fork as he eats his apple pie on the street as if that’s a normal thing to do.

“It makes it easier to hold the pie.” Dave answers casually. 

“Oh, so he’s always been a little shit about things.” you say bluntly to Sollux as your past self tries to come up with some sort of sane response to that. 

“Yeah.” Sollux answers, his expression fond. What a dork. 

It looks like your past selves are being led off elsewhere by Dave, you didn’t catch where they’re going. As they walk along your past self eyes past Sollux who is very clearly bristling at not being allowed to stab you. 

“So, how was your hangover then?” past you asks teasingly. He’s flirting pitch, he probably doesn’t know it but even you can tell that’s what’s going on. 

“Dave, are you SURE I can’t stab him?” past Sollux pleads and gets denied by Dave anyway. 

It turns out that where you’re going is back to the car where Dave hops up on the hood and gets more pie on his fork. 

“So go on, say whatever it is you’ve been trying to say since you first found us.” Dave says and eats his dessert, waiting for the answer. Other you is clearly thrown but get it together soon enough. 

“Right, uh, sorry I just didn’t realise that this was going to be the time I’d get to talk for a change. Not that I’m complaining. I guess I’m going to be blunt, you’re the antichrist, yeah?” past you asks. 

“We don’t really like that name.” past Sollux answers for the still chewing Dave. 

“Oh, sorry. But that is the role you fill, right? You’re supposed to end the world, even if you’re not going by that name that’s still what you’re here to do isn’t it?” past you asks. 

Dave nods but says nothing more, instead opting for more apple pie. 

“That’s good, I’ve got the right person at least. Although I’d be really confused if I didn’t. I just wanted to talk to you about that, the ending the world part I mean. Have you considered not ending the world?” past you asks hopefully. 

“...That was my opening to that?” you whisper in horror. 

“That was your opening to that.” Sollux confirms gleefully as his past self cracks up laughing, full body shaking howls of amusement. 

“I’m serious! Look, there’s got to be things about Earth that even you care about. If you end the world there’s no more apple pie, or fancy cars, or anything! There’s almost five billion humans or human hybrids on Earth right now and easily the same number of nonhumans who either live on this plane of reality or whose plane of reality would go down if this was destroyed. That’s so many people!” past you begs. 

“Everybody dies, everything dies eventually.” past Sollux shrugs. 

“But they don’t HAVE to, not from this. Sure there are shitty people out there but if they all die when you end the world they lose the chance to be better, or what about all the little kids who-” past you goes on.

“I don’t really want to think about it.” Dave says firmly. 

“If the idea makes you uncomfortable then just don’t end the world.” past you retorts.

“Look,” Dave says and sets his plate on the hood of the car by his hip, “did your Christ-” 

“Signless. His name is Signless.” past you interrupts.

“There.” Sollux whispers at your side and you see the expression on his past self change from hostility to a surprised kind of respect. Did he just decide you were the kind of person he actually respected rather than just casually hated?

“How do you know that name?” Dave asks in surprise. 

“I know the guy. He’s a good person, so don’t talk shit about him, alright? I don’t care what you say about anyone else but he’s good.” past you snaps, not realising that he’s talking to just the kind of people who wouldn’t shittalk Signless. 

“Wasn’t going to. My point was did he get a choice about his whole deal?” Dave asks. 

“No.” past you says sadly. 

“Then what makes you think I do? I don’t choose what does and doesn’t end or when. I’ve got less than a year and then this whole place is done for. It’ll happen whether I want it to or not and I’d rather enjoy the pie, the whole plane of reality and everything here before it goes. It’s nothing personal, but it’s not up to me.” Dave says sadly. 

“But do you want to end everything?” past you asks. 

“No, but that’s not the point.” Dave sighs and goes back for more pie. 

“It’s entirely the point. Look, I’m willing to do anything I can to help. There has to be some way out of this and I’m offering you my help, I’m helping whether you want me to or not actually but I’d prefer it if you were working with me here.” past you says eagerly and holds out his hand. 

“You were so painfully sure that you just had to ask nicely and everything would be fine. You didn’t know us at all or barely any of the people you were so dead set on saving. If you were a saint you’d be the patron saint of lost causes, you know that?” Sollux says sidelong to you, the dead whites of half of his eyes seeming much more alive as he talks about you. 

“It… it doesn’t work like that. There’s a whole plan in motion since forever.” Dave says in stunned shock. 

“Who cares about fate or rules? Not Karkat, apparently.” your Sollux grins. 

“Fuck fate.” you say sharply as your past self says it as well at just the same moment. Sollux almost dies laughing and you hate how he’s entirely right about you. 

“Not that I don’t appreciate the chaotic energy but I’m also not a fan of us playing into Heaven’s plans either, if they’ve sent him here to…” past Sollux trails off as a guilty expression flits over other you’s face. 

“What was that?” past Sollux asks suspiciously, leaning in towards your nervous and avoidant past self. 

“Nothing. I… it’s not like there’s some plan that I’m trying to co opt you into here, I’m trying to get you out of a plan actually. Hell’s the one who’s got you trapped in this, I’m just trying to help.” past you says hastily.

“And what about Heaven?” Dave asks warily.

“Uh. It’s a big other realm up there that-” your past self flounders, only to be cut off when Sollux’s other self grabs him by the face. His hand holding other you’s head still and making your cheeks squish. 

“Why did Heaven send you? What’s their game?” past Sollux asks. 

“You’re the most suspicious innocent person ever.” your Sollux adds helpfully from the ground, where he’s flopped out from laughing too hard earlier. 

“Are you about to stab me?” other you asks nervously. 

“It’s on the table.” other Sollux hisses at him. 

“Look, there’s no plan. I’m not here on some- there’s no conspiracy!” other you insists. 

“But who sent you? What’s their angle?” Dave asks. 

“No angle! No one sent me.” other you insists and is let go, he backs up rubbing his face where he’d got grabbed earlier. 

“You’re here of your own free will, and no one sent you? No one knows you’re here?” Dave asks suspiciously. 

“No! I didn’t ask anyone. I just don’t think the whole WORLD ending is a good thing and if you’re not doing it willingly then all the more reason to stop it. No one knows I’m here because if… if I asked they’d probably tell me no so it’s better to just not ask.” past you says uneasily. 

“You’re telling me you’re, what, rogue? You’re going against orders to be here?” past Sollux says in disbelief. 

“Technically no one said I couldn’t do this exact thing, so I’m not going against any orders exactly, no. But there’s a reason I couldn’t use Heaven’s systems to find you and had to get outside help, not that I can give away my source, I made a vow not to. That’s not the point though, I want to help. I want to help you, to help everyone. Will you let me or not?” past you asks. 

“Man, you’ve got the spirit and all but… there’s no fixing this. I’m sorry.” Dave shrugs. 

“I can entirely understand why you’re resigned to this, but fuck that. I’ll help, I’ll try to find any way that you can get around this to make sure you two are free and no one dies in the apocalypse. Worst case scenario you just have to put up with me talking to you every so often.” past you says firmly. 

Dave and Sollux share a look. 

“If Heaven catches you they’ll make you fall, you know that?” past Sollux says quietly. 

“They might. Most likely they wouldn’t though. My maker was designed off of Signless himself so his creation turning demon would be admitting some kind of divine flaw. Most likely they’d just throw me in the endless void they put me in sometimes, but this time for all eternity until I go completely insane and dissolve into a cloud of endlessly screaming eyes or something. Or maybe they’d take parts of my soul out until I ‘work right’ or something.” your past self says with a shrug. 

“Hi! This is my first full conversation with you both, we’re not even five minutes in so how about I IMMEDIATELY CRACK AND TELL YOU ABOUT MY DEEP PERSONAL TRAUMA!” you shout, throwing your hands in the air. There’s a stunned silence from past Sollux and Dave so it’s not like you’re even talking over anyone right now. 

“It made us realise that you were probably a lot like us.” Sollux says with a shrug. 

“Um.” past you says in a shocking moment of self awareness of the dumb shit he just spat out. 

“How the fuck does Heaven have better PR than Hell anyway?” past Sollux asks flatly. 

“Considering the number of marketing department people we have in their own personal punishments I’ve no idea. Look, Karkat- it is Karkat, right?” Dave asks and past you nods, “This is a pretty hopeless cause and eternity as a… a screaming eye cloud sounds pretty shitty in the understatement of the year. Are you really sure you want to even try this?”

“Yes, I am. If I die trying to fix this or end up in my own personal hell then it’s still worth it if I’m trying to save everyone.” past you insists. 

“So, about how Signless liked you and not Kankri.” your Sollux says with a rather pointed look. 

“I can’t believe this actually worked. How did you even think I was going to help? How did _I_ even think I was going to help? I think I ended up helping by working with Rose but I didn’t know that at this point, did I?” you snap, gesturing at your younger dumber self. 

“It was endearing. Also no self respecting angel would pretend to be this sincere about doing something blatantly against the rules for ‘the greater good’, you were obviously genuine. Painfully genuine, disgustingly genuine, nauseatingly-” Sollux goes on. 

“I get it.” you interrupt him and Sollux flashes you a mean smile, victorious in getting under your skin. 

You look at your past self eagerly talking to past Dave and Sollux and wonder. 

“So how did we get from that to us?” you ask. 

“Well, there was a while after this where you stuck with us. Then you got called back and you kept showing up over and over. And it was a little…” as Sollux talks the world around you flickers from moment to moment. 

You see Sollux scowling at you from behind Dave’s shoulder, him elbowing you at a bar, the two of you bickering in an arcade with him bragging about how much better he is than you, you tripping him up. You were both flirting. The world then changes to Dave and Sollux laid side by side on the roof of their car staring up at the stars together. 

“It led to this.” Sollux sighs next to you. 

“So… Karkat.” Dave begins, breaking the silence.

“What a dumbass.” past Sollux snorts and the look on your Sollux’s face tells you pretty well that he stands by that statement. 

“You’re still awfully hostile to him, you know. Dude hasn’t done anything wrong by us and he doesn’t seem like any angel we’ve heard of. Yet you’re still picking at him every time he shows up.” Dave says all faux casual. 

“He’s an _angel_.” past Sollux reasons. 

“Mituna was too.” Dave points out. 

“Yeah, but he got better.” past Sollux says with a grin and he and Dave both fist bump. You’d be more annoyed about this if you didn’t generally dislike your own species. 

“Even so I’d almost say you… hate the guy.” Dave says with a conspiratorial grin.

“Duh.” past Sollux says before realising what he just said and bolts upright, “Not like that!” 

“Suuuuuure. You’re always picking at him, can’t leave it alone. Like a hellhound with a snack it wants to get its teeth into. Karkat is the snack in this metaphor, because he’s a snack.” Dave grins.

“That’s not- it isn’t-” past Sollux splutters.

“It’s not like he’s not the same back. You could do something about it you know.” Dave reasons. 

“The world’s ending.” past Sollux points out in a voice bordering on a whine.

“Nothing to lose then.” Dave replies.

“He probably doesn’t even- not that _I_ even like him like that. And- and-” past Sollux stammers out.

“I can help.” Dave says in a singsong voice.

“Oh, God.” Sollux whines into his hands.

“At your service.” Dave snickers.

“In my defence, so I don’t look like the only idiot here: Dave liked you too at this point and he was just deflecting that idea by helping me because he’s an idiot.” your Sollux says defensively.

“We’re all idiots here. What happened next?” you ask and at that Sollux frowns.

“Next you didn’t show up for almost a month. You weren’t around all the time but you’d show up regularly. It’d be weird to go more than a week without seeing you but a whole month was… something else.” Sollux says and the world around you changes once more.

Instead of the roadside with the car you’re in what looks like a motel room. Dave is facedown on the bed with the covers all a mess, leaving his garishly patterned boxers on display. They look like something from one of his awful comics and they probably are. Sollux is across the room on the sofa with his feet kicked up and from the quiet tinny music you can hear you’re pretty sure he’s playing Pokemon.

And then there’s a thump from above.

Sollux is immediately on his feet with swords out and staring up at the ceiling. Dave hasn’t moved but you see Sollux cast a glance his way. Cautiously Sollux moves to the window and looks out, then teleports outside as your view goes with him. There’s no one out there and Sollux silently floats up to the rooftop and there you are.

Past you is wearing that same outfit you reformed in after you stopped being a bird and his wings are spread wide as he paces back and forth on the ceiling.

“Where the fuck have you been and what kind of clumsy ass landing was that?” past Sollux snaps, sheathing his swords into the void in his chest.

Your past self doesn’t seem to really hear him much and shudders a little as he walks, eyes opening and closing over his body as he goes and his wings still not folding down at all.

“Uh. Karkat? Your form is… slipping.” past Sollux says uneasily.

“Can you just keep talking?” your past self asks in a hoarse tone of voice.

“Yeah, I can do that. Uh. I’m suddenly not sure what to talk about except for pointing out how you’re walking about like that, like are your wings stuck or-” past Sollux asks. He reaches out and touches the white feathers of your wings, only for them to snap out in panicked fear so fast and hard that it throws him clean off of the roof.

Your younger self looks around in panic, feathers bristling and puffing up making him look bigger despite how his arms are wrapped around him tightly. A slightly dazed Sollux peeks over the edge of the roof and floats back up still wary.

“Sorry, I didn’t. Didn’t mean to.” your past self says, pausing to drag a shuddering breath in part way through what he was saying.

“It’s ok, I’m fine. I can take more than that, not that you’ve ever even tried to hit me before. You caught me off guard.” past Sollux says. 

“Don’t want to hurt you.” past you says. He’s still not talking in proper full sentences yet.

“I’m fine. Can I come closer or are you going to ‘this is Sparta’ me off the roof again if I do that? Or is it just no touching?” the other Sollux asks as he cranes his neck to try to get a look at the clearly deranged angel on the roof.

“Talk, please. Close is fine, good, even. Just don’t- don’t cage- don’t touch.” past you chokes out.

You watch as the younger Sollux slowly comes closer, ducking carefully under a moving wing to get in front of past you. You can see him looking over everything about your past self but he’s keeping his expression neutral.

“We were wondering where you were, me and Dave. He’s asleep right now, but I was playing Pokemon. One of the old ones. Do you know what that is?” he asks and your past self nods.

“Cool. I’ve been bingeing them in the car, I was in a gym battle when I heard you land but it’s okay because it waits for you. Turn based combat and all.” past Sollux says gently, leaning a little closer and not getting thrown off the roof for his troubles.

Your younger self’s form isn’t shifting so much now, there’s no extra eyes and he’s just in that angelic winged form that you got stuck in on Jade’s island before you figured out how to go back.

“Hey, are your wings heavy? They look it from how big they are and that’s a lot of feathers. They-” past Sollux pauses. 

“I blame the fact that I’d been talking to June at this point for this.” your Sollux cuts in.

“They look like they weigh a lot. About… a henweigh.” past Sollux says and you stare in disbelief. Your younger self frowns, still just on the edge of hyperventilating as he holds onto himself tightly but it seems he just has to ask.

“What’s a henweigh?” he asks with a frown.

“About three pounds.” past Sollux grins.

The sheer shock of that dumb fucking joke seems to startle your past self out of his panic, or mostly at least. Enough for him to scowl at the menace who just told that abysmal line.

“I take it back, I’m not sorry for throwing you off the roof.” past you mutters.

“No take backs, you said sorry and it’s already done. Same as fae rules, can’t take back an apology.” past Sollux says brightly. 

“I hate you.” your past self grumbles and present you sees the hope flicker over past Sollux’s face. Oh boy.

“You’re just a sore loser. You can’t blame me though, I’m not used to being concerned about you. It feels weird. Normally I assume that whatever gets thrown at you afterwards you just get up again.” he says instead of commenting on the hate thing. 

“Thanks. I think.” past Karkat says and takes his hands off of his arms and instead drags them through his hair with a groan. His wings stretch up for a moment and then smoothly out to the side once more, it’s a good thing his eyes are shut because his Sollux is absolutely staring at him.

Past Sollux gets himself together eventually and frowns. 

“What happened to you?” he asks, bluntly. 

Other you wraps his arms around himself again and curls his wings in a little. It’s a moment before he speaks but he does, looking off to the side and avoiding eye contact as he does. 

“Remember last time? I was- I said I was procrastinating something for a friend. Well his maker called him on why it wasn’t done, he said I hadn’t done my bit yet. His maker told mine.” he says tightly. 

Past Sollux looks like he wants to say something but instead waits and listens. 

“What do you- I end up a bird when I’m all messed up or low energy or-” your past self stumbles over his words. 

“I’m a snake when I’m like that.” past Sollux answers, pretending there was a coherent question in there. 

“Well, I’m a bird. Remember how I said about a void? My maker got. Creative.” past you says, his eyes squeezing shut tight. 

“I get thrown in the void every so often and I can deal with it, it sucks, but I can… this wasn’t that. I was a bird and it was a very… very small cage. Think about what I did, how I made him look.” past you manges in bits and pieces. 

At your side Sollux growls softly, yeah he’d never met Kankri but this is probably why he wasn’t sad he was dead at all. 

“Dave would never but _him_? He does stuff like that. There’s things I can’t do because of him, can’t associate a real brawl with anything good. I’d probably be a shit kismesis, not being down for that stuff.” past Sollux offers up. 

“Hah, we’re not even meant to do that. I think pitch stuff used to be allowed with angels, all holy fury and that but it’s not now and you’re sick and wrong if you think it. Not that I could hurt someone like that anyway. But the other stuff with that… I guess I’m a bad angel. I get told it enough anyway.” past you mutters. 

“Well I couldn’t push anyone this far.” past Sollux says, gesturing to the mess that stands before him. 

You think your past self has caught onto exactly where this conversation is going, or at least what’s being implied. Like you’ve both taken a handbrake turn away from discussing mutual horrifying things that have happened and into hinting at romance. Apparently in the contest of which you’d rather talk about the least you know which one wins out. 

“Sorry for just showing up here like this. I’m sure you didn’t want me crashing in on you when I’m all… a mess. I just couldn’t be up there after he let me out.” past you apologises. 

“What? No. I told you we’d wondered where you were. Also I’m entirely down for saying fuck authority and getting away from assholes like that, this is the exact right place.” past Sollux argues.

Other you nods kind of absently and rubs at his bare arms as if he was cold.

“What’re you even wearing?” past Sollux asks, reaching out and then freezing before he gets close because he’s not meant to touch. You guess that it’s a moot point though as your younger self sees the movement and steps closer, enough so that Sollux’s hand brushes his arm.

“M’sorry.” Past you mumbles in apology and rests his head on his Sollux’s shoulder, his wings curling around the startled demon.

“I’ll overlook it, this time.” other Sollux says in response to that apology and one of his hands moves to rest on past you’s side and you’re pretty sure the other is somewhere in your wing.

“It just escalated from there. It wasn’t like I pitied you, I still hated you but it was… I could hate you and be okay with keeping you together after Kankri fucked you up. I was pretty much doomed when this happened. I think it was the same for you too. There was Dave too and… yeah, your interest in this whole seeing us to help stop the end of the world became not just that, I think.” Sollux says.

“How did me and Dave go?” you ask.

“With wildly incompetent flirting on both sides, same as this time pretty much. I didn’t see you kiss the first time either so I don’t think this’ll show you, whatever it is that you’re doing to get this.” Sollux says, gesturing around.

“And ours?” you ask.

The world around you shifts to a boat. Dave is sat on the railings with his feet hooked around them so he can lean back over the edge and stare at the sky. Above you the Northern Lights shift, casting technicolour light over everything. Dave sits up looking like a kid on his birthday faced with a pile of presents.

“I’m going onto the top of the ship, I wanna take pictures!” Dave says eagerly and before either of your past selves can say anything to him he’s off.

“Should we…” past you asks.

“He’ll be fine. It’s not a big ship, I can hear him from here if there was any trouble.” past Sollux says nonchalantly.

Your past self shrugs and goes back to looking up at the sky. It’s strange to see this from the outside, to see how this Sollux is watching this version of you instead of the sky and how since he thinks he’s unobserved his expression is unguarded. You can see that he’s nervous, not nervous of you as such but more of a ‘butterflies in your stomach’ kind of way. He’s clearly wanting and it still confuses you to think that what he wants is you.

“I’m surprised you still care about this stuff.” past Sollux finally says.

“Huh?” past you says eloquently.

“All of this. You’ve been on Earth longer than we have, I figured you’d be bored of this by now.” past Sollux says.

“I’ve not really seen this before. Not from this side. I think I’ve seen it when I’ve been on Earth before but I was always trying to fix something important down here so I didn’t really get to just enjoy it like this. It’s nice.” past you smiles softly, still looking at the sky.

“It’s a nice view, too bad about that one thing spoiling it.” past Sollux says.

“What? The boat in the way? The rapidly melting glaciers due to global warming? The pollution in the air and sea?” other you lists off.

“Your face.” past Sollux says with a mean little laugh.

This devolves into familiar bickering, because of course it does.

“Does this result in the same kind of crushing shame on my part that this time around got me? The whole thing where my species isn’t supposed to do this? I already told you about it before, so it’s not like you don’t know.” you ask Sollux curiously. 

“No. It was a thing that came up when we talked at one point about what we were and weren’t okay with, that you might feel weird about calling it just hate and all the angelic baggage with that but it wasn’t that big of a deal. I don’t know why it was the second time around, you got it this time.” Sollux frowns. Hm, weird. You turn your attention back to your younger selves still arguing.

“I should push you overboard.” past Sollux says, his hand on your past self’s chest and all up in his space. This is hardly subtle. Are you two really that bad?

“Oh, what? You think the cold will kill me? That I’ll drown?” past you sneers at him, getting right in his face.

“Pfft, like I want to kill you. That’s no fun. Throwing you overboard would just really piss you off.” past Sollux says with a sharp toothed smile.

“Like I believe that.” your past self says, all petulant and stubborn.

“No, really. I don’t want to hurt you. I just want… hey, you can throw me overboard if you don’t want this okay?” the younger Sollux says and your heart lurches in your chest because you can see where this is going.

“That is tempting, but what do I have to not want to get to throw you over… board?” the younger version of yourself falters midword as he finally catches on. Just in time for his Sollux to lean in and kiss him.

You would have expected a little more bite, a bit more of the competition and frenzy that the kiss at the halloween party had, but this is nothing of the sort. Sollux is hesitant, like he’s not entirely sure that you’re going to let him do this and you’re uncertain but clearly not unhappy. As a result the kiss your past selves share is remarkably sweet and careful. Sollux’s past self is the one who breaks it first and the two of them both look a little dazed for a moment afterwards.

“That was… pitch?” younger you asks uncertainly.

“I wouldn’t steal Dave’s flush. I just didn’t know if you wanted-” the other Sollux starts.

“No, no, I wanted that. That was… I liked it. I thought pitch was meaner, more about hurting.” past you interrupts him.

“I don’t really like actual hurt. Mean, sure but… I pretty much always want to fight you but I don’t want to kill you, don’t want to really hurt you or make you cry. When I found you on the roof before I was furious for you, like I’d fight your maker myself.” past Sollux says that last part with a hiss.

“Well don’t do that, he’d make me defend him and I don’t want to hurt or kill you either. But angels don’t do this, I told you that.” past you says and you can see past Sollux’s face fall at the anticipated rejection.

“But I’m a pretty shitty angel. I’m not supposed to question things or help people like you and Dave in the first place so- wait, Dave is okay with this isn’t he?” past you asks.

“Oh! Wait!” Sollux gasps at your side and turns around and looks up. You follow his gaze and see Dave just peeking over the upper deck with a smile on his face. 

“He told me that he saw but I never noticed at the time, I was too focused on convincing you that everything was fine.” Sollux smiles at him, the smile fades a little and you’d bet anything he’s thinking about where Dave is right now. 

Behind you the past selves of both of you are still talking.

“So I know it’s not normal or accepted for angels to romantically hate people but that doesn’t mean that I have to live by their standards for that, because I don’t for other things. And I might be anxious but I really want this.” past you says like he’s repeating it. 

“You dumb motherfucker, those aren’t my words.” you groan.

“What? No, that’s exactly what you said.” Sollux insists.

“I might have said it but they’re not my words. You’re telling me you can’t hear Rose in that? I was getting the information about where you were from her this whole time, there’s no way I hadn’t talked to her about this because that’s Rose advice I can hear now. I did freak out about it the first time and get all shame and guilt filled, you just didn’t see it because I must have done it talking to her.” you tell him sharply.

“Oh.” Sollux says, and then again slower and with realisation, “Ohhhh. Shit.” 

“You’re so stupid.” you sigh.

“Yeah, well, you’re the one dating me.” Sollux retorts.

“I clearly have terrible taste. Either that or pretty morons are my type with men.” you grumble. 

Ignorant to your argument with Sollux your past selves kiss once more and the light memory around you fades away completely.

“Well how was I supposed to know that? I thought you just dealt with it well.” Sollux says defensively.

“We got there eventually I guess.” you say, your voice going quiet as your fingers carefully run along Sollux’s side below where his rib was removed.

“Dave isn’t going to remember any of this, and he won’t have you there to do whatever that was and go back into his memories. He doesn’t even know how to use any of his powers.” Sollux says, worrying at his lip with his sharp teeth.

“But I didn’t know how to do that and I did it. If he’s a god I’m sure he’ll be able to figure something out just like I did, right?” you reason.

“Figuring something out is a long way from being trained and competent against someone like Bro. He’s unprepared and undefended, the only time I’ve left him like that is when I’ve been forcibly kept away from him.” Sollux tells you.

He’s clearly miserable and guilty, something you get considering what his purpose is.

“That’s why we’re going to go get him. We’re going to break into hell, find where he is, fight whoever we have to and get him out. There’s got to be some way that we can do it, I know it’s not easy but you’re not alone now and we’re going to- I sound just like I did before, don’t I?” you grimace, thinking of your past self insisting that you could stop the apocalypse if you all only _tried_. Walking up to the literal antichrist and despite being stabbed over and over still believing that if you could only talk to him and make him see that it’d be okay.

“It’s still disgustingly endearing.” Sollux says with a flash of a smile.

“Am I wrong though?” you ask. Sollux shifts to the edge of the sofa and you stand up and casually offer a hand to help him get up, even if it doesn’t hurt he shouldn’t injure himself more. There’s a split second where you think Sollux might reject your help on principle but he seemingly decides that it’s not denting his pride enough, or perhaps that he’s allowed certain weaknesses with you, and takes your hand so you can pull him up.

“If you’re asking me if we’re all doomed the answer’s pretty much yes. I don’t see any way this turns out well, but as it is things are so fucked for everyone that there’s only so much that it matters where you are. Anyway it’s pretty clear that no one is letting me go there on my own. Trying to get out of that is a fight more hopeless than the one we’re trying to get into with Bro.” Sollux says, rolling his black and white eyes.

“I’ll take that. We should probably get to the car though, so we can get to Dave.” you say but then hesitate looking at his shredded shirt.

“Do you actually have your magic now?” you ask him.

“Not really. I can maybe do formal stuff like our professors were teaching us but none of my normal magic. Thanks for rubbing salt in that wound though!” Sollux says with faux cheer and a withering look on his face.

You roll your eyes, you hadn’t been trying to insult him but you’re not going to get into the circular argument of insisting anything about that. Instead you pull your hoodie off and throw it over your arm, with your other hand you take your sickle out and pull Sollux closer with his ruined shirt. Hooking the blade of your sickle in the neck of his shirt you slice it down so the frankly pathetic remains of his shirt just slide off.

“Here, since you can’t make your own you can have mine.” you say and hand him your hoodie, at least he only has to put this on and not stretch to take anything off.

“I’m getting very confusing and kind of hot messages here.” Sollux squeaks as he clutches your hoodie.

“I’ll remember that for the future.” you say, meaning it sarcastically, but the look on Sollux’s face makes you consider filing the detail away for later.

Sollux’s face is still tinged yellow when his head appears out of the top of your loaned hoodie. Despite him being taller than you, it’s still the case that you're broader and you don’t typically prefer your clothes skintight, the result of that is that your clothes seem to drown him. The whole sight is adorable in a way that you’re not used to associating with him so you just try to ignore it.

“So, the car?” you ask, materialising a replacement for your hoodie. This time it’s a sweatshirt for yourself, just so you’re not wearing the exact same thing.

Sollux nods wordlessly, still clearly thrown by you just lending him magical clothing, or maybe it’s just that it’s yours. You reach up and pull the hood from the tip of one of his smaller horns where it’s snagged, the gesture bringing you closer to him in the process. You only realise how the gesture feels and how it looks when you’re doing it.

He leans in to kiss you and you’re certainly not avoiding that. It’s gentle and grateful, it feels like how your actual first kiss looked. Or at least without the doubt anyway, you’re pretty sure that Sollux is confident in how you feel. It’s difficult because you don’t really like the idea that he’s grateful that you care about him. That shouldn’t be a rare thing for him or something that requires gratitude, everyone should appreciate him. He shouldn’t have had to go through the shit he did but you’re sure he’d say the same about you and that’s probably right. Rose and Dave had it rough in their own ways and Jade’s life was no picnic, not to mention the problems June had. Roxy certainly didn’t deserve what she had to do to herself to try to save her kids and the whole world doesn’t deserve to end.

What people deserve doesn’t seem to matter but you’re sure that it SHOULD. Sollux shouldn’t have to be grateful that he’s not facing this alone, he shouldn’t have to be grateful that you love him or that you brought him back from the dead. But the world doesn’t do what you want it to right now and Sollux still is grateful and when he kisses you you know that he is.

You love him, you hate him. It’s all just painfully bittersweet because you love that his feelings for you are as strong as yours for him but everything has sucked so much that he’s _grateful_ that you think of him enough to give him something of yours to wear instead of leaving him in bloody rags. He’s more than capable of looking after himself, you know that, but you swear if anyone tries to make his life even one iota harder you’re going to lose your shit and start punching people in the throat.

Yeah, if you’re getting affection and gratitude from Sollux when you kiss him then who knows what he’s getting from you with how you’re feeling. You think you might have got too tight of a grip on the hoodie you just gave him, you’re probably coming off a little intense, a little weird.

You break apart and Sollux seems a little shaky, which is probably the injuries he’s got. He’s staring at you wide eyed, almost starstruck for some reason.

“We should, ah, probably go convert a car to another god and drive into a volcano to invade hell. You know, normal shit.” you say.

“Yyyyeah. That’s the thing we’re doing.” Sollux says, shaking himself off a little and then nodding in agreement with you.

Alright then, you’d better go do that.


	39. Immortals/The Radiance

The moment you hand Rose the gold fiddle you get the distinct and ever present feeling that you’re not meant to be here any longer, so even though she invites you in you wave her off. You step back and you can feel the pull of what you suppose is time. It flows and pulses, begging you to just fall into it and so you do.

Just like that you’re in hell again, back in your room which is now thawed out and looks far more like a place that you might live. Nepeta is at the door, holding it mostly shut and talking through the gap.

“No, like I said-” she’s cut off by a voice from outside.

“Of course I heard you, there’s no problems with that. Nor would I presume to tell the heir and antichrist himself what to do, but I am acting on our divine ruler’s orders here, you know? It’s not that I’m talking down to you because of your lower status, I was always in support of Bro’s reform of that sort of thing.” the voice from beyond the door says.

Nepeta’s tail is lashing angrily behind her as the guy completely talks over her.

“I can come in and talk to him, of course. He needn’t come to the door on my account.” the voice says.

“No, like I SAID, he’s sleeping. You can come back-” Nepeta’s sharp response is cut off suddenly. You’d moved ever so slightly towards her, just an inch but she spots you and you see some of the tension leave her.

“Well, he’s awake now but I don’t know if he’ll want to talk to you.” Nepeta says firmly.

“But he simply-” the voice from beyond says and you relent, walking to the door. Nepeta steps back so you can open it more and look at the smarmy looking demon beyond who lights up to see you.

“Ah, hello sire, wonderful to see you of course. I am here to deliver to you a summons from your father, he wants to see you.” he says smoothly and inclines his head in a respectful little gesture.

“To see the devil.” you say flatly.

“Yes, of course. Oh, how rude of me not to introduce myself, I am Zebruh.” he smiles, though it doesn’t quite reach his eyes in a genuine way.

You think about this place, how Bro tried to crush you in ice, how he- what happened to Sollux.

“No, I’m not going.” you say firmly.

Panic flits over the demon’s face, quickly smothered by a slightly condescending expression that’s pretending to be sympathy.

“I’m sorry, it wasn’t a request. He is insistent that you go. I’m just the messenger you understand but it’s still an order from him.” Zebruh tells you.

“Well, you can give him a message from me. Tell him to fuck off.” you say and shut the door. There’s a muffled protest from the other side but you’ve got no interest in opening it again.

You stalk angrily away from the door and go to sit on the bed.

“That’s not going to go well, you know that, right?” Nepeta asks.

You shrug, you’re in hell so ‘well’ is pretty relative isn’t it?

God, this room looks just like the kind of room you would have. In the way that your dorm and your room at home look totally different but both exactly yours this one is notably yours too. The decoration is all your style, the way you’ve arranged things and the way things have just been abandoned in places like Sollux tends to do. He just uses things or fiddles with things and then puts them down wherever he happens to be.

Bro can drag you back here but you’re not just going to bow down and do whatever he says. Fuck that.

“Is there any way to get out of here?” you ask Nepeta instead of discussing how well this is or isn’t going to go for you.

If you started from here with Sollux then you did get out once, can’t you do it again?

Nepeta shifts uneasily from one foot to another, her eyes roving over the lake of lava that surrounds the building you’re in.

“Not for you, I don’t think. You’ve left before of course but if Bro says you’re staying here then I don’t think you CAN leave.” she tells you.

You’re just opening your mouth to ask her how you left when you COULD leave and then finding out why she thinks you can’t do that now, when you’re interrupted. A distant and agonised scream runs through the air. That probably shouldn’t be unusual, this is Hell after all but you get the feeling that was in this building.

“Oh wow, he actually told him your message. I’d have just waited and come back.” Nepeta says with a wince.

“That scream was…” you trail off in horror.

“Zebruh, yeah. People don’t usually say no to Bro twice, not unless they’re really important.” Nepeta says. Her green eyes weigh on you, you don’t know if she’s judging you for sending him back with that message or if that’s just your guilt talking. It could be either.

“I have to get out of here. I have to.” you whisper.

Panic is building in your chest and the energy of it forces you to your feet. You quickly walk across the room and open the door, there’s an empty hallway of light grey stone out there and beyond that who knows but it’s not _here_ and that’s what counts.

“Dave, no, don’t. I’m supposed to keep you alive and keep you here. You can’t go!” Nepeta says and grabs your arm.

“Then come with me instead, say fuck it to this whole thing and leave. You don’t want to end up like that guy, right?” you ask her.

“What I want isn’t the point. Sure, I’d rather not be here doing this, keeping you locked up. But if I don’t I’ll get KILLED and I don’t want that even more! So you can’t go.” she retorts.

“I’m not sure you could actually stop me.” you point out. You froze time earlier, how could she stop you?

You pull your arm from her and start walking off, really hoping that she’ll come to her senses and follow you.

The sound she makes is small, but the sheer terror in the tiny squeak from behind you makes you stop. You turn around and stumble back in fear. Nepeta is stuck in place with that horrible puppet monster draping one long noodly arm over her shoulders. His face is a grinning porcelain rictus and his painted blue eyes lock onto yours as he moves one hand just an inch or so. Nepeta gasps and you see her arm dent a little under pressure and realise that he has her in place with puppet strings, his hand moves a little more and olive blood drips down her arm.

Your feet carry you back one more step and then two but on the third you stumble into something. Your shoulders impact something firm that hadn’t been there before and in terror you scramble back towards Nepeta and turn to face whatever you just bumped into.

It’s Bro.

This time he’s not ten feet tall, maybe closer to seven and a bit, which is still decently taller than you and you’re not exactly short. His face is also not dripping green blood now but it doesn’t do a lot to negate the terrifying aura that he gives off.

“Fuck off?” he repeats, his tone entirely flat.

You swallow thickly and resist the temptation to look back at Nepeta and Cal, something tells you that taking your eyes off of him is a terrible idea as is giving any indication that you give a shit if Nepeta lives or dies. You might not know her well but she did stop you freezing and she seems nice at least, not that you need to be nice to deserve not being murdered by an evil animated puppet.

You dig deep for courage and find some, probably not enough so you’re just going to have to front the rest.

“I said what I said.” you say back, just keeping the tremor out of your tone.

“Either you finally got some guts up there or you got dumber. Roof. Now.” Bro says sternly.

You’re just opening your mouth to protest, to say that you’re not going anywhere with him when there’s a flash of magenta and orange light and all at once you’re somewhere else. Looking around you in nervous glances you see that you appear to be on the top of some castle roof, or maybe just a tower of a castle? It’s pretty wide in all directions. Cal appears in a flash of red, still holding Nepeta hostage. Or at least he’s still holding her until Bro fixes him with a look, you guess he didn’t mean for Cal to bring Nepeta along. The puppet laughs and tosses Nepeta off of the roof which proves alarming for a split second until you realise that she can fly just like Sollux can and sensibly zips off to safety through the air. Well, good.

A scrape of steel chills your blood and when you glance back to Bro you see him standing there, sword in hand. What really throws you is that his whole demeanour is so unaffected, as if none of this means anything to him. If he’s intending on attacking you he doesn’t look angry about it or vengeful, it’s as if none of it even registers. For a moment you’re not sure whether to take a sword out as well or not, but the idea of being entirely unarmed very much alarmed Sollux so you think you’d better take one out.

The sword that your past self stole from him seems like a poor choice so you’re left with the snoopy sno cone sword, but it’s better than nothing so you may as well use it. You hold the sword awkwardly, sure you used it before to remove the fake hand from June’s fiddle holding table but that wasn’t moving or especially precise. You don’t know how to swordfight, at best you’ve seen it in movies but it’s been a long time since you saw The Princess Bride and it seemed pretty goddamn hard in that.

Bro looks you up and down but makes no comment or gives any indication as to whether he approves or not, also Cal’s deranged laughter from the other side of the roof is NOT helping at all. Bro starts to circle you, calmly walking around in a circle and you carefully turn to follow him. It seems like planting your feet right is important, that’s how it is in sports, right?

Without warning or preamble Bro darts towards you and out of some instinct you grab the universe and slow it down. He’s still crazy fast but you slow it just enough so you’re able to crash the flat of your sword to his. Time catches up with a jerk and the sno cone part of your sword haphazardly ices a section of the roof beyond Bro.

You stagger back and feel your wrist protest at the stress you just put it under, whatever proper form is that wasn’t it.

“Why… why are you doing this?” you ask, maybe talking to him might- oh, no. Now he actually looks annoyed.

Instead of responding Bro slashes at you once more, you badly parry one strike by fucking with time but you’re completely blindsided by a sudden pain in your shoulder and over to your clavicle. You stagger back and look down, your shirt is sliced open and you’re starting to bleed. It’s not the shoulder that connects to your dominant hand which is something but oh fuck that hurts. Cal hoots in amusement, a noise that has you grinding your teeth in irritation.

So no talking. Fine. Maybe you should attack first instead then.

Switching from defensive to offensive you run at him. You’re probably holding your sword more like a baseball bat but as long as you get him with a sharp or pointy part that’ll do, right? Bro flickers out of the way, so fast that you only see where he was and then where he is now. You’re going too fast though and him not being there fucks your momentum up. You stagger and when the sole of his shoe connects to your back you fall completely. You manage to pull off a roll and get right up but that wasn’t painless. The shoulder that got cut now has a skinned hand and arm to go with it and the elbow of your sword arm is throbbing from banging on the stone floor as you rolled. At least you didn’t stab yourself.

You back up, facing Bro and dragging in panicked breath after panicked breath. Bro starts to circle once more. You shift with him and desperately try to think. He’s fast, faster than you, time is all you have on your side. This time when he attacks, you grab hold of time itself and instead of freezing it you skip forward. You don’t have much control but you think you just about manage to vanish for a second or two, enough to not be there when he tries to stab you.

“At least you’re finally using that. Not too scared I’d dismember your familiar when you’re gone now, huh?” Bro sneers.

Anger fuels you and you rush forward trying to hurt HIM. His sword slices through yours like butter, he slams his fist into the side of your face and the hilt of his sword makes the punch so much harder. You hit the ground hard and this time you don’t get up. Your ears are ringing and you’re seeing stars, your vision only clears when he grabs you by the shirt and hauls you up.

He actually looks angry now and takes a step forward, still holding you off of the ground. Even though your feet aren’t touching the ground the moment they’re over the lava that surrounds the castle you know about it, the heat is sudden and intense even for this place. Out of sheer panic you grip his wrist and this only makes his face twist in disgust at you. And then… he throws you.

You scream as you fall, both from fear and for how unbearably hot the air is. You hit the lava and you get a second of unimaginable pain, and then it’s all gone.

You’re not… dead. But you’re not… here. Not now at least. If your life was a long red cord going through time you know there’s a back from here and a forward, it’s tangled and looped but it’s still there. Right now at least you don’t seem to be able to occupy the space you were at, or the when you were at. It leaves you nebulous and weird, hazy, undefined and untethered. You dissipate like fog and condense bit by bit into another when, clinging to another you as he follows the path that eventually leads you to where you just were.

Your name is DAVE STRIDER and you are five years old.

Today is like all days. You wander the castle, ever aware of eyes watching you from the darkness, from attacks that come from above and for traps laid out for you. You go outside and watch the demons doing their work. They technically have to do what you say but you ordering people around both feels wrong and makes Bro mad at you, you’ve not earned the right to order anyone to do anything. So you don’t.

Still, people talk to you.

You peer at a man surrounded by mirrors, sobbing as hard as he can.

“What’re the mirrors doing?” you ask one of the demons nearby.

“Mm, he’s hearing and seeing everything bad anyone ever thought about him, that and all the stuff he did from other people’s point of view.” the demon answers casually.

Oh, that’s interesting. You kind of wish he wasn’t crying so much but it’s better than when you walk past and see someone getting their skin removed, that’s gross. Then again maybe if the guy had been better the things people thought about him might make him happy, right?

The demon beside you goes rigid in that way demons do when they’re trying to keep still so they’re not seen, not that it works. It definitely doesn’t work for you. You turn around reluctantly and see Cal towering over you. Tensed up you wait for him to attack you but he doesn’t, he just stares at you for far too long and then vanishes in a flash.

Okay, not a random strife, he’s trying to tell you that Bro wants you.

You wave goodbye to the demon who was talking to you and hurry back to the castle. Bro doesn’t like to be kept waiting. You teleport as far as you can see each time, if you just teleport right into the castle you KNOW there’ll be a trap for that so instead you stick with where you can physically see to.

Once you make it inside the oppressively warm castle tower you hurry up the million fucking stairs until you make it to the top level that houses basically everything either of you use. Instead of going to your room which you’d definitely rather do you go to Bro’s chambers. That’s where he does all his evil planning and making horrible stuff and beyond it his bed is in another room.

You nudge the door open and peek inside to find Bro staring out of the window at... you guess the lava lake, but maybe he can see beyond to the whole plane or who knows what. It’s easier to assume Bro can see everything in Hell, safer too.

“You wanted me?” you ask, keeping the nerves out of your voice.

Bro gestures slightly for you to come in, so you do. The door bangs shut behind you and you don’t turn around to look at it, there’s no way Cal isn’t hanging from it grinning at you.

“You need to make a familiar.” Bro says as he turns to face you.

“Like… Cal?” you ask uneasily, you don’t want anything like Cal near you ever. You don’t want CAL near you ever but that’s not up for debate.

“Make whatever. You will use your rib to make it.” Bro instructs you.

“My rib? But…” you trail off, you’re using your ribs. They do things, bone things, pretty sure you need them all.

“You’re a god, your body is negotiable and permeable with a strong enough idea and will. Just remove it. You need to use a rib, it has… symmetry with the other side.” Bro says vaguely.

“The other side of my ribs?” you ask in confusion.

“The other side of _us_. Holy and unholy. Adam’s rib, your rib.” Bro says sharply, apparently a dumb question and you shouldn’t ask something else dumb or he might get really mad.

“How do I make one? What does it need to be?” you ask, he said you could make whatever but he probably means it doesn’t have to LOOK like Cal.

“A familiar is a shard of your soul. With a complete and functioning shard a god can recover from almost anything, things that would kill a god without a familiar. If Heaven tries to stop my plans by killing you this will stop them.” Bro says. You think he’s more pleased at the fact that he’s outsmarting Heaven than actually caring that you understand. Not that he seems pleased or anything, he never does.

The door squeaks behind you and a quick glance shows you that Cal has opened it and is hanging over the top with a grin. You’re excused and if you make him tell you that you’re excused he’ll probably kick you down the stairs. You hurry out of the room, rolling as you go through the door to duck the swipe Cal swings at you.

You hurry down the stairs and back out of the castle. There’s no arguing with Bro, you have to do what he says and it’s so certain that you will that he doesn’t even bother threatening you. No ‘do it or else’ because obviously there’s an ‘or else’.

You wander through Hell with your arms wrapped around yourself. You can feel your ribs and somehow soon you’re going to have one less. You need help and you need answers, you won’t be getting any of that here any time soon. Hell is winding and strange in its geography, arranging itself as it pleases and expanding all the time. All the same you know your way to where you’re going through landmarks.

First you make your way through the assignment tracking area, notable humans who Hell is working on corrupting or who have made deals with demons. A group of succubi giggle together as assignments are handed out and you spy Latula who blows you a kiss and waves at you. If she wasn’t working you’d ask her for a lift to where you’re going because he’s always fun to hang out with, but she’s on the clock so she can’t.

After that you keep your eyes fixed on the legal sphere. You try to keep a quick pace through this place, the demons here really don’t appreciate your curiosity and questions when they’re trying to make their cases. Some will talk to you but it’s better not to take the chance. From there you skirt the edges of the areas set to torture people with isolation, an endless looping area that they wander without ever seeing anyone. Sometimes demons pop in to torment them as visions but mostly this is one of those areas that the demons in charge have described as ‘set it and forget it’. The humans do all the work themselves. You don’t like it but usually you can skirt the edges of it without ever seeing anyone and that’s a lot better than most areas that are for punishing humans. The added bonus of the isolation area is because its size is so wonky and changing it’s always right on the edges of Hell and makes for a great shortcut out. You wouldn’t recommend it, one wrong step and you could be wandering for a longass time, but if that happens to you then there’s always teleporting back to the castle and accepting that you’ll end up in a trap.

The stone walls bordering Hell are impossibly high and there’s no way anyone could climb them, they’re also super thick and made of material that heals itself over time even if you could damage it. Absolutely everyone knows that you can’t get through them.

Which is why no one ever checks.

Finally you spy a big crack in the mortar, it’s already healing but it’s still crackling with green fire. You grin and get down on your hands and knees to crawl through the space. About halfway through, just when the light behind you has shrunk to almost nothing, you find it. A bone easily the size of your arm shoved in the hole. The gap is wider and taller here so you can just grab the bone off of the floor and drag it with you out of the wall.

When you finally get out of the other side you look up at the crackling wall, green fire is still burning in deep claw gouges in the stone and the dirt is all dug up with deep trenches disturbing the earth below you.

A bassy growl fills the air, a thunder of feet and the snapping of terrible jaws. With some effort you pick the bone up and hold it aloft in one hand, you bring the other to your mouth and whistle loud and clear. A hellhound easily ten times your size hurtles towards you out of the dark mist that lingers at the edges of Hell. The jaws on all of its three heads snapping, fiery eyes wild and acidic drool sizzling when it hits the floor.

You toss the bone to the hellhound and it catches it with the mouth of its middle head. It chomps on it ferociously, teeth sinking into the white bone.

“Is that nice? Is that good, huh?” you ask with a laugh and walk over to the hellhound. It flops on its side so you can reach up and rub its belly, making its back right leg twitch in delight.

There’s a thick chain around its neck with a big tag on, you reach for it and turn it so you can read it. ‘Mr. Fuzzles’ is engraved deeply in the metal. Oh, you hadn’t recognised him, he must have shed his venom quills, huh?

“Are you shedding Mr. Fuzzles? Are you?” you ask and dig your fingers into the fur at his chest. One head ducks down and decides to answer your question by licking you with a giant green tongue.

“Let’s go.” you laugh.

Mr. Fuzzles rolls over so he’s laying on his belly and paws and waits for you to climb up the chain around his neck, when you’re settled just in front of his shoulders he gets up and happily trots off. The right most head has the bone now and the middle one seems to be pouting about it so to make him feel better you stand up and reach forward to scratch at the middle head’s ears.

It doesn’t take long to get where you’re going when you’re riding a giant hellhound and you think Mr. Fuzzles takes a few shortcuts anyway. Either way it’s not long at all before you get to Mituna’s home.

You know it shouldn’t really be his home, you know he’s banished and supposed to be suffering out here alone, but it doesn’t really work out quite like that. He’s been punished for disobeying Bro but given that he also disobeyed Heaven you think Bro doesn’t especially care what he does out here, either that or he really can’t see out this far, you don’t know. The point is that Mituna has a little home out here for himself.

Mituna’s house is relatively small, just one room. He made it from what he could scrape off of the wall and powder from bones that the hellhounds crushed up with their teeth. That might sound kind of gross and shabby but it’s not. Mituna’s little home has books smuggled in by his quadrants, a little bed and small magical lights. It’s cosy and safe and by far your favourite place you’ve ever been.

At the moment Mituna is sitting outside brushing out one of the hellhounds with a large metal claw that really gets the undercoat out. The blankets in his home are created from fiber that he made from that kind of fur and when you’d asked him about it all he’d said was that everything else he owned was always covered in fucking hellhound fur so why not do it?

“Hey kid.” Mituna greets you without looking up. You hop down from Mr. Fuzzles’ back and walk over to him.

“He molted!” you say excitedly.

“Mmm-hmm, he’s getting bigger, huh?” Mituna nods as he picks up a huge file and starts to sharpen up his hellhound’s claws.

“Not as big as her, how long until puppies?” you ask curiously as you look over the larger tummy of this hellhound, you’ve been aware of Missy’s incoming puppies for what seems like FOREVER but you’re too excited to keep waiting.

“A little longer. She doesn’t want to give them up so soon it seems. Can’t blame her since I had to give one of her last pups away.” Mituna sighs.

“You what? When?” you gasp. There were puppies and you didn’t KNOW?!

“Oh, this was before you were around. But yeah, in a week or so we might have some.” Mituna nods.

You pet her tummy carefully, you really wish you could take one back with you but it’s a dumb idea. If you brought something living back that you cared about Bro would just kill it to teach you a lesson. Besides, they’re better out here with their own kind.

“It’s so weird how they make new hellhounds.” you say and press your ear to her.

“Yeah, but it’s not like it’s that different from how you were made. You’re human born, remember?” Mituna says, waving the file at you.

“Gross.” you grimace and Mituna shrugs.

“So what’s going on for the coolest kid in Hell, huh?” he asks and winks at you.

“I’m the _only_ kid in hell. But uh…” you hesitate and Mituna notices it right away. He pats the dusty floor by him and you sit down.

“Bro says I have to take one of my ribs out and make a familiar.” you tell him.

“Oh, ouch.” he winces.

“I don’t even know how to do that. I can probably grab my rib if I think real hard about the idea of it but… how do I make a person? Have you ever made a person?” you ask.

“No, but I know how it’s done. I’ve seen people do it. I guess you don’t have much choice, huh?” he sighs and sets the file down. Missy sniffs curiously at him but decides to stay flopped down on the ground where she is anyway.

“The first thing is that you give something up to make someone. So you’re giving up a rib, but since you’re a god making a familiar and not a demon making another demon it’s a bit more than that. It’ll have a connection to you through your blood and body because of the rib but you give it part of your soul too.” Mituna says seriously.

“My soul?” you squeak.

“Just a little bit. You’re not just making someone, you’re making a part of yourself be alive independently of you. It’s okay though, you’re only little so you’re still growing as a person anyway so I doubt it’d have any big effect on who you are. From what you’ve told me and what I’ve seen I don’t think Cal does great things for Bro’s sanity, but you’ll do better! You need to think of what you want this person to be, what their purpose is and what you’re giving them.” Mituna explains.

“It sounds like this is gonna suck.” you say unhappily.

“Yeah,” Mituna agrees softly, “but hey, at least you’ll have someone to talk to when you’re not here.”

“Do you think they’d want to talk to me?” you ask. You try to be strong and independent because you know that the demons in Hell can’t help you and Bro doesn’t like you, so the idea that anyone but Mituna might WANT to talk to you is… strange. Not bad, but strange.

“Of course!” Mituna laughs brightly.

“Hey, ‘tuna? Tell me about Earth again.” you plead, tugging on his arm. You almost always ask him to tell you about Earth or about things that happened with him and Signless.

“Hmmm,” Mituna hums thoughtfully, “how about I tell you about this time Kanaya punched a guy in the market?”

You gasp in delight, you like hearing about Signless’ family. Mituna’s family, really. The idea of having a sister is so nice, and having parents that love you? It’s crazy. You really like hearing about Kanaya though because a lot of her stories are from when she was younger so she’s more like you.

“Alright then.” Mituna grins. He picks up Missy’s paw again and starts to file as he tells you all about it.

An hour or two later you have to go back, you can’t be gone too long or else Bro is really angry when you eventually return. Not to mention if you never came back he’d probably kill Mituna and you couldn’t stand that. You walk back to the crack in the wall with several hellhounds following you. When they see that the crack has got too small they bark angry green fire into it until it burns away enough for you to get through. You leave, but only after petting each one goodbye of course. You can’t forget that!

When you get back to the castle tower you find that there’s no Bro or Cal waiting for you and no more traps than you’d usually find, maybe less actually. He must really want you to focus on making your familiar. Somewhat reluctantly you return to your room and close the door, you cross the messy floor and crawl onto your bed. Rolling onto your back you let your hands rest on your stomach and quietly feel for your ribs. Would it be better to take the lowest one out or a middle one? A lower one is probably better, they’re smaller and you assume the stuff they protect isn’t as vital as the higher up ones.

Your gut squirms as you think about how much taking it out is going to hurt and you quickly avoid the thought by thinking about what kind of familiar you want to make. They’re supposed to protect you and revive you if you die, right? That’d be good to have around Bro. Still, you don’t want anything like Cal, anything that delights in hurting things. You also definitely want them to be able to talk because like Mituna said you’re going to be talking to them a lot so you want them to be able to talk back to you.

Whoever you make needs to be powerful, especially if they’re standing up to Bro. You’re going to have to give up more than just a rib. You could give up flight and teleportation, those are big things. Besides if your familiar is going to be with you the whole time then they can just carry you, right?

You’ve gotta do it, you have to. Bro won’t accept you putting it off and he’ll just be pissed if you do.

Rolling over, you get onto your hands and knees and crawl up to the headboard of your bed. You toss pillows aside and then settle your back against the headboard. Well, the stuff you shoved between the bed and the wall but whatever. You’d rather sit down for this. If you stood and ripped your rib out you could black out from pain and then hit the floor face first and you really don’t want that.

Nerves bubble inside you and you try to ease them by taking the watch out of your chest, your hand slipping easily through your skin. See? You can take things out of yourself, you’re fine. You just need to grab the… the IDEA of your rib. Yeah, easy. You put your watch back in your chest and move your hand to your rib. You don’t want to do this, but you gotta. Man, it’d be easier if you had a familiar NOW to help you instead of doing this shit on your own. If you had someone who would watch your back when you’re focused on something so you weren’t worried about getting jumped when you’re trying to do something like this.

You just… want someone. You want someone like Mituna who likes you and is nice to you, you want someone who’s not going to be made to attack you, someone who’s on your side. You want- all you want is someone to keep you safe and be your- your friend. You’ve never had a friend, not unless you count Mituna and he’s way older than you.

You grit your teeth and decide that you need to get this over with, if you keep thinking about it you’ll just psych yourself out and not do it and then Bro will be very unhappy.

Ribs and the insides of humans aren’t exactly unfamiliar to you, you know what they look like and what to picture. You know the concept that you’re grasping for with it, to make it more than just bone. A part of your body, a part of your soul and everything you want from this. Your hand sinks through your skin and it’s nothing like putting your hand in your chest to get your watch. This hurts, it hurts so bad your vision whites out but you HAVE to keep going. You cling to your desperate hope of making someone who can be what you need and giving up what you have to in order to get there.

Your hand closes around your rib and you topple over as everything fades.

The world around you swims into focus and a hand on your side startles you enough that you flail about, trying to get Cal off of you. Only it’s not Cal, not at all. You’re halfway to sitting up and you find yourself face to face with a boy, a demon boy. He’s wearing yellow and black with Mituna’s symbol on him, he’s got four eyes but they’re just as red and blue as Mituna’s are.

“You’re hurt.” he says, his hand touching your side.

Looking down at the place where your hand went into your chest it’s bleeding, obviously. The boy’s hand moves over your side and magically stitches your wound together. You look back up at him in shock, you’ve always done that for yourself since Bro never did it. Opening your mouth you have every intention of asking him who he is but you don’t need to, you know. You just made him.

He pulls his hand back and looks at you expectantly, like he’s waiting for you to do or say something.

“H-hi. I mean thanks.” you manage to say.

“It’s okay.” the familiar nods.

“Do you have a name?” you ask but instead of answering your familiar looks at you like you’re making some kind of joke.

“You haven’t given me one.” he points out, seemingly working out that you were serious.

_Sollux, this is how I got Sollux._

For just a moment your mind drifts as some weird thought flickers through your head. But… you liked it.

“Sollux. What about Sollux?” you suggest.

“It’s whatever you want to call me so-” he starts with a shrug.

“No, I don’t want to call you something that you don’t like. You could be Sollux or something else or, uh, I guess those are the only two choices, right?” you stumble over your words and for the first time the demon laughs.

“Yeah, pretty much. I kind of like how Sollux sounds though. What about a last name? Yours would be what people expect but-” he grins knowingly when you pull some kind of face at that idea, “but what about Mituna’s last name? Captor?”

“You remember Mituna?” you ask.

“I know everything you know.” Sollux snorts.

The smile falls off of your face, you have to show him to Bro. You know what Bro’s going to do, he’ll attack him just like he attacks you. You brought him into existence and all he’s going to get is hurt. Why did you do this?

“What’s wrong?” Sollux asks with a little frown.

“I can’t show you to Bro, he’s just going to hurt you.” you whisper in shock.

“If you don’t show up with me then you’ve not done what he told you to- or that’s what he’ll think. Or he’ll find out you were trying to lie to him. Either way that sucks for you.” Sollux points out.

“Yeah but-” you start.

“No. I’m going with you.” Sollux insists and takes your hand in his. His hand is so nice and warm, it’s the same size as your hand too and it’s just… nice.

“I thought familiars were supposed to do what the people who made them said.” you say. Cal always seems to do everything to Bro’s approval, even just a slight movement of his head is enough instruction to send that thing off on whatever he needs to do.

“Do you want that?” Sollux asks.

You don’t want him to be anything like Cal. You don’t want to control anyone like how Bro controls everything in your life, you won’t do that to someone else. You shake your head and Sollux nods like that’s settled that. Looking him over again you notice that he’s got kind of a theme going on. His eyes are doubled, he’s got two longer canine teeth on each side and he’s even got two tails. Not to mention his horns are in a double set like Mituna’s are.

“You’ve got two tails.” you point out.

“Yeah, I think you were thinking of two different kinds of things when you made me. So I’m both.” Sollux shrugs. It’s weird that he’s aware of how you made him but then maybe it’s weird that you don’t know anything about where you came from. You know your mother was human and that’s literally all you know.

You’re not sure what to do but you know you have to show Sollux to Bro, that there’s no getting around it so better sooner than later.

“We should probably…” you trail off. Sollux hops off of the bed and waits, when you get up too and start to walk to the door he follows you. You can kind of feel his presence around you, the direction that he’s in, it’s comforting in a way. You’re not alone now.

The two of you walk the dark corridors to Bro's chambers. You don't want to go but what you want to do doesn't matter much here.

When you arrive at the imposing door you reach up and knock, measuring just how you do it. Too loud and you're going to annoy, too soft and you'll seem meek and that'll be bad for you as well. Cal is the one who pulls the door open, leering down at you with his shiny blue eyes and permanent grin. His head turns to look at Sollux and he snaps upwards, whirling around bonelessly to look at Bro who must be further inside. Moving on some command you didn't hear, Cal walks into the room with the strong implication that you ought to follow. You and Sollux both walk in the room.

Bro is sat at his desk, flicking through papers intently. He pins one to a board and then looks up from his desk to the two of you. He watches you without expression for several long seconds, long enough that you're weighing whether you should explain who and what Sollux is. Bro stands up before you speak, though, and walks over.

Sollux's hand tightens in yours and he steps forward ever so slightly, putting himself between you and Bro just a little. He's not right in front of you or anything, just a little. Just enough.

Bro leans down and peers at Sollux. Sollux just stares back.

His hand grasps Sollux by the chin and turns his head one way and then the other. Is he approving? Is this not what he wanted you to do? You've no way of knowing because he's not telling you.

"Roof." Bro says simply, making your heart sink.

You pull Sollux out of the room, just turning to go up to the roof when all at once you're somewhere else. Red and blue smoke clears and you realise that you're in the kitchens. The imps that work there look at you in surprise but they don't stop you or Sollux as he hurries over to the fridge and opens the door. He jumps back away from the falling swords and when they've all clattered to the ground he rummages through them until he can pick a few out that he deems good enough. It's not like anyone will miss them, the fridge just generates weapons endlessly. You can get it to make custom things if you input the right stuff but mostly it just does what it wants.

"What are you doing?" you ask him. If you're not up on the roof in good time you'll be in so much trouble.

"We need to fight and I don't have any weapons. If I make something myself he might be able to unmake it, these'd be better. Can't show up without a sword." Sollux answers as he stows the weapons away in his void.

"You shouldn't have to fight him, I'm pretty sure he wants to fight me." you tell him.

"If someone has a fight with you then they have a fight with me too. I'm fighting him." Sollux insists.

"He'll kick your ass!" you exclaim.

"That's what I'm for." Sollux shrugs.

"No! I don't... I don't want you to take my fights and my pain instead of me. You don't deserve that, I'm not making you do that." you tell him urgently. You dragged him into this and you never should have.

"You don't deserve it either." he says simply.

What are you supposed to say to that?

Sollux reaches out and takes your hand, he gives it a squeeze to reassure you and then you're both on the roof. Bro is, of course, waiting for you. You draw your sword and Sollux does the same. Bro seems interested in this and you're not sure that you like that. Either way Bro doesn't waste any time in attacking you but this time Sollux helps you, he deflects more attacks than you could by yourself and even when Bro swings for him you're able to cover him at least a little. Of course you both still get your asses kicked, you're both left breathless, bruised and bleeding on the roof but it's not as bad as it sometimes is.

Does Bro approve of Sollux? Or does he think you fucked up? Does he think getting him to help you in a fight is cheating? Who knows.

With a grunt you sit up and rub your sore arm and pick grit out of your skinned elbow. You crawl over to Sollux who is quickly healing from a scrape on his face, but it still looks like it stings.

"Are you ok?" you ask him and brush dirt from his hair.

"I'm fine. Are you?" he asks.

"I'll be ok." you answer him.

The last of the scrape on Sollux's face heals to nothing and you carefully reach out for him. You wrap your arms around his shoulders and hug him close. Mituna's hugged you before, Latula as well, but never someone your own size and age.

"Thank you for... for having my back. I'll have yours too, I promise." you whisper.

Sollux's hands go tight on your sides as he holds on to you, even the one side that's missing a rib. Or... not missing, it's somewhere far better now. Because now you have him.

A feeling crawls over you, like pulling a sticker from its backing sheet but as if your soul was both the sticker and the sheet. You are Dave Strider on the roof but you're also Dave Lalonde condensing like steam on glass into being an older someone in a later somewhere. It's hot and your body is nebulous at best but you pull yourself along out of instinct with each inch you move taking you further from that roof at that time. You form together like sand in the bottom of an hourglass, like stacked sheets in a page a day calendar, like a recording of a ticking clock. Your seconds and milliseconds form into cells and bones, minutes into muscles, until you crawl onto hot but blessedly solid stone.

You breathe, choking a little on the air as you do for the first time. The world around you is spinning and all you can do is lay there in place, trying to breathe and cope with existing again.

After an amount of time has passed you see blue catlike feet hurry towards you, only to be replaced by knees on the stone beneath you as whoever it is kneels down.

"Dave! Thank Hell you're okay, I've been looking all over the lava shore for you." a girl's voice says.

Her hands roll you over onto your back and you blink up at her, at Nepeta.

"You got away." you mumble as the thought occurs.

"Were you worried about me?” she asks in surprise.

“You seem. Nice.” you wince partway through that sentence as your whole body throbs in pain. Nepeta just stares at you in shock.

“You don’t want him to catch you. He caught me, don’t recommend it.” you laugh weakly and wince at the pain the movement causes.

“Oh. I'm sorry you got thrown in the lava. Can you move?" Nepeta asks, leaning over you.

You try to move, to get up on your own two feet but you're weak as a lamb right now. Instead Nepeta sweeps you up in her surprisingly strong arms and to your mortification you yelp and cling to her. All you need is a flouncy dress and one of those cone hats with the gauze coming off the end and you'll be a real damsel in distress here.

"I've got you." Nepeta assures you and in a flash you're back in the room that you started in.

Nepeta sets you back on your feet and you stumble onto your bed, falling onto it haphazardly on top of the sheets. You were just here, weren’t you?

“I was back in time.” you say in a whisper.

“You time travelled back again?” Nepeta asks.

“Yes. No.” you frown. You can hear in your head how Sollux would say it’s both and just that thought stings something awful.

“I was actually me at an earlier point in time. Not another me there watching a younger me but I was that kid.” you explain as your hand drifts to your side to the place where your rib once was and is no longer.

“I’m not really sure how you do any of that, if I’m honest.” Nepeta admits.

You press your fingers into your side, the dip that you’ve always had there and thought nothing of for the entire span of your memory. But now you’ve got no rib and no Sollux. You miss him so much, everything hurts when you think that he’s not coming back. He’d know what to say to help you, to make you feel better, he’d help you escape this. But not anymore. For the first time in a very long time you’re all alone.

MEANWHILE ON THE SURFACE, AT THE EDGE OF A PROPERTY THAT DOESN’T APPEAR ON ANY MAP…

“Poor car.” Sollux says softly, looking at it from your place a little way back in the woods, just in sight of the road.

“It looks fine to me.” you tell him.

“It’s cut off from Dave like I am.” Sollux explains.

You hesitate, frowning at the slip of the car that you can see through the trees. Sollux has a better view, you think. Or maybe he’s using his little eyes to see through the trees to the car. Who the fuck knows? All you know is it’s not on fire and all the wheels seem to still be on which is your definition of ‘fine’ for cars.

“The car isn’t… sentient, is it?” you ask slowly.

“Define sentient.” Sollux says in the least reassuring response.

“How about you just tell me what it is instead?” you reply.

“It’s maybe about as smart as a fish. It’s not alive but it’s magically animated a bit. You can take your hands off of the controls and it’ll keep going where it’s meant to reasonably accurately, it can park itself just fine, it picks radio stations sometimes. It’s like, semi-sentient.” Sollux explains.

“So is it in pain now?” you ask in horror.

“No, it can’t feel pain. But it’s not happy about this either.” he tells you.

Bec bounds up to you both and stuffs his snout in Sollux’s hand, earning him a good amount of pets from the clearly smitten Sollux. Jade hurries around a tree towards you both, clearly Bec had run ahead.

“We’re having something of a problem back here. Maybe you can help?” Jade asks. She leads you both back towards the house, or rather to the edge of what is counted as the property seeing as the house is further in. Roxy is standing on a tree root looking ahead with fear on her face.

“It’s ok, Mom.” Rose says gently.

“What’s the worst that could happen, the world ends?” Terezi says with a grin, she’s leaning against a tree just watching Roxy as she wrestles with whether to cross the property line or not.

You look behind Roxy and see June a little further back, closer to the house. You hope she’ll be okay here on her own, you really hope nothing happens when no one else is there with her but then again she’s a god. She can probably handle herself.

“I just…” Roxy whispers to herself, looking down at the floor and edging her foot ever so slightly closer.

“Dave needs us, Mom.” Rose reminds her.

“You can’t let his father keep him, not after everything. Are you really gonna let him win after you’ve got this far?” Terezi adds.

Roxy clenches her jaw, takes a deep breath, and steps forward. She crosses the property line into the rest of the woods for what you can assume is the first time since she returned home with a newborn Rose. She clenches her hands into tight fists and starts to march onwards, once lagging back but now leading the way.

“See you later, June.” Sollux says quietly.

“Yeah, if you need to get in touch with me you can use this as a focus.” June says and materialises a small box out of the air. She tosses it to Sollux who thankfully manages to catch it.

“Be safe, yeah?” you say to her.

“If I gotta. Go on, get driving. It’s gonna be a real trip, I bet.” June says and shoos you off.

You turn and walk through the forest towards the car. The others have reached it before you and Roxy seems to have shaken off her fear at leaving the protected property and is now peering under the hood of the car. Rose is at her side and since Sollux is talking to Jade about keeping Bec in the car you decide to join the Lalondes.

Coming to stand at Rose’s side you look down into the inner workings of the car which look normal to you. You’re not really a car person. Back in Georgia you just walked or took the bus, sometimes an Uber if you had something big to carry back from a store or whatever. In Salem you walk or take the bus. You kind of know how cars work in that you know the gears change, that gas goes in and something, something, internal combustion engine.

Look, you can fly, cars aren’t really your concern.

All the same you look into this car for a moment and start to notice something strange. All of the parts you can see look very definitely like car parts. There are pipe bits, gear parts, cables of various sorts. Yet none of it seems to be right. You can see several parts that just plain aren’t connected to anything and lots of looping of pipes and wires that while they convincingly look like they belong, can’t possibly do anything.

“What the fuck?” you whisper.

“Oh, that. Dave doesn’t really know much about cars, it still works though.” Sollux says casually glancing your way and going back to his conversation.

“How did this possibly…” Rose whispers in disbelief.

“You knew it’d drive, it knew it could drive, there was faith.” Roxy shrugs.

“Actually this sounds and looks exactly like the kind of shit I’d expect from Dave. He’d probably do just as bad of a job trying to recreate a sport from memory.” you groan.

“I would like to see what he’d do there now.” Rose says, flashing you a smile.

Roxy draws in and then slowly lets out a deep breath, it doesn’t sound like it’s much but she immediately has the full attention of both you and Rose. Roxy holds her hand over the engine(???) of the car and a pink disc of light forms under her palm. The inner workings of the car are bathed in a soft pink light and like bubbles drifting up through water, you see demonic letters rising to the surface of the light, arranging themselves around the edge of the disc. The letters are glowing red and though you can’t read demonic just yet you can pick out a few symbols. One that jumps out at you is the one that you associate with Sollux, another is a stylised O with a jagged lighting bolt shape through it that for some reason feels familiar to you as well.

“Can you change it?” Rose asks her.

“Mm. The car runs now but if anything much happened to it then it could easily break or run out of power. It needs a new tether and it can be added without editing the original spell.” Roxy nods.

“You’re saying we were lucky to be able to drive home in this?” Rose asks and Roxy nods.

Well, that’s an unsettling thought but you’re going to count that as one thing that could have gone horribly wrong and thankfully didn’t. You’re not getting a lot of those lately so you’re going to count your blessings where you can get them.

Roxy whispers in quiet demonic and you watch as she adds onto the end of the spell, presumably adding a clause where it’s ‘this car works like this powered by Dave’ becoming ‘this car works like this powered by Dave or by Rose’. Obviously it’s more complex than that but that’s the feeling you’re getting here.

Roxy releases the spell and Rose gasps, she stumbles to the side and you steady her, worried that she might fall over. The car’s engine revs loudly, the hood snapping shut with a metallic clang. The paint on the car ripples and shifts from bright firetruck red to a deep purple, the frame melts and shifts to elongate the car slightly and make it more aerodynamic. The windows of the car, including the windscreen, smoke and tint totally black to the extent where you can’t see inside at all. The rumble of the engine shifts into something deeper and when the headlights come on they’re blindingly bright, not so bright that you can’t see the yellow underlighting to the car as well. It’s different to Dave’s iteration of the vehicle but you’d be hard pressed to describe either as subtle.

“Oh, wow. They’re completely see through from the inside.” Kanaya says, opening the back left passenger door and looking through the window.

“Probably best that… people can’t see who we are. Oh, wow.” Rose breathes, she’s a little shaky but seems fine. She purposefully saved you even if it was instinctive but as far as you can think this must be the first time anyone has tethered anything to her power as a god.

Rose keeps one hand on your shoulder and leans in to run her hand across the dark purple gleaming metal of the car, it purrs under her touch like an affectionate cat.

“I can feel it, not just physically but psychically somehow.” Rose says wondrously.

You’re interrupted by Bec suddenly barking up a storm at something down the road. He positions himself between all of you and whatever is down there as he barks and growls.

“What is it Bec?” Jade asks him as she somehow pulls a goddamn rifle out of her bag because apparently Jade doesn’t fuck around in situations like this.

“I’ll go and- oh. Great. I can’t even fly anymore, of course I can’t.” Sollux hisses angrily.

“I’ll see what it is.” you tell the others and stretch your wings out. You allow yourself to slip from view and take to the air.

Maybe you should worry about upsetting Sollux by flying when he can’t, but you think it’d be more an insult to not do this out of some instinct to protect his pride and ego. That’d be more offensive, surely.

You fly down the road invisibly and see several cars driving towards you in what looks like a motorcade, at least six of them all together in equally bland cars. Dipping down lower you curve through the air and get low enough that you can see through the window but to your surprise you don’t see some angel or a demon, no magical or mythical assassins at all. It’s June’s dad and the rest of the pseudomen all heading towards your group.

You flit through the air quick as can be, reappearing and landing next to Rose.

“It’s June’s dad and his people.” you tell them.

“They’re on our side.” Sollux says simply.

“Then why is Bec barking?” Kanaya asks, gesturing to the noisy hellhound.

“He’s magical and a hellhound, that doesn’t mean he understands intergod politics and allegiances. He can just tell there’s a whole lot of people coming this way together who might be a threat.” Sollux says.

He reaches down and soothingly pets the top of Bec’s head until he stops growling, Jade tells Bec to sit and he does so although clearly reluctantly.

The cars crest over the curving hillside road and come to a stop at what you would describe as a respectful distance from your group and your car. Bec keeps turning his head at Jade and Sollux as if to ask if they’re really sure that he can’t attack them.

Mr Egbert gets out of the car and walks towards all of you, his posture polite but casual and his hands very clearly out in the open and not holding anything dangerous. He greets the people he knows as he comes closer to the front of the car, Rose gives him a small wave but she’s obviously concerned about her mom.

“Ms. Lalonde, it’s a pleasure to meet you in person finally. I’m June’s father.” Mr Egbert smiles and holds out his hand.

“I’m not shaking that.” Roxy says stiffly.

“She didn’t get this far by shaking the hand of anyone who offered. She doesn’t know you’re who you say you are or that you’re not trying to trick her.” Terezi points out from the other side of the car.

“A fair point. Either way June has told us of the journey you’re planning to take and from what I’ve seen on the news it’s pretty hairy out there. We’d like to offer you our services as an escort as far as we can. If anything is trying to slow you down and impede you we’ll try to take care of it for you so you don’t lose time between here and your goal to reach your son.” Mr. Egbert explains.

“It’s the end of the world, you really think you can handle what’s out there?” Roxy asks him dubiously.

Mr. Egbert seems to consider this as he adjusts his tie for a moment and then smiles.

“We’re decently capable, I’m sure you can relate to how parenting a god requires some skill and creative problem solving. Besides which, if it’s the end of the world then what do I have to lose? I would sooner live by my God, and protect you lovely ladies as best as I can. As well as you two gentlemen of course.” Mr. Egbert adds that last part with a nod at Sollux and you.

Bec barks at him and Mr. Egbert seems to think for a moment.

“Three gentlemen, perhaps?” he ventures.

“I’m not sure if he’s a gentleman but he’s something.” Jade laughs and pets Bec. The idea of Bec wearing a little business tie appears in your brain with such suddenness and strength that it’s almost like the idea hit you in the back of the head like a baseball bat. You have to tell the others later and make this a reality.

Roxy looks at Mr. Egbert and the pseudomen who are still in their assorted cars and shrugs slightly.

“It’s your funeral, not like I can stop you.” she says lightly.

“You absolutely could.” Terezi snickers.

“Well YEAH but-” Roxy flounders and shoots Terezi an exasperated ‘you know what I mean’ look that you’re more used to seeing on her daughter’s face.

“What route were you planning on? Only one of my associates heard that there’s a lot of unrest South of Lake Ontario so it would probably be better to go through Canada at least for part of your route.” Mr. Egbert suggests.

“No, there’s a lot of ley lines crossing through the I-90 between Syracuse and Rochester. Everything will be far too chaotic magically for us to be easily spotted. It’s the safest dangerous way through.” Roxy tells him.

Mr. Egbert seems to consider that for a moment before inclining his head a little in a respectful nod.

“South, then? I’ll tell the others the plan. Rose, dear, I believe you have my number. Please do keep me apprised of any route changes and don’t worry I’ll have someone else watching my phone, I wouldn’t use my phone and drive at the same time. Safety first.” Mr. Egbert says responsibly. It’s hard to believe this sensible dad is the leader of some chaotic trickster god following, the parent to a living god. He’s just so… normal.

“I will, of course.” Rose agrees.

With that Mr. Egbert returns to his car and Roxy gets into the driver’s seat of your group’s car, though you suppose it’s Sollux’s car even though it's currently running on Rose’s power. She’s also probably the only one of your group with a driver’s license. Rose told you that Kanaya drove the car home but given how vampires were treated up until relatively recently you doubt that she was able to even have the right ID to get a license at all, not that she can’t drive but more that she shouldn’t.

Then again, you imagine that the police will have more pressing things to worry about in the end of the world than unlicensed drivers.

“Sollux, you’re more familiar with this car, you should probably sit in the front with me and Mom.” Rose suggests and sure enough there’s room for three up there now.

You get in the back with everyone else and see that it’s laid out a little like a taxi in that there’s seats that face backwards against the front seats and a row that faces forwards. It gives Bec enough room to stretch out on the floor and gives everyone in the back enough room to stretch their legs out which you imagine will be appreciated after a while of driving.

You sit backwards in the middle next to Terezi with Kanaya and Jade facing you. Above you there’s a wide sunroof that despite being totally tinted from the outside is completely clear on your side. Roxy starts the car with a purr of the engine and you see Mr. Egbert’s car turn so that he’s leading you out to the main road, as you pass each of the other cars they turn around and join in behind you in a snaking motorcade.

The Lalonde house isn’t the closest to big roads so it takes a while of quiet winding forest roads before you start merging into progressively more and more major roads. It seems for all the world like nothing is really wrong here, like the ending of the world just hasn’t touched this place, but you know in your bones that isn’t true. You can feel the undercurrent of deeply unsettled magic, like the calm surface of water hiding a rip current beneath it.

“I think the boundaries between fae places and the rest are starting to break down, it feels… it’s weird.” Jade says in a hushed voice, her face is nearly pressed to the window.

“Any plane not able to detach from this one is going to be dragged down with this one, it means the barriers start to fail.” Sollux supplies from upfront.

Oh great, so confused and angry ancient fae being turned loose onto unsuspecting human populations, that sounds good.

“It’s getting worse closer to the ley lines. I’m getting out to keep an eye out.” Terezi says and slides the sunroof open with a click of a button.

“Wait, let me come with you. Rose can watch through me, right? So I can show her what we see.” you say as you hastily unbutton your seatbelt.

“That’s a good idea. Mom?” Rose checks and Roxy nods, just once.

Terezi hops up onto the seat and hauls herself out of the sunroof, onto her butt at first but then pulls her feet up after her. You follow, sticking your head and shoulders out and wait for her to move before you get out so you don’t knock her off or anything.

Terezi’s form ripples, her magically summoned clothes vanishing so she’s as naked as she was when you first met her. At first you want to look away but this isn’t really what she looks like and she clearly doesn’t care about the modesty of this form. It’s not like you, the form you’re in now is what you consider your default normal form even though you _really_ look far more unusual. Terezi clearly doesn’t feel the same so you keep your eyes on her and watch as dragon wings sprout from her back, smaller than normal but big enough to launch her into the air so she’s far enough away for her real form to magically unfold. Her teal scales glitter in the sunlight and she roars, the sound thrumming through the air.

Eh, you can be louder, that’s not impressive.

With Terezi out of the way you stand up more, you put a foot on the back of the seat in front “accidentally” nudging Sollux with your foot in the back of the head. It’s really windy out here so you take care when you get out to not lose your balance. You get your feet under you on the roof and jump, bursting into flight. Rose starts watching as you catch an updraft and effortlessly float upwards.

“I should have worked out that something was weird when I wasn’t freaked out when you flew me back to Salem before.” you shout over the wind to Terezi.

M4YB3, BUT TH4T WOULDN’T H4V3 B33N 4S FUNNY, WOULD IT? she says right into your mind and her solidly red eyes glitter in amusement.

“Even if you could have told me you wouldn’t have, would you?” you ask, drifting closer. Hey, there’s a nice thing about the volume you can reach with your voice. It’s easy to talk over the wind when you’re flying.

N4H she snickers in the back of your skull.

You roll your eyes and look down at the motorcade with Sollux’s purple car in it. You can see a glittering body of water just fading out on one side and the start of a more inhabited area coming up. The air looks… wrong over there.

“What is that?” you ask, knowing better than to ask if Terezi can see it.

F43, LOOKS L1K3 TH3 HUM4NS 4R3N’T H4PPY 4BOUT TH3 SP1LL OV3R.

Yeah, you can bet.

“I’m going ahead.” you tell Terezi who nods and flaps her almighty wings in a movement so casual that there’s no way it should be able to keep her in the air. But of course it does because, well, magic. You sweep ahead on your wings which really make even less sense than hers in terms of flight capability but anyone wishing to protest can take that up with Rose and good luck to them.

You sweep along the road with your eyes trained ahead to the greener areas off to the side where the air seems wrong. Sure enough the trees are gnarled and look like they have eyes of their own watching you and the whole area has the unsettling sense of observing that Winter had.

“If your mom can protect the cars from this at any point I would think that’d be a good idea.” you mutter to yourself, or more accurately to Rose.

Flitting onwards you see a dead and bludgeoned fae on the edge of the road and a barricaded house with what looks like iron railings all around it. The couple of houses nearby look empty and you get the feeling that they’re all hiding in the iron protected one.

You drift further onwards, keeping your speed low enough for the others to catch up to you. As you’re lingering in the air you catch a flicker of movement, something almost not there but not so well hidden that you miss it. Or maybe Rose doesn’t miss it, who knows? Either way you turn your head and see a fae of some kind, more of a nature spirit type than Jade is. Its body seems to be made of almost entirely plant material save its pristine face that could be almost carved from some smooth stone. It’s a little way across from the fortified house but it’s looking at you instead.

“We’re just passing through.” you say simply and give it a respectful little nod. You’re not going to stop it from whatever it’s doing. You don’t know who started this fight and you don’t have the time to resolve every dispute you come across in your cross continental journey. You just need to get through.

Terezi comes more easily into sight over the treeline and there’s a distant rumble of the incoming cars. The fae seems to consider for a moment and then nods back to you, melting back into the treeline although you’re sure it doesn’t disappear. You don’t fly ahead right away, instead you stay where you are in the air and wait for your motorcade of cars to pass just to be sure they’ll be fine.

You give the house a backwards glance as you leave, wishing you could do more but knowing that you can’t right now. All the same you hope everyone will be okay on both sides.

It takes no time at all to catch up to Terezi and the cars below as you continue on to the town or perhaps city that you can see in the distance, you think it’s most likely a town but you’re not exactly familiar with the area.

There’s a hesitant nudge on your psyche, it’s weird. You can’t say that it’s anything like when you were compelled to do things on Kankri’s orders. If Kankri’s orders was a loud and clear demand this is more like someone softly asking if you wouldn’t possibly mind just doing something if it’s not too much trouble but don’t worry if you can’t. All the same it’s a very mild request to go lower to the cars which you’re more than happy to follow.

You swoop down and catch hold of the edge of the sunroof with your hands just so you stay stable and level with it.

“Karkat, you came. I didn’t hurt you did I?” Rose asks worriedly.

“He’d have said if you did. Check the town ahead out, it feels weird to me. It’s rubbing my magic all weird.” Sollux says, leaning back to look at you.

“Your doom magic?” you check.

“Yeah. I know, apocalypse, very doom-y to begin with but I’m just saying.” Sollux explains.

You nod and let go of the car, drifting back enough so you can beat your wings without smacking the car itself. You make quick work of the distance between the car and the town and sure enough the place feels weird. It’s quiet, too quiet. You pass several car accidents on the road and you hope that Rose sees them to warn her mother and the others in good time.

Drifting onwards you hear sirens in the air and so although you stick to the road that you know Roxy wants to follow you drift closer to the sirens all the same. You pick out the blue flashing lights on the cars long before you can see exactly what’s going on. The cop cars are parked around the road essentially blocking it off even though that doesn’t look like their intent. There are people milling about casually. You’ve no idea what they’re doing there because the place opposite just looks like a graveyard.

There’s… a lot of people in that graveyard- oh no.

You hesitate but knowing that you’re the eyes of your group right now you fly closer. Now you can see that the police cars are all but destroyed and the figures wandering about are a mix between clearly mauled and now undead police officers and the undead who appear to have been dead for a good deal of time.

Zombies. Of course it’s zombies, just what today needed.

You about turn and haul ass back to your group, actually running into Terezi midair in your haste.

“It’s zombies. There’s zombies up there and they’re blocking the road.” you tell her in a panic.

OH 1 C4N D34L W1TH TH4T! HOLD ON, N3RD!

“What?! I can fly, I don’t need to- AAH!” you yelp as Terezi bites at your clothes and uses her careful hold to flick you onto her back where you land gracefully.

You’re saying it was graceful and no one else but Rose witnessed it so that’s the official story.

Fumbling yourself upright and- uh, seeing as you are already gracefully standing on Terezi’s back you flutter up to her head and hold onto her horns as you watch her draw close to the town you just came from. The motorcade is well behind you both now, you can see it past Terezi’s tail in the distance.

“What are you planning here?” you ask her over the wind.

You get no answer in terms of words but you feel a rumbling through her scales, the ones up her neck flare out slightly with the faintest glow shining between them. Terezi swoops low towards the cars and the zombies around them and you immediately realise what that rumbling and that glow was, right around the same time that you become very glad that you’re immune to fire. Terezi opens her mouth and a jet of flame so hot it’s just pure white heat spews forth. The whole area of road, the nearby plant life and a distressing amount of the cemetery are instantly consumed in a catastrophic inferno.

“They have to drive through that! And- and how do you even know that there weren’t any living people hiding in those cars?!” you demand but Terezi chooses not to answer you.

Fuck, either she knew there wasn’t or there was and certainly isn’t anyone alive there now. Either way the cars are absolutely the most pressing problem. The undead are still occupying the distant part of the cemetery and you get the feeling these aren’t the kind of undead that Jane was screwing around with making, this seems much more like the end of the world, people rising from the dead, sign of the apocalypse sort of undead. All the same it doesn’t seem right to leave this town undefended against them, especially when you could help. But… you have to put this fire out so that everyone else can get through.

“Terezi, go destroy those zombies too. I’ll try to fix this.” you tell her and hop off of her head, flying under your own power now.

DON’T TH1NK TH4T 1’M ONLY DO1NG TH1S B3C4US3 YOU TOLD M3 TO. 1 JUST R34LLY L1K3 S3TT1NG TH1NGS ON F1R3!

“I’m glad it works out so well for you then.” you say sarcastically and slow your fall into the fire with your wings.

The road is molten beneath your feet, even as you touch it you sink in. Shit, no way the cars can drive over this even if you put the fire out. Unless you can take that fire out of all of it…

You float on the thermal energy of the fire and drift to the centre of the molten road and reach down. You focus on the heat, the light, the concept of fire itself. Your fingers dip through the molten road and when you pull back the fire around you stops. The fire in your hand glows impossibly bright and it puts you in mind of the light magic that is supposedly Rose’s domain. You close your hand fully at the same time as you have that thought and get the distinct feeling that you didn’t dissipate that power but instead send it elsewhere.

Stopping the fire and solidifying the road fixed the problem, sort of. For a charitable interpretation of it at least. The road is bubbly and rippled all over with jagged parts of melted cars sticking out here and there. It’s not completely impassable but it’s hardly easily traversed.

The gentle request to return to Rose seeps through your mind so you take to the air and fly the short distance to the cars. You land on top of yours and lean in through the sunroof.

“You should probably get in and rest, besides the air’s looking really smoky ahead.” Rose suggests.

You’re not going to argue with her so you drop down into the car and sit down as the sunroof closes. Around the car the motorcade slows and shifts fully into single file.

“Rose said there were zombies again, is that right?” Jade whispers in horror and all you can do is nod.

Outside the window there’s a wall of fire as Terezi eradicates zombie after zombie as she sees them. Smoke fills the sky and for the first time it really sinks in for you.

This is the end of the world.


	40. Body Terror Song/Elemental

Bro seems intent on fighting you. His motives are unknown to you and he doesn’t see fit to elaborate at all on them, whether you ask him or not. Maybe he’s angry and just beating the shit out of you to make a point, maybe he has some plan that means this needs to happen. You don’t know and after the fourth time you’re dragged to the roof for a fight you sincerely don’t care anymore. You’re not wasting brain space on a guy who waits for you to recover enough to be functional after each fight only to do it again. 

Cal drops from your ceiling, most likely because you’ve already ignored the summons of one demon who from the lack of screams you’re going to assume didn’t go back to Bro. You jump at Cal’s appearance but then go back to looking through your pictures. You have a whole load of them spread out onto your bed and you’d rather do that than anything with that puppet. 

“No wonder past me sold his memories, I would too if it got rid of you.” you tell Cal.

“HOO HOO HOO.” Cal cackles. 

“You know for a thing made up of half a clown, a rotting centaur heart and… some ancient glass or whatever you’re upsettingly creepy.” you say because pretending like he doesn’t scare you half as bad as he actually does is all you have. 

Cal continues laughing like the nightmare made fabric that he is and lashes out with a noodly arm, wrapping it around your ankle and dragging and teleporting you onto the roof. The motion disorients you something fierce, enough for Cal to get the first hit in. You swing at him with your sword and of course you miss. 

Bro is leaning casually against a wall and the sheer nonchalance of it pushes you over the edge. You look at the sword in your hand and then drop it on the ground. 

“You know what? Fuck this. Fuck this and fuck you too. If you’re going to kill me then you can kill me, if you’re going to torture me then I’m sure you’re gonna but I’m done actively participating in this shit. I’m not playing your shitty game.” you snap at him. 

Bro stares at you, you can feel the weight of his gaze like a tonne of steel placed directly on your chest. 

Your sword flies up from the floor but you snatch your hand away in time so you don’t end up holding it. You cross your arms and stare him down. 

“I’m not doing it.” you tell him again. 

Bro pushes away from the wall and walks over to you, he stops a little less than arm's length away. 

“Pick it up.” he tells you, very much an order and not a suggestion. 

“No.” you reply. 

“I can weld it to your hand and drag your limbs around on strings if I have to.” Bro hisses and the thought of that makes your gut churn. 

“Yeah, but that still means I didn’t pick it up. I’m not doing it.” you tell him. 

The expression of picking a hill to die on comes to mind, both in the sense of metaphorically refusing to give in on something but also in the far more literal way. In terms of hills to die on your own autonomy seems like a good one. 

You’re terrified of Bro but you’re not budging on this. He stares back at you and the anger you can feel from him is almost a tangible force. He draws his fist back but you don’t move, you’re not fighting him. He hits you so hard he punches you into next week. 

Or, more accurately, he punches you so hard you sprawl out on the roof blinking stars from your eyes, several years ago. Six years and… some months. Your head hurts a little too much to be more specific than that. 

You give yourself a few minutes to recover before you haul yourself onto your feet. You could go back to the present but you don’t see any reason to be anywhere near a Bro who’s that angry at you. But you also probably shouldn’t stick around here where you’re likely to meet your past self. If this is just before you left for Earth then it makes sense that you’d look the same age so people seeing you aren’t going to be alarmed, you just have to get out of this tower. 

It turns out that’s a lot easier when you’re not being forcibly kept inside. You remember your past self’s directions to the outer wall of hell and if you can get advice from anyone or even a place to lie low then Mituna would be a good bet. Maybe you could even get there and hop back to the present in the same location, that’d get you well out of Bro’s reach, right?

As you walk you try to maintain the air of someone who’s totally allowed to be out here, in fact someone who is absolutely here all the time and is fantastically casual about walking through Hell. Yessir, nothing to question here. Oh God, that woman is drowning in snakes. That seems awful for her and the snakes. You like snakes, or at least you do when they’re not biting a woman who’s sinking into them. Augh, that’s- uh, totally normal and mundane. Yep. Moving on. Moving on faster, actually. 

You pass through the area you saw the succubi and other demons getting assignments before and keep your eyes trained on the legal area, that was the next landmark. As you enter the outskirts of the legal area you’re starting to think that you might actually make it. Boy, you really wish you hadn’t thought that. 

“Hey, what’re you doing here?” a demon asks. 

You whip around in alarm and see a tired looking demon, you think she’s a woman but you wouldn’t presume with demons. Actually… actually she is, you recognise her from one of your Mom’s tapes. 

“I’m uh, just passing through.” you say as you wrack your brain for her name. Ty… Tyz… Tyzias!

“You’re supposed to be auditing a case, I thought you went with Tagora.” Tyzias says and narrows her eyes at you. 

“Well, here I am?” you say instead. 

Tyzias blinks at you, takes a long pull from whatever she has in her mug and sighs. 

“Listen, I’d like for both of us to get through the day without getting our skin flayed off so you’d better come on my case. It’s pretty much a win for us even if Heaven is contesting it. Come on.” she says and jerks her head to the side. 

She starts to walk and you don’t see any choice but to follow her, at least not without arousing suspicions. What if you go with her, come back, and then go to Mituna? That’d make sense. Also, if you remember from your Mom’s interviews with her Tyzias she was pretty cool so you’re probably okay here. 

“So, uh, what’re we doing? Like, pretend I know nothing about anything and explain it to me. You know when you have essays about something and you know what something is and the person reading it does but for some reason you still have to explain every detail about it. Imagine this is like that.” you say in a way that is definitely smooth and not at all suspicious. No one will suspect a thing. 

“Oh, yeah, just what I want. To relive the days of my essay assignments before I passed the bar.” she grumbles. 

Tyzias has a sip of her drink and looks at you out of the corner of her eye as you both walk along. You can’t help but note the thick file under her arm that looks very legal-y. 

“Fine, fine. We’re dealing with a contested soul, someone in our faith dichotomy that led a life that mmm… that means both sides think they own him. We say he’s enough of an asshole to deserve being down here, they disagree because of his profession and it’s not clear cut enough for Post Mortem to decide without us.” Tyzias explains. 

“Like a custody battle.” you guess and she nods. 

“It’ll be me vs some angel. I think we’ve got this but you never know.” Tyzias says. 

The two of you reach a door and you offer to hold her file so she can open it without spilling her drink, she lets you have the file which is pretty hefty. With the door open you step through into a greyscale world, specifically a spacious marble room. There are two grey tables facing a tall dock where a woman who looks like a colour swapped version of Spades Slick sits in a tall backed chair. There’s a similar seat to her left but that one is empty.

Between you and the snow white carapaced woman there’s an empty circle on the ground that definitely draws your attention. 

Tyzias walks to the table on the left and starts setting out her paperwork so you join her at her side. Up in the dock area the woman smiles at you both. 

“Tyzias, lovely to see you as always. And Dave, nice to see you taking such a keen interest in our system.” the woman smiles. 

“Thank you for having us, Post Mortem. Dave’s just auditing with me of course.” Tyzias explains and the woman nods. 

“So what is all of this?” you whisper and tap on the table with the paper. 

“This here is just… background. Basic information, where he lived when, who his major relationships were and the date of them, key reference stuff.” Tyzias says as she indicates a densely packed sheet of paper all written in demonic, too bad you seemingly forgot how to read that. 

“This is our evidence for his specific sins and bad behaviour and over here are consequences that he may not have foreseen but absolutely caused. I’ve got references for evidentiary support for all of this as well.” Tyzias tells you as she points to each part. 

“Huh, that’s pretty cool. So, where is the angel that’s dealing with the other side of this?” you ask as the mirror image table to yours is empty. 

“That’s a good question.” Post Mortem sighs and checks her watch. 

“You know, I hear there’s a rule where if the other side doesn’t get here in ten mmminutes it rules for the side that showed up.” Tyzias says jokingly and Post Mortem grins in shared amusement. 

Suddenly another door appears and bursts open and you jump in alarm when you see that it’s Eridan sprinting closer with a haphazard file of papers. 

“I’m- I’m so sorry. There was- and- I’m sorry, I’m here and ready.” Eridan gasps as he slams his file onto the table, spilling a few pages here and there. 

“Good, it’s been long enough so let’s get started. Please raise your hand and-” Post Mortem starts but she’s interrupted by Eridan. 

“Sorry your Honour, if I could just have a moment to go over my files. There was a problem you see and I had to cover someone else’s case prep so I had-” Eridan starts. 

“You were late and delayed us and you want us to wait for longer for you to be ready? No, that’s not how this works. Raise your hand. Do you all swear to speak only the truth to the best of your knowledge in this room?” Post Mortem asks. 

Everyone raises their hands so you follow along. Tyzias and Eridan both swear so you do so as well. 

“Calling to order the case for eternal custody of Samuel Miller, age 54.” Post Mortem reads and bangs her gavel. 

There’s a flash of light and the slightly transparent form of a middle aged man appears, he looks alarmed, especially at Tyzias but she doesn’t even blink at his shrieks of ‘demon’ at her. Even Eridan is using the moment to look through the beginning of his files. 

“Does this always happen?” you ask in a whisper. 

“Pretty much, we just wait for the screaming to pass before we get started.” Tyzias shrugs. 

It takes a minute before the screaming and attempts to banish Tyzias fail but after that the man has worked out that he’s stuck and definitely not going anywhere. 

“Mr. Miller as I mentioned to you previously you are dead, Heaven and Hell respectively have sent representatives to argue over the custody of your soul. You are to answer their questions although I will warn you that the circle that you are in not only keeps you there but alerts us to things that you say that you know to be untrue. You cannot lie out of this one, one way or another your soul is going somewhere. Honesty is what will ensure you end up where your faith has determined you belong.” Post Mortem explains. 

Mr Miller seems alarmed but he nods in what you can only parse as mute panic. 

“Good. Tyzias, since your counterpart is so ill prepared do you want to start?” Post Mortem asks and Tyzias nods. 

“Mmmister Miller, you were a church leader, right?” Tyzias asks and the man draws himself up with some importance. 

“Yes, so I will tolerate NONE of your evil, demon!” the man snaps. Tyzias unaffected just drinks from her mug for a moment. 

“Followed the teachings of the bible then?” Tyzias asks. 

“Of course.” Mr. Miller huffs. 

“Which bit of the bible is it that says it’s okay to use the church set up in your god’s name to fundraise and use that to launder your own money through it so you don’t pay any taxes?” Tyzias asks. 

“I don’t- I never agreed to everything those taxes pay for. I won’t pay for things that I think are immoral.” the man sneers and the air around him colours. 

“That wasn’t your primary motivation. But, certainly, I can see how over the last ten years you’re avoided paying $134,000 to social security programs. Are you morally against feeding the poor too?” Tyzias asks. 

“1 Corinthians 9:9 would suggest that I have a right to provide for myself as a preacher.” Mr. Miller says tartly. 

“A right to provide to the level of luxury you lived in at the cost of literally depriving the most vulnerable of the financial support they needed?” Tyzias asks flatly. 

“I object.” Eridan interjects. 

“Of course.” Tyzias mutters. 

“Mr. Miller cannot choose the worthy causes that his tax money would go to, he cannot separate out the good from the bad. This is why he and his church gave so much to their local community, to do the good they wanted to.” Eridan protests. 

“I’m so glad that you brought that up. Mr. Miller your church, at your suggestion, went out and built homes-” Tyzias starts. 

“In South America, yes. Not Africa, that place is full of diseases.” Mr. Miller interrupts. 

You look at him in shock at how blatantly racist that is but you also see the way Eridan winces, not great for his case, huh? 

“Uhhh-huh. Right. You went to Colombia every year for the last five years on what you stated was a mission of building houses for the poor. Is that right?” Tyzias asks. 

“Yes.” he nods. 

“In doing so you put several local builders out of business, especially as people started to rely on you building houses for free. The loss of these jobs caused one death of a builder who killed himself and forced another into a drug habit which he’s still struggling with. In addition to that the houses that your church built were made with materials and to standards that would be illegal in your own country, including asbestos and lead paint. One building has already collapsed, injuring one woman and at the rate they’re declining that’s almost certainly going to keep happening.” Tyzias says. 

“I didn’t know any of that.” the man insists and the air around him flares red. 

“We know when you’re lying.” Post Mortem reminds him, her tone icy. 

“Mmmaybe we should move on. How about we talk about the son you threw out of your house for being gay!” Tyzias says with a bright and predatory smile. 

“No, no, just- just give me a moment.” Eridan cuts in, hastily flipping through his file. He freezes as he looks down at his notes and then hastily slams the file shut. 

“I- ah… could I request a recess, your honour?” Eridan squeaks. 

“No. What’s in your file?” Post Mortem asks. 

“I- uh. My m- aaaagh, my *friend* put the file together for me and I hadn’t got a chance to look at it until here-” Eridan begins. 

“Jesus, whose side are you on?” Mr. Miller demands. 

“Ooh, gonna add a little blasphemy to the list. Cool.” Tyzias beams.

“Shut UP. He put the file together for me and it’s not what I would have put and I just need a moment to extract the pertinent information from here and leave the… the rest alone.” Eridan says. 

“Give me the file.” Post Mortem orders him. 

“I’d really prefer to not do that.” Eridan whispers. 

“Noted. Give me the file.” Post Mortem says and flicks her fingers at it. Eridan reluctantly takes his hand off of the file and it flits across the room and into Post Mortem’s hand. 

You watch as she opens the file and starts to read, after a moment she lowers the file and looks at Eridan. 

“He doesn’t usually work on-” Eridan starts.

“Oh, no, I can see that. I’d remember reading or hearing something like this before. Hold on, I need to call someone.” Post Mortem says and pulls a cord that appears out of nowhere. A moment passes and a small shiny white carapaced dude in a hat opens a door. 

“Can you get Aradia, please? She needs to see this.” Post Mortem says, the little man nods and disappears again. 

“Aradia? Oh. Okay, I’ll just…” Eridan groans and sits down in the chair at his table in utter despair. 

“Who’s that?” Mr. Miller asks. 

“Death herself.” you answer him. 

“I’m already dead, right?” Mr. Miller says after a moment’s thought. 

“Good for YOU. Do you know what’s not going to be good for you? The rest of eternity if THEY win!” Eridan snaps at him. 

Before that argument can go on the door opens again and Aradia sweeps in with a curious look at all of you. 

“You need to read this, I think it’s probably even better aloud.” Post Mortem says as she hands the file to Aradia. 

“What is this? Heaven’s file?” Aradia asks. 

Tyzias gets her hand in the front of your shirt and makes you bow respectfully to Aradia, especially as you see Eridan having got up to do the same. Aradia nods at you all and hops up onto the other seat in the dock. She flicks through the file and then pauses, a slow grin spreading on her face. 

“Oh, you didn’t, you dumbass.” Aradia giggles as she reads. 

“I know, I know, but go on.” Post Mortem urges her. 

Aradia pulls the stack of stapled pages within the file out and holds them up, she flicks them and a voice comes into being. A voice you definitely know. 

SAMUEL MILLER DEFINITELY DOES NOT DESERVE TO BE IN HEAVEN, ABSOLUTELY NOT AS A REWARD FOR HIS BEHAVIOUR. BEHAVIOUR THAT RANGES FROM WELL INTENDED AND OFTEN COUNTER PRODUCTIVE AT BEST TO OUTRIGHT ABHORRENT AT WORST. HIS ACTIONS SHOW LOUD AND CLEAR THAT HE CARED MORE ABOUT LOOKING GOOD AND BEING SEEN TO BE GOOD THAN ACTUALLY IMPROVING HIMSELF OR THE WORLD IN ANY WAY. WHEN IT CAME TO CARING FOR THE WORLD HE PUT ON THE MOST SHOW AND THE LEAST ACTUAL OUTCOME POSSIBLE, GIVING THE CHEAPEST FOOD ONLY TO FOOD DRIVES, CUTTING CORNERS WHEN ‘HELPING’ WITH THE HOMES HE BUILT. HE CARED MORE ABOUT SAYING THAT HE DONATED FOOD AND BUILT HOMES THAN DOING EITHER PROPERLY. 

THE WAY HE TALKED MADE HIS WIFE FEEL BELITTLED AND THOUGH YOU COULD ARGUE THAT IT DIDN’T CROSS FAR ENOUGH TO BE VERBALLY ABUSIVE IT’S SURE AS SHIT ON THE BORDERLINE. HE COMPLETELY DISREGARDED HER FEELINGS WHEN HE THREW THEIR SON OUT FOR BEING GAY, WHICH ABSOLUTELY ISN’T WHAT HE SHOULD HAVE DONE. LIKE, FUCK, THE SON OF GOD WAS IN LOVE WITH AND HAD SEX WITH A GUY FOR YEARS.

HE’S A SELF IMPORTANT LITTLE JERK THAT ENCOURAGED ANIMOSITY AND HATRED IN HIS COMMUNITY AGAINST ANYONE WHO WAS A MINORITY. HE PREACHED ALL THE RIGHT THINGS BUT PRACTICED ABSOLUTELY NONE OF IT, WHAT’S WORSE IS HE BLOCKED THE GOOD PEOPLE IN HIS CHURCH WHO WOULD HAVE BEEN BETTER EXAMPLES FROM GETTING TO POSITIONS WHERE THEY COULD DO REAL GOOD. HE ACTUALLY IMPEDED THE GOOD HIS CHURCH COULD HAVE DONE.

“Oh, I didn’t know about that part. Nice.” Tyzias nods, across from her Eridan groans in despair. 

DESPITE ALL THAT IT DOESN’T MEAN THAT HE’S AN EVIL PERSON. HE COULD HAVE CARED ABOUT PEOPLE AND MAYBE IF HE’D HAD PEOPLE CALL HIM ON HIS SHIT AT THE RIGHT TIMES HE COULD HAVE BEEN FAR BETTER. THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO’RE SAD THAT HE’S DEAD AND IF THERE WAS SOME WAY HE COULD REPAY THE DAMAGE THAT HE’S DONE THEN HE COULD DESERVE EVERYTHING THAT HEAVEN GIVES TO MORTALS THAT MAKE IT THERE. I DON’T THINK HE DESERVES SCORPIONS SHOVED UP HIS FUCKING URETHRA OR SOMETHING!

Fuck, you love Karkat. 

“Scorpions… up… urethra.” Tyzias mumbles as she fakes noting that down as a suggestion. 

I DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU WANT ME TO SAY ERIDAN, I GOT ALL THE INFO FOR YOU ON THIS DAMP SCROTUM OF A HUMAN BEING BUT I DON’T FEEL ALRIGHT WITH GRANTING HIM PARADISE OR UNFATHOMABLE TORTURE. I MEAN I KNOW HE’S A PREACHER AND WHY SHOULD HELL GET THEM AND IT’S PART OF YOUR JOB OR WHATEVER BUT MAYBE SOME NUANCE WOULD BE GOOD HERE. OTHERWISE HELL IS GOING TO GET 90% OF PEOPLE OR WE END UP LETTING IN PEOPLE WHO AREN’T THAT GREAT JUST TO SPITE HELL OR JUST FOR THE IMAGE OR WHATEVER. CAN YOU ARGUE FOR A BETTER SOLUTION OR SOMETHING?

ANYWAY I DON’T KNOW WHAT ORDER YOU WANT THE REST OF YOUR CASE IN AFTER THIS SUMMARY SO I JUST TRIED TO PUT THE REST TOGETHER I GUESS?

\- KARKAT

“That is something else. Wow.” Aradia says wide eyed. 

“Most interesting case I’ve heard in a while. Anyway, under the evidence that Heaven just provided I am remanding the soul of Samuel Miller to Hell. Court adjourned.” Post Mortem says and bangs her gavel. 

“Never asking for your help with a case again.” Eridan mutters and catches his file as Post Mortem tosses it to him. 

Mr. Miller is released from the circle that he’s trapped in and is now looking at Tyzias with fear and turning to Eridan in desperation. 

“But- but wait, you’re supposed to be on my side! I served the church! I can’t go to hell!” he protests. 

“You say that but… it’s not our fault your Heavenly council sucks.” Tyzias says as Eridan rolls his eyes. 

“You have to help me!” Mr. Miller shouts, rushing to Eridan. 

“If you’d been better then we wouldn’t even have had to go through this. We hate losing priests and pastors to Hell, it looks bad for us.” Eridan tuts and snaps his file shut. 

“What about me?!” the dead man wails, you think he’s only just realising exactly what’s going to happen. 

“What about you? I have other cases, ones I hope to do better on.” Eridan tells him and without so much as a goodbye he marches off through the door on his side. 

“Don’t work too hard.” Tyzias says just before the door slams. 

Mr. Miller looks at Tyzias in fear and backs away. 

“I won’t go with you. I- I did loads of good when I was alive. I donated to charity, I fostered kids. I didn’t do anything wrong!” he argues. 

Tyzias holds her hand out and snaps her fingers and the man disappears. 

“Now he’s intake’s problem. Come on.” she says and leads you back the way you came. 

“I… can’t help but feel bad for the guy. I know he sucked but…” you say quietly. 

“He wasn’t great but, what was it that angel said? About the scorpions? Yeah, he probably doesn’t deserve an eternity of that. That angel who wrote the note had a better idea if you ask me. Not heard an angel talk sense before but I guess there’s always odd ones. It’d be a fairer system but if watching these trials teaches you anything, Dave, it’s that fair often doesn’t really come into it.” Tyzias says and you both walk through the door. 

“That’s depressing.” you say flatly. 

“Yeah. But… I guess it won’t be a problem for much longer, right?” she says with a shrug and looks at you. 

Oh, right, because you were meant to end the world. 

“Right.” you agree a little awkwardly. 

You’re back in the legal area now and in the distance you spot the back of your own head and Sollux’s too. Right, you were already ‘meant’ to be here so that’s why you are. Or rather why they are. Best not to be seen. 

“Gotta go.” you say quickly and hurry off. Tyzias doesn’t try to stop you but she does watch you leave with some confusion on her face. 

You quickly make your way out of the legal area and try to find the wall that marks the edge of Hell so you can find Mituna. The thing that’s bugging you about that is you saw Mituna again after The Event and he didn’t act like he knew about future stuff. So either he’s a really good actor or… 

The air around you crackles with a reddish pinkish kind of light, one that you’ve seen before when Bro teleported you. But you’re in the past, how can he reach you here? You don’t get time to think about it as the light closes in on you and with a jolt of pain you find yourself back in the present. 

“Ow.” you groan. 

“You finally using your time powers in a fight is one thing but you’re not running with them.” Bro says from somewhere over there to the left.

“Why didn’t I use them before?” you wonder and sit up. 

Oh. 

Cal has Nepeta in a choke hold that you don’t see her being able to get out of. 

“Cause Sollux can’t do it. It left him alone with you.” you say slowly, he mentioned something about that before. 

You stand up and Cal drags Nepeta a little closer, still grinning and laughing as he does. 

“And you killed Sollux so… Nepeta.” you conclude. 

Bro stares you down, he’s going to use her life as leverage to make you fight him by choice. You don’t want Nepeta to die, of course you don’t, but you also have zero faith that you fighting Bro won’t also lead to him killing her just to make a point about you disobeying him. 

Bro tosses a sword at you, or rather onto the floor between you both. Cal stands off to the side with Nepeta and you glare at him. To think he’s anything like the same kind of thing that Sollux was is just an insult to him. And that Bro used to use Sollux as a weakness for you is so much worse.

...How would he like it if you did that?

You walk to the sword on the floor and pick it up, Bro’s stance changes as he readies himself to beat the shit out of you with his sword or his fists or whatever he feels like. You take a moment to adjust your grip on the sword in your hand and feel that sense of time ticking in your chest. Your past self aged the shit out of a car at range, you’ve just got one sword already in your hand. 

It doesn’t take much to imagine the steel tarnishing, corroding, becoming brittle over time with the heat down here. Years and years would weaken it, enough for you to… to snap it over your knee. 

You’re not fighting Bro.

Bro’s face flashes with anger and he looks at Cal who immediately tosses Nepeta at him. 

You grab time and slow it down. You really hope that Nepeta can teleport away again in time but you have something else you need to do right now. You grab your stolen sword, the white one, and run for Cal. Bro killed Sollux, so you’re going to kill Cal. 

The pure white blade plunges through Cal’s puppet body and out the other side. Time jankily catches up and the way Nepeta’s scream cuts off tells you everything you needed to know but hoped wasn’t true. You stumble back from Cal, sword still in hand, and stare. 

His puppet form ripples, the seams unravelling in a wave until he explodes into bits. There’s a bloody purple smear across the floor and something meaty rolls off one way. The puppet body or what remains of it topples backwards off of the roof, just as Bro finally reacts. 

“No!” he shouts, throwing himself that way but it’s too late. A cloud of noxious smoke rises up from the lava and the body that made up Cal is destroyed. 

You hear something snap as Bro rushes to lean over the edge of the roof but you pay it no mind and instead turn around to look at Nepeta. Her maimed body on the floor is already starting to dissipate and you can tell that you can’t save her even if you knew how to do demon first aid. Within a moment all that’s left is a scroll of paper. 

Poor Nepeta, she deserved better. 

Turning back to Bro you see that the same has happened to what was left of that clown demon, which if you have your nightmare puppet shopping list together that’s two parts he’s missing. No more Cal. 

Bro turns on the spot, his body rigid and furious, like he’s so angry that he can’t even untense his muscles enough to move right. He’s livid but finally manages to get one word out.

“Sword.” Bro hisses. 

You look down at the white blade in your hand. You’re glad that Sollux gave it to you now, he didn’t know it’d be to avenge him but still. It shines bright, brighter, brighter still in your hand and you’re suddenly remembering that Sollux did mention something about it being cursed, right? 

A horrible pain runs through your whole body and you drop the sword out of instinct. You double over in agony, clutching at your chest and you become aware that there’s a future where this kills you and one where it doesn’t. And then, just like that, both timelines are true. A version of you stops occupying the same space as you are and drops to the floor stone dead. Right onto the scroll that is all that remains of Nepeta. 

Your dead self’s eyes are glowing bright red, as red as half of Sollux’s eyes used to. The air around you crackles with something that’s not quite the power Bro has but not quite time either. The red fades to something paler, closer to an orange maybe, and just as you think it’s going to flicker and go off it switches to a bright green. Your dead self’s form shifts in a flicker of bicoloured light, becoming something far bigger. 

Where your dead body once laid there is now a sphinx standing proud on the rooftop, it’s face looks like Nepeta’s but also not totally unlike yours too. Bro darts towards the sword on the floor but the sphinx puts her- his- their paw on it. With a smile the sphinx leans down towards Bro and speaks softly. 

“Did you want this back?” they say lowly. 

“Yes.” he says, his voice terse. 

“I’ll go give it to you then.” they smile and in a flash of bicoloured light they’re gone and so is the sword. 

Your body still aches from whatever that sword did to you to start that whole sphinx thing off. Like touching an electric fence or something, it’s as if parts of you are numb or just not quite there anymore. What all that means is that you’re woefully unprepared when Bro turns his attention on you once more. His sword slices clean through your neck and you drop to the ground. He watches stone faced and impassive as you bleed out and when it all starts to go dark you see him turn to leave. 

It is dark and cold, you can’t move and it’s the most claustrophobic you’ve ever been. Then out of nowhere a hand slides into yours and pulls you out. You flail wildly and calm when you realise that you can move. 

“There we go, better out than in.” a woman’s voice says. 

You blink, it’s Aradia. She’s crouched down holding your hand and giving you a patient little smile. 

“What’re… what?” you croak.

You bring your hand to your throat but you feel fine. Did you come back together like you did after the lava thing? That was fast, wasn’t it? 

“Come on, you should stand up.” Aradia encourages you and pulls you up to your feet and guides you to step out of-

Oh. 

Your body is sprawled out on the floor in a puddle of blood, unmoving. You can even see it through yourself because you’re ever so slightly see through. 

“I’m dead.” you say numbly. 

“Hmm, that’s a tricky one. Statistically speaking you’re dead. You’re about 99.99999% dead, so if you round up that’s definitely dead. I prefer to be a lot more accurate with stuff like this. Normally you’d shrug an injury like this off, you’re a god after all. But that sword is pretty cursed, it kills gods pretty reliably and you ducked part of that by throwing a dead other timeline Dave at it but it got you in the end. With your soul slightly mangled from the sword you’re not coming back.” she explains. 

“So I’m dead.” you repeat. 

“See, this is where familiars are useful for gods. A familiar could revive you from this.” Aradia goes on.

“But Sollux is dead.” you say. 

You watch as Aradia tries to suppress a smile without doing a great job at it. 

“Funny thing about dying you know, people have these lifetimers. They’re like hourglasses but they measure your lifetime, the ones for gods are a little more complicated but they’re basically the same thing. Karkat showed up in my domain, devastated about Sollux being dead and determined to get him back to come save you somehow. He was very sad about it so I agreed to show him Sollux’s timer and his own just to explain that Sollux was very definitely dead and staying that way.” Aradia says casually. 

“...Okay?” you say. 

“Well I left him with them because I wanted to give him time to grieve, obviously. Left him with Sollux’s soul too. Funny thing, when I got back he *somehow* had more time left. Maybe something to do with the sudden holes in both of their timers, I couldn’t say. That meant he didn’t belong with the dead anymore. Losing the rib killed him and messed up his connection with you, that’s for sure. But he’s alive.” Aradia says innocently. 

“Sollux is alive? He’s ALIVE?!” you yell. He’s alive and YOU’RE dead! What the fuck?!

“Mmm-hmm, and seeing as you gave him parts of you that your father couldn’t just rip out and those parts are alive now… well, you’re not completely dead, are you? You’re a god of time so your timer has always been very hard to read so I just can’t move you on to being actually dead unless you’re completely dead. You know, just to be completely sure about things.” she smiles. 

“So.” you falter and look down at your dead body again, “So how does this work? Also why are you so happy about it? I didn’t think we were cool what with you running Sollux over that time and-”

“And you averting the apocalypse and bringing back to life the people who died in it? Effectively stealing what should have been mine?” Aradia says sharply. 

“...Yeah.” you agree a moment later. 

“I was mad about that. Still kind of am, but… I’m starting to think you were only doing what you were always destined to do. It’s hard, I’m used to knowing how things will finally turn out, I don’t consider that sometimes I might be as in the dark as everyone else is. Also, I have a favour of sorts to repay.” Aradia admits. 

“To me?” you say in bewilderment, you can’t think of you doing anything for her that she’d owe you for. 

“More to Karkat than you. He freed someone very dear to me, Damara. She was one of my acolytes until Scratch kidnapped her and bound her in a way that meant she couldn’t leave and I couldn’t take her back. The moon breaking would have freed her anyway, along with Scratch’s death, a soul that I was VERY happy to take. But Karkat tried to help her and Karkat wanted to help you so this is like for like.” she explains.

“Okay. But what now?” you ask. 

“Well, you need to stay with your body. You’re not haunting it as such but it’s somewhat similar.” she says. 

You narrow your eyes at your corpse and back away from it along the rooftop. You don’t get all that far before you start feeling weak and hazy and have to skulk back to it, petulant at being this restrained. 

“Alright, that sucks. So I have to wait until Sollux gets near me to repair my body so I can get in it again without living in a claustrophobia nightmare world of person meat or something?” you ask. 

“Technically you’ve got your whole life in a claustrophobia nightmare world of person meat!” Aradia says cheerily. This is not helpful and you don’t appreciate it, you try to communicate this as best as you can through your very unimpressed expression. 

“Yes, that’ll more or less do it. If he can get that rib back in him it’ll be almost instant, if not… less so. But either way you’ll revive.” she agrees. 

That’s going to be a long wait with a decaying body, gross. You hope that Sollux gets here soon before things get really grody. 

“New question, then. Why am I dead now when being slam dunked into lava was, like, nbd? Is it the cursed sword?” you ask. 

Aradia squints at you for a moment. 

“I’m going with cursed sword. You did mention it earlier.” you say awkwardly. 

“Good call. Technically it kills gods but it’s kind of magic dependant. You passed the death onto another you but that fractured you enough to make you vulnerable to a death that wouldn’t have normally stuck. It could have done far worse things to you.” she says. 

“Worse than dead.” you repeat. 

“There are worse fates.” Aradia says and points across the roof. 

You turn but there’s nothing there, you look back at Aradia half expecting her to have vanished with the diversion but no. That’s the direction that Cal went after you stabbed him and if there’s any chance that he’s still alive you want to know about it. Luckily it’s still within the range of your body so you walk across the roof to see what she means. 

To the side there’s that stain of clown blood, the other side has the trail that leads to that heart across the roof and right by the edge of the roof is… glass. You heard Bro step on something earlier, this must have been it and he must not have seen it either because it blends in pretty well. You crouch down and see that it’s a damaged pair of black glass shades, a little dinged up on the edges of the triangular points but still whole. They’re shattered but not broken.

The shades shudder on the floor and you back up remembering just how that apparently went down in Japan, it drove people into insanity, right? But then, you’re dead. Mostly dead. You don’t need to be afraid, right?

“What’re-” you start to ask but a flash of red light from the shades shuts you up good. 

Red light spills out between the cracks and then all at once in a rush of light there’s someone there where there was not someone before. It’s a guy and maybe you should think ‘Bro’ when you see him because his skin and hair are the same but the way he’s hunched over himself on the floor and trembling makes you think otherwise. He looks weak, barely held together and maybe even younger than Bro. 

The guy who isn’t Bro but could be sets his shaking hands on the floor and gasps. A shudder runs through his body and he scrambles to his feet and stumbles back a few paces. You watch, confused as shit, as the guy stares down at his own hands like they might not be real. He turns them over and then touches his own arms, chest and face. 

“Oh, what- how did…” he mumbles. His voice isn’t exactly Bro’s voice, it sounds more like you trying to do an impression of Bro. A little higher maybe, a little more human. 

The guy looks around and sees the glasses on the floor and immediately stamps on them, grabs them up, snaps them in half and tosses them into the lava. 

“Who is he?” you ask Aradia. 

“That’s a good question. You know about Dirk? The angel who went to kill the last Devil?” she asks. 

“Yeah, this is him? But I thought Bro was him. I mean- Dirk is Bro’s name and Bro’s just what he has people call him. Right?” you say, watching the guy stare over the edge of the roof at the lava below. 

“Yes, but also no! It’s complicated like that.” Aradia says cheerfully. 

“Fantastically unhelpful, thanks.” you grumble. 

“Are you the same person as Rose?” Aradia asks.

“No, duh.” you snort. 

“But you were once. At one point you were one person and your mother magically split you in two, leaving you and her.” Aradia says. 

“That’s not how twins work.” you tell her. 

“Oh, I know.” Aradia agrees. 

At some point this exchange has gone very awry and you’re entirely lost and confused. You and Rose aren’t identical twins, obviously, but you know that identical twins were once the same… well, person is stretching it, the same few cells at least. You can take that point of whatever metaphor she’s trying to make and go with it because you really want whatever answer is at the end of this. 

“So there was Dirk and then Bro and whoever this is?” you try again. 

“Exactly.” she nods. 

“So who is he?” you ask again. 

“He hasn’t really had the space to figure that out all that much. It makes this pretty interesting, I don’t usually get to see people at this part.” Aradia grins. 

“But Bro’s like… thousands of years old ain’t he? So isn’t this guy the same? And I swear if you say ‘yes and no’ again I’m gonna lose it.” you warn her and she just grins at you. 

“He’s been stuck. Specifically stuck in those glasses inside a familiar, a prison within a prison.” she explains. 

Oh, yeah, that might be worse than being dead. 

The guy who came from Dirk but isn’t, you really need to call him something if only in your head. Dirk...cendant? Like a Dirk descendant. No one is here to tell you not to portmanteau things and if being mostly dead isn’t the time then when is? 

Anyway Dirkcendant, that’s clunky but you’ve committed to it now, looks around and sees your body on the floor. Or perhaps just decides to pay attention to it for the first time. He lingers where he is at the edge of the roof for a few seconds, just staring at your corpse. Huh, his eyes are red like yours. 

Dirkcendant glances at the entrance to the roof and then takes a few silent steps closer, craning his neck to try to see you better. 

“Dave?” he hisses. 

Hearing him say your name is something, that’s for sure. 

“When you say he was trapped in Cal do you mean that he was telling Cal what to do? As far as I know I just made Sollux out of intangible things and my rib, I don’t think I could dismantle him or put him back together like Cal apparently can be.” you ask. 

“Hmm, yes and-” Aradia starts. 

“This yes and no shit is getting old, Sollux might get a kick out of it but I’m actually trying to understand things here.” you retort. 

“Stop asking such black and white questions then.” Aradia shrugs. 

“Dave.” Dirkcendant hisses again and comes closer. 

He’s leaning over your body now and after another worried glance back at the entrance to the roof he reaches down and hauls your body upright by the shirt. Your head lolls back, a good deal more back than it should what with your throat being… 

“What’s the right way to ask that question then?” you ask instead of looking at yourself. 

“Whether he was willingly controlling Cal’s actions or not.” Aradia answers. 

“Dave!” Dirkcendant snaps and shakes your body to no avail. 

“I think he’s working out that you’re not going to wake up.” she explains. 

Dirkcendant lets your body go and you fall back onto the roof with a thud and a crack that’s definitely your head bouncing off of the stone. 

“Hey!” you protest. What happened to respecting the dead?

“Oh, you’re not using it.” Aradia tuts. 

“I want to!” you shout. 

Now that he’s done callously manhandling your body the Dirkcendant is pacing back and forth on the roof quietly swearing under his breath. 

“Wait, doesn’t Bro need me alive? For the whole end of the world thing?” you ask and Aradia grins at you, impossibly wide. 

Dirkcendant looks back at your body uncertainly and then over the other roof edge. 

“There’s no way I’m still… or… maybe?” he mutters. He backs off from the edge and rolls his shoulders and you watch as bright white wings unfurl from his back, he seems surprised to see them and waits for a tense moment but nothing happens. He chances a glance upwards and moves his wings a little more but nothing happens. 

“...Huh. Okay. Okay.” he whispers to himself and returns to your body again. 

“Sorry about this.” he apologises and picks you up fully. He hesitates at the puddle of your blood and carefully lifts one foot and compares it to yours, you’re about the same size. Very deliberately he walks through your blood and a few paces beyond, leaving footprints that look like you just got up and walked off. Once he’s a few steps away he takes to the air, carrying your body off with him. 

“Where does he think he’s… oh, ugh.” you grimace as you start feeling really wrong again. 

“Bye!” Aradia says with a wave and you stop existing. 

Or at least you stop for a second, when you reappear you’re near your body again and find that you can grab onto your own arm and get pulled along as this deranged angel flies off with your body. You hope this guy knows where he’s going because those white wings aren’t exactly subtle down here, not to mention your body is still dripping blood, so he’d better get out of sight and fast. 

FAR ABOVE THE DEPTHS OF HELL AND ALSO ABOVE THE EARTH’S SURFACE ON LESS WHITE BUT FAR MORE IMPRACTICAL WINGS…

“Indiana,” you start with a scowl, “is officially on my shitlist.”

1T’S NOT L1K3 1T HURTS.

“It’s raining FIRE and it sucks and I hate it!” you snap. 

1N F41RN3SS 1T DO3SN’T USU4LLY DO TH1S.

“It sucks and I can’t put out all of this fire and I hate not helping so fuck Indiana and fuck the apocalypse.” you snarl in frustration. You just want to put all of this fire out, all these trees burning and not to mention all the homes that must be on fire right now. What about all the people in them? 

4ND 1F YOU W4NT TO STOP TH1S W3 N33D TO G3T TO HELL, YOU C4N’T W4ST3 T1M3-

“Yes, I know, I have to fix the actual problem and not just literally firefight.” you sigh.

Terezi turns her head to you, you’re flying at her side by her head as you try to protect the cars below you with your combined wingspan. Your shield could protect just the Lalonde car but it unfortunately meant that cars on the other side of the road crashed into it and it was of no help to the ones behind you, so this is all you have. 

1T COULD B3 WORS3…

“Whatever you’re about to say, don’t. It’s bad enough without you tempting fate.” you warn Terezi who just grins at you in response. In fairness, she’s a giant dragon and lots of her expressions involve showing a lot of teeth but this is definitely an amused grin. 

You drift along above the cars for a little while longer until you can’t contain the questions you have anymore. 

“So… you and June?” you ask in what you hope is a casual tone. 

L1K3 YOU 4ND SOLLUX. BUT NOT SO W1MPY.

“Hey! Fuck you, I like how me and Sollux are, thank you.” you say defensively. 

SUR3 BUT 1 W4NT 4CTU4L B1T3 1N MY BL4CKROM.

“There’s definitely bite.” you mutter. You’re lucky you’ve never been actually maimed around Sollux, look at his goddamn teeth. Not that the number of teeth matters, he’d try to bite you even when he was a snake and just had two fangs. In fairness you pecked him as a bird but that’s different because he deserved that and you definitely never do. 

Moving on.

“But June seems so-” you start. 

W4TCH YOUR WORDS 4NG3L.

“I was going to say human. Humans don’t really do that and besides June is so… goofy.” you say. 

You don’t mean it as an insult, you know there’s more to who June is than her big grin and practical jokes. You know she has a serious side, even a more calculating side at times. You’ve seen that first hand, but you wouldn’t put her down as being capable of the kind of stuff you read in that book, even if you’re allowing for literary exaggeration. Sollux made it clear that there’s lots of stuff that demons would expect in blackrom that he’s not comfortable with which makes it a good middle ground for you, it works perfectly between you. But normal kismesitude and June? You don’t see it. 

SH3’S 4 TR1CKST3R, 4ND 4 W34TH3R GOD. W34TH3R C4N B3 CRU3L 4ND D4NG3ROUS.

Terezi doesn’t sound like she’s insulting June, her tone in your head sounds more like grudging admiration. 

“And Roxy?” you ask. 

WHY? W4NN4 D4T3 H3R TOO? NOT 1NVOLV3D 3NOUGH W1TH TH4T F4M1LY?

Her voice is a snicker of laughter in your brain and you open your mouth to protest but… 

Oh. Sollux is your kismesis. Dave, who made him, is your boyfriend. Rose is your moirail now as well, or apparently for a really long time and you both just forgot. 

1N F41RN3SS ROXY L1K3S YOU FOR 1T. C4N’T H4V3 B3TT3R PROOF TH4T YOU L1K3 TH3 K1D SH3 M4D3 TH4N B31NG TH4T 1NVOLV3D.

You suppose at least that Rose and Dave are gods and there are far weirder romance stories out there involving gods. This is pretty run of the mill by god standards, actually. You want to protest that it’s not like you were trying for that, but Terezi would probably point out that it proves her argument even better. 

“Hey… is the fire slowing down?” you ask slowly as you look around. You turn in the air and it looks thicker behind you, zipping ahead you find it’s stopped entirely although the fire had spread on the ground a good deal so it’s not completely clear ahead. 

You fly back and tell Terezi what you’ve seen and decide to dip down to the cars to pass the news on, you can tell that Rose isn’t looking through your eyes right now and you can’t make her start doing that. If you want her to know and she’s not looking for herself then you actively have to go down there and pass the information on. 

You swoop down and bang on the closed sunroof, obviously no one wanted any fire raining in if any had got around you and Terezi. Not to mention the unpleasant smoke in the air. A moment passes and the window winds back, Sollux sticks his head out. 

“Sorry, we don’t want any.” he teases, as if you were some annoying salesman. 

“If you don’t want any then why are you asking for it, huh?” you retort back just as teasingly and lightly lightly bop him on the head with your fist, giving him the fight he was so clearly asking for. 

“Oh no, the mortal wound.” Sollux snickers. 

“Well you would have two.” you say immediately and he laughs before you can think that it was too soon for a remark like that. 

Sollux moves out of the way and you pull your wings back in and fall into the open sunroof, landing upside down in your chair. 

“Graceful.” Sollux remarks. 

“Are you okay?” Rose asks, reaching across to help you get upright again. She must have moved into the back when you were flying along with-

“Roxy!” you yelp, seeing her sat in the back with Rose. 

You whip around and see that it’s Kanaya driving the car, just her and Sollux are sitting upfront now.

“How did you change over without stopping the car?!” you ask in alarm. 

“Magic.” Roxy tells you, unhelpfully. 

“I told you, the car knows what it’s doing. Getting it to stay on the road at the same speed and direction isn’t hard.” Sollux scoffs like this is some everyday thing you’re ignorant of. 

“Well, we’re moving out of the fire anyway. It’s spread a little beyond where it’s raining because that’s how fire works I guess.” you tell them. 

“You’d think with all these corn fields we’ve passed there’d be popcorn but it’s just burning.” Jade says sadly. 

“Cartoon logic would be nicer.” you agree, certainly more pleasant than the grim reality outside. 

“Is it much longer? This is- I was trying to avoid the end of- I need-” Roxy stammers out and Rose slides a hand into hers and quietly shushes her, telling her that it’s ok and you’re nearly out. 

Roxy gave up so much to try to stop the world ending so it makes sense that seeing it in person would be so much worse for her than anyone else.

“We’re really nearly out. It shouldn’t be much longer.” you tell her. 

You hesitate for a moment and slide onto the floor on your knees, Roxy needs distracting so you’re happy to distract her. Bec curiously wiggles across the floor of the car to you and you dig your fingers into his fur. 

“Did you find out much about hellhounds in all of your interviews with demons?” you ask her curiously. 

“No, I don’t think most demons deal with them much.” Roxy answers you shakily. 

“Mituna looks after them and raises new ones.” Sollux adds from upfront, getting in on the distraction plan without you even needing to ask. 

“How come there’s nothing similar with heaven? There’s hellhounds but no… heaven...cats?” you say, fumbling for the words. 

“Maybe there is and the cats just do nothing, I remember Jaspers.” Roxy mumbles. 

“How very dare you, Jaspers was a saint.” Rose says in mock offence. 

“Maybe literally!” you laugh. 

“Did anyone ever try to contact angels like you did with demons?” Jade asks quickly, which is good because you didn’t know where to go from there. 

“Priests, maybe?” Roxy mumbles. 

“It’d be a bad idea.” Sollux says from the front. 

“Oh?” you ask, knowing full well that he’s right. 

“Demons generally want something from humans, even if it’s just to turn you inside out for bothering them. More often than not they want you to damn yourself but heaven doesn’t play by those rules so it’s not like you have anything to barter with.” Sollux explains. 

“It’s just getting attention from something powerful. Dangerous. They’re harder to trap, too. Spells to ward them out don’t work so well, those are all about keeping evil out but angels are good. S’pposed to be anyway.” Roxy shrugs. 

“Oh they think they are, for sure. Huh, should there be another word for what I am?” you frown and look at Rose. 

“You’re the only angel I have so if you want to be described as anything else we can do that.” Rose shrugs. 

“The fire’s stopped.” Kanaya announces and your shoulders sag in relief. Thank God. Uh, Rose? Sure.

“Hey, you should eat.” Rose reminds you and starts rummaging in a bag for something. It’s late into the night now and you’ve been making pretty good time all things considered. A lot of the craziness outside has kept people off of the roads, and when it hasn’t all Terezi has had to do is fly low over your car and mysteriously all the cars ahead of you find other places to be very quickly. 

You don’t know who thought about packing food and drink supplies but it’s meant that the only thing the cars have had to stop for at all is for very quick bathroom breaks. At this rate you’ll be in Washington in no time. All the quicker to get Dave back. 

Rose bops your knee with a homemade sub sandwich and presses a drink into your hand too. 

“You need to eat and to sleep, you’ve been flying almost the whole time.” Rose reminds you. 

“I’m not sure I technically need to eat and sleep.” you point out. 

“It helps.” Sollux adds from up front. 

“You need to.” Rose insists. 

“No, I mean that biologically I’m not sure I actually need to.” you explain. 

Rose’s expression very clearly telegraphs that she knew damn well what you meant and she disagrees and you’d better eat something.

“I’ll eat,” you relent, “and I’ll nap for a bit and then switch with Terezi.” 

You start eating and when you’re done you make a show of closing your eyes and resting although your mind is just on the road ahead, on what you should be keeping a lookout for instead of being in here. 

“I can’t sleep, I’m going to just-” you start to say, intending on opening the sunroof again and getting out. 

“Bec! Get on Karkat! Make him sleep!” Jade orders. 

Bec leaps to his feet in doggy excitement and before you can do anything about it you have at least a hundred pounds of determined hellhound pinning you to the whole bench seat of the car. Bec is laid out across your chest and a good deal of your lap because he’s so goddamn big. He rests his head on your shoulder and seems to settle down to sleep. 

“Sollux, help me.” you wheeze. 

“Oh, I would,” Sollux says in the least convincing way possible as he leans over the front seat to look at you, “but I just had really botched surgery so I’m not supposed to lift heavy things. You understand.” 

“I hate you.” you inform him, he blows a kiss at you. You’d flip him off but Bec is pinning your arm down. 

“Weighted blankets are meant to be restful, perhaps you ought to try to sleep.” Kanaya suggests from upfront. 

“Most of them aren’t this heavy and don’t have CLAWS.” you groan and try to shift a little so you’re not so twisted over from where Bec leaped on you. Bec growls a little at your movement but settles when you go still again. 

At least he’s warm and despite the claws he’s not actually scratching you and is pretty comfortable. You let your head fall back on the seat and pet Bec’s side with the hand that’s not trapped under him and close your eyes to sleep. 

In the front of the car Sollux and Kanaya are talking quietly about Mituna, who apparently used to talk about Kanaya a lot and they’re catching up on what he said. Their words are quiet and fond, especially when Kanaya speaks about Signless. You’re not really focusing on the words but their tone is nice, it’s nice to hear the people you care about having good thoughts. 

Bec’s slow and sleepy breathing syncs up with yours, or maybe you shift to his, you don’t know. Either way it’s enough to make you genuinely drowsy and at a certain point you drop off to sleep. You stir briefly when the sunroof opens again and Terezi climbs inside but since she manages to avoid stepping on you it’s no problem to drift back to sleep. 

“*Karkat*.” Rose says, jolting you into awakeness with a tone that slices right through your sleeping mind and makes you more awake than an espresso, a cold shower and an electric shock all in one. You scramble upright making Bec yip in alarm and jump off of you to the floor. 

“Little too god powered there.” Sollux says from in front. 

“Shit, sorry. Mr. Egbert just called, there’s some slowdown ahead and they think it looks like they’re stopping cars. I don’t know if it’s redirecting people to avoid something or what.” Rose tells you. 

“Do you want me to get out and go see? I can be invisible.” you tell her, you’ve not been bothering with your visibility all that much in the times you’ve been out lately. For one you’re usually flying with a dragon so invisible or not people are going to be alarmed, but it’s also the end of the world. The fact that an angel is flying about should be par for the course. 

“If you could.” Rose nods. 

You slip from view as Sollux opens the sunroof for you. You flit out into the night, although by the slight lightening of the sky you think it might be dawn soon. Quickly you fly ahead and manage to land on the asphalt where several dudes with guns, high vis jackets and sort of military uniforms are blocking the road. You don’t recognise the outfit as such but they look in charge at least. 

You stand and wait as the car in front of Mr. Egbert’s pulls to a stop. 

“What’s going on?” the driver asks, winding his window down. 

“Just a problem with the road up ahead sir. Is this everyone?” the guy in the high vis vest asks and leans in the window of the car. 

“Yeah?” the driver says, clearly a little lost. 

“Alright. You’re gonna go down the road a way and when it forks you want to take the right one. The right, okay?” Mr. High Vis says. The driver nods and slowly pulls away. Hmm, you’re gonna go check that out. You get into the air and follow the car along, it’s picked up speed now it’s out from the roadblock. True enough the road forks and the car goes to the right, as far as you can see the road just connects to the highway. You don’t really have time to check out the left so you zip back to your own car. As you get there Mr. Egbert is just pulling away. You drop into your car through the sunroof and reappear. 

“They seem to be just directing people to the right around some roadblock.” you tell them quietly. 

“They just texted that they were told to go right.” Rose whispers back as Kanaya pulls to a stop and winds her window down. 

The same guy as you saw earlier shines a flashlight in the car and Kanaya grimaces at the sudden brightness and Sollux leans over. 

“Maybe don’t point a bright light in our driver’s face, thanks.” Sollux says because he can’t ever shut up at the right moment apparently. 

“Road block up ahead, go ahead, take the left fork. The right says it’ll take you to the highway but it’s down, take the left and stay on it and you’ll get there.” the high vis guy says, he pats the top of the car and steps back. 

Kanaya rolls the window up and pulls off, the moment she does Rose dials a number on her phone and holds it to her ear. 

“Yeah, it’s Rose. Tell him that they just told us to go left, they said the right was blocked. Okay, yes. Alright, I’ll let you do that then.” Rose hangs up. 

“We’re all going left, wherever we’re going we’re going together.” Rose says. 

“Is going right the better choice? Could we not all divert that way?” Jade asks. 

“Either way he was lying, there’s no road block ahead, I could smell the deception on him.” Terezi pipes up. 

“Speaking of saying things you shouldn’t, could you not have said that Sollux? Did you really need to say that to that guy?” you ask exasperatedly. 

“Hey, I’ve got the right to say what I want. Amendments and whatever.” Sollux shrugs. 

“That protects you from the government, not weirdos in camo with guns.” you retort. 

“What’s he gonna do? Shoot me?” Sollux snorts. 

“I think that was what Karkat was getting at, yes. You’re mortal now after all, aren’t you?” Kanaya points out reasonably. 

“Not the point.” Sollux says. 

“It was literally the whole point and you still missed it!” you snap. 

“We’re slowing down.” Kanaya announces, her tone serious once more. 

You peer through the windscreen with Rose moving to your side to join you in doing the same. Ahead of you Mr. Egbert’s car is slowing as it approaches people in the road again. If the road is blocked here then why would they have sent you this way? It doesn’t feel right, none of this does. There are people on the side of the road with guns and you’re starting to notice that their outfits are all similar in that they’re camo but they’re by no means a standard uniform, it’s more like hunting gear. You’re starting to feel a little more like something being hunted. 

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this.” you say quietly. 

“We’ll be fine. We’re prepared for hell, people are fine.” Roxy says casually. 

Debatable. Magic is cool but guns are pretty conversation ending in terms of that showdown. Although it shouldn’t be a problem for you and probably not Kanaya or Terezi either and you do have that shield that you can do. Could do? You’ve not tried it since Rose became your god. 

Ahead of you Mr. Egbert’s car stops and a dude with a gun who is definitely not military or any kind of government service marches over and points a gun through the window, with the sunroof open you can hear the shouted demand for them to get out. 

“Are we getting out?” Kanaya asks casually as someone marches to your car to do the same. 

“I think we’d better.” Rose says tightly. 

A similar armed man shouts a demand for you to all get out and Kanaya very calmly obliges. You slide out of the back with Rose and the others follow behind you. 

“Oh look fellas, we got a vampire here. We should stake her.” the guy with the gun laughs. 

“You can take that up with the last man who tried.” Kanaya says coolly.

“And a demon, get the holy water on him!” another shouts, noticing Sollux. 

“Oh no, not holy water you bought off of the internet which will definitely work. I’m deeply scared.” Sollux says as flatly as possible. 

“We talked about you shutting the fuck up, did we not? Like, very recently.” you hiss at him. 

“Hey, hey wait.” the man with the gun says as he steps sideways a little to look at you better. 

“I know you.” he says slowly, lowering his gun slightly. 

“Uh?” you reply because you don’t know him. Although you’re fucked if he’s an angel who recognises you, but then again you can’t see angels being down here in mismatched camo print with guns. 

“You’re Kankri Vantas, I used to watch you youtube channel all the time! I knew you weren’t dead! Did- oh shit, did these fuckers kidnap you?” the armed man exclaims and eyes the rest of your group suspiciously. 

“Ohhh. Oh no.” Sollux says softly at your side. 

“You- what’re you guys doing here, exactly?” you ask carefully, stepping closer to him. 

“The roadblock back there, we’re separating humans from the nonhumans. Obviously everything that’s gone down is because of them, I mean it’s like you said they should never have been allowed around us-” he goes on eagerly. He’s actually excited. 

“What are you doing with them after that?” you ask, trying not to scream. You take another step closer. 

“We’re gonna… kill them. To try to stop all this. Why are- Kankri what’s-” the man starts to ask. 

“I am NOT Kankri. He wasn’t even human and I’m not EITHER.” you hiss at him and fuck subtle, you let your wings slide out and your halo show and it’s not because you’re happy it’s because you’re PISSED. 

“Oh man you fucked up. You know that ‘be not afraid’ thing angels do? That’s because usually you really REALLY should be afraid.” Sollux laughs from behind you. 

The man stumbles back in fear and tries to shoot you. The shot hits the glass of your wing and falls to the ground as a crumpled ball of lead, you keep walking closer to him and grab him by the shirt. 

“Where are they?” you demand. To your left you can hear others in his group running over. 

“They’re not- I’m not gonna tell you! You’re not- God wouldn’t-” the man babbles. 

“Your god is fucking dead.” you snap at him. 

“Let him go, whatever you are!” another man shouts, you guess they don’t think you’re an angel. Must be the lack of white bird feathers or something. 

“Rose, text the others. Tell them to stay in their cars and shut their eyes, yeah?” you say quietly. 

“Oh shit.” Sollux says gleefully. 

“On it.” Rose tells you. 

You just catch the moment when the man with the gun pointed at you shifts it from you to Rose as she pulls her phone out again. You snatch a shield up around your group just in time although now it looks like a bubble of stained glass around all of you, for some reason this only convinces more people to open fire. 

“They said they’re all staying put or keeping their eyes shut. Mr. Egbert and his group have hidden behind their car.” Rose tells you. 

You nod, you won’t say that it’s good but these people either have or are fully intending on killing innocent people including YOUR people. You step outside of the bubble of your shield and draw your sickle out. Seeing that the bullets do nothing one guy nearest you pulls a hunting knife and lunges at you. 

You let your form shift, just a little and just enough. Enough for this man to stumble to a stop and drop his knife, he stares with a look of total and utter horror on his face as he tries to back up but can’t seem to look away. 

WHERE ARE THEY?

The guy nearest you devolves into screaming and sobbing, it’s enough to make you snap your form back to normal. A couple of men who were a little further back have just started running away screaming but some more further still who must be near Mr. Egbert’s car are still looking ready to fight you. You suppose that maybe you were far enough away that they couldn’t see the horror of your true form up close. 

You start to walk over there. 

“I’m going to be nicer than you probably deserve because the world is ending and I have places to be but I’m not going to let you keep kidnapping innocent people so either you tell me where they are and I decide what to do with you or I just melt your brains and tear down every building near here looking.” you hiss at them as you get closer. 

“No, this- this all happened because of them. Other species coming into our world and ruining shit. It’s ours.” one woman snaps. Oh hey, they have female bigots in their organisation too, how equal opportunity of them. 

“Oh fuck you, for a start loads of these species were here before the United States were even a thing, especially as you don’t look Native American I’m pretty fuckin’ sure that you got in someone ELSE’S territory. Secondly we all live on the same planet so no one’s anywhere where they don’t belong, you ignorant fuck. And if your world can be ruined by someone of a different species just existing then your world sucked in the first place.” you snap at her. 

“We don’t have to do what you say, I don’t know what you are but I don’t believe in you.” one of them sneers. 

“And I still exist anyway. You are going to help me or get your brains melted for the same reason that people got out of the cars when you pointed a gun at them. Because you were more dangerous and had more power, but guess what shitlord, I’m more dangerous than you and I have more power. So I’m offering you the chance to do the right thing and think about what you did or I turn your grey matter into goddamn jello. YOUR CALL.” you shout that last part and your voice makes them all wince. 

The reasonable thing to do is to surrender, to tell you where these people are. But then the reasonable thing to do was not be a racist, speciest, scumbag in the first place. The reasonable thing would have been to not blame every species but humans for everything wrong with the world, to have not become so convinced of their own superiority that anything else was unthinkable. They’re not great at reason. 

Them trying to shoot you in the head at point blank range is pretty much all the answer you need. You stop looking human.

You regather your form a little while after that and walk around the car where Mr. Egbert and the others are sat with their eyes closed but clearly all paying attention enough to hear you coming. 

“It’s ok now.” you tell them quietly and Mr. Egbert opens his eyes along with the others. 

“I’ll pass the word along.” he says sympathetically and looks over at the remaining militia on the floor who are now just quietly sobbing. You don’t feel good about this but you need to find the people they took. 

“We have to find where they’re keeping everyone else they pulled over.” you say to him. Maybe you can sweep the area or something.

“We can organise somethi- look out!” Mr Egbert yelps. He doesn’t get time to warn you enough or move you out of the way before something smashes right through your right wing. It doesn’t hurt because it’s just feathers but it doesn’t feel pleasant and the spray of multi coloured glass is certainly alarming. 

Rose shouts your name as you turn around to face the direction that the thing you’re pretty sure was a gunshot came from. Sure enough there’s a mean looking man in a formal shirt rolled up to his elbows. He raises a bullet up to show you, the crucifix engraved on it is plain enough even from your distance. 

“I got a stack of holy water years before all this, got everything blessed too and it looks like it works well enough on you, you fake angel.” the man sneers at you. 

“I’m not a fake angel, I’m an angel for a different god.” you argue. 

“Which god?” the man laughs, clearly dismissive of the idea.

“*Me.*” Rose snarls, marching over. She has her needles out and they’re crackling with magic just like they did in Mindfang’s class. 

There’s certain senses that species evolve based on what habitat they come from and they crop up again and again in similar situations across other species. A small fish that lives close to the sea bed will be acutely aware of something bigger than it swimming above it because it may be all of the warning it gets before that fish tries to eat it. You see the same thing in small mammals that freeze or hide when a bird of prey circles around in the sky. You come from a flying species so spatial awareness above you makes sense. With humans though one could argue there’s not a lot of reason for this reflex. 

But it still happens. 

You feel something above you and look up, seeing both Rose and the man with the gun do the same in your peripheral vision. It’s getting close to sunrise but the sky is still pretty dark, dark enough that you have a hard time making out what you’re looking at. Something in the sky squirms, tentacles shift through thin cloud cover and you are filled with the sense of inescapable vastness and a shock of cosmic horror. 

Cthulhu.

The vast old god sweeps aside the cloud cover with what you can best describe as a limb of some kind, exposing the just rising sun on the horizon. Rose makes a choked sound and you stare, frozen in shock, as the sun moves through the sky until it’s right overhead. It hangs in the air, far bigger and somehow more real than ever. Then, slowly but undeniably, the sun opens. It opens like a burning eye and a purple iris that you’d know anywhere focuses down on all of you and every part of you that’s aligned to Rose vibrates in harmonic frequency with it. 

Rose makes a strangled sound and you rush around Mr. Egbert’s car to get to her. She’s still standing but curled over with her hands over her eyes, but even though she’s doing that you’re somehow sure that she can still see. 

“Rose! Rose are you ok?” you ask her, reaching out to touch her shoulder. 

“I…” Rose breathes heavily. 

Her hands fall from her face and she straightens up slowly, her eyes are open and shining out a light as bright as the sun. It shines through the skin around her eyes and when she opens her mouth to speak you see that the inside of her mouth is glowing too. 

“I know who you are.” Rose says, walking towards the man with the gun who is staring at her in terror. 

“I know everything about you.” Rose goes on. 

“That’s bullshit, you don’t know anything.” the man snaps and raises his gun. He’s not got his finger on the trigger yet but you’re ready with a shield in case he moves that finger in the slightest. You can have a hole put in your wing and be fine but you’re not letting Rose get shot. 

“I know what you did in ‘78, what you never told your sister. But I think I can show her, copy that memory from your head and put it in hers. I know about Aaron and what happened, what really happened, not what you told people. I know about the churchhouse.” Rose says as she walks closer still. 

“No- you… how?” the man stammers, stumbling back from Rose. It does him no good though because Rose reaches out and with one hand smacks his gun aside and with the other sets her hand on his forehead. His reaction isn’t the same as the people who saw your true form, he doesn’t start screaming in existential horror. Instead he seems terrified, afraid and ashamed all at once. He falls onto the floor so he’s almost crawling backwards away from Rose but his words are nothing but garbled denial, that whatever she’s shown him couldn’t be true, how could she know, he’s not like that. You don’t know what he’s talking about but Rose obviously does. 

“I know where they’re keeping the other people they stopped.” Rose says, turning to you with her eyes still shining like the sun. 

“Let’s go then!” you tell her. It’s not like you’re waiting around for anything else here, is it?

“Tell the others then follow me?” Rose says, more a question if you will than an order for you to do just that. She must be still wary about accidentally ordering you to do things, which you do appreciate. The fact that she DOESN’T override your free will makes you far more willing to do things for her than you think you ever were for anyone in Heaven. 

You nod and hurry back to your group as Rose walks off. 

“Rose knows where the others are, through what I’m guessing is god magic?” you say and glance upwards. The sun has stopped being a giant Rose eye in the sky and is back at the position in the horizon that it should be, but at the same time it’s far bigger and brighter than it’s meant to be and this whole area is lit like it’s midday without any reason to be beyond just Rose did it. 

“That’s pretty much it. She never got that far before but… eesh.” Sollux winces as he eyes the man that Rose just did whatever that was to. 

“Since when have you been squeamish? You were all but begging for me to melt the others with my actual form.” you point out. 

“Yeah because that’s just assholes suffering and they absolutely had it coming, we’re all about that. But that specific thing Rose did isn’t too far off of an actual thing I’ve seen in hell. The idea that Rose is using Bro’s playbook in any way makes me feel a little… eh.” Sollux grimaces. 

“She cursed him with knowledge, it happened to be personal. Heart magic is about the soul, there’s bound to be overlap. She’s nothing like him.” Roxy says firmly. 

You’re not touching that, instead you gesture for them to follow you and hurry after Rose. You don’t know if the people who’ve been captured are going to be guarded and you’re not letting Rose just wander in alone. Maybe her being more god powered right now makes her invulnerable but you’d really REALLY prefer if you didn’t test that. 

Rose steps through a doorway of a house down the road and you jog to catch up. There’s a sudden and bright flash of light that makes you think of those flashbang grenades you see in war movies and when you rush inside you find a few camo wearing guards clutching their eyes as Rose picks up their guns.

“Did you blind them?” you say in surprise. 

“It’s easily fixable.” Rose shrugs and passes you the guns. That wasn’t a no. 

Should you tie them up or something? Blind and hurt isn’t the same as harmless even with you being in possession of their guns. Which as a side note you don’t know what to do with. That problem solves itself when Sollux walks through the door and you just give them to him. 

“What do I look like, your butler?” Sollux demands. 

“Yes.” you say and follow Rose as she goes down into the basement. 

Nothing good happens in basements, you’re convinced of it. Also it means you only get to hear part of Sollux’s grumbled rant about butlers and serving and something about an island.

The basement could, on consideration, be worse. Clearly someone in that militia could do magic because several people are held in enchanted areas keeping them in. Others are just tied up with cable ties around their wrists and ankles but it’s the ones that aren’t moving that concern you. 

“They sedated those ones. Werewolf, quarter fae, she’s just a human witch, two sirens. Ones they couldn’t work out what to do with if they were awake.” Rose says, answering a question you hadn’t even voiced yet. 

“Who… who’re you two?” one guy asks, he’s a satyr and he’s one of the people trapped in a circle. 

“I’m Karkat, this is Rose. We’re getting you out, the people who did this aren’t going to be doing it anymore.” you assure him and the rest of them too. 

You walk over and take a moment to look at the circle before finding a safe place to break it and help the guy and the others in there out. 

“What are you two?” he asks, noting your folded wings and the halo around your head as well as Rose’s glowing eyes. Actually, now that you’re in the darker basement you can see that her skin is glowing somewhat too. Or rather it’s like she’s lit like it’s noon in summer even though she’s down here.

“I’m…” you hesitate, you don’t know what you’re supposed to say here. 

“He’s an angel. Mine, actually. I’m a god, it’s… something of a new thing for me.” Rose admits. Around you the people stuck here start talking quietly, whispering if since the gods seem to be back if there are new ones now. You decide to continue freeing people and let Rose handle that. 

“What’re you a god of?” a girl with leaves and grass for hair asks, some kind of dryad maybe? She part human at least from the rest of her appearance, just not human enough to escape the attention of the assholes who caught her. 

“Knowledge.” Rose answers immediately. 

“So you… what? Know everything?” someone else asks her. 

“No, just things that are relevant. Important things.” she says and you think she’s realising it as she’s speaking. 

“She sees the future too.” you add helpfully and use your sickle to slice through a few cable ties. 

“What’s my true name then?” the satyr asks. Right, they can be like that sometimes with the name thing, a lot like some more traditional fae. 

Rose pauses and steps closer to him, she leans into his ear and whispers into his ear. She pauses and pulls back a little, the man looking surprised at what she said. 

“But given how you actually feel about that name and yourself you were thinking of…” Rose whispers something else to him. 

“I never even told anyone- I only heard that name in a dream, I was only considering going by…” the satyr trails off in shock. 

“It’s a nice name, it suits you.” Rose smiles at him. 

“Rose, was there anywhere else that people were being kept? Is this everyone?” you ask her.

“They had the basement of the house a few doors down ready but they hadn’t got enough people yet, they would have put us there if we hadn’t put a stop to them.” Rose agrees. 

“What about the militia people who directed us down here?” you ask. 

Rose frowns and looks upwards a little, glowing a bit brighter for a moment. 

“They won’t come looking for us, but they’ll keep sending people the wrong way. When they realise what’s happened they’ll just start attacking the cars filled with people they don’t like.” Rose answers in a slightly hazy voice. 

“We have to stop them.” you insist. 

“Definitely, everyone here will be fine, the others can take care of them.” Rose nods. 

“Okay, I can fly you there.” you offer. 

Rose frowns for a moment and looks down at her feet and then, like it’s nothing, just lifts off of the floor and floats. 

“I think I’ll be fine. Come on.” Rose says and zips up the stairs.

“Hey! Wait!” you yelp and rush after her.

You yell about people needing first aid and help in the basement to your group as you sprint past them after Rose. She’s not going all that fast but you’re a lot slower in a confined space. When you get outside and start to fly too you easily catch her up. 

“I feel different.” Rose says as you pull level with her. 

“You kind of are.” you point out.

“Yes, but I mean since we were in that house. I feel… stronger. More powerful perhaps.” Rose says thoughtfully. 

“I think everyone in there believes in you at least a little now, right? Besides you’ve worked out what you’re a god of more specifically, maybe now that you’re consciously aligned with that you’re being fed by it.” you suggest. 

“Maybe. Wait.” Rose stops and drops to the road, making you have to flap awkwardly to stop and land as well. 

“What? We need to stop the people at the road up there like you said.” you point out. 

Rose gives you a look, like she’s trying to work something out about you. That look was plenty intimidating and made you feel like she could read your mind BEFORE she got glowing eyes and knowledge god powers. 

“You’re avoiding thinking about or talking about what just happened back there.” she says. 

“We were just talking about them having faith in you.” you point out. 

“The people who saw your form.” Rose says bluntly. 

Oh. 

You look away, your gaze going up the road you initially came from. 

“We should go.” you say. 

“We should talk. Karkat, any other choice you could have made would have got people on our side hurt or killed.” she says firmly. 

“Okay, good, so I did the thing that had the best outcome. Great.” you mutter. 

Rose pauses, seeming like she’s considering her words carefully. 

“How do you feel about it?” she asks. 

“I know I HAD to do it. People like that take years to change. No one’s deranged and speciest enough to kidnap people at gunpoint but then also be so easily suggestable that they’ll pack up and go home if I ask if they could knock it off. We don’t have time for actual change with them, we have to rescue Dave and everyone else on this planet including them. I couldn’t think of anything else to do and you said anything else would have been worse!” you say sharply. 

“It would have been, and you’re right about them.” Rose agrees. 

“Well, good, then I don’t have to blame myself for making the wrong choice but I still FRIED THE MINDS OF SEVERAL PEOPLE. They were screaming! I- I’ve seen what that does to people, I waited with someone that Eridan did that to until the ambulance came for him. It’s horrible and I did it.” you tell her and you can hear the building hysteria in your voice. What you did was monstrous and what does that make *you*?

“It was the right choice in terms of overall good for everyone, it was the right choice in terms of limiting harm, it was the best one available to you. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t still a bad thing to do. Is that what you mean?” Rose asks. 

Your shoulders slump and you feel your wings drag on the floor, it’s not pleasant given the combination of asphalt and exposed metal bones of your wings. 

“Putting someone through that kind of pain and destroying their mind is wrong. It’s a shit thing to do. Apparently that’s a hot take because I did what I was supposed to and you clearly don’t think that-” you start. 

“Hey,” Rose cuts you off, “I’m not saying that. I want to reassure you that you did the best you could and that you shouldn’t feel shitty because you could have done better. It’s a shit situation and you did what you could, we saved lives. I don’t think you should have to feel guilty because their actions tied your hands with what you could do in response, this is on them. But even though I don’t feel that bad about any of it I think it’s entirely understandable that you do. You’re allowed to feel badly because you hurt someone and you, like normal people, feel bad when you hurt people. You’re not to blame but if you feel bad that’s fine.” 

You stare at her. It’s funny because there’s so much of your life before The Event that you don’t remember but clearly your patterns for what you’re allowed to do and feel and how things are *supposed* to be are still deep in the patterns of your mind. 

“So shouldn’t I just let it go or deal with it because it’s what had to happen?” you ask, deliberately baiting that feeling in your head. 

“Not really? I’d prefer if you weren’t feeling bad personally because I don’t think your actions were wrong. I think those guys deserved it and this wouldn’t have happened if they weren’t horrible fucking people and this is on them. I think you made the right call and I can see it was the best choice. The fact that you feel bad because despite how much they were horrible people they were still people and anyone suffering is bad, ergo anyone making anyone suffer is doing a bad thing, it’s… admirable. If you keep torturing yourself about it I’d tell you that you should let it go but it was ten minutes ago, having feelings about it is fine.” Rose says. 

“I do have feelings about it.” you tell her. 

“That’s ok.” Rose nods. 

“I don’t like hurting people.” you add. 

“Entirely understandable and generally encouraged in polite society.” Rose agrees. 

“But I will if I have to.” you go on. 

“That’s reasonable.” she agrees. 

“You’re being suspiciously affirming about this. Are you about to tell me my feelings are valid and I should take a seat on your psychiatry couch and discuss the ways this feels all reminiscent of my tortured past and the way heaven fucking sucked with how they justified the shit they did and made me do?” you demand in a rush, your words speeding up as you go. 

Rose’s eyes widen a little and she opens her mouth to answer but regret makes you get there first. 

“Actually, everything I just said was mortifying and I really don’t want to talk about any of it. Can we not talk about that?” you plead with her. 

“I’m only saying yes because of time constraints and I think if I push you on this now you might cry in the middle of the road.” Rose says. 

“I wouldn’t.” you deny. You probably would. 

“But I feel the need to state that I have no intention of treating you anything like that. Karkat, you’re my friend. You’re not obligated to ‘serve me’ or compromise your own morals based on what I want or what you think I want. If I’m asking something of you and it’s not ok then tell me.” Rose assures you and puts her hand on your shoulder. 

“Auuugh, no. Not having this conversation.” you say and back off, you’re not sure if you’re recoiling from what she’s saying or just cringing at how blisteringly sincere Rose is and how it gives you no room to distance yourself from this very important topic. 

“Karkat, really.” Rose sighs. 

“Nope, we have people to help.” you say in a strangled voice and quick walk up the road. 

“Also your feelings ARE valid!” Rose shouts after you.

You start to fly but she can too, damn her. She doesn’t mean it. Or, well, she does but she’s not actually trying to push you on the topic now, she’s clearly just teasing. All the same you’re very glad when you land a little way out from the checkpoint and Rose takes the lead in approaching the armed men there. 

Since Cthulhu uncovered the sun or whatever he did Rose seems to have gained the power to do something to people with knowledge. Based on what they say as they crawl away from her it might be getting a very condensed view of their own lives, choices and secrets rubbed right into their conscious mind. Existential psychological horror coming from seeing how shitty they are. 

Rose directs you to dismantle the few props to the roadblock that they’d set up and drags the conscious but horrified and wailing assholes off of the road to deal with their pain out of the way of traffic. 

“We need to get back to the car, we’ll have to leave our entourage behind.” Rose says when she rejoins you. 

“We’re leaving them to help the people who were abducted? Or to keep watch for backup?” you ask. 

“Those things, yes. But they can’t come with us where we’re going next.” Rose says ominously. 

You frown and think about it.

“Illinois?” you ask. 

“What? No. Well, technically we get into there first but, no. We’re taking a detour and technically a shortcut.” Rose frowns. 

“Through…?” you prompt her as the two of you start walking back towards the others, down that long dark road. 

“Through Winter.” Rose tells you. 

“Ah, shit.” you groan.


	41. Raise Hell

Rose is perfectly able to explain to the others why the dads need to stay back, you’d rather stay out of it. If where you’re going is predetermined then there’s no point you being in on the conversation. Instead you go into the kitchen of the house where you freed the nonhuman prisoners and find Sollux leaning against the door of the open fridge.

“What’re you drinking?” you ask him. You could maybe use a drink before you have to get going again, especially as it’s inadvisable to eat or drink anything in fae territory.

“AJ.” Sollux answers, holding up a bottle of apple juice.

“Who calls it that?” you snort.

“Dave.” Sollux shrugs and chugs straight from the bottle.

“That doesn’t surprise me.” you say, it sounds very Dave.

Your eyes linger on the line of Sollux’s throat as he drinks and the guilty part of your brain interrupts the part interested in Sollux’s body by pointing out that the people whose minds you melted will never get to think these things about people again.

“You ok?” Sollux asks in concern as you cover your face with your hands and groan.

“Fine. Just marinating in my own guilt forever, thanks.” you complain.

“Cool. Very on brand. Hold this for me.” Sollux says and shakes the bottle of apple juice at you.

You relent, uncover your eyes and take the bottle from Sollux. The romantically interested part of your brain (okay maybe it would be more accurate to describe it as the horny part of your brain) is suddenly on board with whatever this is that Sollux is doing because it involves him very carefully peeling your hoodie off of him so he’s standing there shirtless.

“Uh.” you say, dumbly.

“Calm down. I need to take this off, gimme a second.” Sollux says and carefully pulls back the bandage you put on him and sets it on the nearest countertop. Kinda gross and unsanitary but he’s still shirtless so you’re willing to ignore it for now.

“Gimme the AJ.” Sollux asks.

“Why? What’re you gonna do with it?” you ask him, utterly bewildered.

“Citrus drinks, specifically orange soda, are basically the physical components to unholy water. Bro has a thing for orange stuff. Dave was more about apples, both because he liked them and the whole holy irony thing. Apple juice is the physical component to make Dave specific unholy water. Obviously you need the right privileges to make it that and not just AJ but I have that.” Sollux explains.

“Firstly, if you’re using your own magic to do this doesn’t that mean you don’t gain anything? Secondly if this does work why didn’t you do it earlier?” you ask.

“Firstly, no that’s not how it works it’s about Dave and faith and I don’t care enough to explain it. Secondly there wasn’t any AJ at the house because the moment there is any Dave is on it instantly.” Sollux answers.

He makes a grabby hand motion at you so you uncap the bottle and hand it back to him. Sollux murmurs something demonic and magical to the bottle and leans his upper back on the open refrigerator and angles his hips forward so his abdomen makes as shallow an angle as possible. With that set up he slowly pours the apple juice over himself and to your surprise you can see it starting to knit his flesh back together slightly. It’s not magically erasing the injury but more like it’s winding the healing forward through time, bruises bloom and shift around it and the skin looks less and less angry as it heals. By the time he’s out of apple juice it still looks rough but a hell of a lot better than it did before.

You grab some clean kitchen towel for Sollux and tear it off to hand to him.

“Thanks.” he sighs and wipes the drink off of his skin. He’s made a mess of the kitchen floor but given the people who owned this house were terrible you don’t feel too bad about that.

“Do you feel any better?” you ask.

“It wasn’t hurting thanks to whatever Roxy did, though that was wearing off. But it feels a little less like there’s stuff… unattached in there? I don’t really know how I’m supposed to fit together without my rib in there.” Sollux grimaces and picks your hoodie back up to put it on.

“That’s ok, I don’t know how I fit together at all. I kind of want to get an MRI after all of this if the world doesn’t end. When the world doesn’t end. I’m being optimistic.” you say firmly.

“Yeah that works best when you have to announce it.” Sollux says mockingly through fabric. One of his horns is poking out of the neck of the hoodie so you lean over and flick it. Sollux yelps and as soon as his head is through he grabs a tupperware box of what you think is ham and throws it at you. This pretty much distracts you from any feelings of guilt that you were still experiencing.

Yes, you should probably process your feelings and understand how your past and Heaven influenced how you view morality. You should probably talk about those concerns with Rose and agree on how you will and won’t act. You should try to reconcile doing a needed bad thing in a bad situation with your general view on yourself and your own ethics but those things are hard to do and uncomfortable. Much easier to distract yourself by avoiding leftovers to the head.

“Yeah, I’m not so hurt now, huh?” Sollux says as he cuts off your escape and starts herding you into a corner of the kitchen.

“I should never have given you apple juice.” you say with faux dramatics.

A bark at the doorway interrupts you both and you look over Sollux’s shoulder to see Bec in the doorway.

“Rose said we’re taking a shortcut through Winter.” you say seeing as the mood has broken. Also Bec has probably been sent to get you.

“That seems like a bad idea.” Sollux says slowly.

“Oh, I agree but I’m pretty sure this was more of a prophecy than a suggestion.” you tell him.

“Great, and you two left Winter on such good terms last time.” Sollux says wearily.

“Maybe it’ll be… fine?” you say, trying for hopeful.

Sollux gives you a flat look, yeah you don’t think this is going to be painless either.

The two of you follow Bec outside to where your friends are waiting. A few of the nonhumans from before are talking to the dads but most of them just seem to be happy to be outside instead of locked in a basement. You shudder to think of how things could have gone for them. You walk past them to the car, to a conversation already in progress.

“What makes you say that we need to go through Winter though? I know it’ll take a while to get to Washington but just driving there seems safer than entering Winter.” Roxy asks.

“Didn’t you recently piss off the fae in Winter too?” Jade points out.

“Yes, but there’s nothing I can do about the past. All I know is that our best path is through there, we have to go that way and we do. Even attempting to avoid it would likely be bad.” Rose explains.

“Is there something we have to do or somewhere we have to go in order to fit in with whatever you’ve foreseen? Some more detail would be helpful.” Kanaya reasons.

“I’m sure it would. I got a very strong impression at the time but the details have faded to just… we need to go to Winter and the rest will unravel as we get here.” Rose tells her.

“Can’t you go all god mode again and look again?” Jade asks.

“I don’t know how to do that, it just happened before. Also, that’s not really how being a seer works.” Rose groans.

“I can confirm that. Sometimes you just know things. If you say it’s got to be Winter then it’s got to be Winter. I’ll stay in the car though, we should all be close together or we might get split up going through the border.” Terezi nods.

“I guess I’m staying in the car too then.” you say.

“That would be a good idea.” Rose agrees.

“And we have to drive alone, we can’t have any of June’s people with us?” Kanaya asks.

“Right. That would be bad.” Rose tells her.

“Alright then, let’s go.” Terezi says in what you can only assume is a type of seer solidarity. Everyone seems to get the idea that asking more questions about this won’t for sure get them any answers that are helpful.

“I think I should drive.” Rose says, moving to the drivers door of the car.

“I think you don’t have a license.” Kanaya replies immediately.

“Magic. Car.” Sollux says very slowly and with emphasis.

It ends up being you, Sollux and Rose in the front of the car with Rose driving and Sollux watching to help with anything that she doesn’t know about the car. You’re not sure if it’s a good or a bad idea to keep Jade out of sight given that you’re going into fae territory.

When Rose starts the car up you feel like your heart is in your throat and it’s not because you’re concerned about her driving. You’re wary about going into Winter, apparently your angelic powers didn’t work so well there before and you barely understand this new variation on what you can do since you changed gods. It’s all such an unknown and that fills you with nervousness.

Rose pulls away from the houses leaving June’s dad and the others behind. You hope he’ll be okay on his own, but he is the de facto leader of June’s whole religion and adopted a god as a kid, so he’s probably going to be fine. Also he’s in an area that’s as out of danger as you can be these days, seeing as you…

You’d rather not think about what you did, actually.

You wait anxiously as the road winds out of this little area of houses and into alternating scrubby woodland and fields. Outside of the windows the sun is low in the sky again, just hovering on the horizon as freezing fog clings to the ground of the fields.

Looking around in the front of the car you find the printed out directions that Roxy had made before leaving, it’s smart to have something printed because you never know how long your phones might last in the apocalypse. If Google Maps goes down and you don’t have printed directions then you’re kind of boned. Scanning through them you try to work out where you are, the directions said you should have gone on the highway which you obviously didn’t so now you need to work out how to get back there, right? If you’re fated to run into Winter then it makes sense that you’d do it when you’re trying to get where you’re going.

Eh, you’re going to need a better map of the area. You pull your phone out and get it to show you where you are. It looks like you can rejoin the highway at the next junction if you just take a few turns.

“What’re you doing?” Sollux asks judgmentally.

“Navigating until we get to where we’re going. I just need to work out the orientation of this map.” you frown.

“Isn’t North usually up?” Sollux asks.

“Usually!” Jade chirps up from behind you, she must have been listening.

“Yeah except I don’t know which direction North is.” you sigh.

“The sun rises in the East, Karkat.” Kanaya points out kindly.

Oh. Yeah, you knew that.

You look left at Rose and see that, yeah, the sun is rising on her side. Poetic and technically true because that must be east, which means you’re driving South. So…

“You wanna go right when we get the chance.” you tell her.

“Got it.” she nods.

Your phone doesn’t seem to be too happy so you close it down for now and just wait. Sollux has gone back to silently staring out of the window and his whole demeanour is a little melancholy. You watch as you drive past a field with a little copse of straggly trees in the middle. Must be hard to steer a tractor or whatever around those.

“You okay?” you ask him quietly.

“Yeah.” Sollux answers.

There’s a pause.

“No.” he adds.

Of course he does.

“It’s just all this, you know? There was cool stuff in Hell and all, it wasn’t all bad. But so much of Earth is just so… so nice. I mean according to Bro’s pantheon this whole place was made for humans as somewhere for them, you were trying to protect it. If we don’t stop all of this it’s all going to be gone. That’s why Dave did what he did, he was trying to save everyone and all of this.” Sollux says softly.

“It’s why I did what I did.” Roxy adds from the back.

“It’s the kind of thing my brother would do.” Kanaya agrees.

“Well, we’re going to save Dave and everyone else too.” you assure Sollux and squeeze his shoulder a little to try to impart some of the certainty that you want to project.

“I hope so.” Sollux says.

To your left a hill starts to rise up, it cuts out the slice of the sun that was visible and everything is suddenly more frosty and foggy around you. You look over at Sollux and behind him, through the passenger window, you see a field with a copse of straggly trees in the middle…

You’ve already been past those trees and you never took a turn at all.

“Rose, I think-” you start.

“I know.” she says.

“The car probably won’t run much longer, if we’re in Winter then there’s no sun and no sun means your magic is weaker.” Sollux warns her.

“I’ve seen the sun before in-” you start.

“Not _her_ sun. The sun in fae territories belongs to other people, it won’t work the same way for her.” Sollux corrects you.

Surely it’s the same burning ball of space fire no matter where you are, but even as you think that it’s probably missing the point. Gods get associated with phenomena that have meaning assigned to it, the sun is pretty common because it’s hugely important to life. Just like the sea, the moon and weather there are so many gods that share it. If Rose’s light based powers require her to be near ‘her’ sun then that’s how it is, even if it doesn’t make much sense scientifically speaking.

Honestly scientific sense went out of the window a while back.

The car splutters and shuts off, coasting to a stop on the icy road.

“Yeah, that checks out.” you groan.

“It feels a little trite though, a little too horror movie.” Rose observes, apparently critiquing reality on being derivative.

“Man door hand hook car door.” Sollux quotes.

“Everything you say is terrible, you fucking internet cretin. I hate you.” you hiss at Sollux who not only doesn’t seem repentant for his awfulness but instead is actively delighting in it.

“But who was phone?” Roxy adds, apparently as well as working on magic as the greatest witch in her generation she also had time to troll the internet for her own amusement. Somehow you’re not surprised that Dave is the way he is. Him and Sollux both, actually.

You shove your kismesis out of the car and he’s howling with laughter too much to do anything but land on his ass on the frozen asphalt. There’s not a part of you that feels bad.

Everyone else gets out of the car like a normal person (and a normal hellhound). Sollux gets to his feet still giggling and fistbumps Roxy.

“It’s a shame to leave the car here.” you say sadly as you shut the door.

“Can’t you pick it up like Sollux did?” Rose asks.

“I don’t know how, it’s really big. I can do my weapons but a whole car is something else.” you say uneasily.

“You know how you pick up fire? It’s like that.” Sollux says, albeit still giggling a little.

“I don’t entirely understand how I do that so that’s not super helpful.” you mutter.

Still, you know that you are able to do it so maybe you just have to pick up the… concept of the car? That’s a confusing enough idea as is but you also don’t entirely get how this car works so deciding what it is exactly is even harder. You press your hands to the side of it and try to work out what the ‘concept’ of it is. You move your hand away from the car trying to take it with you but to no avail.

Okay, okay, maybe you’re thinking about this wrong. It’s not just a vehicle, it’s something your boyfriend made for Sollux. Something Rose repurposed to keep herself and all of you safe, something to rescue Dave in. It’s a moving safe place for your friends and something you’ve slept inside. That’s an idea you can hold in your head, the shape of what it is doesn’t really matter, it’s how you’re connected to it instead. This time when you close your hand against the body of the car it disappears into your closed hand. Part of you is curious to know what it’d look like if you opened your hand but you’re not going to give into that curiosity so you instead press your hand to your chest and put the car away.

It feels… odd. You’re vaguely aware of it being there but only in the sense that you’re aware of your teeth being in your mouth, which is to say not really but if you focus on it you can tell very keenly that they’re there.

“That’s… kind of weird but I have it.” you say slowly and rub at your chest.

You don’t want to think about putting a person in there. You really don’t want to think about being put in there. Ugh, time to focus on the murderous fae instead, much better.

“What now?” you ask.

“I’m in a bit of a blind spot here, I know where we have to get to. I'm just not entirely sure how to get there. So I suppose we just start walking.” Rose says, looking down the road.

“Let me think about it. Come on.” Terezi says and pokes you to start walking.

“Alright, alright.” you grumble and walk.

Rose walks at your side, Kanaya, Sollux and Jade right behind you with Roxy and Terezi in the back. The road beneath your feet is crisp with frost and the more that you walk the colder it seems to get. Bit by bit the world around you gets stranger. The fields start to grow ice covered crops that you don’t recognise, berries and fruit the colour of dark blood and purple bruises. The road beneath you goes from asphalt to gravel to dirt all without you actively noticing when the change happens.

“It’s. It’s so cold.” Sollux says and you can hear his teeth chattering as he speaks.

It is cold, you’re aware of that. It’s not exactly pleasant and it’d be nice if you had a coat or something but you’re doing okay. Rose is huddled into her scarf and breathing out a plume of steam with each exhale but she seems fine. When you turn to look at Sollux though you see that he’s pulled his arms inside the hoodie you gave him, wrapping them around himself to keep warm. He’s got the hood of it pulled tight around his face with his horns poking through torn fabric at the top. The skin that you can see is pale and he’s shivering all over.

“You don’t do well with cold, do you?” you ask slowly.

“C-can we just get out of here soon? I’m f-freezing my tails off here.” he says and shudders a little more.

You look behind him and see that Terezi is breathing fire every so often to keep warm and that seems to be helping Roxy who’s sticking close to her side. Unsurprisingly Jade seems fine, you’re going to assume fae bullshit there and Kanaya is a vampire so she’s also fine. Bec has the luxury of a thick fur coat and close proximity to a dragon so really it’s only Sollux who’s having a hard time.

“I don’t think we can just run through.” you say uneasily.

Sollux tucks his face further into the hood so only his little eyes are visible as tiny black and white slits.

“Aim for the treeline, I think.” Rose suggests, pointing ahead.

“Are we even sure that it’s going to be there when we get there? Every time I look behind us things look different. Geography doesn’t really work here.” you point out as your feet crunch on frozen dirt.

Below your feet the solid snow impacted ground gets more uneven and you have to watch your step. You’re only two paces past that point before Sollux stumbles and crashes into your back, he falls to his knees and all but takes you down with him. Him having his hands tucked inside his clothes didn’t help him break his fall and you could hardly call it graceful.

“Sorry. Can’t… can’t feel my feet.” Sollux says, his voice weak. You hope it’s just being muffled by the hoodie but you don’t think so.

“Hey. Hey, talk to me. Sollux? How’re you feeling?” you ask him urgently and try to loosen the hood enough to see his face better.

“I don’t know. I just… I’m not cold anymore. Feel kinda- kinda hot.” he mumbles and blinks all out of sync with himself.

“That’s definitely a sign of hypothermia.” Kanaya says quietly.

Shit, Sollux was made for really hot temperatures and he’s incredibly low on magic without a connection to Dave. This might be able to kill him and you really don’t think that you can steal him from Aradia twice.

“I’ve been trying to cast fire magic here but it’s not working well at all.” Roxy says. She summons a glowing light in her hand that splutters out almost immediately.

“You’re still fireproof, right?” you ask Sollux who nods weakly.

“Fire’s not the answer here. I can only breathe it but nothing here catches.” Terezi answers instead.

You pause to think and then pull fire into your hand from nothing, the same holy fire that you’ve brought into life before except now it’s for a different god. Glimmering gold and yellow fire burns in your palm and you tentatively hold it out towards Sollux.

“Oh, I felt that. That’s… very odd.” Rose frowns.

“Not hurting you? Either of you?” you check.

Rose shakes her head and Sollux puts his hand into yours and the flames lick harmlessly over his skin without hurting him at all.

“Alright, give me a second. Can you get his arms out properly please? Not just one of them.” you say since Sollux only put one hand out to touch your fire and the other is still inside the body of his hoodie.

Rose starts to nudge Sollux into cooperating as you take a step back and hold your burning hand to the bottom of your sweatshirt. You will it to start burning and watch as fire creeps harmlessly over you. It doesn’t hurt or even feel all that warm to you, but it’s what you can do.

“Gimme a hand with him.” you say and carefully crouch down on the ground in front of him but facing away.

You grab for his legs and Rose catches hold of Sollux’s arms and together you stand up. You have to shuffle Sollux a little on your back, he’s taller than you after all and it’s a little tricky to carry someone who’s not participating in the process. After a few seconds of shuffling Sollux suddenly seems to work out what’s going on and clings to your back like a demonic koala and you feel him start to shiver again, that’s got to be a good sign.

“Better?” you ask.

“Warm.” is all Sollux mumbles into your shoulder. Yeah, you’re going to take that as better.

Your group starts moving again, still aiming for the now not so distant treeline. The closer you get the darker things become. The hedges on the road get thicker and larger, dark thorns reaching out for you and dagger like icicles hanging from branches that arc over the path. Small glowing mushrooms dot the edge of the road here and there, bathing everything in an eerie light.

“I was expecting to feel like I was being watched but I still don’t feel anything.” Jade says after a while of walking.

“Mmm, I don’t feel it either. We just have to keep going I guess.” Rose agrees.

You shift Sollux on your back slightly, you’ve got your arms looped under his knees but it’s starting to make your elbows sore. You change so that your hands are laced together under his thighs and as you do so two icy tails wind their way up your burning arm under your somehow still intact sweater.

“You should have done that earlier. Tail frostbite is bad news.” you tell him quietly.

“You don’t have to carry me.” Sollux grumbles almost right into your ear with how close he is to you.

“I was just trying to tell you not to get frostbite but fuck me, I guess. Also, I clearly do have to carry you. You’re not dying again.” you hiss back at him.

“I’m not dead weight.” Sollux says quietly, clearly defensive and wanting to not be heard by anyone else. You’re not sure he’ll be successful given who you’re travelling with but whatever.

Hmm. That’s a pretty specific denial that he gave you though. He probably feels a bit pathetic being taken out like this even though he’s badly hurt already and made for the exact opposite conditions as this anyway. But no one else is struggling like him. You’re probably dealing with a bruised ego, especially as YOU’RE the one having to carry him like this when you’re meant to be equals.

“Consider it payment in advance.” you say lightly, like it’s no big deal. It genuinely isn’t a big deal, you having to make yourself magically warm to keep him alive is no problem for you and sure as shit doesn’t make you think less of him.

“Payment for what? More questions? You don’t even use those anymore.” Sollux says suspiciously.

“I’m using my skill of being warm and carrying you now and later you can metaphorically carry me when I’m in Hell and have no idea how anything works or where to go.” you tell him.

“Ehh, I guess. Though it’s not like you knowing nothing is new.” Sollux mutters.

“Sorry, I didn’t hear that you were talking too quietly. Did you say you wanted to get down and walk?” you ask him cheerily.

You feel Sollux’s arms and legs tighten around you a little more. Yeah, you THOUGHT NOT.

“Does me having those questions still actually bother you?” you ask curiously.

“A little? It feels unfinished. Like an itch I can’t scratch, but it doesn’t keep me awake or anything. Are you holding onto them for a reason?” he asks.

“Oh, like in case we need them in Hell? Or to check to see if you’re really you in case some other demon tries to impersonate you and trick us or something?” you suggest.

“Sure?” Sollux says.

“Nah. I’m mostly just holding onto them for something stupid and petty, also because it annoys you.” you admit with a grin plastered across your face.

“I hate you.” Sollux reminds you and his sharp teeth nip at your ear.

Your group must make quite the sight as you cross into the forest itself. It’s much darker and denser than the last time you were here, you can only assume you’re either deeper in or that you’ve just entered a different area of their realm.

The forest is beautiful in the way that lightning storms or churning fifty foot waves at sea are. Which is to say very much so in theory and would be powerful, striking and artistic if painted but is terrifying as all fuck to be in the middle of it.

“We’re being watched.” Sollux breathes and you don’t doubt him.

“Oh!” Terezi gasps and darts forward to grab Rose by the arm.

Terezi hauls Rose close and whispers something hurriedly in her ear and you can all but see the lightbulb go off over Rose’s head as she works whatever it is out.

Ahead of you a raven caws loudly in the tree branches at once there’s a countless number of glittering eyes in the branches above. Sollux’s claws prick your skin slightly as he tenses but you have no choice but to follow Rose deeper into the forest.

You walk with your stomach in knots and every one of you keeping fearfully silent. Or at least you’re fearful, who knows about the others? You’re not surprised when you finally hear approaching hoofbeats, nor are you surprised when white stags burst through the brush, led by the same black eyed fae man as before.

He doesn’t bother to say hello, or to remark that it’s you again, instead he just draws back his bow pointing it right at Rose. You let Sollux’s legs go and throw your hands out to bring your shield into existence, it gives Rose time to get through her sentence as the arrow gouges a hole in your shield but doesn’t let it through.

“We demand an audience with your queens. Queen Mab and Queen Jade Harley.” Rose declares, loud and clear.

“What?!” Jade exclaims from behind you.

“What… what manner of trickery is this for you to bring-” the man starts, glaring at Rose and Jade both.

“She asked for the queens, we have to.” another rider reminds the man sharply.

“By name.” Rose reminds them.

The fae are _clearly_ displeased but names have power and thanks to Terezi it seems that Rose knew just who to ask for. The fae jerk their heads at you and turn their mounts around, clearly expecting you to follow. Above you the ravens all take flight at once, cawing loudly to one another as dislodged ice and snow rain down on you. Some of it hits Sollux and he shudders.

“Come on.” you tell him, gesturing for him to get on your back again.

“Okay, but… keep your hands free.” Sollux says.

You help him onto your back but instead of supporting him with your hands Sollux just wraps his legs around your middle a little more securely and refuses to let you hold him there. It’s not the most comfortable for either of you but it does mean that you have your hands free should you need them.

The fae on their white stags lead you through Winter, over frozen hills covered in sharp thorns that pull at your clothes as you pass. You cross bridges over thick rivers of black tar, fed by dying trees that weep the dark slow running liquid. When you get to see it the sky is strange, dark and sporting unfamiliar stars with the faintest hint of a sun that might rise on the horizon but never does.

Winter is filled with creatures as well as other fae. You get flickers of true folklore style fairies and sprites, little figures that are more glow, movement and impression than they are actual small winged people. They titter and laugh at your group as you pass. You see ice dryads whose normally plant based bodies are frozen and plated like armour. Animals fresh out of nightmares appear too, snow white rabbits that feel far too smart and leave bloody footprints, spiders the size of horses and, as always, birds that watch constantly.

Deeper into the forest you start to see homes and regular fae like the ones riding the stags ahead of you. They’re living their lives, some building parts of their homes or tending their gardens. This is a place where people live. When they see you they appear disgusted at first, Winter aligned fae hate humans and although you don’t agree you can certainly empathise with that. Humanity is… somewhat flawed. You imagine that you and Sollux being so associated with them are hardly welcome either. Rose and her mother both look human and Kanaya was once so that’s probably a strike against her. You’re not sure what the fae’s stance on dragons is but being an uninvited visitor is rude anyway so Terezi is likely unwelcome too.

Jade though… when people see Jade they react interestingly. Some with confusion, others anger but many more with curiosity. People start to follow you as you’re led up a winding path that climbs along a frozen waterfall. At the top there’s a structure that is as palatial as it is glacial, made of white birch trees and ice that towers over everything with glimmering spires. Before it a snow covered courtyard is set out and two thrones are laid out. Or you suppose that they’re thrones at least, one is regal made of silver and bone and the other is lower and wider with plush green cushions sat wide on a wicker frame. A wide swathe of green silk is artfully covering both as if to shield its future occupants from falling rain or snow, despite there being neither.

The man leading the group of stags and their riders bids you to stop and wait, though he does so with a sneer. You do as you’re told and look around at the rest of your group. You can’t help but notice that Jade is looking sharper and more faelike the longer she spends here. It’s also not escaping your notice that you have quite the audience of fae watching you now around the edges of the courtyard.

A few fae closer to the thrones suddenly smarten up their posture and pull out trumpets made of glass and blow a regal little tune in notes that do something deeply unsettling to your brain. It kind of makes your teeth feel weird and you hope that they don’t do it again.

A woman walks into the shaded throne area. Her dress is a deep poisonous purple colour and her silk like black hair cuts a sharp line to her cheekbones, or rather to one cheekbone. On the other side her head is shaved and intricate and clearly magical designs are shaved into the very short hair that remains on that side. Her skin is as pale as snow and her eyes entirely black. As she moves to the front of the throne you notice that her sweeping dress leaves no marks on the snow, nor are there any footprints.

“Queen Mab, these humans-” the first fae who saw you start to say.

“Requested an audience with both you and Queen Jade Harley.” Rose interrupts.

Queen Mab tilts her head slightly to regard all of you, she looks along your group in silence for a moment.

“My wife declines your request but…” Queen Mab trails off.

She raises a hand that’s heavily covered in rings and waves at an attendant who quickly scurries away. You try not to stare at her jewelry. It’s not gems set in there but other things. One thing that looks like a rock you’d find in a river, another a raw lump of amber with something stuck in it that flickers with light and one ring looks like it has… has a human tooth in it.

Queen Mab settles back into her throne and crosses one leg over the other, confirming that she does indeed have those.

“Are you always on fire?” she asks curiously after a little bit.

“Not usually, it’s just really cold here.” you answer, it’d be rude not to answer.

“And you, you don’t need to hide your true form.” Queen Mab says, pointing a long nailed finger at Terezi. Although you note that only one of her hands has long talon like nails, the nails on her right are cut short. Or, all but her ring and little finger are short. Is that significant somehow?

“I know. I just don’t want to crush anything in your courtyard. I get pissed when people damage my home, have to eat them when they do that.” Terezi shrugs.

“Oh, I know the feeling. Hm, but, here.” Queen Mab smiles and with a wave of her hand the space becomes larger and larger. The distance between you and her remains the same but the edges of the courtyard stretching out around you.

Terezi sniffs at the air and shrugs lightly. She shifts into her large dragon form and leans over your group, breathing down on you. Her breath is blisteringly hot and Sollux immediately gasps and leans closer. He lets go of you with his legs and his arms and shifts to be directly under Terezi’s dragon breath. That means you can stop being on fire and stop carrying him around. It’s not that he’s heavy, it's just you’ve been doing it for a good stretch of time and your posture isn’t usually great at the best of times. You crack your back and allow the holy fire on you to die down to nothing.

“Well, that solved a lot of problems.” Queen Mab notes.

She turns her head and looks around the edge of the throne that she’s sat in, this time you hear someone approaching and soon enough those weird trumpets play once more and make your teeth feel weird. This time a different woman walks through the shaded area and towards the front of the thrones.

It’s… Jade. Or it’s sort of her. Her hair is long and white but though she has a few braids in it you can see that it hangs in the same wild waves that Jade’s does, it even comes down her back as far as hers. She looks over at Queen Mab as she sits on her own throne and you can see her eyes are the same shape as Jade’s, except where Jade’s reminds you of the leaves of tropical plants in the sun this woman’s eyes are green like icy evergreen leaves.

“I told you I wasn’t interested.” the woman sighs as he pulls her legs up onto the throne so she can sit cross legged. She flicks her heavy green cape around her for warmth and fixes Mab with a scowl.

“Look at them.” Queen Mab tells her, her lips spreading into a too sharp smile.

The older Jade lookalike sighs and rummages in her cloak for a pair of glasses on a chain. She looks at them and scrunches up her face and takes a moment to breathe on them then clean them with her cloak before putting them on. She blinks owlishly a few times and looks at all of you, when she gets to Jade she freezes and then stares at Queen Mab.

“May I speak, your highnesses?” Rose asks politely.

“You may.” Queen Mab nods.

Rose opens her mouth but the guard who brought you here starts to talk first.

“She’s the one who tricked us out of her sight right before time got ruined, she knew it would happen and made the exchange under false pretenses!” the guard protests.

“Sounds like you got outplayed then, doesn’t it?” Queen Jade says with a grin. Queen Mab fixes the guard with a look that politely suggests that he ought to reconsider speaking out of turn again if he wants to keep all of his body parts in their current alignment and attachment status.

“I appreciate you hearing me out. Me and my group here are in something of a situation. You see, I am a God on my plane although that’s new to me. This is my mother and we’re on the way to Hell, which is ruled by my thus far absent father who has kidnapped my brother and intends to end the world. We need to get there quite urgently but I foresaw that we needed to come through here and upon arriving my dragon friend here saw that there was an obvious connection between you and our friend Jade, so I can only assume that we were meant to be here at this time.” Rose explains.

“Yes, we were quite curious about that.” Queen Mab says.

“Come here girl, I want to get a better look at you. Why do you look like me?” Queen Jade asks, beckoning Jade closer.

Jade gives the rest of you a wary look but steps a bit closer to the queens as instructed.

“This is just how I look. Why do you have my name?” Jade asks in response.

“It’s my name.” Queen Jade says simply.

“Well, it’s mine too.” Jade replies stubbornly.

The pair stare each other down for a long moment and Queen Mab watches the pair of them with some amusement on her face.

“I think you’d better tell me about who you are.” Jade says.

“You come into _my_ land and ask things of me?” Queen Jade snorts.

“You host me in your land and don’t properly introduce yourself or answer questions your guests ask?” Jade replies immediately.

You wince, that’s… fae are big on manners and customs, politeness can be life or death but Jade is just trying to use the thing as a weapon here. If she doesn’t play it right this could go so badly. Queen Mab’s painted lips tremble slightly as if she’s just barely stopping herself from laughing and the rather cold look her wife gives her tells you that mirth is not appreciated right now, dear.

“Very well.” Queen Jade says tightly and sits up a little straighter on her throne.

“I was born in England in 1875 and was near enough immediately taken to Winter, a fae child was sent in my place but sadly my birth parents left it to die somewhere. Regardless I grew up here doing whatever I wanted. I learned magic, I roamed the land, rode whatever animals I pleased and lived my life. I was human but the longer you stay here the… less so you become.” she says slowly.

“The older I got the more I felt that I was missing my home land. That perhaps I should be where my own kind were. Besides which I loved adventure and a whole new world to explore and live in sounded so fun. My parents here warned me not to go but I didn’t listen and I left anyway, I was never a prisoner here. I returned to my birth parents when I was fifteen, in 1890. I found them and told them who I was, told them of my life, showed them the birthmark that had seemingly helped them realise that the child I was swapped with wasn’t me. They took me in.” she explains.

“I have a feeling that point in time wasn’t great for you.” Jade says.

“It was horrible. I wasn’t free to do anything, I eventually ended up having to fight for women to even vote and humans are so petty and destructive about things. I couldn’t do nearly anything and when I got my way around the rules and outsmarted people I was still punished for it! No one was impressed at me being clever enough to have worked around to what I wanted, it was awful!” Queen Jade protests, gesturing angrily as she talks.

“That does sound awful.” Jade agrees.

“It was. I tried to come back here but I couldn’t find my way back. Eventually I ended up marrying and I had children because that’s what you did. They had children so I had grandchildren then. I told them a bit about what happened to me but by that point I knew that humans would be horrified at what the ‘evil fae’ had done to me, no one cared about what their land had done to me. Then one day I saw this place again and walked in, I came home. I made a home.” Queen Jade adds that last part with a smile and reaches over to squeeze Queen Mab’s hand.

You’re not on the edge of crying, you’re not. Honest.

“Can I ask if one of your grandsons was Jake Harley?” Jade asks slowly.

“Yes, he was. Rambunctious little thing, a little weird but…” Queen Jade shrugs.

Jade hesitates and sighs, no doubt well aware that Queen Jade is waiting for her explanation in turn.

“Jake Harley grew up to be a witch and an explorer. He was a terrible father to the two kids that he had and abandoned them all the time to go on his own adventures. He ended up falling for the Devil who started bringing him subjects to research and not all that nicely either. One of the ‘things’ he brought for Jake Harley to research was me. I don’t know where he got me from but I was always told that I was a changeling and that was never explained. He kept me on his island and studied me only to eventually abandon me there, letting me think he’d died, all so he could go and be in hell stealing other people’s bodies for his sick experiments. He had me call him Grandpa. He named me after his grandmother, you.” Jade says in one long burst like she’s literally vomited the information out. She certainly looks sick enough.

Some of your friends didn’t know every detail of that and you’re not looking around at them to see how they’re reacting or if they wonder about you knowing.

“That doesn’t explain why you look like-” Queen Mab starts.

“Bríd’s child.” Queen Jade gasps.

“No, that was… there was a fire. The babe was in there with them.” Queen Mab frowns.

“We never found anything of it. I mean, we thought if she’d been born before you could get there she’d be so small that maybe we wouldn’t have found anything but if it was unholy fire it would explain why it caught so well and if it was to cover up the child being taken then- that’d explain her looking like me.” Queen Jade insists.

“What are you- I don’t understand.” Jade frowns.

“I had a daughter with Mab, a son too but that’s neither here nor there right now. My daughter Bríd looked a lot like me and she married and got pregnant. Both her and her husband perished in a fire the day their child was to be born. I had thought it was some magical problem, something to do with me originally being human having upset the magic that ran through my daughter and grandchild. But if the Devil himself stole you for my grandson then you being Bríd’s daughter would make sense, you being biologically family to him would offer more protection with his magic and make it easier for him to contain you and harder for us to find you.” Queen Jade explains.

“We can test this. You would be my granddaughter as well as Jade’s, your magic and your blood would be like ours. Fetch us a silver bowl and knife.” Queen Mab says, snapping her fingers at a guard.

With a panicked expression one guard sprints off towards the palace building and you all have to just stand there and wait.

“So, who are the rest of you?” Queen Mab asks, looking over the rest of you.

“Oh, well, that’s Rose. Behind her is her mom, Roxy, and the guy who was on fire a moment ago is Karkat. He’s Rose’s angel because she’s a god. You seem kind of unphased by the god thing, actually.” Jade says, glancing back to Queen Mab once more.

“It’s not really a big deal. We have gods too, we just call them by royal titles and we don’t act like we have to live in a cloud on a mountain or something. It’s all very gauche where their kind is from.” Queen Mab shrugs.

“I’d argue that but I lived in Hell for most of my life and that was a big castle in a lake of lava with a whole species dedicated to serving him. AND that was a step down from the last guy in terms of pretentiousness, so, yeah. You’re right.” Sollux chips in and Queen Mab gives Jade a ‘you see?’ kind of look.

“Well, ok- wait, you’re gods?” Jade asks as the words catch up to her.

“Queens. Basically the same. I was human, but I got better!” Queen Jade says and cackles. It’s a really good cackle, actually.

“Oh, wow. Uh, oh, right. So that’s Sollux he’s Dave’s familiar, Dave is Rose’s brother so he’s a god too. That’s Kanaya, she’s our friend and she works with Karkat. That’s Terezi, she’s a dragon and also our friend. I also think she’s dating Roxy. And that’s Bec, he’s my dog!” Jade says, gesturing to the rest of you in turn.

You think that Kanaya could be far more accurately described than just a friend that you work with but given that she doesn’t want the attention of being Signless’ sister she probably approves of that introduction.

“Dear, that’s a hellhound.” Queen Mab points out.

“Is he tame?” Queen Jade asks with a gasp, looking around Jade to see Bec properly.

“He’s so tame! Bec, come!” Jade calls.

Bec had been silently travelling by Jade’s side the whole way through Winter, so much so that you’d almost forgotten about him. Now that his name has been called he perks up and trots over to Jade with his tail wagging eagerly. He sits the moment Jade tells him and his bright green tongue lolls out as he gives her a doggy grin.

“He’s lovely. He always looked after me on the island and he’s just the very best, aren’t you?” Jade grins and pets his head.

“Oh, he’s precious. I love dogs. Ohhh you’re a _good_ boy aren’t you? Yes you are, yes you _are_!” Queen Jade coos as she pets the delighted Bec whose tail is going nuts at all the attention.

“Sweetheart don’t pet the- don’t kiss the hellhound you don’t know where he’s-” Queen Mab gives up with a sigh as her wife plaster’s Bec’s furry snout in kisses all while scratching behind his ears. Queen Mab’s expression is longsuffering and you have a feeling that Queen Jade might have a history of petting and befriending creatures.

“Bec’s having a good time.” you say quietly to Rose.

“You think?” Rose asks as Bec rolls over and is treated to tummy rubs from both royal and non royal Jades.

You frown as you think for a bit. If Jade actually IS the grandchild of her namesake queen over there then that makes her the granddaughter of a God, at the very least a demigod herself if you translate the fae concept of royalty over to your plane’s terms. Rose, June and Dave are all gods, you and Sollux were made by gods, Roxy and Kanaya are both immediate family to gods. Terezi is the most normal person you know.

You turn and look at the blind dragon with seer powers that’s dating your boyfriend’s mother. She’s the most normal person you know.

You should get out more.

The guard who ran off in search of a bowl and a knife sprints back, nearly slipping on some snow as she comes to a halt. She offers up the bowl with a formal bow and holds it towards Queen Mab.

Queen Mab rises from her throne and takes the bowl and knife from the attendant guard and dismisses her with a nod. Queen Jade stops petting Bec quite so much, instead just stroking the back of his neck as she watches her wife. Queen Mab walks to the space between them and your group and sets the bowl on the ground. With a flick of her fingers the steel bowl spreads out to a wide flat shallow bowl that still is somehow quite deep. She holds one hand out over it and starts to move her hand in the air, somehow causing the water below to follow the movement.

Queen Jade stands up and ushers Jade to come with her.

“The way this will work is we all take a drop of our blood and drop it into the water. If you are of our blood your blood will react, then we’ll know for sure what happened.” Queen Jade explains.

You watch nervously as Queen Jade takes the dagger from her wife’s hand and with a flick of her wrist somehow turns it into three, one which she hands back to her wife, one she keeps, and one she passes to Jade.

“Just like this, you don’t need to say anything and the knife should only take one drop.” Queen Jade explains gently.

She turns her hand upwards and pricks the tip of her index finger with the blade, causing one perfect red bead of blood to come up. She turns her hand the other way and the blood drips from her finger into the water. Queen Mab repeats the same process and then looks to Jade.

You watch anxiously as Jade presses the silver knife to her finger, what if it’s cursed somehow and there’s nothing you can do about it? But it doesn’t seem to be. This knife only brings out one drop of blood. You hold your breath as Jade turns her hand over and the bead of blood gathers and then falls.

The moment Jade’s blood touches the water it glimmers green and an image of a woman that looks a little like Jade hovers in the air and then fades.

“Was that-” Jade starts.

“Bríd. My daughter. Your… your mother. We thought you were dead but you were stolen, oh, Jade.” Queen Mab says, her voice choked up. You think she’s speaking to her wife until she crosses the few steps to your Jade and embraces her.

“I am so wounded that you were ever away from us, that we never knew you. You must have been through more horrors than you told us about and we never knew.” Mab whispers and squeezes her tight.

Queen Jade hasn’t moved an inch, her expression is icy and her cold green eyes aren’t on Jade but rather staring off at the horizon. She draws in a deep breath and without a word turns and marches away back towards the castle.

“Sweetheart? Where are you going? What are- oh no.” Queen Mab calls after her wife but trails off.

“Did I do something wrong?” Jade asks.

“No, no, it’s not you. She’s just very angry, that’s something that’s best to avoid.” Queen Mab says with a wince.

You hear a door slam and Queen Mab grimaces slightly. Around the edge of the courtyard you see fae creeping closer as the woods around them grow steadily darker and darker. The air is filled with the sound of creaking as the trees shift and grow taller and taller, their branches grasping at the sky like angry hands.

“Dearly beloved, could you stop?” Queen Mab calls out.

Around you all the courtyard starts to split as vines push through the stones in angry lashing motions. Distantly a door slams again and you see Queen Jade marching back towards you all with a chest in her hand and an utterly livid expression on her face.

“Love…” Queen Mab starts gently.

“MY GRANDSON. My _human_ grandson! HE did this!” Queen Jade shouts and throws the chest on her throne.

“Well, the Devil-” Queen Mab starts.

“At HIS behest! To get him OUR granddaughter and kill our own child! In a FIRE! On OUR land!” Queen Jade shrieks angrily as she flings the chest open.

A biting wind howls through the air and Terezi has to lean her open mouth down closer to Sollux and even you feel the bite of this cold. She grabs something from within her wooden chest and turns to all of you. Her eyes aren’t black like Mab’s but an impossibly dark green, like holly leaves in the deepest shadow. She doesn’t look human, nor does she look like she ever was.

“You. You want to go to hell, where he is, right?” she demands, pointing at Rose.

“We do.” Rose nods.

“You want to go through Winter for that. My Winter?” Queen Jade asks again.

“We do.” Rose says once more.

“You can, on one condition only.” Queen Jade says and throws a hand upwards to the sky.

Lightning cracks in the impossibly dark sky above her, lighting everything for a moment. When you’re done blinking the afterimages from your eyes you see that Queen Jade is standing in a scorched patch of the courtyard. The vines that had pushed through are smouldering and burning, making a pattern across the stone all around her. In her hand is a doll, one that looks just like Jake. She pulls out a photo that she must have taken from the chest and rips part of it out, stuffing it into the doll’s chest. She licks her finger and seals the photograph inside, binding it with her own saliva and the blood from when she pricked her finger earlier.

“You take this, Jade. You find Jake and you stab this doll with your knife. I don’t want Death to take him, I want him HERE.” Queen Jade hisses and holds the doll out to Jade.

Jade hesitates and looks at the doll and then, you suppose, her grandmother.

“Do I have to do it right away?” Jade asks.

“How do you mean?” Queen Jade asks, a note of suspicion in her tone.

“I have questions I want to ask him myself first, there are things I need him to explain to me that I want to hear from his mouth. Or I guess the mouth of whatever poor bastard he’s taken over at the moment. Plus, we want to get Dave back and it’s possible I can make him help us. If I can do any of those I want to do that before I just send him here.” Jade reasons, because apparently this is the juncture for bargaining somehow!

“Of course you can do that, he hurt you so much.” Queen Jade says quietly and her features soften, around you the scenery becomes a little less terrifying.

“You went for so long living with him, I know what Earth can be like. What men on Earth can be like especially, I doubt they’re better now. But to think my own grandson would… I’m so sorry and to apologise for that you are always welcome here. You have family here, Jade. You and anyone under your protection have nothing to fear from us, I swear that to you. And if you agree to do this for me I will let you pass to wherever you need to go to.” Queen Jade says.

“I promise.” Jade agrees and holds out her hand.

Queen Jade places the doll there and then pulls Jade in for a hug. You think that maybe they each understand the other’s situation better than anyone else could, each kept from their true home against their will. Both losing their family and both betrayed by Jake. The queen pulls back a little and kisses Jade on the forehead and you watch as, just for a moment, Jade’s eyes change to be just like her grandmother's eyes. As you look at Jade she suddenly seems the way both of the queens do, like she’s a little too real. Realer than real. If the uncanny valley is animation that’s trying to be realism but is stuck between being more realistic than animation but less real than video of real people then this is similar but out the other side. She looks far more real than you do.

She’s as royal as her grandmothers are now. Damnit, Terezi is the most normal person you know.

Jade talks quietly with her grandmothers for a little while but eventually it becomes clear that you do need to go. Jade explains where you need to get to in Washington and while Queen Mab looks politely confused about American States Queen Jade knows exactly where you mean.

Queen Jade leads you away from the castle and through the forest once more and this time the trees move out of your way to allow Terezi to continue as a dragon. On the way some giant direwolf with ice teeth appears menacingly out of the shadows and you watch as Queen Jade introduces HER pet to her granddaughter and both of them fawn over the giant murder dog. You’re starting to think that this isn’t a fae thing but rather a Jade thing. To make matters worse Bec is just as excited to play with the other doggie and suddenly grows to about six foot tall and the pair of them sprint off through the woods chasing each other, occasionally crossing the path you’re on with excessive canine enthusiasm.

Your life has got to a level of continuous weirdness where your reaction is just starting to be throwing your hands up in the air and deciding that this might as well be what’s happening to you now.

“I’m not going back out there again but if you want to come back ever, for any length of time, you’re more than welcome. I’d really miss you if you didn’t.” Queen Jade says sweetly and hugs her granddaughter.

“I actually have family on Earth too. Remember the children I said that Jake abandoned? They’re really lovely, they let me stay with them and told me everything they could remember about their father.” Jade tells her.

“Human?” Queen Jade asks and Jade nods.

“Oh, I’d better see them sooner rather than later then. Humans really don’t live that long. Well, if the world doesn’t end you’ll have to bring them with you next time. I’d love to meet them.” Queen Jade smiles warmly, an expression that really does make her the spitting image of your Jade.

“I’ll ask. And… thank you for… for accepting me. I always felt so disconnected from what I was but I feel a little better now.” Jade says in a small voice.

You look away a little to give them some privacy for the moment they’re clearly having and instead watch as Bec turns back to his normal size and sticks his cold nose up the side of Sollux’s hoodie to make him jump.

The Queen directs you where to go and you walk out of Winter with ease, when the twisting snowy woodland fades you eventually turn a corner that wasn’t there before and see Mount Saint Helens itself, you just cut out so much of your journey. Checking your phone you see that not only are you where you think you are but you only lost about six hours instead of the potential years that you can lose in fae places.

“Are we going to have to hike up that?” Kanaya asks in the unhappy tone of someone who suspects the answer is yes.

D1D YOU FORG3T TH4T 1 C4N FLY?

“Oh. Well, if you’re offering to take us up there then that’d be great.” Kanaya smiles.

In the distance you hear someone scream about there being a ‘GIANT FUCKING DRAGON’ over where you are. Ah, yes, you’re all very subtle.

The others climb onto Terezi’s back and you and her fly up to the top of Mount Saint Helens and land somewhat near the ridge. You don’t think it’s usually an active bubbling caldera of lava but with the way the end of the world is going that’s how it is now.

Sollux jumps off of Terezi’s back and leans over the edge of the lava with a blissful sigh, everyone else seems less pleased. Well, Terezi is fine as dragons are fireproof and all, but the rest of your group isn’t looking too comfortable this close to lava. None of them are getting down from Terezi’s back.

“What now?” you ask, this all seemed a lot easier in theory.

“I need to get June here, also I left the box in the car so you should get that out.” Sollux suggests.

You try to find an area that’s not as steep, you don’t want to chase this stupid car down the mountainside as it rolls backwards. You’re pretty sure the handbrake was on but you’re not going to rely on it. With care you pull the car out and jump at the heavy way it lands as it goes from not being there to being right there.

Sollux elbows past you and leans into the front of the car and pulls out the box that June gave him. He leans against the door of the car and opens the top flap of the green box and pulls out what’s inside. It appears to be a glass sculpture filled with water inside, it’s a little stylised bunny.

“What is it?” you ask.

“Storm glass, I think. They’re little liquid storm detectors, when the air pressure changes they get filled with crystals. Kinda cool.” Sollux explains.

“Huh, okay. So… what do you do with it?” you ask.

There’s no note or instructions in the box, just some bubble wrap to protect the bunny.

“Uh, don’t know. If June told me what to do I’ve either forgotten or wasn’t listening.” Sollux admits.

“Oh good, it’s not like this is VITALLY IMPORTANT or anything! I should just call her and ask.” you groan and pull your phone out of its phone charm.

“Nah, I know how June thinks.” Sollux says casually.

You open your mouth to ask exactly what he intends to do but before you can get a word out Sollux turns and spikes the glass bunny on the floor where it immediately explodes into a million pieces.

“WHAT THE FUCK?!” you yell.

On the ground the glass does nothing.

“Huh. In my defence, why would she give me something very breakable if I wasn’t meant to throw it on the ground?” Sollux says like that’s obvious.

“Remind me to never hand you a BABY!” you snap at him.

1F YOU L4D13S 4R3 DON3 4RGU1NG… Terezi trails off and looks up at the sky.

High above you the sky is turning grey and then black and a strong wind picks up around you. You pull Sollux closer, suddenly concerned that something might be about to go down. Not six feet away from you lightning suddenly strikes the ground, the light and sound overwhelming your senses for a second or two. When you can see again you’re confronted with June standing there, faintly glowing and floating slightly.

“Oh, sweet, you made better time than I thought you would.” June beams.

“Told you.” Sollux says smugly and elbows you in the throat so you’ll let him go.

“Dad told me he left you guys at that awful fake detour, I didn’t expect you to get from there to here that fast. He said the people who were locked up are fine and they dealt with some reinforcements who showed up.” June explains.

“Fuck those guys. We ended up taking a shortcut through Winter, turns out Jade’s royalty.” Sollux explains.

“Hey! That’s awesome!” June cheers and gives Jade a thumbs up.

“Well, I’m glad you got here. We just need to work out how to get from here to Hell without killing all of us in the process. We figured the car would do it, right? Should we test that?” you ask.

“I don’t see why it wouldn’t. Why don’t you just grab some lava and drop it on the car and see?” Sollux shrugs.

Great, that’s a totally normal thing to ask someone to do. Still, you seem to be fireproof and you can fly so you should test it out. You lift off of the ground and swoop through the air and down into the volcano, you have to circle the turbulent air a few times before you’re able to psych yourself up enough to dip a hand into the lava. You’re fine, it’s fine, but all the same you’re pretty eager to get this stuff out of your hands and onto the car.

It’s not like you’ve never been near lava before, you and Sollux spent a good amount of time throwing stuff into it before but picking it up with your bare hands is something else. You fly out of the volcano with some haste and drop your handful of lava on the hood of the car, where it sits there doing nothing.

“See?” Sollux says.

Warily you reach out and poke at it but it’s not melted the metal at all. Curiously you reach into the open door of the car and rummage in the side pockets of the door to find a receipt from a drive through you hit up on the way. You toss that at the lava and it instantly goes up in flames.

“Alright, it’s still hot but it’s not affecting the car. That’s.. That’s good.” you nod.

Just to be sure you grab some more of the cooling lava and press it to the windows and the tyres but the whole car is immune.

“Okay, so we need a plan.” Sollux says.

“I say everyone but Karkat gets in the car.” June nods.

“What the fuck? Everyone else gets to drive to hell and I have to, what, fucking walk there?” you demand.

“You’re immune to fire, you’re an angel and you can fly into hell. Also we’re going to run out of road and you can pull the car if you have to.” Sollux points out.

“Wh- okay but what about Terezi and June?!” you ask sharply.

“I’m going to stay in the car keeping it cool and trying to counteract any lava if something goes wrong in there. Also Terezi’s fireproof but probably not centre of the Earth fireproof and besides we should all be as close together as possible, if she’s inside the car there’s less chance of losing her.” June explains.

“And how are we going to stop me from getting lost?” you ask her, still really not liking the idea of this one bit.

“You can summon chains. They’re basically unbreakable, you could tie yourself to the car with them.” Sollux suggests.

“I don’t know how to do that.” you tell him, that’s the first you’ve heard of it.

“What else is new? I know you can make them and I know how strong they are.” Sollux says.

Off to the side June tries to pass off a laugh as a cough and when she sees that she’s been caught she grins at you both.

“And, ah, how did you come by that information, Sollux? How do you know how strong and unbreakable these chains of Karkats are that can tie things up?” June giggles and Sollux flushes bright yellow.

“It wasn’t- I wasn’t saying that! The last time the world ended we were together-” Sollux starts all defensive.

“Oh really.” June says, waggling her eyebrows at you both.

“He used them to pull people out of danger and pin down things that were going to fall on people. It wasn’t like _that_!” Sollux responds hotly, June is still giggling and his denial is only making it worse. The thing is you believe Sollux here, but he’s a wildly suspicious innocent person.

“Okay, okay, moving past that, where are we supposed to go? I have a feeling that crashing this car directly into wherever Dave is being held is going to be a bad idea. Where would be a good place to land?” you ask.

“Driving a car full of all of us into hell is going to be a bad idea no matter what but if we’re going for stealth then you want the outside border of Hell. Mituna lives there, hopefully he’ll still be there, and the hellhounds there know me. Nothing there is ‘safe’ or a ‘good idea’ but if it was that’s the closest to it. Between Hell thawing and Bro no doubt being real pissed about things I’d expect all the demons to be running around like headless chickens trying to get things running again. Besides which no one wants to be caught doing the wrong thing.” Sollux explains.

“So we can potentially slip through unnoticed in the chaos.” June nods.

“Ehhhh, that would be the best case scenario but I’m not that optimistic.” Sollux admits.

“Wait, no, hold on. You think Mituna’s working with the Devil again? Why would he do that?” you say in surprise, you look up at Kanaya and see that she can hear your conversation and is surprised about what’s been said.

“No, he wouldn’t. But if I was Bro I’d drag all the demons back down to help fix the place and have you seen any other demons around since? Besides, Mituna was being punished, he goes right back to that. Bro isn’t gonna be like ‘oh, darn, you got out? Ok we’re all cool then’.” Sollux says, his voice pitching into a mocking tone as he impersonates Bro.

“Alright, alright. Unpopulated side of a big wall around Hell, that’s what we’re aiming for. Now I have to work out this chain thing.” you grumble and pull your sickles out, seeing if that’ll somehow help.

“Did the chains attach?” you ask as you turn them around in your hands.

“I saw you do that before, yeah.” Sollux nods.

You look at the hilt of one of your sickles but you can’t SEE anywhere that a chain might attach. Then again it’s not like these have to follow normal rules.

“Maybe throw it with the intention of being able to pull it back?” Sollux suggests.

Well, it’s not like you have a better idea. Sollux steps slightly out of the way and you pull your arm back and throw your sickle as hard as you can towards the volcano, you concentrate on being able to pull it back. At least until a loud bark startles you. A flash of green light appears over the mouth of the volcano and you see Bec just catch your sickle in his mouth and with a flash vanish once again. He appears at your feet with your sickle in his mouth and his tail wagging up a storm.

Rose is the only one who isn’t openly laughing at you and even she looks like she’s only just holding back.

“Thank you Bec.” you sigh and pat his head. Bec opens his mouth and deposits a slightly slobbery sickle in your waiting palm.

You stand and wait for the others to stop laughing, all while Bec continues to wait for you. He’s clearly very convinced that fetch is the thing that’s happening now. Eventually June manages to stop choking on her own laughter enough to look up at you and suggest something new.

“What about- what- hahaha, oh fuck. Ah, ok, seriously what about trying to just unspool chain like this?” June suggests and makes a familiar unspooling motion.

“Like a magician with infinite handkerchiefs?” you ask her flatly, causing her to giggle more.

You know what? Everything else is dumb and weird you may as well try this shit.

Closing your eyes you think of chains, you think of something to hold you to the car so that you can pull it, take your loved ones to safety so that you can save Dave and the whole world too. You think about how strong and secure it needs to be, as strong as the connection to your friends. As soon as that thought clicks in your head you feel chain links hitting your hand. Opening your eyes there’s thick golden chains dropping from one open palm to another as it unravels.

“I can’t believe Rose made everything all gold with you.” Sollux comments slightly petulantly.

“I’d rather her aesthetic than anything to do with my last god, thanks.” you tell him and Sollux makes a face like the idea of your old god is something sour that has just tainted his palette. It’s a sentiment that you can agree with for sure.

“Alright, get up here.” Sollux says and nudges you to sit on the hood of the car.

With a little work you’re able to get a chain coming out of each hand and Sollux tests their strength as much as he can in his limited state. All the while the rest of your group are getting into the car, even Bec who is disappointed at the lack of more fetch.

“Rose I need you to bolt the end of these chains to the side of the car.” Sollux tells her, stopping her from getting in the car itself.

Sollux has you stand on the end of the car hood and reels out as much chain as he needs to and quietly walks Rose through how to modify the car so that you’re attached. It’s not as if you’re stuck, you could detach yourself if you wanted to, you’re sure of that. Still, it feels weird being chained to the car.

With you secured completely you let your wings slip out and stand there waiting.

“I can see what I need to see around you with you there, but just try to pull us as much as you can.” Sollux tells you.

“Are you going to need me to lift the car to get in there? It’s pretty steep.” you ask, inclining your head to the edge of the volcano.

“Oh, nah. The car can do it.” Sollux pauses and looks at you standing on the hood of the car all angelic and waiting.

“...This is like driving a Rolls Royce, isn’t it?” he says in quiet awe.

It takes a moment for you to work out what he means.

“I’M NOT A HOOD ORNAMENT!” you screech at him but Sollux just cackles at you and gets in the car, slamming the door.

Lousy good for nothing kismesis acting like you’re a hood ornament. You’ll show him. Somehow, at some point. You don’t know what your revenge will be or when you’ll enact it but you will, he’ll see! As you grumble the car under you starts to rumble as whatever it has that pretends to be an engine makes a noise. You’re only saying that it makes a noise because you’re not convinced that it actually is what moves the car in any reasonable way.

The car starts to climb up the edge of the volcano slowly and carefully in a way that reminds you of a rollercoaster getting up to the big drop. The car crests the edge of the volcano and the sane part of your mind decides to pipe up that this could be a bad idea but it’s far too late to start listening to the sensible impulses that you get sometimes. You’ve already started down the path of utterly bonkers decisions, why stop now?

The side effect of the car going slowly up the ridge of the volcano means that it’s managed to strand itself like a see saw without any wheels touching the ground. Well, looks like it’s your show now. You lean forward against your chains so your feet are pressed to the very edge of the hood of the car, your arms are pulled back behind you with your chains and you spread your wings wide.

With a flap of your wings the car jerks after you, enough to pull you both into the air. You turn and dive, hauling the car along after you. Lava rushes up to meet you and then before you know it you’re plunged into the molten rock and all you can do is focus on where you need to be and why.

You’re going to Hell for your boyfriend.


	42. A Near Death Experience

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the break in updates there, I've been dealing with a lot so I think for my own wellbeing I'm going to push the update schedule for this back to every other week. Stay safe out there.

The journey through the lava is crushing as the pressure builds and you’re very glad that you have June inside the car equalising that out for everyone inside. You fly or perhaps swim through the lava until you feel that you can’t take it anymore. Just as you hit that point the lava gives way to sudden gravity and falling. You’d evidently put a lot of power into going through planes of reality and so Hell comes at you eye wateringly fast.

You get a flash of distant wall and beat your wings as hard as you can in that direction and then it’s just speed, crashing, dirt and pain.

Every part of your body hurts and you let yourself just sprawl groaning on the dusty floor as you try to blink the stars from your eyes. You suck a breath in, choke on the dust a little and press your palms to the ground. Something horrible in your back shifts and you hear the sound of broken glass. Maybe you’ll just… stay where you are for a moment.

So, you may have hit the ground and it makes sense that since you were hauling a car you may have had a car hit you too. A magic car. A magic car filled with multiple people. No wonder you hurt.

With an impressive stream of cursing you push yourself up onto your knees as pain lances through your back. You’re pretty sure you have a license plate inverted pressed into the skin of your lower back, like a DMV issued tramp stamp. Is there a non-derogatory way to say that? Probably, but you’ll save that for when you’re not in quite so much pain.

You straighten your wings out and stare as broken panes of feathers fall out and shatter on the floor, leaving new ones to start slowly growing in their place.

Looking around makes your neck crack in a deeply unpleasant way and you’re more than a little unnerved to see that there’s no car anywhere around. For that matter you can’t see a wall either. If the wall marks the barrier between Hell and the outside of it then what’s out there could go on for… for forever.

Your breath hitches as terror seeps into you, the idea of being stuck, of being _lost_ in infinite nothingness is horrifying in a way that leaves you breathless. You’re all alone and you don’t even know if flying out of here is possible. Even if it is, it might lead to Hell’s forces spotting you and killing you, you’re stuck. Stuck… here.

As you try to force yourself not to hyperventilate it occurs to you. You’re not alone anymore, abandoned by your maker and an uncaring god. No, you have a god. You don’t know how you pray to Rose, all you have of her is this vow you made that glows on your wrist.

You grasp your wrist with the other hand and press it to your face, using the excuse to close your eyes so you don’t have to see the terrifying infinity around you. How would you reach out to her? How could you ask her to notice you and save you? You don’t know how this works and she’s so new to it too, you can’t expect her to know how to find you. But she has to, so you try to have… faith.

Light flows through you, for a moment every vein in your body is like a fiber optic cable and in a flash you’re elsewhere, pulled through space at her command. You open your eyes to Rose standing by the car, the wall behind her and like a drowning man seeing a life raft you throw yourself at Rose and hold on tight.

“Karkat, are you okay? What- your wings look awful, doesn’t that hurt? Karkat?” Rose asks and one of her hands touches your wing. You wince as a shattered feather falls out at her touch and a new one starts to grow.

“It’s pretty rough too far beyond the wall, we lost him the first time we hit the ground so he was further out I think.” Sollux explains.

“What do you mean by ‘rough’?” Rose asks and you press your ear a little tighter to her shoulder so you can hear and feel the way her voice rumbles through her chest.

“I mean there’s a whole lot of nothing out there. It’s just endless void and it’s really easy to get lost, believe me, I tried leaving that way before.” Sollux says and you squeeze Rose a little tighter.

“Oh.” Rose says softly.

“Yeah.” Sollux says back.

You hear him move a little closer and his tails curl around your knee.

“Sorry for hitting you with the car but that was entirely not my fault this time. It doesn’t normally hurt that bad but you were pulling us pretty fast.” Sollux says and you think the way he’s touching your back is more to comfort you than to check for any car related injuries.

You’re not alone, if you open your eyes you can see the wall, you’re fine. A shudder runs through you, giving something like the sound of windchimes from your wings.

“Sorry.” you mutter and let Rose go.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, are you alright from the car hitting you?” Rose asks and lets you go.

“It hurt but I’m fine. Are you all okay?” you ask and look around.

Surprisingly, the car seems completely fine and thankfully everyone that was in it looks physically fine although a little shaken from being in a crash like that. Well, except June, she looks ready to ask if you can all go again!

“We’re fine.” Roxy answers you.

“Oh, good. That’s good.” you say slightly shakily.

“Now that we’re here it’s time to find Dave.” Rose says and reaches into her bag.

She pulls out a small chess piece, you remember this, it drew closer to Dave’s one, right? You used it to get out of Winter before until you forgot who Rose was. It starts moving slowly across her palm in the direction of the wall.

“That’s only going to show you where Dave’s stuff is, there’s no way Bro didn’t take everything from him. But it will probably show us close to where he’s being kept, it’ll be helpful. Just…” Sollux hesitates.

“Just?” June prompts.

“I say we find Mituna first since we’re already outside where he lives. He’ll have a better chance at knowing what the situation is, if Latula can get away to tell him anything she will. Also Mituna’s powerful enough to want on our side, I’m not as helpful as usual right now.” Sollux suggests.

“Mituna’s family, I want to find him.” Kanaya agrees.

“How do we find him? If Hell changes shape and size all of the time and our only clue is that he lives along the wall then we could circle it forever and not find him.” Roxy says with a frown, clearly approaching the situation like it’s an academic problem and not the very real situation that you’re in right now.

“The BEST method of transport. Hold on.” Sollux grins, he steps up onto the hood of the car and then up onto the roof.

You watch as he draws in a deep, deep, breath and then brings his fingers to his mouth and whistles incredibly loud. Sollux waits and listens, turning his head this way and that until you finally start to hear a building sound off to your right. Sollux jumps off of that side of the car and steps away from your group with an excited bounce to his step.

Since Sollux has got off of the car you follow him around that side of the vehicle, with it not blocking your view you can see just how much attention Bec is paying Sollux. His ears are pricked up high and everything about his posture is alert.

Slowly you turn to face the direction that Sollux has gone off in and you can make out the roaring, pounding, and ever building sound coming towards you. Appearing through the dust and haze of the darkness beyond the wall you see… monsters.

Some are several stories high at least but some look bigger still than that. Some have bony plates that cover their bodies, others have venomous green porcupine style quills, a few are even on fire. Most of them have more than one head and all are barking in a deep and terrifying pitch. Sollux doesn’t look wary at all, he looks like a little kid who’s just been given a mountain of presents and his glee only goes up when one giant hellhound tackles him to the floor and opens a nightmare mouth full of teeth and fire. You stare in shock as it licks Sollux from the tip of his toes to the finest points of his horns all in one swipe and what’s more is that Sollux is actually giggling in delight.

Other hellhounds are snuffling at him and shoving each other away to also try to greet him. They look so terrifying until you look past the multiple nightmare heads and see all those eagerly wagging tails.

The sound of a camera shutter makes you look around and you spot that June is quite happily taking pictures of all of this and she flashes you a grin when she sees that you’ve noticed.

Sollux finally manages to get to his feet even though the hellhounds have licked his hair into all sorts of dumb directions he looks genuinely happy and you can’t find it in yourself to tease him about it. He catches the face of one hellhound with a hand and snuggles up to it.

“These guys will take us to wherever Mituna is, they can navigate this place no problem. They bend space just like Bec does.” Sollux explains.

On the subject of Bec you see that a few of the hellhounds have taken an interest in him, sniffing at him curiously. Pleasingly Bec seems just as curious as they are and there’s no fighting or snapping at each other at all. You wonder if Bec’s parents are here too and if they’d even recognise him. After all you suppose that Bec’s situation isn’t all that different from Jade’s, he was taken off to Jake’s island too.

“Karkat, put the car away.” Sollux commands you, waving his hand vaguely at the car.

“What did your last servant die of?” you snort.

“Not doing what I said, clearly.” Sollux retorts immediately and flashes you a grin that you hate but also find irritatingly endearing.

Still, you’ll do what he said because you don’t want to leave the car here and you’re the only one that can do it. You won’t look happy about it though! You go back to the car and put it back in your chest again, even though you’re keeping your eyes on the large multi headed hellhound that’s currently sniffing Bec. Jade is carefully petting its muzzle and given what you’ve seen you shouldn’t be nervous about that but you are. So shoot you, you care about your friends. You’d rather not see them chomped by a big hellhound.

Sollux commands a few of the less spiky hellhounds to lay on their bellies so that your friends can climb onto their backs. Jade is more than eager to climb on the hellhound that’s shown an interest in her but as soon as she goes to do so Bec starts barking frantically at her.

“What? We gotta go!” Jade tells him and tries to climb on again.

Bec growls, his hackles raising and then there’s a flash of green as he barks. His body changes, just like it did when he stole the pizza before. He’s still not as big as the other hellhounds but more than big enough to ride on and with two extra heads this time.

“Bec!” Jade gasps, running her hands through his snowy white fur. She swings up onto his back in one smooth movement and Bec seems far happier about this, you guess he didn’t want Jade riding on any other hellhound. Weird territorial creature, but whatever.

You fly up and land on the back of one of the hellhounds, carefully tucking your wings away as you settle into place. You grasp two handfuls of deep red fur and hope that you can hold on without pulling on this nice hellhound’s fur.

“Okay we-” Sollux is cut off by an ear splittingly loud sound that seems to come from somewhere far above.

It sounds like metal sliding into metal, like the world’s largest padlock snapping shut, followed by bolts ramming home. The cacophony rings out everywhere for several long seconds until it finally quiets.

“What the fuck was that?” you ask in alarm.

“I’ve never heard that before.” Sollux says with clear concern.

“A sealing spell, for this whole plane.” Roxy says as she looks up.

“Sealing? As in, we're stuck in here?” you ask, that’s definitely not good.

“They’re stuck in here with us.” June whispers, making you, Jade, Rose and Sollux all groan at her.

“For real though, I don’t think you can shut a whole plane off like that. People have to come and go, this is an afterlife. You’ve got to let souls in and whatever.” June adds seriously.

“You _shouldn’t_ shut a whole afterlife plane off because of all of that. You still technically can if you’re powerful enough.” Terezi corrects her.

“Bro. Bro did it. Does he know we’re here? Is he trapping us? Shit.” Sollux mutters and glances around in clear paranoia.

“I don’t think that’s it. I just… have a feeling. But this would explain why we absolutely had to go through Winter, if we hadn’t then we wouldn’t have made it in before Hell closed.” Rose says.

So it was all meant to happen this way then? Does that make Hell closing a good thing or a bad thing? Just because something is going to happen doesn’t mean that it’s going to turn out well for you, does it?

“You don’t think it’s because he knows we’re here? If not that then why?” Sollux demands.

“Why don’t you tell us? Walk us through the possibilities.” Terezi instructs him.

“Maybe he heard we were coming here so he’s trying to lock us out but… I don’t know who would have told him if he brought everyone back here. It’s not like any god would talk to him and if Heaven had wanted to stop us I think they’d have fought us themselves rather than tipping Bro off, not that I think he’d have even trusted them.” Sollux says with a frown.

“So if not that then what?” Terezi prompts him.

“I mean… keeping people in but I don’t know who he’d-” Sollux freezes.

“Could Dave have escaped?” you ask.

“If Dave escaped to Earth and we’re stuck in here I will scream.” June warns you all.

“If he’d got out then it wouldn’t be locked but if he’s escaped from Bro but still in Hell then that’d make sense. Maybe… maybe without being connected to me it’s harder to find him? Or his time powers make him harder for Bro to track? It’s got to be to keep Dave in, which means he’s escaped. Oh shit, this is amazing!” Sollux is practically vibrating with glee but Rose seems concerned.

“How’re we going to find him if he’s escaped though?” you ask warily.

“I know Dave, I’ll find him.” Sollux says confidently.

You suppose even if Dave sold all his memories for that spell he may still have instinct and habit like you did, plus Sollux knows him as a person. He can work out where Dave would think was safer to hide. You have somewhere to start at least.

“We’re not going to get anywhere with finding him if we can’t get inside. We should find Mituna.” Kanaya says.

Yeah, Dave isn’t the only family member down here. Kanaya no doubt wants to find Mituna again as badly as the Lalondes and Sollux want to find Dave. Sollux nods in agreement and urges the hellhound that he’s sat on to go on ahead. Luckily you don’t have to worry about how to do that since they seem determined to move in a pack and where Sollux’s hellhound goes yours follows.

The unholy beast runs along fast enough but you get the distinct impression that space is warping around it, shortcutting you around the edge of the walls of Hell faster than should be possible. When the hellhounds stop it seems to be because there’s too many others in the same area for them to keep running. Sollux pushes up on his knees to get a better look over the heads of his hellhound.

“That’s Mituna’s house over there.” Sollux says, his tone uneasy.

The others get off of their hellhounds and you opt to just slow your fall with your wings. It’s funny, they’re not as inconvenient now that you know what you’re doing with them.

“What’s going on?” Kanaya asks, frowning at the pack of uneasy hellhounds ahead.

There’s so much whining and generally dissatisfied canine noises that you can’t really make anything else out above the din. Normal dogs can be loud, let alone an absurd number of hellhounds that are more than big enough for several people to ride. You could describe this place as sounding like a kennel from Hell but that seems like it would be both derivative and self-referential.

...Fuck you’re starting to sound like Rose.

“I don’t know, maybe he’s trapped?” Sollux says.

Sollux walks over to the back of the clustered group of hellhounds near Mituna’s house and has to push at a few before his commands to get out of the way are properly listened to. Needless to say you keep close to Sollux, you’re right behind Kanaya who’s practically glued to Sollux as he gets through the pack of hellhounds.

Kanaya falters and it’s only because you have your hand on her shoulderblades that you don’t run into the back of her. Peering around the nearest hellhound you see a slumped figure on the floor, it’s Mituna curled up in on himself.

“Mituna!” Kanaya cries out, trying to get past Sollux to reach him.

Roxy lunges over you, knocking into your back as she reaches to grab Kanaya by the shoulder.

“Don’t touch him. That’s a nasty curse.” Roxy says seriously.

“What kind of curse? What’s…” Kanaya looks helplessly at Roxy, clearly wanting to help but not knowing how.

“I’ll clear some space. Hey, get! Go, there!” Sollux starts ordering the Hellhounds who unhappily follow his orders.

“Let me help.” Jade offers and hops back up on Bec’s back.

Jade starts to herd the other hellhounds away from Mituna, moving this way and that around them to usher them away. Between Bec’s total confidence and Jade riding him the other hellhounds seem to listen, soon enough there’s a big open space around Mituna and his house.

“What kind of curse are we talking about here?” Rose asks her mom.

“A self torture curse.” Roxy answers grimly.

“Really? I’ve seen that curse. I guess I’ve never seen it used on a demon and when I’ve seen it the people wander around acting shit out, they’re not just stuck like that.” Sollux says. He’s not outright saying that he thinks Roxy is wrong but he’s as close to it as he can be without saying that.

“Heart magic. This was done personally.” Roxy says and carefully walks closer.

“What does that mean?” Kanaya asks, which is good because then you don’t have to.

“Magic comes in different types, each person has one. I’m doom, Karkat is blood, you’re… space like Jade is. Bro is heart. Which isn’t all love based soft friendly magic like the name implies, it’s more based on the soul. I _guess_ if he chose to do a self torturing spell on Mituna it might manifest differently to the standard version. Maybe?” Sollux still seems uncertain.

“We have to break it. Roxy, you know about this, what do we do? I know how to dispel normal curses but I’m not even sure where to start on this.” Kanaya says as she marches closer to Mituna.

You watch as Roxy tries to see the formal writing of the spell only for it to flicker and crackle out with a pinkish magical static.

“That’s definitely Bro’s work.” Sollux agrees unhappily.

“Can we help?” you ask Rose.

“I don’t know how. I don’t fully understand what this spell is doing.” Rose admits.

“If it is a self-torture spell then what it does depends on the person. For some people it’s making them believe that something awful that they fear is happening to them right now, but if I had to guess I’d say this is more of a… all your worst parts and memories being used against you kind of thing.” Sollux explains.

“That’s not going to be something I can help with. I could maybe work out a way to show someone the truth of where they really are but this is more subjective.” Rose sighs.

“You can tell someone they’re a good person all you like, if they don’t believe it then they don’t believe it. It’s not about true or false, it’s opinion.” June agrees.

“No, I won’t allow that.” Kanaya snaps and gets as close to Mituna as Roxy has, at least she has the sense not to get closer. You don’t know if this curse can transfer by touch but you’d sooner she didn’t find out.

“Mituna, listen to me, whatever you’re seeing it’s not real. We’re here. I’m here, Sollux is here.” Kanaya insists and motions for Sollux to join her. He does although he’s clearly uncomfortable about seeing Mituna like this.

Without the noise of the hellhounds so close by you can hear Mituna’s ragged breathing and see all too well just how he’s shaking. Kanaya and Sollux both try talking to him, trying to reach him through this curse so they can get some hold on it to break it. You just get the distinct feeling that it’s not going to work.

The itch to do something grows within you, you have to help. He’s suffering and he was an angel of the same god just like you were, he’s family to your friend and clearly more than just a friend to Dave and Sollux. Even if he was nobody to you it’s not like you’d be okay with watching this clear and agonising suffering then either. You’re an angel, you’re supposed to help. Even if that wasn’t the intent you were made with it’s one you’ve taken on.

Sollux’s true name floats through your mind and you wonder, just for a moment, if you could ever change whatever yours is. To make you more than the surgically removed parts of himself that Kankri didn’t like and instead decide that who you are at your core is someone who helps people. That’s what you want to be. But, hey, maybe when you changed to being Rose’s angel you could have changed your true name. Maybe that is your name now.

“I have to help.” you tell Rose.

“I’m all for it but what are you planning on doing?” Rose asks.

“I mean… are those details really important? Look, do you think you could grant me some kind of extra sight or something? If I could see what Mituna sees then maybe I’d stand a better chance. Sollux says my magic is all about connections so if I could make a connection and see what’s going on I could help.” you tell her.

“That sounds incredibly vague, but sure. Not really sure how I grant you that kind of thing, though.” Rose tells you.

“It’s usually just a matter of really wanting it and focusing in my experience.” June offers helpfully, apparently she was listening into that.

“Alright…” Rose says slowly.

She takes a deep breath and, with care and a certain sense of ceremony, places her hand on your forehead. She probably doesn’t need to do this, but there are plenty of things that are in magic not because they technically do anything but because it’s part of the ritual experience and it doesn’t feel right without those things. If Rose doesn’t act like this is some high powered and difficult lending of power then it might not work because one or both of you might feel like nothing much happened.

As it is Rose’s hand on your forehead is just warm and not much else. She shifts her other hand to your face so she’s cradling your face in her hands. You stare into her eyes as she stares back into yours and it’s only because you’re watching so keenly that you see the flare of light in her eyes.

Rose lets you go without you having to ask and on an almost autopilot you walk over to Mituna, crouch down to the floor and touch him.

The world around you snaps and reforms into something else. Mituna is still curled over on his knees on the floor shaking and quietly weeping but the world around you is completely different.

The ground is rocky and dusty under your feet and the air smells like death, that’s all you can put it as. Not that Aradia herself is anything like this but it feels like her… domain. You look around and your heart sinks, you know exactly where and when you are.

Signless is clearly in agony, he’s dying so of course he is and it’s not exactly a quick way to go. It hurts to see the nails and blood and bits of rope ensuring he stays right there. He’s in pain but he’s clearly angry too and you don’t blame him, he’s being murdered here and no one’s coming to help him. His family are no doubt being kept away and at this point they’re human, not vampires. Mituna can’t help, he’s stuck right on the floor behind you being made to watch. Worse than that Signless’s own parent, his own god, won’t do anything. You’d be fucking pissed too.

He’s just a memory and by the looks of this curse Mituna’s worst one. You turn and kneel down in front of Mituna. You reach out to touch him and his burnt out wings shudder back into existence, smelling like torched flesh and feathers.

“Mituna, it’s Karkat.” you say gently and rub his shoulder.

Mituna doesn’t really respond except to keep crying but that was what he was doing before so that’s not exactly a change.

“I know it hurts, I can’t imagine how much. I know how much falling hurts, at least. But what you had to see is… it’s unbearable, I can see that.” you tell him softly.

“But this is just a memory, you got cursed to relive it. He’s not up there anymore, he’s fine. Signless is fine. The god that made you fall and put you here and stuck him up there is dead, you outlived her.” you go on.

Mituna shifts a little to look up at you, tears and everything else running off of his face.

“You don’t work for her anymore and I don’t either, I’m not on heaven’s side. Fuck that.” you add just in case he thinks you’re still working for the people who did this to him. To demonstrate you spread your very different wings out.

“You get out of here, you remember that? Hey, no, don’t look at him. Look at me.” you cut him off as he tries to look around you to Signless who is gasping for breath behind you.

“Do you remember what you did after this?” you ask him.

“Hell.” Mituna croaks.

“Yeah, yeah you did. You got demon powers, saved Kanaya and her mom both. Kanaya’s with me, Sollux too. We’re all in Hell trying to rescue Dave. That’s all past all of this, you remember you live past this, right? This is a memory, there’s some curse making you think it’s now or something. I don’t know how it works.” you try to gloss over that last past really quickly.

“I…” Mituna hesitates and looks past you.

He reaches out with one hand and tries to move but he can’t so he leans forward as best as he can and tries to claw himself further along the ground. The gouged finger marks in the ground tell you how much that’s not worked. Signless whines, like he’s crying but too tired and too near death to manage it properly. You’re still not sure how far from dying he is and the horrifying thought occurs that if Mituna is stuck in this memory then what if you have to ride that memory out as well, what if Roxy can only break it in the place where it loops? What if you have to watch Signless die, if you have to watch Mituna watch him die.

Either Bro was just here and did this to him or… or he’s been like this since Bro got back in control of Hell again and seemingly dragged Mituna back too. How long has he been in this memory? Days? Your heart breaks for him. You’d really been trying to reason him out of this, to snap him out of this spell with logic but it’s not the point. Mituna thinks it’s real and even if he didn’t just watching this over and over even fully knowing that it’s a memory wouldn’t be any better.

“Mituna…” you whisper, your throat getting tight like you might cry. Terezi and Rose had it all wrong, it doesn’t matter whether Mituna knows this is real or not or what the truth is, it’s hell either way.

You can’t break this spell for him, you don’t know how. You can’t talk him out of it, you’re just here. You move close to him and pull him upright a little more and hug him tight. Your wings curve around you both hopefully somewhat blocking the view of Signless from him. Or actually you suppose with your wings being glass it’d make him look more like all those church windows you’ve seen, though none of them capture what this is really like.

“I’ll stay with you.” you promise Mituna and his dirt encrusted fingernails dig into your back as he holds onto you as well.

“Fuck Heaven and Hell, they both suck. No one who’d put you in this position deserves you and… and I’m not going anywhere. If you have to- to see this then you’re not alone.” you whisper promise into his shoulder.

You don’t tell him it’s okay because this is the farthest goddamn thing from that but he’s not on his own now. What was that thing? Hell is other people? Yeah, no. Dealing with this alone is Hell, but he isn’t now. If all you can offer is being here then you’re going to do that.

The sounds of Signless suffering behind you and the blatant agony of Mituna in your arms makes your eyes well up with the tears that have been threatening since you got here. He doesn’t deserve this, no one does and neither of them should have gone through this. And fuck if that doesn’t just break your secondhand heart.

Your tears run onto Mituna’s skin and at first you don’t notice anything, not until the golden light of Rose’s magic starts spreading through Mituna. His skin shimmers gold and flares bright pink in strips and lines of angelic lettering, the curse. You don’t know how you know that’s what it is but you do. Either way you recognise your native language just as much as Bro seemingly remembers how to write in it too.

Reaching out you grab the spell just like you did on yourself before. You don’t know how to dispel it or break it but your hope is that by touching the thing that Rose will somehow be able to see it or you can highlight it for Roxy. Just… something.

“Signless is fine now, he’s in charge. Kanaya and her mom are fine. Sollux isn’t dead, I brought him back.” you keep listing through things that you’re positive Mituna cares about, all while you do the closest thing to prayer you know how to do for Rose. You need her to help and you know she won’t let you down, you know that she’ll figure something out. You have faith.

Maybe the memory comes to the end of its loop and Signless dies when you’re not looking, or maybe you highlighting the curse helped the others break it sooner, but all you know is that a few minutes after you held Mituna tight everything around you both shifts back to reality.

“There, I think.” Roxy says slowly.

“Karkat, can you see me?” Rose asks, you turning to look at her probably answers that question just fine.

“Can I touch him now?” Kanaya asks and you guess that Roxy gives her some sign that she can because Kanaya throws herself at Mituna with great speed and intensity.

“What happened?” Rose asks, helping you away from Mituna and Kanaya who are having a moment as she assures him that this is in fact reality.

“It was the memory of Signless dying, probably on loop. Did I help Roxy see the spell?” you ask.

“It lit right up.” Rose nods.

“Oh, good.” you say a little weakly.

You look over at Mituna again but jump when Rose touches your face. As her fingers run over your cheek you realise that you’ve been crying here too, not just in that curse.

“Are you okay?” she asks you quietly.

“No, but I guess we can add this to the list of things your father has to pay for.” you shrug and scrub at your face to dry it.

Your throat feels tight and your sinuses, if this body you made has them, feel like garbage. Again, you’re stuck with wondering how normal your body is. All the parts that you use seem perfectly normal. You have the right number of teeth and if you were to stand naked in front of a mirror you wouldn’t say you looked divine but even your self esteem is not so low as to rule out you saying that you look human. You eat food and drink and that does what you’d expect but your internal workings are something of a mystery. Do you have sinuses or do you just breathe through a face that’s normal looking on the outside? You don’t think humans ever worry about this and unless something’s gone really wrong they never see their insides either.

“What’re you thinking about?” Rose asks.

“Uh. Dumb stuff, don’t worry about it.” you mumble awkwardly and watch as Kanaya pulls Mituna to his feet and starts explaining everything.

You leave them to it until Kanaya and Mituna have got to the point of why you’re all here and the fact that Hell just got locked down.

“Dave must have escaped, that’s why he’s trying to lock him in here, right?” Sollux says urgently.

“Escape? From _him_? If he was out here the hounds would have found him and brought him right here and I don’t even know if this place was totally outside of his awareness or not. If Dave has escaped he’s not out here.” Mituna says uneasily.

“Why else would he have locked everything down?” Sollux asks, his shoulders falling as the hope he was holding onto fades.

“I don’t know, he could be using it as some sort of fixed value in a spell. Without souls going in it’d be stable enough. Or he could have tricked a god in here and trapped them.” Mituna shrugs, his voice is shaky but if he’s anything like Sollux he probably appreciates the distraction. He’s leaning on Kanaya a little heavily but you won’t comment on it.

“Well, present company excluded obviously. It’s not like he’s trapping us here, he doesn’t even know about Rose and as for me, we’re friends. Or we were.” June amends that last part with a frown.

“You think he wouldn’t try and kill you? Like there’s any limit to what he won’t DO to people?” Mituna snaps at her, he was just tortured by _him_ after all.

June winces and looks away, not able to meet Mituna’s eyes. Or however much eye contact you can get through Mituna’s wilder than usual hair. As much as you hate Bro you do feel for June, she genuinely was friends with him once. Maybe sometimes you just want to believe you can save people. You know you feel that way and that’s been about people who aren’t your friends.

“Either he’s trapping Dave or trapping us, either way we want to find Dave and avoid him for now.” Roxy says.

“For now?” you whisper in quiet horror and you’d argue but even you can pick your battles. Besides you’ve no complaints at the concept of Bro getting his ass handed to him, you just have no idea how that’d actually happen.

“Agreed, so the problem becomes again how do we locate Dave. Sollux, if you were Dave where would you hide from my homicidal patriarch?” Rose asks.

“You can’t hide, not anywhere. Closest thing to that is out here and like Mituna said the hellhounds would be all over Dave, they adore him.” Sollux answers her.

“I have a different idea.” Jade interrupts.

Oh, thank goodness. You’d like any plan that involves rescuing Dave but doesn’t involve attempted deicide, a voice of reason would be appreciated here.

“I say we seek out my grandfather. Or grandfather/cousin/father? Anyway, if anyone will know what’s going on with the Devil and with Dave it’s him, right? So we find him and make him tell us.” Jade says.

Ok, not sensible suggestion time then. Just different crazy. Oh good.

“How do we find him, then?” June asks.

“I don’t know, he never comes out here, I’ve only heard of him from people who come out here.” Mituna shrugs.

“He goes wherever he likes. I’ve never tried to find him before, I usually try to avoid him. But… we do have a hellhound who knows him.” Sollux says slowly as he looks at Bec.

“But he’s in a different body, is a sense of smell really going to find him?” Terezi asks, raising a scaly eyebrow.

“They don’t smell your body, they smell your soul. Him body hopping doesn’t change shit.” Sollux assures her and pets Bec on the head. His, uh, middle head since he’s still bigger and sporting three heads.

“Okay, so assuming Bec can do that how do we get through Hell without anyone else seeing us?” you ask.

“I can be invisible, Jade can near enough too-” June starts.

“Jade’s so-so. I wouldn’t rely on it.” Sollux interrupts.

“I can go invisible, I imagine Mituna can but Sollux is out of magic right now, right?” you ask.

“Enough that I can’t be invisible, yeah.” he agrees grudgingly.

“The car.” Roxy says with a snap of her fingers.

“The car?” Rose repeats.

Roxy motions at you in a way that you can only interpret as her wanting you to get the car out so you do as she asks. If nothing else you want to see where she’s going with this. You step back away from the group and pull the car out, still weirded out by the feeling. Roxy pats the hood and grins at you.

“The car runs on Rose, so do you. You can go invisible and take it with you, we get in the car and we’re all invisible.” Roxy beams.

“Is there a gate for the wall though? How can we get over that?” you ask, gesturing to the giant wall that you’re next to.

Sollux walks over to you slowly, his tails slicing through the air behind him in a way that reminds you more of the body movement of a shark than a stalking cat. He comes to a stop in front of you and then reaches out and smacks your left wing with a resulting jangle of glass.

“You can fly, dipshit.” he says.

“If you do your chain thing and I grab a hold of the back of the car then you and me can totally get this car over there and down the other side without being seen. Then we just stick you and Bec on the front, Rose looks through your eyes and we drive off on our little hunt.” June says with cheery optimism.

“Could we not use this method to just find Dave right away or are we assuming that the moment we find Dave we may need to retreat very quickly? You did promise to retrieve your grandfather after all and I wouldn’t want to risk breaking a promise to a fae queen.” Kanaya shudders at that.

“It sounds like finding Jake is the best move, more information is always better and when we find him and learn what he knows Jade can send him off and we go find Dave. Right?” Rose asks.

“Something like that.” Jade says quietly.

“You’re not on your own, you have backup for dealing with him.” you assure Jade.

She gives you a slightly tense smile and opens the front passenger door and gets in, shuffling to the middle.

“Mom, could you drive while I see? If you don’t mind, Karkat.” Rose quickly looks back at you.

“If I’m giving you directions it’s better that you can see what I see. Me yelling where we’re going probably ruins the stealth aspect.” you snort.

Still, it’s nice that she’s asking. You… you appreciate that.

Sollux gets Bec to go back to his smaller size and has him hop up on the roof, Jade is telling him to show her where her grandpa is. You watch as he paces around on the roof, sniffing at the air and then finally looking off in a certain direction. You have a scent.

“Just got to remember how to do the chain thing again. Do you need me to make some for you too or…?” you ask.

“Nah, I’ll just grab the back and lift.” June says casually as she leans on the back of the car.

“Right, one bullshit thing at a time I guess.” you mutter to yourself.

It takes a few tries but you work out how to do the chain thing again and throw one end under the car so it slides out on the ground the other side. Bec barks and jumps off of the roof to grab the end of the chain and helpfully gives it back to you. Of course you tell him that he’s a very good boy and he happily jumps back onto the roof of the car.

You climb onto the hood of the car and let the chains merge into your hands, trying to ignore the very Signless-like echoes there and the very recent memories that brings back up. You hope that Mituna can’t see you at least, or Kanaya for that matter.

“The balance of this should be okay, right?” you ask, jingling the chain where it’s sat just behind the front wheels underneath the car and then up to you.

“Yeah, this whole thing is gonna be a little like a theme park ride no matter what we do but I think if you’re flying for that half and I’m doing this we’ll be ok. I can adjust to you.” June nods.

“Right, okay, now I just have to be invisible.” you say more to yourself than her.

Slipping from view isn’t hard for you now, but what you hadn’t expected is how immediately the car goes with you. Seemingly if you’re touching it then it just follows your lead. Now to all appearances Bec is floating in the air and June is leaning on nothing. Although that’s not entirely true, if you look you can see a faint outline of where the car actually is but you have to really try to see it.

Bec looks down at the car and gives it a look of canine confusion before also vanishing entirely. Not in that green flash of teleportation that he does sometimes but he just simply isn’t there anymore.

“Uh, Bec?” you call out warily.

The space where Bec was barks at you. Well, okay then. June is now the only visible one in your group.

“Hey, Karkat, look over there!” June exclaims.

Out of dumb instinct you do actually look and the moment you look back and see she’s gone you feel really dumb. But she’s a trickster god, what else did you expect?

“I hate that a trick that dumb worked on me.” you groan.

the old ones are the best!

“Whatever you have to tell yourself.” you grumble and face forward again, chains in hand.

You feel Rose’s awareness flick on behind your eyes and you blink a little as you adjust to the feeling.

“Hey Rose.” you say to yourself, just to let her know that you’re aware of the connection.

lets go, karkat. on three, one, two…

You’re ready when June says three and so you flap your wings at the same moment that an updraft of air hits the underside of the car. The car rockets up in the air but the hood of the car is still under your feet and you’re pleased to find that it’s not tipping too far forward or too far back. It probably feels terrifying from inside but at least it’s not flailing around wildly, that’s about all you can do.

The icy wall before you rises up as far as the eye can see and the ice seems worse the higher up you get. Just as you’re starting to wonder if there is a top to the wall you finally see the top. A moment later you’re over it and with a flick of your wings and a favourable breeze you pull the car over the top and gently drift down to the ground on the other side.

This wall seemed so insurmountable but you’ve got past it, like everything so far. Bringing Sollux back from the dead seemed impossible but you did it, bit by bit. You’ll get Dave back just the same, by facing each problem that’s in front of you and chipping away at the thing. It’s not as if you’re doing it alone either, you’re _going_ to get Dave back together.

A creaking sound fills the air and you look up onto to see an iceberg sized hunk of ice falling towards you and the car below you. June thankfully has quicker reactions than you do and a tornado strength wind hits the car from behind, throwing you bodily against the windshield of the car. You’re pretty sure your wings scratch the paint and there’s some alarmed claw scrabbling from the roof but only a little so you think that Bec is still there.

The huge mass of ice hurtles down past you and smashes on the ground below. You scrabble to your feet and do your part in stabilizing the car as it drifts down and only when you touch down do you realise just how screwed you might be.

Standing by the iceberg are two demons, looking it over with displeased expressions.

“Can’t it just… melt by itself?” the smaller one groans and pokes at it with an actual pitchfork, the movement making her multiple bunches of hair wave in the air. She looks like she has dead bug legs for hair or something.

“No, it’s our job to get rid of the ice.” a taller demon woman with slitted goggles says with a sigh.

“But it already fell down.” the smaller demon whines.

“You’re here because you pissed off Redglare, do you want her to find out that you’ve been letting Hell stay frozen? Do the work.” the taller demon says firmly and starts melting the ice with something that looks like a mop, if a mop was made of white hot fire.

You chance a glance back over the faint outline of the car and see the back move slightly and a handprint appear on the faint trace of the back window. June is still there and has climbed on, now what about Bec?

“Bec?” you whisper and gasp when a wet nose presses into your side. In your shock you drop your chains, somehow detaching them from your hands as you do so. The sound of them bouncing off of the metal of the car makes you wince.

“What was that?!” the shorter demon gasps and turns around to face you.

“The sound of someone trying to avoid work?” the taller demon says sarcastically.

“No! I heard something! We should go investigate.” the smaller demon insists.

With a sigh the taller one lowers her fire mop and leans on the end of it as she looks at the smaller demon.

“Look, I think whatever that was isn’t going to be anything. It could be the hounds on the other side of the wall, or a punishment in the distance-” she starts.

“It could be DAVE. If I find the heir and present him to the Devil himself I’ll be a hero! I’ll be revered again!” the smaller one insists.

The taller demon pulls her goggles up and rests them on her forehead just so she can pinch the bridge of her nose and sighs.

“Fine, let’s say it is him. Let’s say you find him and SOMEHOW manage to overpower him and drag him to the tower. Let’s assume that on your way there no one bigger and stronger than you takes him from you so THEY can claim that they caught him instead, let’s say you get there. He might not shower you with riches, he might kill you or give you to the Xenobiologist so that he can say that he found Dave himself or that Dave saw sense and came home. You don’t know. That’s a lot of ‘ifs’ Tirona. Also, you heard a weird noise somewhere out of sight that makes you want to go check it out. It could be _Cal_.” the taller demon says flatly and the smaller one visibly recoils at Cal’s name.

“So we should just… what? Ignore anything we see or hear out here?” Tirona asks warily.

“Now you got it. The subtle art of minding your own damn business.” the taller demon says, snapping her fingers and then sliding her goggles back on.

You look warily at the two demons and after a second or two the car relatively quietly rumbles to life. Both demons look over but neither does anything. Holy shit that was lucky.

You sit down on the hood of the car, folding your wings away for now. You can feel Bec at your side as the car drives along slowly and you put your hand on his head so you can feel what direction he’s looking in.

“You need to find Grandpa, Jade’s Grandpa, okay?” you whisper to him.

There’s a snuffling and then Bec’s head turns, moving your hand the same way. You look in that direction and slowly the car turns until you’re looking straight ahead and so you start driving through Hell.

There are bone hewn signs with skeletal arms pointing each and every which way, with demonic signs hanging from the arm bones. They shift a little as Hell rearranges itself but they’re no help to you. Not only can you not read it properly just yet but you also don’t know the location that you’re heading to. All you have to do is follow Bec.

It seems that Hell isn’t properly up and running yet, or at least not at the capacity it perhaps usually does. You see a lot of places where you assume people are usually tortured but nothing’s happening right now. A whole pit with eyeballs on stalks is half frozen and the other half is just empty. One of the eyeballs even seems to be levitating a phone before it in boredom.

As Bec steers you this way and that you find that you’re not always so lucky. Muffled screaming catches your ears and you see a demon calmly shovelling dirt into a half filled grave, from within you hear banging like fists on wood. You shudder and force yourself not to intervene, you need to save Dave and fix all of this. It’s just not possible to save every single person living and dead. You can’t.

A few times you have to stop as demons walk by either on their way to somewhere else or just clearing up the ice like the others you saw. Most frequently though you pass large demons who are clearly patrolling and looking for someone, you don’t have to be a genius to work out that they’re looking for Dave. Every time you see groups like this you just have to stop and wait for them to pass, holding your breath for fear of making any noise at all.

It’s slow going but you follow Bec’s trail and eventually you don’t need him to tell you where you’re going. In a desolate area of hell the land breaks off into a lake of bubbling lava, in the centre of which is an island. A very familiar looking island.

There’s no other demons around that you can see, this place doesn’t appear to be close to any of the torture areas or any demonic establishments where demons seem to work or socialise. This in the middle of nowhere.

“June?” you say just above a whisper.

same again

You stand and spool chain out from one hand. Bec barks and you feel him grab the end of the chain, it spools out and when you look down you see doggy clawmarks appear in the dusty red ground below you as Bec scrabbles under the car and out the other side. The car bounces a little as he jumps back up and passes the end of the chain to you.

“You’re the best dog.” you tell him sincerely and get your hand licked as thanks.

“Ready.” you say to June.

She counts you down just like last time and the two of you carefully fly the car over the lava and onto the black volcanic beach on the other side. The car’s wheels crunch on the sand on the other side and before you can sit down again you hear one of the doors open and Rose stumbles out, immediately followed by a sharp and very fae looking Jade. Her expression is tight and angry as she looks up at the replica of her island and at the tower just visible at the top.

She’s never looked more like her grandmother than she does in this moment.

“Sollux says demons don’t go near him if they can help it. No one else will be here.” Jade says coldly.

You relax the invisibility on you and the car as everyone else gets out and Bec and June follow you back into visibility. Bec points towards the replica of Jade’s house in the way that you’ve seen hunting dogs do in movies, it looks like Jake is home.

“I’m going to go up there and find him.” Jade says, her words tight as if she’s only just restraining herself.

As you look at Jade you see that the ground around her feet is starting to freeze and the black waves of her hair are slowly taking on a slightly glittering appearance like a soft frost has just settled over her.

“I always thought you were Summer aligned because of how you are but…” you say and falter at how to finish that.

“So did I. I try to be happy and I like people but… I guess there’s a lot about myself that I was kept from knowing, huh?” Jade laughs bitterly and without humour.

“Jade? You know we love you right, you’re our friend. We’re absolutely going to help you track him down and everything he did to you was so wrong but- we’re here for you, you know?” you say uneasily.

You rest your hand on her shoulder and Jade turns to look at you. She smiles in a bittersweet kind of way, like she appreciates you but it can’t be denied that the situation sucks. All the same she’s your friend and you care about her. Jade’s smile is genuine though and it makes you remember that Winter isn’t evil or bad. Winter can be cosy, it can be family together in the dark, playing in the snow and that clear, crisp weather that makes everything glitter. You shouldn’t be surprised that Jade is from Winter, you’re just happy that she’s found her family.

Now you just have to go and track down another branch of her family tree and perhaps beat him to a pulp with it.

“I know we absolutely have to do this but this sucks and I hate it.” Sollux says miserably as he climbs out of the car.

“Don’t you want to see someone who hurt you suffer?” Terezi asks with a sharp smile.

“No.” Sollux answers at the same time as Jade says “Yes.”

Sollux looks over at Jade and shrugs.

“I get the vengeance thing, I’m all for it. Not really into being anywhere near the guy, but we have to so let’s go. I’m pretty sure that Bec is saying he’s in the house.” Sollux explains.

“He’s probably in the rooms that I was kept out of, so that’s where we’ll go. Come on.” Jade says and starts walking.

You look at Rose and feel her vision through your eyes fade. You put the car away so no one on the other side can see it and know you’re there and then the pair of you follow after Jade. The whole group sticks close to her as she treks through the simulacrum of her own island. As you walk you realise that it’s subtly not right in the same way that you felt when you were entering Winter and things were off bit by bit. The trees are unfamiliar, the grass is the wrong shade, the flowers seem alien and everything is ever so slightly wrong.

Now and then you pass trees or plants that have little plaques posted in the ground by them or hammered into the wood itself, like this is some preserved park or something. The unsettling feeling of the island only grows when you see taxidermied mythological wildlife preserved in place, little folklore animals frozen in faux frolicking with glassy eyes.

The house looms over you as you draw closer, its tower arching up into what passes for the sky in Hell and the orblike structures at the top remind you far too much of the eyestalks you saw before, you can’t help but feel watched.

Jade stops outside the doorway and waits as Sollux, Roxy and Terezi all squint at the building searching for magic. To your side June draws in a breath and lets it out as a long breeze that tugs at your hair and whistles through the open doorway.

“We’re free to enter, there’s nothing there.” June says quietly.

“Makes sense, why lock the door? It’s such a nice neighbourhood.” Terezi smirks.

Jade steps through the door and you follow right behind her. As you do there’s the feeling of familiarity and unfamiliarity all at once. Where you think the place is an exact replica until details jump out at you and then more and more. Just like the first room in Jade’s house this one is dark and crowded, both with beat up old leather furniture and art but also taxidermy.

Over on one wall there’s a creepy bear with wings, is it unsettling? Yes. Would it fit in with Jade’s house before? Also yes. So you try to not look at it, avoid eye contact with creepy taxidermy. That works until-

Oh God, that’s a person.

You stare in frozen horror at a plinth by one wall. There is a tube, about seven feet high that appears to be filled with resin and suspended in it is the preserved form of a merman. You can see subtle lines where either an autopsy or perhaps some preservation process took place and all you can do is stare in horror. Merpeople are sentient people, there’s a mermaid grad student that you’ve fetched books for when the elevator was down for an hour. They’re _people_.

Over there a stuffed centaur form, there’s a faun, there’s a selkie half transformed with the seal skin displayed off to the side. When Sollux sees that one he jumps and backs away.

“That- that was what he looked like when-” Sollux cuts himself off and shudders.

“Are these his former bodies?” Kanaya asks in horror as she eyes what remains of a vampire.

“Makes sense. Come-” Jade freezes when you hear a dull thump across the room.

All of you stay stock still aside from the quiet drawing of weapons and readying of spells. Roxy pushes ahead into the lead with Jade right at her heels. At the risk of being separated you all follow along with your nerves jangling. The dark room has a corner cutout to it, if you remember right in Jade’s house it has the water heater in there because you were looking for a bathroom once and opened the wrong door. Who knows what it has in it now, but either way around that corner there’s another case.

This one is also round but within it at the top is a wide ring and running down from that are taut lines that follow the circular edge of the case and connect to another circular ring on the base. The lines that run between the two are glittering and as you look you see that it’s droplets of water running down them, water that to your eyes looks somehow… special.

Trapped within this contraption is a demon curled into an upright fetal position. This demon’s horns are in a set of four like Sollux’s only these ones are curvier, bending this way and that and forking at the end of the larger set.

“Cirava!” Sollux hisses, rushing forward.

Hearing their name Cirava looks up, with one eye at least. The other is scrunched shut and from the gold blood on their cheek you’re pretty sure they’re hurt.

“Sollux?” Cirava whispers back, voice barely audible with the glass in the way.

“We have to get them out.” Sollux insists, looking back at you.

“That’s holy water, I can make it not holy. I just need to get through the glass quietly.” Kanaya whispers.

“Oh! I can do that.” you gasp and grab the same diamond that you used with Aradia.

Trying to be as quiet as possible you hurry over to the glass and with a guess at Cirava’s size you start to score a decently sized circle. It’s hard to do on a curved surface but you do your best, sometimes having to go over areas with more pressure. It’s only when you get to the end that you realise you can’t push this in or you’re going to splash Cirava with holy water.

Before you can ask for help the glass suddenly flies back and you twist to see Roxy catch it.

“Yoink.” she whispers with a grin.

Well, that’s that problem solved.

Kanaya moves forward and leans in to touch the water that runs down the wires, muttering and whispering an incantation and then without any ceremony she tears through the wires with her bare hand. You forget sometimes about that vampire strength thing. Cirava flinches when they’re splashed with water but seeing as nothing happens they relax and you and Kanaya reach in to help them out as quietly as you can.

“Cirava what happened? We heard you on the radio but-” Sollux begins quietly.

“What happened to me? What happened to you? You were supposed to be dead, I heard your music stop.” Cirava hisses at him.

“Oh. Well, yeah, I was dead for a bit. It didn’t agree with me so, you know, needy kismesis and all.” Sollux shrugs.

“You’re _welcome_, asshat.” you growl at him

“So what happened to you?” Sollux presses.

“Bro’s loyalists grabbed me to stop me helping you. When he came back I was fucked, everyone who didn’t have a good enough defence got screwed over.” Cirava answers, careful to keep their voice down.

“Can confirm.” Mituna agrees quietly, speaking for the first time in a long while.

“Unholy shit, it’s you. Well, anyway, he gave me to the Xenobiologist to study. He… he made me cut my eye out. To see if it was what physically gave me my ability to do seer shit with music.” Cirava shudders and covers their eye.

Kanaya hisses and digs around in her bag until she pulls out a long silk scarf, it’s black with pink triangles on it and without a word she leans over and gently bandages Cirava’s face with the scarf.

“I- thanks. I’m not giving you anything for it if that’s what you were after.” Cirava says suspiciously.

“I just want to help.” Kanaya insists and Cirava relaxes a little.

“Hey, we’re looking for Dave after we deal with the Xenobiologist. Do you know where he is?” Sollux asks.

“Man, I’ve been stuck in there since this place got going again. I haven’t heard shit since I got shoved in there and when I was out I was cutting out my own eye and kind of distracted.” Cirava answers a little waspishly.

“I get that, but can you see now? And what about Cal? I don’t like the idea that he could be… anywhere.” Sollux mutters and looks around at that last part as if he might be in this very room.

Cirava’s expression goes a little unfocused and then they frown.

“That’s… I can’t hear either of them.” they say.

“What does that mean?” you ask.

“For Dave I’d say it means he’s in a different time, that he doesn’t exist in the universe at this moment. He’s somewhen else. But with Cal… I don’t know. Can you hear anyone else?” Sollux asks.

“Like Latula?” Mituna suggests.

Cirava’s expression goes a little hazy again and you just catch them faintly humming what you think is ‘I fought the law and the law won’ but you could be mistaken.

“I can hear her. Her maker’s talking to her right now. Still can’t hear Cal and Dave.” Cirava says.

“That’s… I don’t know what that means but I don’t like it.” Sollux says.

Cirava shrugs, you figure there’s not much they can do about it.

Jade moves behind you and your leg gets slapped twice by Bec’s tail as he follows her. Turning to look you see her walking towards the stairs without saying anything or looking back at any of you. You hurry after her with a whispered ‘oh shit’ and the others catch up as well.

You all ascend the spiral staircase in silence as Jade and Bec lead the way, as you finally reach the floor where Jake’s office was before Jade pauses and looks back at you. She holds a finger to her lips and looks meaningfully at you all, you get the message, whatever happens she wants you to stay silent.

She starts walking and you follow a little behind her, not sure if you were meant to stay put too but if you were she doesn’t stop you. You only stop when Jade does and quietly tells Bec to stay, you figure if that’s as close as she wants Bec then she likely doesn’t want you to follow any more either. The door to this room is ajar and Jade pushes it open and walks inside.

You get a glimpse of the form the man inside is currently wearing. He’s small, about four foot tall at most, he seems old but in the same way that trees can seem old and still sturdy. He’s wearing solid iron boots with rivets all over them and his eyes are black and sharp, you’re thinking goblin-adjacent until you see the hat and then you know just what Jake is wearing. He’s inhabiting the body of a redcap. The redcaps are so named because they soak their caps in the blood of those that they kill and this one is an exceptionally dark and rotten shade of red.

Jake turns around in his chair and looks at Jade with an expression of surprise and when he speaks you’re startled to hear that his voice is exactly the same as you remember from your dream recalled memory of him.

“Jade! You’re in Hell, how… well, I suppose you being fae would make you unholy enough to warrant the assignment but this is fascinating. It implies that socialising a fae in a civilised culture leads to an appropriate- oh where’s my notebook?” Jake trails off and you hear papers shuffling.

“Anecdotal evidence isn’t even-” Roxy hisses behind you and someone elbows her into silence.

Jade says something too quiet for you to hear, her voice meek and far more timid than you want to hear. Shit, you can’t blame her. Coming face to face with someone who hurt you so much and wronged you so badly can be frightening and falling back into old roles is entirely understandable.

“Hm? I didn’t catch that.” Jake says as he turns around with his notebook in hand.

Jade mumbles something again but once more it’s inaudible.

“Oh, and you brought other people.” Jake gasps, seeing you around the edge of the doorway.

Jade steps in his way and for a third time says something too quiet to hear.

“You really should speak up, I’m sorry-” Jake starts and your eyes widen.

“Yeah, you SHOULD be. But I’m glad you admit that you are sorry.” Jade says, her voice more than audible now.

Rule one for dealing with the fae, never admit that you’re sorry. It’s an admission that you wronged them and now you’re in their debt. Oh Jake, you really should have known better.

“You _owe_ me, after everything you did to me you OWE me and I intend to collect _grandpa_.” Jade hisses at him.

“No, no, that wasn’t what I meant and you know it.” Jake says hastily, backing up.

“_N̷͖̞̼͔̩̩̦͙̹͍͚̺̆̈́̆͛̊̇̂̕ͅO̴̧̝̭̥͍̼̺͇̙͙̳̰̰̞͇͗̋͂͐̔̂͒̿͛̆̈́̓̂͌̔̆͑̕͜͝͝͠͝._”

You wince at fae magic audibly snapping shut around Jake, it’s powerful but very base magic and it makes your skin feel the wrong size for a moment.

“You got the Devil to take me from my family, to murder my parents. You kept me on an island, lied to me, experimented on me and then abandoned me. You wronged me and now you’re going to start to pay me back for what you did, to give me what you owe me. You’re not going to call for help to anyone, you’re not going to let anyone know about us being here and you are going to help us with everything I tell you to until I decide that we’re square. Understand?” Jade hisses and ice starts to creep over the floors and up the walls of Jake’s office.

“I always knew you were dangerous.” Jake says darkly.

“Yeah, I AM. But you know what? I’m not the only Jade who wants something from you.” Jade growls and the hallway and the office start to become darker, as if the sun outside has set. The shadows around you grow longer and the air you breathe out starts to mist before your face.

Jade reaches a hand into her bag and pulls out the doll her grandmother gave her.

“What’s that? A- a poppet or something? Anything you made from my body won’t work on me, Jade. I thought I taught you that much.” Jake scoffs at her.

“No, but something made for your soul by a fae Queen, by your grandmother, _my_ grandmother… that’ll do. She didn’t die, she went home. When I’m done with you that’s where you’ll be going and I know you’re going to want me to tell her that you were at least helpful before I sent you her way. Or maybe you won’t be, I wonder what happens to you if I…” Jade trails off and then clenches her hand with the doll in it.

Jake chokes, scrabbling at his chest and struggles to breathe. At once Jade releases her grip and looks down at Jake.

“Where is Dave?” she asks him.

“He’s missing. I- I don’t know where he is.” Jake coughs.

“We already knew that, not good enough.” Jade replies immediately.

“He killed Cal. My dear heart was obviously upset and killed Dave right back, only temporarily of course and he got up and walked off the roof some time later and no one has seen him since. We don’t know where he is and his father was pitching such a fit that I figured I’d stay well out of it.” Jake goes on.

“Killed Cal? Nothing can kill Cal. Disassemble him maybe.” Sollux says and comes close enough to look around your shoulder at Jake.

“Oh, if it isn’t you. Well he’s quite dead, he got hold of that pesky sword and did it though I don’t know how.” Jake adds with a bit of a sneer at Sollux as he speaks.

“The sword? Caledfwlch? How would Dave have- oh no. Ah.” Sollux winces.

“Gonna share with the rest of the class?” you ask him.

“When we first got to Earth I had that sword, I stole it from the vault after this asshole went in there for something. I snuck in after him and swiped it. Only three people have the code to get in, Bro, Cal and this evil son of a bitch. Then one time when Dave was off elsewhere another slightly older Dave showed up unarmed, upset and confused. We talked and I gave him a regular sword and Caledfwlch, then he went off. Me and Dave don’t talk about time loops, it gets weird if we do. I never mentioned it but he also never showed it to me after that or asked about it. It must have been Dave recently from our linear point of view.” Sollux explains.

“That sword has serious side effects.” Roxy says gravely.

“What happened when Dave used it?” Jade asks, or rather demands from Jake.

“He died, or a version of him did. Merged with some demon, made a time travelling sphinx. It was all a little unclear and not the main focus of the encounter.” Jake answers, wincing as he does so.

“Time travel is such bullshit.” June groans.

Well, she’s not wrong.

“Maybe Dave dying is why you can’t hear him. If a version of him died maybe he’s on a different frequency or whatever.” June suggests to Cirava.

“I can hear these two just fine and he died and he switched gods pretty obviously so, no. Cal being dead explains why I can’t hear him.” Cirava answers, waving a hand at you two.

“What’re you saying?” Sollux demands, turning around to look at Cirava.

The implication that Dave might be dead seems pretty clear to you.

“Could he not be somewhere that you can’t reach him?” Rose asks.

“That’s never happened to me.” Cirava says bluntly.

“Wait!” you blurt out, making everyone look at you.

“What if this is going to take more seer power than any of you have alone? Is there some way to combine all of your abilities?” you ask.

“You… could. We could set up a circle and have the seers as the power called upon.” Roxy says slowly.

“That wouldn’t work, the seers would just clash.” Jake interrupts, standing up from where he’d been on the floor.

“Not if we had a person there to focus the power who was aligned to one of them, which we do.” Roxy corrects him a little sharply.

Oh, wait. She means you.

“I’ve had some luck with tarot in the past, which I guess I was channeling from my previous god’s supply of… magic or something?” you guess.

“Are you all cool with this?” Roxy asks as she pulls out and uncaps a pink chalk pen.

“Normally I’d say nah but I’m curious about this, so yeah.” Cirava shrugs.

“Three heads are better than one, right Bec?” Terezi asks and Bec barks, his tail wagging happily.

Rose just nods. Roxy directs you where to stand and checks that you’ve still got your tarot deck on hand and has you leave the rest of your stuff outside, the less chance of magical items interfering the better.

“Take your phone, or something with speakers. My stuff’s audio so you want that option.” Cirava tells you and so Rose hands you your phone back.

You sit down on the floor and watch as she draws a circle around you and then with smaller circles encapsulates each of the seers. Cirava reads their text very closely but in the end seems satisfied, Rose and Terezi have no such concerns.

As you wait you shuffle your cards just as something to do with your hands. It’s either that or nervously fiddle with your phone and the cards at least look productive. You don’t bother checking that they’re all there, you’ve learnt that what cards are in your deck and how many of them is entirely up to what you’re trying to read for.

Jake watches with academic interest as Roxy works, as if he’s still her academic supervisor or something. Roxy is clearly more than competent without him so you just pay attention to what she’s doing and attempt to clear your head. You need your mind clear if you’re to be the focus for all this seer power.

Well, now you’re just more nervous than you were before. You shuffle the cards uneasily and wait for Roxy to finish up her writing. She reads over everything, as do Sollux and Cirava but everything seems to be in order. Roxy kneels down at the edge of the circle and looks at you expectantly.

“I’m ready.” you tell her and take a steadying breath.

Roxy presses her fingers to the circle and it flares up in pink light, illuminating around each of the seers in turn. Your skin tingles and your senses feel strange, your vision is something reminiscent of watching a 3D movie without the glasses on and everything you can hear seems a little distorted. You must be hearing and seeing too much.

You should get started. You shuffle the deck real quick one last time and take a grounding breath, you stop shuffling and turn the top card over.

The Knight of Wands inverted.

You frown as you try to remember, anger and impulsiveness, right?

To your side your phone crackles and a song starts to play, an aggressive beat starts to pulse out of it and through your veins all while the air shudders and shows you frozen images. That nightmare puppet, a white sword, and then Dave’s hand holding that sword attacking the puppet.

_I am not a pattern to be followed_  
_The pill that I'm on is a tough one to swallow_  
_I'm not a criminal, not a role model_  
_Not a born leader, I'm a tough act to follow_  
_I am not the fortune and the fame_  
_Nor the same person telling you to forfeit the game_  
_I came in the ring like a dog on a chain_  
_And I found out the underbelly's sicker th_an it seems  
And it seems ugly, but it can get worse

So Dave did attack and kill Cal, just like Jake said.

Hesitantly you turn the next card over and immediately the music from your phone becomes instrumental and sorrowful. The card is the Wheel of Fortune, that’s inevitable fate.

_I must have been unconscious for a while_   
_I didn't realize that I nearly died_   
_That I nearly died_   
_So I came to terms that everything was changed_

You see Dave’s body on the floor, a sphinx. He avoided death, or permanent death. You get the feeling that you’re seeing things AS Dave, so if this is from his viewpoint then there was another him. Right?

Your fingers run over the back of the next card in the deck as an uneasy feeling builds in your gut. As you turn it and before you’ve even set it on the ground the music cuts off entirely. All you can hear is the papery flick of the card as you place it on the ground. Death, because of course it is.

It takes a second for an image to appear in the air but it’s a statue, a woman, but not one you recognise.

“I told you I couldn’t hear him.” Cirava says.

“I know that statue. I’ve seen it before, in the vault where I got the sword.” Sollux says slowly as he presumably tries to place where he’s seen it.

“Is that true?” Jade asks her grandfather.

“It- oh, I suppose yes. It looks like it is most probably Pygmalion’s statue which is in the vault.” Jake says grudgingly, clearly he wouldn’t have said anything if Jade wasn’t compelling him to.

“Ew, gross. I hope Dave isn’t touching that thing.” June grimaces.

“Wasn’t Pygmalion the guy who made a statue and fell in love with- oh.” you falter.

“Yeah. I don’t wanna think about what that statue’s been in contact with.” June says.

Oh, oh boy. Yeah, best not to think on that.

“It’s a smart place to hide, if you said that our homicidal father and Jake here are the only living people who know the code to get in then he’d have no reason to think Dave would be there. He wouldn’t check it, right?” Rose asks.

“Right.” Sollux nods.

“So how did he get in?” you ask.

“Time travel I guess? Snuck in after someone else like I did.” Sollux shrugs.

Roxy pulls a drink out of her bag and pours it over the chalk line around you, breaking the circle and allowing you all to move safely.

“So _you’re_ going to help us get there and _you’re_ going to get us in.” Jade tells her grandfather in a tone that very much communicates that this isn’t negotiable but rather part of his debt to her.

“Bro will be very angry if he finds out.” Jake says sullenly.

“That sounds like a ‘you’ problem. Best he doesn’t find out then, huh?” Terezi says with a grin so wide and sharp that little sparks of fire skitter out from between her teeth.

“So, car again then? We need to get it over the lava so we’ll have to fly it but if we know where we’re going we don’t need Bec outside. You could probably even-” you start saying to June but she shakes her head.

“I’m not leaving you on the outside of the car on your own. I’ve got your back.” June insists and you definitely do not get teary eyed about your friend caring about you.

“I… hm.” Sollux mutters and you look around at him.

“What?” you ask, blinking away the uh… tears that aren’t building in your eyes.

“Nothing, just a future plan to make you watch a romance movie in your true form to see what happens with all the eyes.” Sollux says casually.

That’s… that’s probably going to be a thing that ends up happening but to your ears it still sounds like a date so you’ll take it. Even if he is kind of mocking you, the idea of some future where things are normal enough that you can go on a date and not be breaking into Hell is really nice to think about.

You all go back outside and get the car out. Jake obviously is going with and Cirava is a conspicuously wanted person so they can’t be wandering around and unsurprisingly they don’t want to spend time in Jake’s creepy nightmare home alone. What is surprising is how the car elongates inside without bothering to change the outside at all. That kind of spatial distortion makes you feel a little messed up in ways that are probably Kankri’s fault so you’re not complaining about being outside making the whole thing invisible all over again.

You and June fly the car over the lava and then settle onto the roof together and wait as the car drives along. She leans her chin on your shoulder and the pair of you stay quiet for fear of attracting any attention. Just because you can’t always see demons doesn’t mean that they’re not there.

Given that you’re driving a car around through Hell the route you take feels a little circuitous. Like, you can see densely populated areas but seeing as it’s an invisible car you can’t just drive through people. Or you suppose you could run people down but it somewhat defeats the stealth purpose.

For a moment your mind jumps to Grand Theft Auto, a game series you’ve never actually played but did once witness Dave breaking. You have vague memories of him explaining that he had to get a high wanted rating to get a tank, steal it and then break the game’s physics to make it fly by shooting the ground. It’s not like Hell runs on the same system but mowing down demonic pedestrians would definitely get that star rating up and have people looking for you.

You drive past demons arguing about how much to thaw an area given that it’s meant to be icy rain in a freezing slush pit and currently it’s just snowing in a nice festive way. In the distance a few demons are throwing large blankets over a giant worm monster. At another part you pass several demons arguing near a giant pool of blood that actually has a few humans standing somewhat uneasily in it.

“It’s meant to be BOILING! They’re just- look at them!” one demon shouts.

“I could just set them on fire again?” another says a little awkwardly, making the humans look quite alarmed.

“No, no. It’s the PRINCIPLE of the matter! This should be fixed by now!” the first demon shouts.

“Look, it’s on the list. You dragging me down here to look at your lukewarm lake of blood just takes me away from the things I’m meant to be fixing and just makes this take longer.” a demon with a clipboard groans.

You drive past slowly and quietly as the angry demon starts going on about falling standards these days and behind him one of the humans tries to quietly edge out of the definitely not boiling pool of blood. You guess hell freezing over still messes things up for a while.

Some demons seem to have taken the disturbance in stride as you pass a group of humans tied up as several demons perform deliberately bad theatre to them and repeatedly demand audience participation and keep forgetting their lines. Off to the side wherever these humans are meant to be tortured is still clearly frozen over but you guess the demons are making do as best they can. You kind of regret being on the outside now, you wonder what Sollux thinks of all of this.

After a while the areas clearly designated for torture peter out and you’re left driving through a barren wasteland. The place feels hollow and dead and dust blows across the floor. Perhaps usually this place is hotter but now it just feels… wrong.

Unease grows in you again now that you’re without distraction. The card was Death. You know that can mean a lot of things, some of them good, but it didn’t _feel_ good to you. There’s nothing you can do though, only ride on this car to this secret vault and wait.

Eventually a multi sided structure comes into sight, it reminds you more of government buildings like the pentagon than it does any demonic design. Once you get close the car stops and just behind you the sunroof opens.

“Hey, we have a plan. June, come here.” Terezi hisses.

You hear June shift next to you on the roof of the car and then Terezi’s hand and forearm stick out of the sunroof, fully visible. She grabs something and yanks, making June yelp.

“Ow! That hurt!” June hisses at her.

“Suck it up. Karkat, we need one of your glass feather things too. But we need to be pretty specific about it so lean back over the sunroof and then take your wings out inside the car.” Terezi whispers to you.

You consider the size of your wings and the inside of the car.

“That seems… like a bad idea. Space wise.” you say delicately.

“Just get down here!” Terezi says sharply and instead of giving you time to do what she says she just reaches up and grabs the back of your sweater to pull you down onto the roof of the car and the open sunroof with a thump.

“Terezi, you really didn’t need to… oh fine. Karkat, it’s just me. I need to look through your feathers, if that’s okay. Mom thinks she can make a charm from you and June that’ll let us carry this invisibility with us as we go.” Rose explains quietly.

“Sure, why not?” you sigh and unfold your wings.

Both of them bang against the inside walls of the car and you feel a warm hand pressing into one from roughly the same direction that you can hear irritated demonic cursing. You must have nearly hit Sollux.

You stay put laying down on the stop of the car and try not to feel weird or awkward as Rose’s fingers carefully card through your glass feathers. She’s talking quietly to Roxy and pausing every now and then to single out one feather before moving on. You’re glad that you’re invisible outside of the car because you’re sure that your face looks dumb right now. You can’t help it, having your wings petted just feels nice and soothing even though they’re glass and metal now.

Eventually they seem to settle on a specific feather and Rose carefully works it free from whatever holds them to you. It’s not like it hurts in the way getting a hair pulled out does, poor June, but it feels… odd. It’s discomfort more than anything. Soon enough the feather is plucked out fully and you shudder, there’s the odd sensation of your feathers moving to stand up like they did when you were a little bird that got all fluffed up when you were sleepy. You shake yourself off and hear Sollux complain, you must have nearly got him with that move.

You fold your wings away and sit back up again, you can hear the people inside talking but when you look down Sollux is right there visible through the open sunroof.

“Getting in there is kind of a production.” he explains.

“I guess the magic on the door is complicated.” June guesses.

“Yeah but when you get close the world around goes all… labyrinth like.” he says.

You look at the seemingly simple path to the door with some skepticism, it did look a little too easy.

“Hold on, labyrinth like the maze or like the movie?” June asks.

The nice thing about the inside of the car being visible to you right now is that you get to see Sollux, a person with four eyes, roll his eyes dramatically at that.

“Yes June, the path there will be just like the movie. You’ll have to wear a weird white ballgown and deal with the Goblin King trying to seduce you as you deal with creepy puppets. Actually, knowing Bro that’s probably not entirely out of the realm of possibility.” Sollux says with a grimace at that last part.

“See? I ask the sensible questions.” June proclaims.

“My ass you do.” Sollux scoffs.

“What ass?” June retorts immediately.

“Hey!” Sollux protests.

“As much as I’d love to listen to THAT, we’re done. Let’s go.” Rose says. She steps out of the car with the air around her shimmering blue and red in a way that’d make you think Sollux was doing something if it wasn’t for his current lack of magic.

Wait, June’s magic often seems pretty blue and yours comes out red when you’re not doing obvious Rose powered shit with it. Is this something running on both of you?

“It should protect us if we all stay close together and close to you two.” Rose explains and holds up her wrist to show a strip of ribbon with a sliver of glass stitched onto it with what you suspect might be June’s hair. There’s also very minute writing on the ribbon itself that’s no doubt outlining what the spell does.

“The range isn’t great but it’s what we have.” Roxy agrees as she gets out after Rose.

Everyone else proceeds to get out of the car and when they’re all out you put it away.

“How did you manage to follow me last time?” Jake asks as you all walk towards the building where Dave ought to be.

“I was a very small and quiet snake and your body then didn’t have eyes.” Sollux answers, though it’s obvious he doesn’t enjoy having to talk to Jake.

“Well, you don’t have to sneak around him now and this isn’t so-” Terezi stops talking as the world around your group warps and shifts into a maze that stretches up into every which way, ignoring gravity and physics alike.

“Were you about to say this isn’t so bad?” Rose asks flatly.

You stare up in despair at this seemingly endless maze between you and the building, this is going to take a while.

“In my defence this IS a lot like the movie labyrinth, I was right on that.” June says after a moment’s pause, making Sollux elbow her hard.

Shit, another thing in your way. You hope Dave can hold on for the time it’ll take you to get there.


	43. The you I created/I chase the Devil aka ironshirt

The labyrinth sprawls out before you, vast, awe inspiring, and definitely above your skill level. Which, to be clear, you mean the structure to keep you from that building and not the movie with David Bowie in weirdly sexual outfits. Both might apply you guess but you’re only dealing with one right now.

The not David Bowie one.

“Was that there when you were here before, Sollux?” Terezi asks as she and Jade eye Jake suspiciously.

“Not this complex, but yeah. I just followed him.” Sollux says.

“Its complexity varies. I know the way so it doesn’t worry me.” Jake shrugs as if he doesn’t care, likely he doesn’t. He doesn’t actually WANT to help after all.

“And because we don’t know the way it’s more difficult, I’m willing to bet that you could get stuck in there forever too.” you groan.

“Pretty much.” Sollux agrees.

“It would be designed to keep out people who don’t already know the way, even with Sollux having been there before and Jake knowing the way the rest of us skew the balance where our group doesn’t know where we’re going. So the spell tries harder to catch us.” Roxy concludes.

“But there is a right way through it though. Maybe…” Rose hesitates, her hand halfway to her bag.

“What’re you thinking?” you ask.

“We didn’t know where Dave was before, but if he’s hiding in there then we’d know if that chess piece pointed to him or not. He may still have it on him, shoved in a pocket or something.” Rose says.

That’d be a really lucky break, but it doesn’t hurt to try.

Rose pulls the chess piece out and holds it on her flat palm. It turns and sure enough points right into the labyrinth. For a moment you wonder if Dave really does have it with him, or if it’s that kind of magic bullshit again. Rose believes that it’ll point to him if he has it, she knows where he is, so her god magic makes it point that way. Well, whatever, if it gets you through this thing then you’re willing to follow it.

“We should all stay together, holding onto each other. Labyrinths like this are tricky and they’ll split you if they can.” Terezi warns you all.

You group up, unfolding your wings so you can rest one on Rose’s shoulders and let the other hang back. Sollux grabs hold of your wing and links his other arm with Jade, one of his tails wraps loosely around Bec’s neck and the other Roxy holds onto. This goes on with your rather large group now as you gather up like a kindergarten school trip in a line of twos.

Rose focuses on the chess piece in her hand and you feel some kind of power around you grow, your arm which is closest to Rose starts to get warm as if it was being bathed in sunshine. You can feel your halo shift into visibility and Rose steps forward into the labyrinth, leading you all with her.

The walls of the labyrinth start to loom over you. Quickly you glance over your shoulder, just to be sure that you’re all still together while you can still see where you came in. You don’t want to leave anyone behind.

Everyone is all here, you’re okay. As your eyes pass over Jade she gives you a tight smile, wanting to be nice but a little too stressed to seem properly warm. You get that, dealing with Jake can’t be easy at all. Speaking of he’s keeping a very keen eye on Jade as you walk and you don’t like that at all.

He starts to talk just as you look forward, damn him.

“Why do you feel compelled to do this, Jade?” Jake asks.

“Do what?” Jade asks tightly.

“To force me to participate in this. Does it satisfy some need for vengeance? Tell me what you’re thinking, my girl.” Jake says, his voice pleasant despite his words.

Jade stops still which causes a ripple effect with everyone else as you all have to stop walking lest you be separated.

“Don’t. Don’t call me that. Don’t talk to me like we’re family, especially since I can tell now that you’re just asking for your stupid research.” Jade says as evenly as she can despite visibly shaking with anger.

“Stupid is right.” Roxy mutters.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Jake asks sharply, turning to look up at Roxy. Oh boy.

Roxy scowls back at him and you wince, chancing a glance at Rose but you’re pretty sure there’s nothing either of you can do to stop this. Maybe you shouldn’t, both of them have legitimate problems with Jake and why shouldn’t they air them out? You’re on a deadline, sure, but they won’t get this chance again.

“Everything you did with her is stupid, shit and wrong. Ethically and, like, research-wise. You did shitty things and didn’t even gain anything for it.” Roxy tells him.

“I gained plenty of useful information, information that we didn’t have before!” Jake retorts.

“No! You didn’t! For a start you shared that ‘research’ with no one, meaning it didn’t even benefit our knowledge as a whole.” Roxy starts, sarcastically air quoting around the word research.

“I wrote everything down and besides it’s quite clear the direction that academia has gone since I’ve been away.” Jake says dismissively, waving a hand in Roxy’s direction.

Roxy’s jaw hangs slack in shock and you watch as behind her Terezi’s skin ripples slightly as if her form is just barely holding and fire slips between her teeth.

“The only reason _you_ got tenure was because I did all the hard work for you before you fucked off to be unethical elsewhere and I could extricate myself. Without me none of your papers would have made it past peer review, the things you proposed doing would never have flown!” Roxy hisses at him.

“All that while he made you raise his kids, you mean?” Jade asks, her voice flat and cold.

“My kids? What- how do you know about them?” Jake asks with wide eyes turned on her.

“Because they took me in recently, because they were actually decent family unlike YOU.” Jade retorts, and she’s right. Joey and Jude welcomed Jade with open arms and you couldn’t be happier for her about that, she deserves a good family because she’s had shit luck with Jake.

“You stay away from my family!” Jake orders her, stamping his iron boots.

“Like you did?” Jade snaps back immediately.

“You’re a terrible parent and a terrible researcher.” Roxy says.

“You have no right to tell me about my research when you started your work talking to demons, inviting them into our plane. That wasn’t experimentation, it was a survey of a species known to lie to humans for fun!” he retorts.

“Oh so you DID read my research proposal, that’d be the first time you EVER read paperwork! I was well aware of the limitations of my study and my work actually made a difference. And- and get this! Everyone who participated did so of their own FREE FUCKING WILL! I didn’t harm anyone, I even paid some participants and got things in exchange! No one was- was tortured or exploited! I didn’t have to illegally acquire an island for my work and my work BENEFITED PEOPLE.” Roxy shouts at him.

“What people?” Jake laughs at her.

“Demons! Anyone who interacts with them! People used my work for all sorts of things and picked my methods apart for working with other species we regard as ‘hostile’ to us. I did that. But no, you’d rather run off and play Indiana Jones, mad scientist edition. You’re just too stupid and- and COWARDLY to deal with things!” she accuses him and Jake is clearly offended at _that_.

“I got my island to do research that people were too afraid to do, I was brave!” Jake insists, he really thinks that he’s the hero here. The bold researcher pushing past the limits of the establishment, someone to be lauded. If anything people telling him he’s wrong only reinforces that view of himself because surely no one else could stand seeing how bold and daring he is, working at the bleeding edge of research.

“No, you didn’t. You got an island because you fucked the devil and he pulled it out of the ocean so you could torture sentient species, to make your own hell on Earth! What were you even TRYING to study with her, huh? The psychological development of a changeling?” Roxy demands, waving a hand at Jade.

“I’m not even technically that.” Jade says with a frown.

“Exactly! You didn’t- fuck me, look, let’s say you wanted to study the development of a changeling. The most ethical way to do that would be to find a family with a changeling child and get them all to consent to that observation. Even that would be dubious because the child couldn’t consent and your very presence alters the dynamic with the parents making it, at best, sketchy qualitative and anecdotal data. You didn’t do that. You had the devil STEAL a child and murder the parents which is several crimes at once and needless to say massively fucking unethical!” Roxy is pacing now as she talks.

“So even then, fine, you have a kid. Except as its primary caregiver you’ve now contaminated the research beyond all measure, you can’t be objective and attempts to be objective are just going to end up traumatising her. Not to mention you stranded her on an island, a tropical island no less which is so far out from her native habitat as a _winter fae_ that you caused her harm and confused your research even more. Are phenomena you observe due to her being fae, to her being studied by YOU, to her being socially isolated so strongly that she’s just one step above a feral child? Who knows?! NOT YOU! You didn’t learn SHIT Jake, you just tortured a kid because you hate the fae! That’s it!” Roxy shouts at him furiously.

“You wouldn’t understand.” Jake mutters and looks away from her.

“Yeah, just like no one can understand how the fuck the people who ran the Little Albert experiments thought they were doing anything even close to okay. Or how the Stanford Prison experiment was allowed, or Milgram’s- you’re a cautionary tale. That’s the best outcome for you here.” she says darkly.

She and Jake stare each other down, clearly neither intending on giving in and even the demons in your group are just watching in silence. Admittedly Cirava looks like they’re kind of enjoying the drama and given their history probably hoping that Roxy might just maul Jake, you wouldn’t blame her for that. Instead Roxy takes a deep breath and calms herself a little.

“I have one more question for you. I was real careful to not attract Bro’s attention, I put up all kinds of wards and asked questions very carefully to keep under his radar. But you… you were fucking him long before he showed his face to me and I might have ended up pregnant but _I_ never fucked that asshole god. But you knew about my work and you knew me, you knew all that and you were with him. You told him about me, didn’t you?” Roxy asks, cold and measured with each word.

Rose’s hand finds your wrist and squeezes tight, you don’t want to intervene in this. Roxy’s got to have been thinking about it for over twenty years now and you’re not going to rip this answer from her.

“I don’t have to dignify that with an answer. I wasn’t off plotting your demise, Roxy. Honestly.” Jake says with a shake of his head.

“Actually, Roxy let me stay in her house and fed me. She extended her hospitality to me and I think I owe her a little something back for that, dragging that answer from _you_ as a slight payment to the debt you owe me seems fair.” Jade says thoughtfully and narrows her eyes at Jake.

Jake looks like he’s about to gag, he holds a hand to his mouth as if he’s physically trying to keep something alive from escaping but it’s no use. His lips eventually part, clearly not of his own free will, and he answers.

“I mentioned your work, offhandedly. Told him the kind of magic you were capable of.” he blurts out.

Roxy draws a breath in, staring wide eyed at her former mentor. She seems frozen but you just catch her raising her hand, an empty lack of light where some magical glow should be and isn’t forming around her hand. Before anything can happen Terezi wraps her arms around Roxy, pinning both her arms to her side.

“Hey… hey. You knew this. But you need him right now, you got a plan remember? Stick to the plan and soon his nerves will be being flayed from his bones by the Queens. He’ll get his, but you need to use him now to get where you’ve got to go, yeah?” Terezi reminds Roxy soothingly.

“The plan. Right.” Roxy nods.

She squeezes her eyes shut for a moment or two and then opens them again, a little calmer. Terezi gives her a tight hug and then lets her go once more.

Roxy seems more… whole now. Since this road trip started it’s like she’s been healing a little, or maybe she’s just been thinking about this mess for a long time and she’s clear on her thoughts about all of this. Or maybe she’s feared Hell, the Devil and the end of the world for so long that now that she’s here she’s the only one not off balance.

“He’ll pay, but we still need to get to Dave.” Rose says after several seconds of silence.

“You’re right.” Jade admits quietly.

Jade’s gaze is downturned, the scowl she’s wearing directed at the floor rather than its rightful recipient of Jake.

“I don’t know why I thought this would make me feel better.” Jade adds miserably.

“You deserved better.” you tell her, because it’s true. It’s also something you can relate to more than a little. You look at Roxy as well because she deserved better than she got as well, this sucks all around.

“I know.” Jade nods.

You glare at Jake, knowing full well that he’s going to get what’s coming to him from the other Jade but that punishment doesn’t undo the hurt he did. Nothing can.

“Why did you do this? You made me think you were my Grandpa, that you loved me. We ate meals together, watched movies together. Was all that some experiment to you or- or what?! Was none of it real at all?” Jade asks Jake.

Jake shifts a little under her stare, uncomfortable but not answering her question either.

“Actually, forget it. I don’t care why you did any of that or what you really felt because it ruined my childhood either way. Just take us to the vault so I can get rid of you.” Jade says coldy and holds up the doll she got from her grandmother, compelling Jake to start walking again.

Between Rose and Jake the path through the maze doesn’t technically take all that long and you’re able to see at certain points just how much labyrinthian bullshit you detoured around. You don’t encounter statues asking you riddles or, thank fuck, men in tight leather pants doing contact juggling. It still feels like a long and uncomfortable journey regardless but you’re pretty sure that’s just because of Jake being there.

When the doors to the vault loom before you there’s a moment where you all stop to check that the magic keeping everyone out of sight is still working. Once you’re sure that it is you all collectively shove Jake forward to unlock the door as Sollux watches him keenly. No doubt if he is able to try anything funny Sollux will know about it. Jake carves glowing green symbols into the air before the door, matching it as the metal of the barrier changes and presumably inputting the right things at the right time. It looks complex but most magic does to you so you’re not really sure how in awe you’re meant to be, but either way you don’t want Jake to get an ego boost from it so you keep your reaction dampened anyway.

The doors swing inwards without a sound, quite suddenly in fact. Given the size of the vault building and the clear weight of the doors it almost feels like you’ve been cheated that they didn’t make a dramatic and ominous creak as they opened.

Beyond the open doors you can see a relatively dark space. Orange crystals grow out of bronze braziers that glow and shed light on the area around them. Roxy checks out the doorway and has to negotiate around a spell a bit but she soon waves you inside.

As you linger in the doorway it becomes clear that this is very much a storage area turned personal museum. Items of all sorts are stored and mounted on the walls even in the entranceway, each with tiny handwritten plaques next to them.

“Whoa… this is…” Rose whispers in awe.

“There’s a lot of shit here, we need to be really careful we don’t turn anything on. We don’t know if Dave’s alone.” Sollux says to all of you as quietly as he can.

“Don’t just stand there.” June hisses at you. She’s got one hand on the door and is clearly trying to close it but you’re standing in the way.

“Shit, sorry.” you apologise and step through the doorway into the building.

Static builds inside you, running along the inside of your skin. It’s halfway between an itch everywhere and whatever the whole body equivalent of a sneeze would be. You stumble to a stop and freeze, trying to contain whatever this is and stay goddamn QUIET.

“Karkat?” Jade calls out in quiet alarm.

You try to say something but your tongue won’t work right, like it’s not real somehow. As you think that it occurs to you that your tongue isn’t really real, is it? The itching static feeling running through your body numbs your tongue to the point where you’re not sure if it’s there anymore. You try to force words out but it’s just a hiss of static.

“What’s that above the door? I smell something lighting up with magic.” Terezi hisses, pointing to the wall above the doorway you just went through.

“Oh no. No, no, no. Shit, kk, keep it together I-” Sollux cuts off clearly startled as his hands clip through your arms slightly when he goes to grab hold of you.

You turn your head, feeling it crack like a shattered vase as you do so. You look down and see reddish gold light leaking out in cracks in your body that are shaped like Sollux’s hands.

“It’s- it’s a trap for angels.” Sollux whispers in horror, looking above your head to whatever is on the wall.

Beams of light are shining out of you through the cracks in your body, illuminating the walls here and there.

“Hold it together! Can’t we get him away from it?” June asks.

She tries to nudge you forwards even as Rose and her mom are quickly talking about counter spells and wards but June clearly isn’t waiting for that. Her hand slices through your back at a mere touch and you shudder all over, more and more parts of your frozen form chip off and crumble into light.

You’re too unstable, too damaged and taken apart. You can’t hold it any more and with a snap that feels a thousand times more blissful than any sneeze your form changes. Your wings open around your rings and finally you can move again. Your vision extends in every direction so you can perfectly well see the door suddenly slam shut behind you and see the winged eye charm on the wall abruptly open up and start shrieking in alarm.

“So much for subtle!” Jade shouts over the noise.

“We should still be hidden, come ON!” Roxy yells and pulls Rose and Terezi along with her.

Sollux puts his hand _in_ you, grabs one of your rings and yanks you along with him as everyone else runs to follow.

HEY! GET YOUR HAND OUT OF ME!

“Shut up, what else was I meant to grab? You bitch when I pull your feathers!” Sollux retorts sharply.

You all huddle in the stairwell that the entrance area led to, you’re out of the way of anyone that might come down the stairs to investigate the ceaselessly shrieking alarm. You’re not sure that you’ll be unnoticed though.

“Dude, you’re kind of big right now, can’t you go back to human shaped?” June asks, squished against the wall to avoid your wings.

You try but even trying to make your normal form feels like you’re being shocked.

I CAN’T! IT’S STOPPING ME, I’M STUCK!

“Can’t we turn that off somehow?!” Rose asks over the noise.

“Even if we’re invisible it suddenly going off then going quiet will for sure tell anyone who’s here that… we’re…” Roxy trails off and movement at the corner of your vision tells you why.

Fear floods you as you watch in silent terror as Bro, ruler of Hell, the Devil himself, descends the steps behind you.

HOURS IN THE PAST, NOT AN AWFUL LOT BUT ENOUGH FOR IT TO, LIKE, FEEL LIKE AGES. YOU KNOW? UH. I MEAN…

HOURS IN THE PAST, DEEP IN THE DEPTHS OF HELL…

You watch as a somewhat panicked angelic not-Dirk shoves your bloodied corpse into a rocky crack in a wall and squeezes in after it. You glide in through the rock with ease and see that your body has not taken the landing well and is crumpled awkwardly half on the ground and half caught on the jagged rocky wall. Not exactly a dignified post death experience.

Meanwhile your now wingless angelic companion is peering out of the gap in the rock with a tense kind of paranoia written all over him.

“So what’s the plan?” you ask him, knowing full well that he can’t hear you.

The guy, you wish you knew his actual name and weren’t just going to call him ‘Dirkcendant’ in your head, finally turns around and looks at you. Well, looks at your body. There’s not much space in this crevice in the rock and so he holds a hand out and magically carves a bigger cavern inside. With that done he gently takes hold of your body and settles it on the floor.

You watch as he presses his head to your chest and listens.

“Still super dead, dude. Not all the way but enough.” you comment.

He pulls his head up, evidently having come to the same conclusion and reaches for your neck. You think at first he’s going to feel for your pulse, but no. He presses one finger to one side of the slit in your neck and one to the other and kind of pinches them together like he’s trying to encourage it to heal. Figuring that it’s worth a try you reach down and wave your ghostly hand through your body’s neck but nothing happens.

A sound rips through the air and right through you. A roar, not animal but not quite human either. It’s full of rage and you and the Dirkcendant both flinch.

“Fuck, no, no, no.” he hisses and hurries to the opening of the crack again.

Of course you follow him and look outside as well. A huge red storm is swirling over the tower and you can see Bro who’s maybe double or triple his usual giant size up there visibly seething with anger. The Dirkcendant curses again and scurries back to your body. He crouches down over you and flicks his wings out once more. You watch as he reaches over and plucks a long white feather out and starts to write on your body with it.

He writes words and symbols in bright red that are in a language that you don’t recognise. You do, however, know magic spells when you see them. He litters your limbs and torso with them, writes small charms on your face and closes your eyes to draw symbols on your eyelids. When you’re practically covered with magical writing he places his hands on your skin and activates the spells, making them flare in red for a moment.

“Can’t stay here.” he whispers to your body and delicately scoops you up.

You have no choice but to follow as he shuffles out of the crack in the rock with your body in his arms and then takes to the sky once more. It takes a little practice to fly with him and not end up left behind only to blip out of existence and come to next to your body again. You’ve about cracked it when the Dirkcendant lands with you near the edge of Hell.

He looks around uneasily and starts walking to the edge of a pit set into the ground. Ominous fog flows thickly within it and you remember enough to know that you can get lost in there easy as anything. He’s trying to use it to hide and you’d better be careful to stay close to him or you might get lost as well. Perhaps that wouldn’t work with you needing to stay by your body but you’re not risking it.

You stick close to him as he carries your body into the fog and you follow as he walks for a bit before deciding to put you down once more. The pair of you are surrounded by thick fog that flows through your ghostly form. He adjusts your body on the ground so you’re laying there comfortably and not just looking like he dropped you in place, there’s a certain care to it that’s… so not anything Bro would have done. Whoever the Dirkcendant really is it’s pretty clear to you that he’s not Bro and he sees you as more than just something he needs. He’s treating your corpse with respect rather than hefting it about like some item that he needs for a later scheme or something.

Dirkcendant sits down next to your body and frowns. He looks you over and moves his hand to your side, where the rib you gave Sollux once resided.

“Can’t get that back but…” he trails off and frowns.

Once more he peers at your neck and tries to press the separated sides together but of course it does nothing.

“That’s not gonna work, man.” you tell him but, still, he can’t hear you.

The Dirkcendant sits back on the ground and crosses his legs under him as he thinks for a bit, he looks hesitant for a moment and then shrugs. He takes a deep breath and looks up into the white fog above your heads, he fans at his face a little and you watch in bafflement as he digs his teeth into his lip.

“He’s just a kid, he didn’t deserve to go like that, he got you out and you can’t thank him.” Dirkcendant whispers to himself and blinks quickly.

“His- his mom’s never going to see his body.” he adds and his breath shudders a little.

You squint at him, is he trying to… to make himself cry? He’s breathing a little quicker now like he’s trying to work himself up to it.

“All he had was _him_ and Cal and it was- it was so much worse than what you had. You did… you did that to him.” his voice has a waver to it now and he looks like he’s getting a little choked up.

“And- and Sollux is dead and he had to see that. Sollux had to know what was going to happen and couldn’t do anything about it.” he goes on.

Shit, you feel like _you’re_ going to cry now.

Tears well up in the Dirkcendant’s eyes and quick as anything he drags a finger over the waterline of one red eye and holds his hand out. The drop of moisture on his finger glitters slightly in the light as he moves over your body.

“Don’t catch fire.” he whispers and rubs it along the cut on your neck.

Your body doesn’t sizzle or catch fire which you’re going to put down to all the human in your body. It makes sense though, Karkat was an angel for the same god as the Dirkcendant seems to be and you’ve had contact with a lot of Karkat’s fluids and come to no harm. You’ve got his blood on you, you’ve definitely swapped spit, you’ve boned so there’s _that_ and actually he’s got tears on you before. He got a little over emotional one time after you’d had sex and teared up a little at how happy he was to be with you and you’d wiped them away as you teased him a little for it. You didn’t catch fire, or not physically at least. You think your heart might have because damn if your boyfriend isn’t the sweetest guy you’ve ever met.

Your body doesn’t catch fire but neither does it heal. It was a good try though.

“Thanks anyway, I guess. I think I just need Sollux back though. Can you at least get me to him?” you ask.

The Dirkcendant just sighs and frowns again, he pauses to scrub at his eyes and sniff a little before going back to plotting.

“Listen,” you say and crouch down by him on the other side of your body, “I’m just going to think really REALLY hard about Sollux in the hope that you pick up what I’m putting down here. SOLLUX. SOL… LUX.”

You watch as the Dirkcendant crosses his legs, sighs, and presses his hands together. He’s… praying.

“I don’t know who’s in charge up there now, since my maker’s dead now. Or… Dirk’s maker? But I’m still an angel and I need a miracle here. Dave needs to be alive again and I know you people aren’t exactly fighting the end of the world. Help me out.” he says.

You look at your dead body and wave a hand through it. Yup, still dead.

“Man, I’m apparently the antichrist. Did you really think they were gonna help?” you ask.

You just catch him muttering something about ‘why start now’ so you figure even he thought that was a long shot. He plucks another feather out and starts drawing a circle around you in red light again.

“Sollux. SOLLLUXXXXX.” you say loudly, to no avail.

Dirkcendant draws out a double wiggly line symbol that you know you’ve seen on June since you found out what she was, but he hesitates and scrubs it out without activating whatever spell he’s writing. Instead he writes down a different symbol, one you recognise as Horus’ symbol. He’s trying to resurrect you through gods of a wholly different pantheon.

Dirkcendant works through several spells and gods to try to get you back to life but nothing is working. Either he can’t get a magical signal down here or no one is interested in helping you. You still shout Sollux’s name at him every time but you’re blatantly getting nowhere. Being mostly dead sucks.

Both of you jump when an earsplitting sound comes from above, well, you and the Dirkcendant do but your body remains stationary. You uncover your ears, you suppose you protected them out of instinct but it’s not like you have physical eardrums to rupture right now. The Dirkcendant is looking upwards and then slowly closes his eyes and sighs like a man who’s only not going to say ‘at least it couldn’t get worse’ because that’d just be tempting fate.

“No one in or out, but…” he trails off and leans over your body.

He scrubs out magical symbols here and there and replaces them. Reading them makes you freeze, you know the signs for death and the tell tale signs of necromancy. It’s not that you’re afraid or anything, you were talking to Death herself earlier, weren’t you? You’re not afraid for you, but you might be for him.

The Dirkcendant activates the spell and both of you are alarmed to see Aradia step out of the fog like she’d always been just out of sight.

“Oh shit, it actually worked.” he says under his breath.

“You have been calling a lot of people, you can’t be surprised that they don’t want to get involved with this can you?” Aradia asks, waving at your body.

“I guess not.” the Dirkcendant says somewhat bitterly.

His gaze shifts from your bloodied corpse to Aradia once more.

“I have a favour to ask, a bargain really. I’m willing to trade anything that’s mine to give that isn’t him. I need you to bring Dave back from the dead.” the Dirkcendant asks her.

You catch the way Aradia’s eyes flicker to you just for a moment before resting on your corpse.

“You can’t do it, can you?” you ask her.

“No, I can’t do that.” Aradia answers you, but it’s close enough to what the Dirkcendant was asking that he thinks she’s talking to him.

“I… yeah, that was a long shot. Then could you do something else instead? Or have one of your psychopomps do it? I don’t think they can get through that but clearly you can.” he goes on, pointing upwards to where the noise came from.

“What are you asking of me?” Aradia questions him, her gaze intensely locked to his.

“If you can’t or won’t bring him back then could you take his body to Earth? To his mother? We couldn’t ever find- he was never able to get Cal to find her again after Dave was born. No one hides from you though, could you take him back to her? His life sucked here and she lost her only child, the least they both deserve is to be reunited afterwards. I’d rather her bury him than see whatever he’d do to Dave’s corpse. Please?” the Dirkcendant asks softly.

He’s… nothing like Bro. Nothing at all, and the idea that he had anything to do with that creepy puppet monster he was trapped in is laughable. He wants to give your body back to your mom so she can bury it with respect, for her sake and yours.

“That’s very sweet but I don’t think Dave would like that. He can’t go far from his body right now, besides it’d mean that Sollux would have to dig him up and that’d be traumatising for both of them.” Aradia says lightly.

“Yeah, please don’t do that.” you agree.

“Whhh- no? Sollux is dead. His rib was ripped out, he died, the rib was destroyed. He has to be dead, right?” the Dirkcendant says but he sounds uncertain, most likely because he’s arguing with Death herself about how alive Sollux is.

“That’s all true, but there was… an angelic effort to change that.” Aradia grins wide, leaning over your body to get in the Dirkcendant’s space. Her smile is a little unsettling to say the least. She seems happy but in the sort of way where a picture of her like this might appear in an article about someone who skinned people and made their skin into a people suit.

“The angel who was with him when _he_ killed Sollux and took Dave back? The one that got possessed? No, look, I’ll buy that angels got amnesia if they were stuck down on Earth during that spell and I’ll even accept that maybe one got some kind of feelings. There are some rogue angels, but he went back to heaven. If they didn’t just kick him out for stepping out of line that much then he’s way too tied up in punishment and would have lost way too much status to bring any kind of resurrection onto a demonic aligned familiar of the _antichrist_. No one else up there would help, bullshit.” the Dirkcendant sneers, his disdain for Heaven clear.

“Oh, that’s the one. He knew him from before the spell too.” Aradia grins.

The Dirkcendant stares at Death, his eyes narrowed in suspicion and annoyance but Aradia isn’t backing down.

“No way. We were always watching him on Earth.” he says finally.

“Aaaaalways?” Aradia drags the word out teasingly.

“Yes. Well- near enough! Almost every day. The odds of some angel knowing how to avoid m- avoid Cal would be astronomical. You’d have to be-” he starts.

“Psychic?” Aradia cuts in and winks at you.

“Goddamn, Rose, you genius.” you laugh. How much unexplained shit about your life are you going to have to put down to your god powers or hers?

“Even then, that’s beyond the remit of mortal psychics and Heaven couldn’t or wouldn’t do that either.” the Dirkcendant argues.

“Mmm. Either way his spirit is still here, has been the whole time. He’s right there.” Aradia says, pointing at you.

The Dirkcendant looks at you, or a little to your left but it’s close and he’s trying to see you.

“Can you hear me?” you ask hopefully, but from the lack of reaction you assume no.

“He’s really there?” the Dirkcendant asks warily, maybe he thinks that Aradia is messing with him. You’d certainly understand that concern.

“Oh yes, he can hear you too. But if you’ll excuse me I’ve got to get going, people dying, end of the world, you know how it is. Bye!” Aradia vanishes in a flash of black smoke leaving behind the impression of a smile in the air for several seconds after she’s gone.

The Dirkcendant blinks a couple of times and returns his gaze to the space Aradia gestured to. It’s not quite where you are but you can step over so he’s making eye contact with you.

“I… I didn’t know you were still around.” he says quietly.

“It’s been kind of a surprise to me too.” you agree. He can’t hear you, but still.

“There’s no amount of apologising that can make up for everything I had a part in putting you through and any explanation just sounds like a shit excuse.” the Dirkcendant says, his gaze flickering to the ground. His wings flutter into existence just to curl tight to his body, a gesture that you know is one of insecurity and self comfort. You’ve seen it on Karkat before he learned to put his wings away and you weren’t a fan of it then either.

“It sounds like it sucked for-” you begin but because he can’t hear you he talks over you.

“But I’m going to fix this. If your spirit is here and your familiar is somehow still even partly alive then I can bring you back. I don’t know how I’m going to get you out of Hell after that but one giant problem at a time.” he says.

“I need Sollux, right?” you say.

“I don’t know how to summon Sollux if he’s partly alive and if he doesn’t have his rib, not without the rest of him on hand and if I had that I wouldn’t need to- I could repossess you somehow maybe, or drag him closer…” he’s clearly thinking out loud but trails off into thoughtful silence.

“I’m going to take you to the vault, there’s all sorts of magic shit there that we’ve stolen over the years. There’s got to be something there that’ll either help or I can exploit to my advantage. I’d ask if you’re okay with that but…” he grimaces a little.

“But I’m almost completely dead and you can’t hear me.” you finish.

He scoops your body up with care and takes to the sky. Well, what passes for sky in Hell. He holds you close to his chest as he flies with you and you’re tugged along with him as he moves with your body.

“I’m sorry about having to carry you so much. I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t want me touching you.” the Dirkcendant says uneasily.

“Well I didn’t have any feelings about it until now and now I feel weird.” you inform no one.

“Since when I was Cal- in Cal it wasn’t like I or it ever interacted with you without trying to hurt you or terrorise you in some way.” he says, clearly guilty.

You kind of want to say that it’s fine because you barely remember any of it, what with you giving yourself the magical equivalent of massive brain damage to pay for the spell that trapped all the gods away and dismantled Cal. That’s probably not an endorsement though. Like, hey, you and the familiar you were stuck inside of made my life so shit that I willingly obliterated all of my memories without a second thought. Not exactly good, is it?

“I didn’t want to hurt you. Not really. I wanted to make you stronger sometimes, all I ever got before was training and angels keeping tabs on my progress. It sucked seeing you get your shit wrecked all the time. I was always having to fight people for my training but it wasn’t- wasn’t like yours.” he goes on.

Heaven doesn’t have a great track record with treating angels well as far as you’re aware so you’re dubious that his ‘training’ was great either.

“I wanted to stop him winning against you all the time but maybe Cal used that. I know all my training got used, every stance and skill I have got used on-” he falters.

Used on you.

Yeah, no wonder you couldn’t win. Not only were you fighting a literal god you were fighting his familiar that had a shitload of you guess magically important ingredients in it and a whole person who was basically raised as an angel ninja assassin. You had no hope.

“I’m not apologising. I don’t have a right to ask for that but I’m just saying that if you’re horrified by me carrying you around because of everything that happened I get that and if there was another way I’d do that. This at least I think I can say sorry for. I think?” he seems uncertain.

“It’s fine, man. You’re just trying to get me back to life or back with Sollux.” you tell him. Of course he can’t hear you so he doesn’t feel any better.

The two of you start to come close to a big building in the distance, it seems to be in the ass end of nowhere based on what you’ve been flying over but that’s fine by you. He flutters down to the ground in a graceful swoop of white feathers and starts opening the pretty complicated looking magical lock. You’ve seen how your mom secures things and this is even trickier than her stuff, so that’s saying something.

“I’m going to need to put you on the ground first, I might need to turn something off.” the Dirkcendant warns you.

“Glad to know you’re not just dropping me on the ground like a pair of muddy boots or whatever.” you shrug.

The doors open and you step inside. True to his word the Dirkcendant sets you down and flies up to what looks like a shitload of magical junk above the door. He waits for a few moments and looks at it curiously.

“Huh, I thought this might go off but I guess it’s tied to me as an exception still even though I’m not in Cal anymore. Nevermind then.” the Dirkcendant drifts back down to the floor and closes the door.

You watch him silently as he looks around with a thoughtful frown on his face.

“I think,” he says slowly, “that I’m going to try things to heal you first. Maybe if I can get you alive enough to make a connection to your familiar I can summon him outright. If he’s died and lost his rib I’m pretty sure his magical signature will be totally skewed.” he explains.

That makes sense to you. The Dirkcendant scoops you back up and carries you up the stairs and then up past that floor to another.

“Armour’s not gonna do you any good, you’re a little past that.” he murmurs as he carries you past a few things.

“Just rub that in.” you mutter and watch him lean you against a plinth that’s holding up a floating helmet behind glass.

You watch as the Dirkcendant walks across the room and plucks something from a wall. As he comes back you see it’s one of those leaf headband-hat-god-thingies. Fuck, Rose must have taken all of your words, what are those things called?

“This is a laurel wreath, not sure which god this one’s from but it’s meant to be a symbol of immortality. We’ve got a few and I’m hoping that maybe it might have some transitive properties here.” he explains.

Right, laurel wreath, that was what it was called. Not knowledge you have to call on a lot but there you go. You’re not surprised that it does jack shit for you when put on your head. If it’s a sign of basically immortal gods then you already were one of those you just messed that up by using that sword and getting killed for real too soon after.

With a sigh the Dirkcendant takes it off and goes looking for something else. He comes back with some club that supposedly can bring you back to life but all it does is make your body twitch slightly and the Dirkcendant has to spend a while making sure that you’re not coming back to life. Your guess would be that it’s just bringing bits of you back to life and setting off minor motor reflexes. Something like that.

Each item he brings you has either no effect on you or the wrong kind of effect and it’s pretty clear from his body language that the Dirkcendant is losing hope here.

“Okay, let’s… let’s try this another way. Let’s try contacting Sollux, though how I’m going to do that with this whole plane locked down I don’t know. Come on.” the Dirkcendant says and carefully picks your body up.

You go back down another set of stairs so you can now see the front door that you came in through, you don’t have time to linger though you as the Dirkcendant is walking into the room with your body in hand. He doesn’t go all that far so you can stay out in the hallway but why would you?

“Here, now you’re not on the floor at least.” the Dirkcendant says as he gently places you in the open arms of a statue.

You’re not sure who the statue that’s holding your body is meant to be, some goddess maybe. She’s hot you guess but statues are kind of meant to be flattering, right? So that’s not really helpful. Because of how your body is laying in her arms with your head tipped back your body’s eyes have slid open, so you guess your corpse is just gonna stare at this statue lady for a while. Whatever, have fun, body.

With your hands in your ghostly pockets you follow the Dirkcendant around as best as you can, you’re limited with the range on your body of course. He’s picking things up and muttering about the lack of sensible categories for storing things and occasionally he’ll try something but again nothing is working. He wanders over to you and runs a hand through your hair a few times until a few loose hairs end up in his hand.

“I’m hoping this is good enough for a physical component, I really don’t want to have to try taking bones out of you.” the Dirkcendant says apologetically.

“Please don’t mutilate my body, I’d like to use it again sometime soon.” you squeak in alarm, knowing full well that if he decides to do that you can’t stop him.

A sudden bang and a shrill screaming startles you right out of your skin, or it would if you were still, uh, in your skin. The Dirkcendant jumps as well and looks totally panicked at the sound.

“Shit! I- sorry about this.” he hisses at you and straightens up.

Instinctively you step back as his body shifts, all those little details that you hadn’t been able to place that made him seem younger and different to Bro melt away as he gets taller and entirely indistinguishable from the man. He strides out into the hallway and you hurry after him.

Whatever is screaming is somewhere above the door based on the direction of the earsplitting noise but it’s not that which has your focus. What you’re looking at is the weird bright light from the edge of the staircase. As the Dirkcendant in Bro’s skin goes down the stairs you instead lean over them and look directly down.

The source of the light is immediately obvious, it’s an angel. A throne, one that looks just like Karkat if a bit… glassier? You’ve not seen Karkat enough in that form to be sure it’s him, you’ve never seen another throne after all and he’s not human shaped so as far as you know they all more or less look the same. That seems speciest but it’s true! But you’re going to assume that it IS Karkat because right there with him are Sollux and June. On the other side of them against the wall is Rose and Jade and then despite all logic your Mom is there too. Somehow Mituna is there along with Kanaya, and Terezi is even there as well as some… weird short old dude? You’re drawing a blank there. There’s also a demon that you don’t know but since everyone seems fine with whoever that is you’re going to guess they’re cool.

“Look! Sollux is here!” you shout, not that he can hear you.

“Sollux!” you shout again and jump down to where everyone is huddled up.

You land right in front of Sollux whose eyes are… weirdly wrong, not blue and red but black and white. Maybe he’s blind or something because he looks right through you, but no, you can see that he’s tracking the Dirkcendant’s every move as he goes down the stairs and then floats up to the thing above the door that’s screaming.

“Hey, I’m right here.” you say, waving your hand in front of his face, but nothing happens.

The Dirkcendant drifts back to the floor with the weird eye shaped thing in his hands and starts poking at its magical code.

“Why are- I didn’t just walk in. Off.” he mutters at it.

He jabs at it and the thing falls silent for a second and then starts up right away.

OH SHIT THAT FEELS EVEN WORSE IN THIS FORM.

“Shh, just stay still.” June whispers.

“How are you not seeing them?” you ask pointlessly.

The Dirkcendant pulls at the code again and shakes his head.

“Tell me who you see.” he commands the eye-charm-scream-thing in his hands in a tone that feels magically weighty. He gives it a little shake and it stops screaming to speak.

_"Created through calculation, grown in isolation and cold training. The fallen and shattered, a splinter of the uncaring that bleeds. Loyal to neither Heaven nor Hell and exists through bonds.”_ the charm intones and a slightly strangled tone comes from Karkat’s direction. Is that Karkat’s name? It’s got to be, right?

There’s an odd expression on the Dirkcendant’s face that you can see from the angle you’re at, a mildly perplexed and slightly called out expression. Like when you get a fortune cookie and it’s clearly just a relatively generic thing but the way it’s said feels like someone is coming for you specifically. He seems to shake it off and writes out a quick line of magical code in the air and then inserts it into this charm’s own spellwork. At once the noise shuts off and you can’t help but sigh in relief. There’s a glassy flutter from Karkat’s direction so you think he feels just as relieved as you do, maybe more.

The Dirkcendant frowns a little at the charm as he replaces it and then turns around slowly, narrowing his now shade covered eyes at everything he passes. Technically you can’t see his eyes but you guess for SOME REASON your brain is attuned to picking out these minor tells that are probably preludes to you getting the shit kicked out of you.

Sollux has been looking afraid and pissed off the whole time that the Dirkcendant has been in sight and looking like Bro. When he draws his sword out of his chest though Sollux’s reaction gets even stronger. He shoves everyone else behind him, making Karkat stumble as he turns back to his normal shape. June has put herself at the front as well, like her and Sollux have nominated themselves as the defensive line.

“It’s not him.” you say helplessly and watch as Rose winces, your Mom is holding onto her so tight that her fingernails are digging into Rose’s arm.

Unable to hear you and seemingly unable to see the rest of your group the Dirkcendant looks slowly around the area trying to pick out anything amiss. He looks up at the thing above the door again and hesitates. Quicker than you can see he darts past you up the stairs, if you crane your neck you can see that he’s checking your body is still there in the statue’s arms. Seemingly satisfied he comes down the stairs again holding his free hand out and muttering under his breath.

“Tracking spell. That’s going to be-” your mom gasps and cuts herself off as she clutches Rose even tighter.

“Our spell’s going to negate it, right? Right?” Karkat asks.

“I don’t know.” Sollux whispers.

The Dirkcendant snaps his fingers and the spell flares into life. The formerly screaming charm above the door glows softly but more interestingly are the footprints on the floor. There’s a red set that paces about and more red step generate from the bottom of the Dirkcendant’s feet as he goes down the stairs. He’s interested in the gold glowing set. The footprints go a few steps in and then devolve into a kind of wide airbrushed haze on the floor that drags all the way around to the hollow of the stairwell where Karkat and the others are hidden.

“Oh no.” Karkat breathes, he steps back making more golden footprints.

“Oh dear. How terrible.” the short man with the hat comments as insincerely as possible, making Jade scowl at him.

The Dirkcendant follows the trail, weapon drawn and though he’s staring right through everyone else he’s looking in exactly the right area and you’re frozen with fear at the mere thought of what his sword could do. It doesn’t matter if he can see them or not, he can still hurt them, right?

“Fuck this.” Jade hisses.

She grabs the stranger’s wrist and yanks some bracelet off of it and at the same time kicks him in the chest away from their group. He tumbles backwards and the Dirkcendant startles to see him, which he evidently can now.

“Jake?” he asks, clearly lost.

“Love, yes, I- you need to ask me why I’m here.” the old man insists.

“What?” the Dirkcendant says flatly.

“Ask me!” he says again desperately.

The Dirkcendant sheathes his sword and fixes this stranger a bored look. He’s a stranger to you at least but didn’t the Dirkcendant just say his name? They clearly know each other, or… or Bro knows him.

“You shouldn’t be here. Go back to your experiments.” the Dirkcendant tells him coldly.

The man reacts to that, that’s for sure. He’s startled at the response and presumably the lack of feeling in it, but what’s more is how totally lost Sollux looks.

“What’s going on?” Sollux mutters, looking between them.

“They’re not usually like this?” June checks and Sollux shakes his head.

“I know you’re busy, things are going wrong but this is important. Darling.” the short guy says urgently.

“He’s trying to rat us out, I should just-” Jade starts, raising a knife and a doll in her hands.

“You don’t think THAT would raise questions?!” Karkat hisses at her.

“What happened earlier?” he asks the Dirkcendant with a significant look on his face.

“Earlier?” the Dirkcendant says back, unsure and defensive about it.

“Earlier.” he confirms.

The Dirkcendant looks up at the charm over the door, the one that had been screaming about Karkat. You can only assume Karkat was what set that thing off anyway. He looks back at the old dude slowly.

“The alarm went off.” the Dirkcendant says slowly.

“Yes, it did.” the old guy nods, being weirdly insistent about it.

“But it’s off now, so.” the Dirkcendant says, trying to be casual about it.

Shit, he’s an angel too, did he think that he somehow set it off and that name was his? If he’s not properly been an angel since he broke away from Dirk using that stupid sword then maybe he’d have a new name and not know it. So he must be trying to play off what he thinks is this guy’s suspicious questions as nothing.

“He’s GOING to rat us out! I’m stopping him!” Jade insists and you turn just in time to see her plunge a knife into that doll in her hand.

The old man doubles over and the doll that was in Jade’s hand flies out of her grip and hits him in the side. What happens is…

You saw that Alien movie one time, a few of them actually and you can’t remember which one it is that you’re thinking of. Long story short at some point one of the aliens gets shoved up against a window that’s got a bullet hole in it. It’s all low pressure outside so with physics being a bitch and all the thing gets sucked out through the dime sized hole. It’s shot in a way that it’s not as horrifying as it could be given that the thing kind of bursts on the back side and gets sucked out bit by bit, alive and screaming in its alien noises the whole time. It’s way more horrifying when it’s happened to something humanoid that speaks your language. As this old guy is magically dismantled and dragged into the floating doll, screaming out that he doesn’t want to go, that it hurts, begging for help.

There’s nothing you can do, you’re a ghost. The Dirkcendant is stock still in probably shock or horror if he’s anything like you and the rest of your friends are staring. No one moves and when the doll hits the floor after what feels like an eternity you’re still stuck in horror.

The Dirkcendant laughs, a startled kind of thing that makes you stare at him. A wide grin spreads across his face as he bends down to pick up the doll.

“Oh, no. Now _you’re_ stuck in a doll, how wonderfully ironic for you.” he says all faux sweet.

“You weren’t the one who had to deal with those dolls you left behind. Do you still feel pain in this?” he asks and squeezes the doll in his hand, it emits a tiny shrill shriek.

“What the fuck? That’s not- he’s obsessed with Jake, he wouldn’t do this.” Sollux insists, staring as the Dirkcendant twists the doll a little, making it cry out.

A rip appears in the air, blue and white. As it widens in the air you see snow falling out onto the stone floor below. The Dirkcendant leans down a little to see through it and then smiles very slowly.

“Winter.” he whispers.

You can’t hear every word the doll is saying, it’s too small and shrill but you get the gist. It’s begging to not go.

“I think you owe the fae a lot after the shit you two pulled and I’m not sticking my neck out for you. See you never.” he hisses and whips the doll through the portal which snaps shut after him.

The Dirkcendant looks thoughtful for a moment and then shifts back to his normal appearance.

“That’s going to hurt him. Good.” he snorts and heads up the stairs towards you.

“It isn’t him. That’s… that’s Dirk. That’s the Dirk I knew before Hell.” June insists.

“June! June what’re you-” Karkat yelps as June rushes around the corner and up the stairs without the others.

You could already see June but she somehow becomes _more_ visible somehow and throws herself at the Dirkcendant who yelps in alarm.

“Dirk! It’s YOU!” June cries out as she squeezes the Dirkcendant as tight as can be, she even physically lifts him off of the floor and even though he tries to get free and even gets his wings out there’s no breaking June’s grip.

“June, I can’t-” the Dirkcendant chokes out.

“Oh! Shit, sorry!” June exclaims and drops him where he falls to the ground in a flutter of feathers.

He coughs for a moment and then looks up at June in total shock.

“How did you- what’re you doing here? Did you set off the alarm?” he asks, clearly lost.

“Nah, that was Karkat. My angel friend, other angel friend I mean.” June beams.

“Thanks for that.” Karkat snaps at her.

It’s as if the brightness on the rest of them is flickering up and down and when Karkat seems to relax you think they’re all visible now. Not that everyone has come up from under the stairway, the unknown demon and Mituna are staying back with Kanaya and your Mom is lingering at the bottom of the stairs with Rose.

Sollux follows up the stairs and walks right through you as the Dirkcendant gets to his feet. You hurry to keep up with Sollux though you know it’s pointless to keep talking to him you still try, calling out his name with nearly every step you take. Karkat is slightly ahead of him, standing with his weapon drawn as he stares warily at the Dirkcendant.

“You’re the angel from the carnival.” the Dirkcendant says, looking past June to Karkat.

“June says you’re not the guy who skewered me on a ride there. That you’re someone else.” Karkat says suspiciously.

“I… Sollux? You’re here! I-” the Dirkcendant says in a hurry, noticing Sollux getting to the top of the stairs.

“Where’s Dave? Where is he?” Sollux hisses at him, his lip drawn back in a snarl that shows off all the very sharp teeth he has.

“I can explain about that.” the Dirkcendant falters and takes a step back but Sollux comes closer.

Between them is the open doorway to the room your body is in and there’s nothing you can do about it. You’re stuck in place as Sollux advances, demanding to know where you are and when he gets to the doorway you can’t do anything to stop it.

“I’m okay.” you say softly, but it’s no use.

Sollux stops in his tracks and his head turns as he looks into the room. He sees your dead body held in the statue’s arms, your lifeless eyes still open and staring up at her like she’s going to be any help. Sollux’s mouth softens from a snarl to a slack expression of horror, his eyes are wide and it hurts you just to see him.

Sollux screams and it rips right through you. He sprints through your ghost and into the room. He’s howling fragmented pleas for you to be okay, to not be as dead as you look. He pulls your body from the statue and falls to the ground with you. Karkat is close enough behind him that you can see the pain in his eyes. He hesitates, a few steps into the doorway like he’s not sure what to do. Of course all of your friends are here and worse your sister and your mom, each new person that runs in the room and finds you dead hurts more and more.

Your mom hurts the most. Rose and Karkat are kneeling near you with Karkat holding her in shock, but your mom… she’s shaking you and trying to wake you up but that’s never going to work. Sollux has to eventually smack her hand away as he moves protectively over your body, one knee on either side of you.

“Let me try to fix him. I have to-” Sollux starts.

“With what magic? You’re so drained. Can I… loan you some or…?” Karkat offers immediately.

“Just shut up, let me focus.” Sollux mutters.

“I’m sorry.” you apologise even though no one can hear you.

You crouch down between your mom and your sister and watch as Sollux leans over you.

“Nothing I tried worked, Death said his ghost is still here. Sollux being alive must be why but I couldn’t do anything.” the Dirkcendant says quietly to June.

“What happened?” June asks.

“Shut up!” Sollux snaps at them and sure enough everyone falls silent.

You’re kind of glad that you can’t feel your body right now because you’re pretty sure your heart would be breaking as you watch Sollux lean over your corpse. He ghosts his fingers over the now slightly crusted slash through your neck, all while your body stares sightlessly up at the ceiling.

“Come on, please.” Sollux whispers.

He’s desperately trying to heal you but it’s not working any better than it did when the Dirkcendant tried it and with each pass of his shaking fingers he gets more and more tearful as he tries. Reaching out you try to hold his hand but again pass right through him, you can’t touch Sollux, you can’t make him feel better and you can’t seem to come back to life.

Looking at your body you feel sick at the memory of being trapped in it before Aradia pulled you out, but maybe you need to be in there for Sollux to connect enough to heal you. If there’s a chance you have to do it, right? And… and if it doesn’t work then Sollux or the Dirkcendant may well summon Aradia again to ask her what to do and she could get you out, right? It’s a long shot but you can’t keep looking at the agonised faces of everyone you love and do nothing.

You move closer and try to lay down into your body and once you get a certain amount of yourself in place it’s like it just drags you in. You really wish you hadn’t just seen that guy get dragged into a doll because the similarity is upsetting. You can’t move your body, you can’t breathe, you’re heavy and stuck in place.

Sollux’s fingers press to your neck again and your out of focus vision just shows you the tips of his horns as he slumps over your dead body with a sob. Why did you do this to you both? If you’d have known he was still alive you wouldn’t have been so reckless! Shit, what about the rest of your family? You were stupidly reckless and you knew they were still around! You just didn’t think, you were angry and brimming with rage at how you’d been treated and you just wanted to hurt Bro back for once.

It doesn’t seem worth this.

You can’t move but you mentally try to reach out to Sollux, to everyone. You’re so sorry, you just want to fix things and stop all this hurt.

Sollux’s head presses against your shoulder, his rough horns just touching your cheek. His hand drifts to your side, to your missing rib and the place that you suppose he once occupied within you. His fingers clench against your skin there, like he could get back there. Like…

Like…

Sollux’s fingers are warm on your side and that warmth spreads through you. Your unfocused eyes catch the edges of a building red and blue glow and around you the others react in shock and surprise to whatever is happening.

The warmth that Sollux seems to be generating sinks through your skin and moves through your whole body like bright golden honey trickling onto you. It floods through your veins and starts moving your blood again. Hands slide up under your skin or- no, that sounds like something gross clawing about in your body and it’s not that at all. It’d be much more accurate to describe it as if you're feeling this on your soul, your body isn’t trapping you so much anymore because you’re not alone in it. You know it’s Sollux, how could you not know? He’s yours. He pulls you to him and of course you hold him back just as tightly.

You missed him so much, you were so scared for him. You’re not even sure which one of you is thinking that, probably both. His soul, a soul you started but he grew himself, moves over yours and settles back into place where he came from.

You’re… whole.

Your throat stitches back together and as it does the rest of your body changes too. You’re bigger, older than you looked moments ago what with the combined years of memories you have between you.

You’re Dave, God of Time.

You stand, the armour you now wear clinking slightly as you get up. Your cape shifts behind you as you look around at the other people in the room.

“Dave?” Karkat asks uncertainly, squinting up at you.

“Yes…” you say a little uncertainly but, no, that is who you are.

“Why are you so big? What’re you wearing?” Jade asks as she reaches out and taps a fingernail on the breastplate of your armour.

“Where’s Sollux? He just dissolved or something, he was trying to heal you.” Karkat asks.

“Unless you have a snake in your armour now, not a dick joke.” June adds that last part quickly.

Damn, you hadn’t even thought of that yet and you’ve already been denied.

“Sollux went back.” Rose whispers, her hand over her mouth as she stares at you.

“Back where?!” Karkat demands, waving his arms wildly in the air.

“He’s a familiar, he was the part of Dave that was still alive. He’s back where he started out at, he’s part of him again. He’s been… unmade or something like it.” the Dirkcendant (what kind of name is that?) says uneasily.

“Un- YOU MEAN HE’S DEAD?!” Karkat shouts, making everyone but the Dirkcendant wince.

Panic floods you at Karkat’s wounded expression, he thinks that Sollux-

“No! He’s- I’m- no!” you blurt out.

Karkat stares up at you, looking like he might cry already. But he shouldn’t! You’re fine! You’re whole, you’re here and so much stronger than you were before. You want to reach out and catch his face in your hands and assure him that you love him and that you’re fine. At the same time though you want to shove him and flash him a grin, asking if he thinks that you’d die that easily. The two conflicting urges paralyse you and your whole body feels staticy and not great.

“They’re separate people, too separate to be the same person for all that long. You can keep this up for a while but not forever.” Terezi observes.

But you’re so much more powerful now. Sure, you don’t have the same amount of resurrection potential that you had before but sometimes you need to just commit to doing something without planning an exit strategy. One thing you could do burns in your mind, you need to kill your father for all that he’s done to- to everyone. Everyone in this room has gone through shit thanks to him and he needs to die.

“I don’t need forever.” you tell her.

“What is that supposed to mean?” June asks warily.

You draw a sword from your void and turn it in your hand a little. Finding him won’t be hard, you know where he spends time, how he’d react to you going missing. You can find him and end him. Or… well, or die trying.

Your mom stands up and her warm hand touches yours, the one holding your sword. She looks up at you teary eyed and searches your face.

“Baby.” she whispers and lifts her other hand up to cup your face.

“Baby baby.” she adds and strokes your hair.

“Mom, I’m sorry you had to see that. I’m okay, really.” you tell her as gently as you can.

“No, it’s not me. Don’t worry about- I’m so sorry baby.” your mom sniffs and reaches up to hug you around the neck.

Of course you lean down and with your free arm hug her back, you’re careful to keep your sword away from her though because you don’t want her to get hurt.

“You don’t have anything to be sorry for mom, you left the house and came to Hell to find me. That’s- that’s so much.” you say.

Your throat is tight, you know what that journey was like for her, you were there. You were watching her on the way to find you, you were in the car and near her in Winter. You know.

“No, you shouldn’t have been here in the first place. I gave you up, you grew up with that son of a bitch father, I wasn’t there to protect you.” she insists.

“That wasn’t your fault, you didn’t have a choice.” you tell her firmly, you know that.

Your mom looks away, her face twisted in pain but she swallows the feeling down and looks back up at you. Her eyes searching your face as she strokes your face.

“I still don’t understand. What happened to Sollux? What do you two mean? And we still haven’t covered who the fuck you are anyway!” Karkat flings that last accusation in the direction of the Dirkcendant who winces.

“I think they were implying that this is an… older version I suppose of the person Dave was before he made Sollux.” Rose answers him.

“Right.” you agree even as your mom pulls you down to hug you and bury your face in her shoulder.

“But that means you’re not either of them! That Dave AND Sollux are both dead or at least gone!” Karkat shouts.

“I’m pretty concerned about that too.” Jade agrees.

“That’s a very over simplistic way of viewing the problems inherent in self identity in situations like this.” the Dirkcendant sighs.

Karkat snarls and properly turns around to face the Dirkcendant down, his new (oh so pretty) wings flaring out in anger.

“You know what? I’m pissed as fuck about all of this and I don’t CARE who June thinks you are. You’re clearly involved in this and the guy with your face started all this in the first place so I’m about to start treating you like a feathery fucking pinata and start beating you until answers come out!” Karkat shouts at him.

The Dirkcendant’s red eyes widen and his white wings flare out from his back, multiple sets that are far grander than Karkat’s were when they were feathery. The feathers prickle up and spread out in an avian threat display that seemingly translates to angels given the way Karkat’s own are responding. The glass of Karkat’s halo shifts, the little pieces in it turning on edge to make something jagged and menacing.

“Better you don’t.” the Dirkcendant warns him coldly.

“That’s really on _you_, answer our questions or we’ll see how this goes.” Karkat snarls, pulling his weapon out just as the Dirkcendant does the same.

“Whoa, whoa, hey.” June says hurriedly, putting herself between them.

You pull away from your mom and catch Karkat’s arm in your hand.

“Hey, no. I know what he looks like but he’s fine. He was trying to revive me this whole time, he’s not _him_.” you assure Karkat.

“That’s GREAT but I still don’t know who YOU are!” Karkat retorts, pulling his arm from your hand.

“He’s my son.” your mom says simply.

“DAVE is your son!” Karkat shouts.

“Yes but… this one was the one _he_ physically took from me.” she explains, though Karkat doesn’t seem to consider this an explanation.

“Like I said, it’s complicated.” the Dirkcendant says and Karkat bristles in anger at his words.

“Okay, okay, before this turns into some museum angel throwdown how about you start explaining some things, Dirk?” June suggests.

“I’m not Dirk. Or- I was. I’m not now, not really. It’s-” the Dirkcendant says hesitantly, his wings lowering and he relaxes at talking to June.

“If you say complicated I swear-” Karkat starts but Rose casually strokes his cheek and cuts him off, earning her a scandalised look from the Dirkcendant.

“Uncomplicate it then. What do you mean by you not being Dirk? You don’t seem like the one I’ve seen since Hell changed leadership.” June prompts him.

“He’s not.” you agree.

June gives the Dirkcendant a prompting look and he shifts uneasily, his wings tucking in close to him again.

“The idea of who is and isn’t a person is complicated but you’re thinking about Dirk, the angel that got sent down here to kill Caliborn, the one you met.” he starts.

“Right.” June nods.

“But I’m not him. I was. I- alright, Dirk came down here. He had that stupid fucking sword and he killed Caliborn with it and in doing that the sword cut Dirk too. In two, kind of. There’s me, I was Dirk but I also didn’t exist at all until that moment. I was on the floor watching as this other me stood there with the sword in his hand and what was left of Caliborn at his feet.” he goes on.

“So the one with the sword became Bro? That’s why he was so different because you weren’t in him.” June beams and snaps her fingers like she’s just solved some big mystery.

“The question of why he became the way he is now is also complicated. I mean, were we the same when we split or am I something different to him? If I’d been faster than him would I be like him now? I don’t know.” the Dirkcendant shrugs.

“What do you mean by faster than him?” June asks.

“There were two of us, we couldn’t both rule. Dirk didn’t go all that way and deal with all that he did to spend an eternity negotiating with someone else. So he moved before I did, he ripped my soul out and jammed it in glass. I was a mirror for a while, then eventually glasses. I didn’t feel especially charitable towards helping him so he found another use for me.” the Dirkcendant says quietly.

“He put him in Cal. He was like… the processor or something. No free will, right?” you ask as a wary part of your mind fears that he could be tricking you somehow.

“Not really. But I’m not saying that to absolve myself of responsibility. You shouldn’t be giving me credit here, Cal still needed my thoughts to run so I’m still responsible even if I didn’t actively choose anything. I’m not asking for your forgiveness, that’s too big and-” the Dirkcendant is cut off as June grabs him up in another crushing hug that she doesn’t seem inclined to release him from. All the Dirkcendant’s protests get squeezed into one strangled ‘hurk’ noise as he pointlessly fights against god strength and fails.

“You’ve been trapped in there all that time and I didn’t know! I didn’t get you out!” June wails as she squeezes him tight.

“But what about Dave?” Karkat interrupts and though June stops squeezing the Dirkcendant so tightly she doesn’t put him down.

“That is Dave. The Dave that pulled that spell off and got up to Earth is as much Dave as I am Dirk. It’s the same thing, only he willingly turned into him and Sollux and it wasn’t so extreme as with me.” the Dirkcendant answers.

“I’m like, original flavour.” you offer.

“That does sound like Dave.” Jade concedes.

“I don’t think it’s really the same at all. It’s more like they’re both possessing a new body.” Mituna says with a shake of his head.

“So the question surely then is can we get them both back to how we know them?” Kanaya asks Mituna.

Oh, shit. Kanaya and Mituna are together again! There’s so much you remember being told about her, oh man, you can’t wait to talk to the two of them together.

“Can you do that?” Karkat asks, throwing you from your train of thought.

Can you… separate again?

You could, you did it before. Besides you’ve already paid the price for your- Sollux’s creation. You’d just need another physical component, right? But… that’d hurt. It’d hurt and you’re hurt enough. You’re stronger like this, protected with all of your power in one place, unable to be separated by anyone else. You don’t have to cross planes and travel miles and miles to get to you all while you’re vulnerable.

“I can’t.” you say quietly and step back.

“You can.” Terezi corrects you.

“I won’t, then. I’m stronger like this, I can’t be separated and unable to protect hi- me. Us. Me. I need to be stronger.” you insist.

You press your hand to your armour, feel the gear designs on your chestplate. Isn’t this what he made you for anyway? Bro wanted a kid who’d destroy, so you’re going to destroy him. You already took Cal from him, now you’re coming for him.

“Stronger for what?” Karkat asks.

“He intends to fight him, to fight Bro.” Rose says softly.

“Wait, wait, I thought the whole deal with Sollux was that he was able to revive Dave just like he did a moment ago. Sort of. Isn’t he weaker when he’s like this?” Jade asks.

“Eh, not really. Me and Dave are sort of the same right now. I don’t have a familiar and neither does he now. He’s more powerful than before, full access to all of his powers but it’s kind of a glass cannon situation. He’s more powerful but a lot easier to kill.” June explains.

“Either I die or I don’t.” you shrug.

“Normally I’d say that, yeah, those are the options you fucking idiot but lately I’m amazed at the rainbow of ‘sort of dead’ and ‘differently alive’ that my friends can be. I don’t mean you either, Kanaya.” Karkat adds that last part with a hasty look at her.

“Thank you for thinking of me.” Kanaya says politely.

“You’re not going to fight him, neither of you are.” your mom says firmly.

“What? He needs to die!” Rose exclaims and you agree with her on that.

“Yeah, side note, who is…?” the Dirkcendant trails off, gesturing vaguely at Rose but June shakes her head like it’s a bad time to talk about who Rose is.

“Mom, I have to fight him. It’s always been coming and I keep running from it but it doesn’t work. The world’s ending, I have to.” you insist.

“No.” your mom says firmly, her sharp pink eyes pinning you in place.

You’re a god, a fully realised and totally whole god with fucking god powers and you’re stuck hesitating because your entirely human mother just told you that you aren’t allowed to do something. Shit, you’ll have to ask Kanaya and Mituna if Signless ever had to deal with this kind of thing. He probably did.

“You’re my son, Dave. I’m your mother. It’s my job to protect you and I’ve completely fucking failed at it for most of your life-” she starts.

“Mom, no, that wasn’t your fault.” you try but she talks over you.

“-but I’m not going to let that continue now. No child of mine is facing that man. You don’t need to be this because you don’t need to fight him.” she says.

“I do, though?” you say, what else CAN you say to that?

“No. I’m going to deal with him.” your mom says firmly.

“That’s a terrible idea, he’ll laugh at you and then throw you into a pit of endless flesh eating spiders. Actually, since he just lost Cal, and I’m back, and Jake is done he’ll probably not even laugh and it’ll be straight to agonising mind melting torture. Then he’ll turn on the rest of us.” the Dirkcendant says flatly.

“I will deal with him.” your mom repeats, her words firmer.

The Dirkcendant sighs and wriggles free of June’s now lax grasp and moves closer to your mom. As he moves your mom reaches into her jacket pocket as casual as can be.

“Look, you’re powerful and all for a human, I know that’s why he picked you but there’s nothing you can do against anyone of a more powerful species like-” the Dirkcendant starts.

He’s cut off as your mother flings something at him that explodes on the floor with a flare of neon light. Glowing strings fly up into the air and then snap down around the Dirkcendant, pinning him to the floor with a scream. His body shudders, wings and faces appearing in places you’re sure they shouldn’t be.

As your mom walks closer to him she lifts her foot from the floor and pulls a shining knife from her boot. You know that knife, that’s the knife that killed Kankri!

“Wait that’s- how did you get that?!” Rose exclaims, shoving her hand into her bag and not finding the knife at all.

“I gave birth to the goddamn antichrist and you think I didn’t have a plan for how to kill an angel should I meet one? You think I didn’t plan how to kill him or ANY god that crossed me?” your mom asks smoothly, crouching down by her trap with the still thrashing Dirkcendant in it.

He freezes as your mom points the angel killing knife at him.

“Are you going to get in my way?” she asks.

“Mom, please-” you try.

“Let him go!” June demands, her hair crackling with electricity.

Your mom doesn’t move an inch, just stares at the Dirkcendant.

“Are you going to stop me from dealing with Bro, formerly Dirk, current ruler of Hell?” she asks patiently.

The Dirkcendant snarls something at her in a language that you don’t speak but one that has both Karkat and Mituna raising their eyebrows.

“Shit, you’re lucky that God’s dead, talking like that.” Mituna mutters.

“Vow to me and I’ll let you out.” your mom says calmly.

The Dirkcendant hisses at her, feathers shaking through the net that ensnares him but he speaks again and in English this time.

“I vow that I won’t knowingly disrupt whatever plans you have for Bro, the ruler of Hell.” he growls.

Mom slides the dagger back into her boot and puts her hand into the net to shake one of the Dirkcendant’s. With that done and a line of red script fading around her palm she stands, snaps her fingers, and the trap vanishes. The Dirkcendant shudders all over as his form goes back to normal.

“I’m dealing with him. Dave, you don’t need to stay like this. Let me protect you.” your mom insists, walking back to you.

Behind her June helps the Dirkcendant to his feet with both of them scowling at your mom’s back. She reaches up to you again, taking your face between her hands.

“Baby, please. I need to fix this, I can’t let you get hurt any more.” she pleads.

She’s so set on this, clearly motivated by guilt at least in part but you don’t know what to do. You look at Rose and at Karkat who, well, he obviously wants Sollux back. He wants you back to the people he knows and you want that too, when you look at him you hate him and you love him and just thinking about it makes your head hurt.

Bro needs to be stopped and as far as you were concerned it had to be you. It’s not like you want this, though, you don’t want to fight. You never have. Your mom is looking at you so pleadingly and you don’t know if you could stand the thought of dying on her or any of them again. Even if you weren’t awake to see like you were just now you’d know, it’d be your dying thought.

You lift your hands to the clasps on your chestplate and pop it open, it clanks to the floor and the noise echoes around this room of trophies of other gods and other important people. Your hand brushes your side, the place where your rib was and where your waist now curves a little more inwards for its absence. You go to the other side, to its opposite and still present rib.

You missed Sollux and you missed Dave. You’re both and neither and one and the other all at once. You might be more magically powerful this way but you don’t feel stronger as such, you feel alone and you always hated that.

Everything that Sollux is floods your mind, every part of him that’s perfect, that you love. He’s been there for you and he has his own life, he loves people that you don’t and hates one particular person that you love. You can’t do all of that as one person. You can’t hang out with each other as one person. The two of you are together like this but you’re apart too.

You dig your fingers through your skin, reaching for your rib and part of you (you know which part) is vaguely pleased that you’ll be symmetrical again. You pull your rib out, pushing through the pain and giving Sollux back everything you gave him before.

When your vision clears you’re on the ground in your mom’s arms with Sollux tangled up with you. She’s murmuring soft and sweet things to you both, whispering that ‘baby baby’ nickname that she has for Sollux into his hair. You stare a little as he opens his eyes and blinks all four a little out of order and sees what’s around him.

“Sollux.” you whisper, you’d been so sure for so long that he was dead but then you _were_ him and now you’re you and-

Sollux doesn’t so much say your name as shriek a few of the letters in your name very loudly and fling himself at you, knocking you both out of your mom’s arms.

“I thought I lost you forever and I lost my rib then I died and Karkat pulled some bullshit stunt and then you were dEAD AND-” Sollux is just yelling into your shirt now so you scratch his hair and tip your head back to see the rest of your friends and family.

“Hi.” you smile weakly at them.

“Hi, Dave.” Rose says back with a little laugh.

“Welcome back, asshat. You wouldn’t believe the shit we’ve been through.” Karkat says softly and vaguely insultingly.

“I would, actually. I have his memories of you rescuing him. Nice wings.” you say and then freeze.

You tap Sollux’s shoulder quickly and urgently and whisper for him to let you up. Slightly confused he does so but still clings to your side, his hand going over the place where your rib was a moment ago.

“Karkat, I have to ask you something important. Super important.” you say completely straight faced.

“I’m suspicious, but ok, what?” Karkat says squinting at you.

“Did it hurt?” you ask.

“Oh fuck.” Sollux gasps and buries his face in your back so he doesn’t give the game away.

“Did what hurt? A lot’s happened so you’re going to need to-”

“When you fell from heaven.” you finish.

Karkat’s jaw goes shut and you see Mituna wince in the background, at your back Sollux shudders with just contained laughter.

“Yes. It DID. It was the single most painful experience of my life, you absolute fucking CRETIN. Fuck it, I’m calling up Aradia, I want a refund. I’m handing you both back to her!” Karkat shouts at you.

“Hey, what did _I_ do?!” Sollux protests.

“PLENTY and you LAUGHED, I SAW YOU!” Karkat snaps at him.

“Yeah, well, she likes me more and you didn’t get a receipt when you stole my soul back so too bad.” Sollux sneers.

“I’m going to rearrange your fucking eyeballs!” Karkat threatens.

Your mother’s arms sneak around you and she pulls you in for a hug as Karkat and Sollux continue to argue with increasing absurdity.

“I’m glad you’re safe, baby. I was so worried.” she says and kisses your temple.

“We’re in Hell so safe is kinda ehh. You came down here though, you left the property. Are you ok?” you ask in concern. In the background Karkat threatens to shake Sollux so hard that his eyeballs will start displaying fortunes like some magic eight ball.

“I’m… I’m ok. I always knew this was coming and I had a plan. I’m here now. I’ll take care of all of this.” she promises and strokes your hair.

She stands up and pulls you to your feet as well.

“Come on.” she says softly and squeezes your hands a little.

With that said she turns around and walks towards the door, the Dirkcendant and June shift out of her way but stare after her as she goes down the stairs. You follow after but pause when you reach the Dirkcendant.

“What do I call you? You’re not Dirk and you’re sure as shit not Cal.” you ask, looking at him.

“I don’t know. I’ve not had anyone talking to me in… more time than I’d like to think about. I didn’t think you’d want to talk to me either so I wasn’t thinking about it.” he admits.

“I guess I get that. I think you were just as hurt by _him_ as I was though. So it’s not like I blame you, besides which you tried to help me since you had the power to. You were nice to my body even before you knew I could see you.” you point out.

“It’s also not a competition. Dave, what’s your mom doing?” June asks seriously, glancing down the way she left.

“I don’t know.” you hesitate and look at the Dirkcendant again, “you really can’t help fight him now since you vowed?”

The Dirkcendant sighs and raises his hand, pink symbols etched around the palm and back of his hand in a loop.

“I’m sorry, Dave. I’m afraid I can’t do that.” he says solemnly.

You and June both react to the quote at the same time with surprised laughter but your amusement just seems to confuse the shit out of the Dirkcendant.

“I- what?” he asks, obviously lost.

“Wait, are you telling me that wasn’t a deliberate quote?” June giggles delightedly.

“From what?” the Dirkcendant asks.

“The movie, 2001 Space Odyssey!” you say in a rush.

“No? It’s not like I’ve seen a lot of movies, I was trapped in a nightmare puppet familiar.” he says defensively.

“Oh! Oh! You could pick Hal as a name! It kind of sounds like Cal but it’s different, like you’re different now.” June says.

“And I should always remember everything I did as Cal. It’d be an effective reminder.” the Dirkcendant agrees quietly.

“That’s a really sad way of looking at that but I’m going to go with it because picking a name is a very important way of defining yourself, even if the reason you go with is weird it doesn’t matter because it’s yours.” she says and squeezes his shoulder.

“I’ve never understood why you’re so aggressively nice to me.” the Dirkcendant or possibly Hal says a little weakly as he looks at June who just beams at him.

That’s just what June is like with people she likes, that’s how she was with you. She’s just a great friend.

“Because we’re friends. Do you want to be Hal or something else?” June asks.

He looks between June and you and then smiles slightly at June.

“You think it’s funny, huh? Well, sure. Fine, who am I to argue with the god of dumb jokes?” he says with a slight shrug and the tiniest of sneaky smiles.

“That’s not what I am!” June laughs.

“I said what I said.” the- Hal says back.

“Dave, we should go. I don’t know what your mom’s doing but her doing it alone would be bad.” Mituna warns you.

Shit, he’s right. Several of your friends have already hurried off after her and you catch up with Rose about halfway down the stairs, she’s watching Karkat and Sollux bicker about something as your mom waits in the open doorway to the building.

“You can’t just go steal magic items!” Karkat insists.

“I can. I have and I will.” Sollux counters.

“I mean that didn’t work out great last time. Or, well, it did for you but not for me. Or maybe everything had to happen exactly this way because of fate? Rose help me out here.” you say as you look from Hal to Rose.

“That’s a bigger philosophical discussion than I’m really prepared to get into right now. What with the complex nature of causality, pre-determined fate and if one can steal something that’s already been stolen.” Rose shrugs.

“Boys, stop. Karkat, I need the car back again.” your mom interrupts.

“I’ll go outside and get it.” Karkat nods, walking out of the door and reaching to his chest as he does so.

“A car inside doesn’t really help, good job at working that out!” Sollux calls after him.

“You anywhere doesn’t really help but here we are!” Karkat shouts back from outside.

“I really don’t need to hear all of this but, wtf, I guess I’m cursed.” the other demon, Sollux’s memories tell you they’re Cirava, says with a snort of amusement.

“I’m so excited for this, I’ve been waiting this whole trip.” Terezi grins wolfishly and hurries down the stairs.

“Waiting for what? Is there a plan we don’t know about? Hey! Come back here!” Rose calls after Terezi who ignores her and pulls your mom out the door arm in arm with each other.

Well, shit, you guess you’re going along with whatever is happening.

Your considerably large group gets outside to the now very different looking car. Your mom is climbing in the driver’s side door and talking to Karkat through the open window.

“Just get in.” she tells him.

“But I need to make the car invisible with June, on the outside.” Karkat protests.

“You need to get in. So get.” your mom insists.

Hearing the command you guess that Bec decides that this is a job for him. He hops out of the car with a bark and proceeds to herd Karkat inside and then turns to do the same to everyone else who has not already got inside. You end up squished between Jade and Hal on far more seats than this car used to or even should have.

“Roxy, we’re not invisib-AH!” June had been leaning over the front seat to try to talk to your mom but her suddenly flooring it put a stop to that and June winds up sprawled on the floor.

The whole situation isn’t helped by Terezi looking over the back of her seat at your Mom’s side and snickering at a very irritated June. Your grip on the seat underneath you is white knuckle tight as your mom drives as fast as she can and as erratically as she can.

“Wait, wait look out!” Kanaya cries out but, nope, apparently your mom _meant_ to run over two demons and a large directional sign.

You only just stay in your seat as the car jumps from the people she ran over.

“Exactly what is the plan? Because it seems like getting us all fuckin’ killed! Can I get out?!” Cirava squeaks as the car swerves and they’re squished up between Mituna and the door.

“Roxy, Roxy I’m not getting in the way but THAT is the direction of the TOWER!” Hal shouts up the car.

“Everyone got their seatbelts on, kids?” Terezi asks loudly.

SEVERAL people in the car protest that they are, in fact, older than Terezi. Terezi seems chronically short of fucks to give so instead you just hurry to get your own seatbelt in order as Jade does the same.

From your position in the back of the car you can more or less see a straight shot up the front and through the windscreen, sure enough you can see the distant shape of the tower but more importantly a lot of very armed and angry looking demons. Your mom swerves the car so the back fishtails out and slams into a building, a few demons scatter and others try to grab for the car but she’s already gunning it away from the building she hit. One wall of it is toppling over to rest almost like a house of cards.

“Oh, oh I felt that.” Rose gasps.

Right, the car’s powered by her now. Sollux remembers that so you guess you do too. Either way the place on the car that hit the building is fine and not caved in and destroyed in any way.

“He definitely noticed that, even without Cal telling him things he’ll know about this.” Hal says under his breath, craning his neck to look out of the window that shows the tower with its still swirling storm.

You’re not feeling great about this, you’ve gotta admit.

The car skids to a stop facing the tower and the building she just smashed through. The demons around aren’t foolish enough to just run at that car but they also have to do something so they all seem to be nervously watching the car and each other. Your mom revs the engine, once, twice.

All at once she floors it, sending you all hurtling towards the toppled building. She uses its fallen side like a giant ramp and all at once the car is airborne. June gasps and clenches a fist and the car suddenly gains an amount of air that you could describe as… unreal.

“You drive.” your mom says, squirming out of her seat and letting Terezi take her place.

“SHE’S BLIND!” Rose yells but your mom doesn’t respond.

The higher you climb in the air to avoid hitting the tower the more you can see and what you can see makes your blood freeze. Standing on the roof… is Bro. The car is headed straight to him and he actually looks surprised.

He’s a god though and even though hitting him with a car is very cool it’s nowhere near enough to kill him, it doesn’t even really hurt him. He catches the front of the car and slides backwards across the roof a little, but he’s fine.

Your mom slams the sunroof of the car open and stands up out of it, her arm held in the air and as she talks it starts to glow in dark orange text that winds all over her skin covering her entire arm.

“Dirk Strider, former angel of Heaven, current ruler of Hell, Bro. You made me a deal and you didn’t hold up your end of the fucking bargain. You OWE me.” she shouts at him and he recoils, dropping the car to the rooftop.

“You- what’re you talking about? My son is the antichrist, he’s ending the world, just like you agreed to. I owe you _nothing_.” he snaps at her.

“He is not and he can’t be. You reneged on our deal and by the covenants of our deal I have a right to have an educated group of your peers to adjudicate our disagreement on our deal. Which in your case would be gods. I’m taking you to court, motherfucker, consider yourself served.” she hisses gleefully.


	44. A Little Wicked

Everyone in the car except for Terezi is staring at Roxy in shock. You have no idea what she’s thinking but you’re very glad to not be her right now.

Bro drops the car and Rose gasps a little as the seatbelt snaps tight against her. You look around real quick and check on everyone, they’re all here and fine for now. Dave looks a little like he might pass out and Sollux seems understandably terrified but that’s all perfectly sensible.

“You can’t claim that I didn’t hold up my end of the bargain. You agreed to bear my child, and you did. You had my son, gave him to me, he is exactly who I said he is-” Bro starts with a menacing growl.

“No he isn’t.” Roxy interrupts him.

“Out. We need to get out.” Hal hisses.

Yeah, a confined space doesn’t bode well for you here. June who was already knocked to the floor rolls onto her side and opens one of the passenger doors and steps out.

“You’re denying me justice then?” Roxy presses.

“That’s- June. Of course.” Bro sighs, taking note of her exit.

“Hey! You went back on our deal, are you denying me?” Roxy presses him.

You scurry out of the car behind June but hesitate in the doorway as you hear Rose make a startled noise behind you. Looking around you see that Terezi has her hand in the back of Rose’s shirt and has pulled her down onto the row of seats that back behind the driver’s seat. She’s keeping her out of sight.

“I. Held up. My. End.” Bro insists stiffly.

“So prove it. We had a DEAL.” Roxy presses and lifts her orange marked arm once more.

“No. I’m not proving ANYTHING to you, I’m not mediating shit.” Bro tells Roxy firmly, you think he’s losing what patience he has with her.

Considering she hit him with a car and destroyed a building you’re kind of amazed that you’re all still alive right now. Roxy smiles a little and reaches into her jacket, pulling out a pre-prepared spell on paper and starts to unfold it.

“I thought you’d say that.” Roxy says cheerily and throws the spell out into the air, she touches it and it freezes in place. The paper falls away blank and leaves the spell circle glowing in the air as Roxy starts to chant in a language you don’t know off of the top of your head but feel mysteriously certain is Greek.

The circle of pink light glows in the air and then rips a hole through reality. A red skinned woman who looks demonic at first glance leans through with a furious scowl on her face.

“The father of my son made me a deal and has not upheld his end, I have no one in this plane that I can appeal to and he has refused any form of arbitration as he says he has upheld his deal. He intends to kill our son to achieve his own ends, a son that he took from me under false pretenses. I demand justice and arbitration from a jury of his peers.” Roxy says before the woman in the portal can say anything.

She glares at Roxy and is about to speak when she spots Bro and her face lights up like a sunrise. If a sunrise was excited at the prospect of seeing Bro messily disemboweled. Actually, given that Rose appears to be sun aligned that may be true. She turns quickly into the space she came from and calls something out quickly and two other similar looking women peer through with equal expressions of evil delight.

“She called the furies.” June whispers in horror.

“They do justice.” Terezi adds helpfully.

“Sometimes!” June hisses at her.

“This is absurd. Leave my realm.” Bro orders with a snarl.

“Sadly we’ve been invoked, this is a legal matter now. Athena and the others will be happy to arbitrate your case in front of a neutral jury of your peers.” one of the furies says cheerily.

“Neutral?” Bro repeats skeptically, resting his fist on the front of the car as he leans over and crumpling the hood of it slightly with the pressure as he does so.

“Well, as neutral as can be. The fact that you’ve made most of the gods hate you because you tried to kill and eat them and it’s your son that caused that mess is… what’s the legal term?” one of the furies trails off.

“A ‘you’ problem!” another cackles.

Bro snarls but a screen of red light bubbles out from the rip in space, giving the indication that there’s no getting to the furies and attempts to do so would be… inadvisable.

“Do you have legal council, your unholiness?” the first fury asks Bro sweetly.

“This is Hell, I have all the lawyers I’ll ever need, demonic and more.” Bro says with his voice tight and angry.

“Do you have legal council Ms. Lalonde?” the third fury asks Roxy next.

“I have two lawyers on my team. One of them is Terezi here.” she says and waves at Terezi who grins and leans out of the window and mock salutes the three furies.

“Hmm, you’re going to need legal representation that’s qualified to practice across multiple planes of reality. The trial won’t be held on Earth or in Hell, you need someone who has passed the interdimensional bar exam.” the first fury says sympathetically.

“Oh, I know that. A demon legislacerator should work, yes? I’ve got one on retainer.” Roxy says pleasantly.

“The fuck you do.” Bro snarls and snaps a finger.

There’s a flash of teal light and all at once Redglare is standing at his side, seeming somewhat surprised by this development herself. She looks from the damaged car and all of you to the furies and finally to her boss in one smooth sweep of her eyes.

“Yes, sir?” she asks calmly.

“Roxy says that she has a legislacerator on retainer. This can’t be true.” Bro grits out in a tone that suggests that it really ought not to be true if everyone wants to keep all of their limbs.

“Hm, we’re unable to offer legal council to mortals in Hell as a contractual formality. The only time we’re able to do that is on other planes and even so I can’t see that she has a deal with any legislacerator bound to her body. But if this is a case that’s not held in Hell… who made this arrangement with you?” Redglare asks calmly.

“Tyzias Entyyk.” Roxy says, you know that name.

Bro snaps his fingers again and a tired looking demon appears, a tired demon who goes to awake and alarmed very quickly.

“Uhhhhh. What’s… going on?” she asks uneasily.

“Did you agree to be Roxy Lalonde’s legal representation? She’s trying to take Bro to court and says you’re her representation.” Redglare asks simply.

“Not in Hell, I can’t. I can’t represent her against the Devil.” Tyzias says.

“It won’t be in Hell. You said you’d help me if I ever needed legal help _outside_ of Hell, so help.” Roxy insists.

“No deal, no representation.” Bro says with malicious delight.

“Well… not exactly.” Redglare says slowly, looking at Tyzias and then the rest of your group.

Bro shoots her a sharp look but Redglare just shrugs.

“I’m sorry, sir, but a legislascerator’s word is her bond more so than for other demons. If there’s proof that Tyzias made that offer and if the court in question fits the specifications of that then there’s nothing we can do. The law is the law.” Redglare says.

“I make the law!” Bro snarls in her face but Redglare is not intimidated at all.

“Ohh, bad idea.” Hal says with a wince, you realise you haven’t let him out of the car yet but this is probably a bad time for him to leap out anyway.

“Sir, with all due respect, I was the head of the legislacerator before you were a God, there are a great many laws on our books that predate you. The Devil is in the details and the law is the law. We can bend it to our will and manipulate it with our intelligence and cunning but our own laws are firm. If you want to change our laws after this then you may set that in motion but you cannot change things retroactively in the moment. If Tyzias promised this then that is what she will do. Of course, I would require proof of some kind that this did indeed happen.” Redglare says significantly as she looks you all over.

“It wasn’t a deal, it was a verbal agreement of employment.” Roxy says.

“That’s your word. Not good enough.” Bro says.

“I had it recorded.” Roxy frowns.

Oh. OH!

“WAIT!” you shout and desperately rummage in your belt of holding and triumphantly hold the tape aloft.

“Please give that to me.” Redglare says and you hurry across to hand the tape over.

You’re a little twitchy being this close to Bro but you need to give Redglare the evidence that Rose had the foresight to ensure you brought along. You hand the tape to Redglare who lifts it into the air, telekinetically holding it above her hands. The wheels in the tape spin and in the air before you a miragelike haze forms, showing Tyzias and Roxy in one of her interviews.

_”You were right about Stels, we resolved our whole thing. We’re good again.” Tyzias smiles softly._

_“Oh, I’m so glad! Sometimes people just deal with their feelings and stress differently, you know? I’m glad my advice helped you two.” Roxy beams at her._

_“It really did, and hey, if you ever need legal representation outside of Hell you can consider me on retainer for you. I owe you that much for helping keep me and Stelsa together.” Tyzias offers._

_“That’s really kind of you. I hope I won’t ever need it but thank you.” Roxy laughs._

_“Ah, everyone hopes they won’t need us but when you do…” Tyzias laughs, her voice a little rough around the edges._

_“Then in that situation I’d be really grateful, I’m sure!” Roxy giggles._

“I should have been more specific.” Tyzias says under her breath, you’re close enough that you think you might be the only one who heard.

“That’s as ironclad as it gets without being a written agreement. Tyzias owed Roxy a debt and the offer of representation was payment, she is bound to uphold that offer. I would also suggest removing Stelsa and Latula from the pool of your potential legal council due to conflicts of interest, I do see Mituna in that car.” Redglare says simply.

“Then you have representation. In that case…” the lead fury smiles.

She holds out a hand and snaps her fingers and the world around you blurs and fades away into pure and brilliant white. Before your heart can leap into your throat at the similarity things fade back into focus. You’re stood in what is technically a large office, with desks and chairs. There are white clay pots with fig plants in them and the design does suggest ‘office’, if the only materials that were allowed in its construction were ‘things found in the Parthenon’. The desks are solid hewn marble and the seats look like they were cut out of pillars that support an Ancient Greek temple.

The whole place is deeply weird and the car just sat in the middle of it doesn’t help at all. Tyzias is still stood at your side but Redglare and Bro are gone. One of the furies stands calmly behind a desk with a smile on her face.

“It will take a while for both sides to interview any witnesses they may need, to file the appropriate paperwork, submit evidence and so on. We will also need to assemble our panel of judges and our jury. We endeavour to bring you justice swiftly and brutally, use your time well!” and with that she vanishes.

“Well, fuck.” Tyzias groans.

The rest of your group who were still in the car start getting out, all looking around as bewildered as you were. And just as Rose is getting out of the car you see two demons walk around a wall of pillars looking equally lost. One of which you know, Latula, and the other you’re going to guess is Stelsa.

“Please tell me you had some kind of plan, Roxy. Tell me you didn’t just do this as some last ditch effort.” Tyzias groans, pinching the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger.

“It’s kind of both, there are elements of plan, a few details are very clear. The rest… less so.” Roxy admits with a weak smile as she leans on the roof of the car.

Tyzias’ expression is tight and really expresses distressed screaming while she manages to remain totally silent. She puts a hand into her chest and pulls out a mug then goes back in for a steel flask which she unscrews. With a smooth motion, and without taking her eyes off of Roxy, she fills her mug with a clear liquid which you’re going to guess is vodka or something and then drains it in one.

“Sweetheart, what’s… what’s going on?” Stelsa, you’re assuming she’s Stelsa, asks as she edges closer.

“We’re representing the mother of the antichrist who is taking the Devil himself to holy court for…” Tyzias looks at Roxy for help.

“Violation of the deal he made with me when I agreed to carry his child.” Roxy confirms and holds up her arm as proof.

“I am not a legislacerator though. My maker is but-” Latula starts.

“Do you remember the law though?” Tyzias asks.

“Well… yes. I’m probably, like, unbelievably rusty but I know the law.” Latula admits.

“Great, then at the very least you can help. This is an impossible case and we’re probably all going to die but, fuck it, right?” Tyzias laughs weakly.

“Fucking it, eh? Well now you ARE in my area of expertise!” Latula laughs.

Mituna laughs as well and, of course, Latula then notices him and proceeds to immediately throw herself at him to kiss his entire face. You wonder how Kanaya feels about Mituna having a girlfriend given that he was dating her brother, but Kanaya doesn’t seem to have any feelings at all about it. You guess it’s been a really long time, Mituna probably never thought he’d see Signless again so it’s not fair to have expected him to never date anyone else.

Once Latula is done kissing Mituna she immediately turns to embarrassing Sollux which brings you GREAT joy to watch.

“So what happens now?” Rose asks.

“First I’m going to work out the details of what sounds on the face of it to be a batshit insane case, I work out what line I’m going to take with it and try to disrupt the other side’s case. Then we win, or suffer various horrible fates and if we’re lucky eventually die.” Tyzias says flatly.

“Alright, but at first glance do you think we have a chance?” Rose presses.

Tyzias sighs and pushes her glasses up her nose before turning her gaze to Roxy.

“Your argument is essentially that Dave isn’t the antichrist, right? That’s the only thing you could nail Bro with in that deal.” she asks and Roxy nods.

“But I am though, right?” Dave says, clearly uneasy.

“You might not be, your Mom did stuff with the prophecy so it might not actually mean you.” you offer helpfully.

“So I’m not then?” Dave says.

“You’re thinking about this all wrong, Dave. Clearly you’ve forgotten everything you learnt about the legal system in your time in Hell.” Tyzias says with a shake of her head.

“Yeah, I absolutely have. Total memory loss. I’ve just got the occasional bit that I know from time travelling since then, like that one case where- OH! Where Karkat wrote Eridan’s argument for that preacher guy’s soul! That was me, not past me! I mean, I guess it was a past me but a lot more recent.” Dave says excitedly.

“I what now?” you ask.

“Wait, that was you? Fuck, that was the funniest thing.” Tyzias snickers.

You look around clearly lost and Dave decides to fill you in.

“I went back in time at one point and Tyzias thought I was past me so I got called into some case over which side got custody of this guy’s soul. I think Eridan had palmed work off onto you and instead of arguing about how great he was you basically ripped the guy a new one for several paragraphs and eventually concluded with the argument that no matter how dickish the guy was he didn’t deserve scorpions shoved up his urethra for eternity or something. Aradia read it out in front of everyone!” Dave grins.

“That sounds entirely like something Karkat would say.” Kanaya chimes in helpfully from afar.

“It was pretty great. Still, my point is that this isn’t how the legal system works. Think of it like this. I want to go out there and make an argument that is valid. A valid argument is one wherein if you accept all of the premises then the conclusion must follow.” Tyzias begins.

“Take this, for example. Mmmm, ‘All greebs are either meep or morp’, ‘this is a greeb’, ‘this greeb is not morp’. So, from that you can only say that ‘this greeb is…’” Tyzias looks at you all patiently.

“The greeb is meep? What’s a-” Dave starts.

“It’s nothing, they’re nonsense words. The logic just holds. The case I need to make is one where the only answer the jury can come to is the one that means we win and don’t suffer horribly. Ideally my argument would also be sound, that’s where your argument is valid and all of the premises are actually true. That’s nice to have but not essential.” Tyzias says and sips from her mug.

“If we’re dealing with gods and in a magical court surely there are going to be ways to compel us to be truthful, how can the truth not matter?” you demand, this seems like a gross oversight to you.

“You can say entirely truthful things without being at all honest. Like- look. Make me a vow to answer a question truthfully and answer it without saying something you don’t want to.” Sollux challenges you and escapes Latula’s grip enough to hold out a hand to you.

You look at his hand for a moment and the returned blue/red light of his eyes, you’re so happy that he’s himself again. You’re about to take it when Tyzias smacks your hand out of the way.

“We don’t have time for amature hour. If you want to prove this point I’ll agree to be truthful for two minutes on the topic of mine and Stelsa’s tenth anniversary. Deal?” Tyzias asks.

Sollux pauses but shakes her hand all the same. To your surprise both Stelsa and Roxy seem a little thrown by this agreement, there’s clearly something going on here. The two demons shake and Sollux tips his head curiously, narrowing all four eyes at Tyzias.

“Tell me about your tenth anniversary with Stelsa.” Sollux says.

“It wasn’t an unusual anniversary, plenty of demons have similar ones. We had dinner together, dinner was out on the patio specifically. We talked about a lot of things, my work and hers. Talked about our love life and our future, where we saw things going and that led to the bedroom. Things got pretty heated there, lots of ‘I love yous’ and I’ll admit we ended up completely breaking the bed and my upstairs neighbour kicked up a real fuss about how loud she’d been screaming my name.” Tyzias says with a pretty filthy grin on her face.

“Yeah, ok, we get the picture.” you interrupt.

“You really don’t. The whole point is saying something that’s true but not honest, right?” Jade asks and Tyzias nods.

“If I was being honest I’d have told you that we had dinner, argued about work and our relationship and dinner ended up being thrown out of the window and landed on the patio outside. Stels was aiming for my face. I went to the bedroom to cool off but she followed me and we fought, even with us both insisting that we wanted to be together we still ended up causing a lot of property damage before splitting up and going our separate ways. It didn’t stay that way because I ended up getting some good advice but…” Tyzias glances at Roxy at that point.

“Anyway, even if the truth doesn’t objectively matter to this case I do need you all to be as honest as possible when I ask you about what you know. The fewer curveballs I have to deal with up there the better.” Tyzias finishes.

“Alright, this is a dire situation but I’m going to organise this! Let’s get this car out of the way and start writing down who everyone… OH! Sir!” Stelsa gasps, catching sight of Hal for the first time. You guess that him being on the other side of the car to her had blocked her view of him until now. Actually… had he been hiding back there?

“He’s not Bro.” Mituna says quickly.

“We used to be the same person, I was part of Cal.” Hal offers by way of explanation.

Stelsa and Latula look at Hal in stunned surprise for a moment or two and then at each other.

“I think I should get a list of everyone we have and we should start taking statements as soon as possible.” Stelsa advises.

“That sounds like a good idea. I’ll get started with Mituna since I already know him well, if that’s alright with you. I should probably defer to you on this, right?” Latula checks.

“Well, my Zizi would be in charge but I’m always happy to be her support! A chain of three should be fine. Besides, the other side might have every legislacerator but as for us but we only have to communicate with each other which is much simpler. That’s a positive!” Stelsa says brightly.

“Sure, come on Tuna. Catch me up on what the fresh hell is happening.” Latula smiles and pulls Mituna away to another table far enough away that their talking doesn’t disturb anyone.

Stelsa is easily the most chipper and high energy demon that you’ve ever seen and you watch in awe as she produces whiteboards and an amazing amount of perfectly organised stationary. She starts making profiles of who you all are and how you’re connected to each other, all of your basic details and when those changed if they did. In no time at all she’s got a whole wall of profiles connected together with coloured string, neat little sections highlighted and annotated with sticky notes. It’s a thing of beauty and part of you wonders why you couldn’t have worked with a demon like Stelsa in your classes instead of Sollux. Stelsa wouldn’t leave you to do most of the work, show up at the last minute, then insult your face and romantically confuse you.

You have a lot of sitting around and waiting to do as the legally inclined demons interview each of you in turn. It’s clear that Tyzias is taking on the people that she thinks will be key to the case and you’re not high on that list.

“How do you think it’s going to go? I don’t know how much she can get out of you and Dave given the whole… memory thing.” you ask Rose as you both watch Dave being questioned across the other side of the room.

“Well, everything I packed in that belt had a use, it got us to this point. I can only assume that it means that we’re on the right track.” Rose says thoughtfully.

“I’m just nervous about this trial. It’s not like I think Hannibal Lecter god-eater is going to be wildly popular with the other gods but-” you start.

“But this room also contains the people who locked them in there with him.” Rose finishes for you.

“Right. Dave and June made the deal but you clearly knew about it at the time, you planned for us to get here so you had to at least in part. Or they could allege that you did.” you agree.

“Right. So, really, our argument may come down to whether or not Dave is who everyone thinks he is. That’s what Mom is alleging, isn’t it?” Rose points out, how ironic, you might get a balanced jury after all.

“I mean… I know Tyzias was saying about the truth not exactly being relevant but… Well, he is though, right? The world is ending because of Dave existing. Your mom tried to mess up the prophecy but isn’t the world ending proof that she didn’t manage it or… god this whole thing makes my head hurt.” you groan.

“The world ending isn’t proof of anything. If the horsemen have been told it’s ending and if Bro believes it will then their faith will work just as much as people’s faith in gods works.” Rose says with a shake of her head.

You look across the room and sigh, letting your exhale push you back onto sprawling out on the table that you’d been sat on.

“I say this as a being of purely magic, but magic is bullshit and I want nothing to do with it.” you groan.

“As a person made entirely of meat I also frequently and regularly think that’s bullshit too.” Rose agrees with you.

“Approximately every twenty-eight days by any chance?” you guess.

“Perhaps. Hm, I wonder if now that I’m a god and aware of it that doesn’t need to apply.” Rose says wistfully.

You’d imagine that bending the rules of her own biology is something of a step down from the power required to see the future, magic a car through Hell and realign the faith of a falling angel but maybe you underestimate the power of what the advertising industry term “feminine problems”. Fuck, that’s such a stupid term for so many reasons. If you had the power to change that you would. Although maybe given your long lifespan you could put that as some kind of very specific life goal.

Just as you’re contemplating the pros and cons of using Rose’s truth and light based holy magic to cut through marketing euphemisms that wrongly describe things you’re interrupted by Tyzias herself. You sit up and see Latula walking over as well. Looks like it’s interview time for both of you.

“Rose, I need to talk to you next.” Tyzias says in that dry tone of voice she has.

“Of course.” Rose nods and hops off of the marble table to stand up.

“Do you want me to take him or-” Latula starts, gesturing to you.

“No. I’ve mmm… I’ve got a list of things I need you to find for me. Evidence, concrete dates, confirmation of events. I have it here for you, also some paperwork requests I need you to submit for witnesses we need. Can you get that and file those?” Tyzias asks.

Latula takes the time to read through the whole list that Tyzias hands her and looks up with a frown.

“I… hm, I don’t know the form for the royally authorised fae extradition papers. I remember that we used to have to clear those with…” Latula trails off as Tyzias takes the paper back and starts scribbling on it more.

“Uh, yeah, ok I can get that. I’ll need to take Jade with me though, do you want me to start with her and then move to the rest?” Latula checks.

“Yeah, you miiiight need to check to see if the queens have been summoned yet already or not but if not you’ll have to take Jade.” Tyzias confirms.

“Are you getting Jake involved in this?” you ask in surprise.

“Oh yes. We’re not done with him yet.” Tyzias grins deviously and sips her drink.

“That I’d love to see. I’d dearly like to see my wayward father realising what’s become of his beloved.” Rose smiles all sharp toothed and full of malice.

You can’t really blame her for that one.

Stelsa hurries past with her face in a notebook as she hastily writes something down. You watch as Tyzias pauses to look at her and then over the board that she’s now adjusting notes on.

“Stels…” she says slowly, making the other demon look around.

“I need you to put up way more information about Jake and Jade, make Jake especially look like a really big deal.” Tyzias tells her.

“You think someone’s going to sneak in here or try to see our work?” Stelsa asks, pressing a hand to her chest in surprise that seems entirely genuine despite the overblown gesture.

“Can’t overlook it, besides I’d consider it in Redglares shoes and we both know Tagora would sell me out for one corn chip.” Tyzias says flatly.

“I won’t comment on that, but of course I can arrange the board like that for you.” Stelsa laughs airily.

“You’re the best. And… get to him after, yeah?” Tyzias suggests, pointing to you.

“We can multitask, I can help you arrange the board and answer your questions. I really like the system you have going, blue for things you think the other side will bring up, yellow for stuff that needs more investigation, and pink for… things Tyzias needs to see I think?” you guess as you look at the board.

“There’s two of them.” Tyzias snickers and walks off.

“Organisation is important!” Stelsa shouts after them and pouts at Tyzias’ back as she walks across the room with Rose.

Stelsa, as you predicted, is a woman who appreciates proper organisation and you answer basic questions about your life and relationships as you both sort through the information that she already has. You run your mouth on every topic that you could think was even halfway relevant and elaborate on what you know about information the others have given.

As Tyzias works her way through everyone in your group, you end up with different people for company. At one point you’re helping as Kanaya flicks through files and June just watches. You’re adjusting one photograph of Jade next to Jake when Tyzias walks back up to your group, her hands in her pockets.

“Oh, Tyzias, how-” you start but June holds a hand up.

June narrows her eyes at Tyzias who just looks back blandly.

“Loki!” June exclaims after a second of staring.

Tyzias’s body warps until it’s not her standing there but a pale skinned, dark haired man with a short goatee. He looks far more like the depictions of a cunning and charming devil than Bro does in the slightest.

“Hah, took a second.” the… Loki, you suppose, laughs.

“Well, your illusions are always great. I- hey how’d you slip in here? And… uh, sorry about the whole, you know. Moon thing.” June mumbles that last part, her shoulders pulling up a little in what you can only assume is shame.

Loki waves his hand dismissively at June and sits down next to her.

“Oh, psh. It was, what, a few years? A little chaos never hurt anyone, except for those gods that died or merged but that’s their problem. Anyway, this whole thing seemed like a really boring formality after all of that so I thought I’d have a little fun.” Loki says with a smirk at the end.

You can’t help but notice that as the two of them are talking both of them are looking less human. June is glowing, her hair and clothes reverting to something older as her hair flows in a breeze that simply isn’t there and you swear that every time you’re not looking directly at Loki parts of him become a little… animalistic. Feathers here and there in his hair until you look again and everything is normal, your eyes are tricking you.

“What did you have in mind?” June asks curiously and a little warily.

“Just a little insider tip. I got myself selected as one of the jury members, I couldn’t _possibly_ say how that happened. But I can give you the list of the other eleven gods on the jury. It could help you tailor your little… whatever your case is going to be.” Loki grins wolfishly and wiggles his fingers at the board.

“That would be helpful, who is it?” June asks eagerly.

Loki slips his hand into his shirt and pulls out a sheet of paper. He hands it to June who looks over it with interest.

“Oh shit, Cthulhu and Mab? That’d be awesome! Hm, there’s a few people on here that I’ve not personally met but honestly that might be a good thing at this point. This is a pretty good juror list, how come we got so lucky?” June asks.

“A fair few of the gods expressed a… desire to leap out of the jury box and kill Bro themselves because he either tried to kill them recently or because he killed someone they care about. The guy doesn’t win a lot of friends and that’s coming from me.” Loki laughs.

“Not your fault other people don’t see the funny side of things.” June tuts and shakes her head.

Right, trickster gods. Why are you surprised that they’re like this?

“Anyway, I’d better go before anyone notices that I’m gone. Bye.” Loki beams and vanishes into nothingness.

“Is this trustworthy information? I can’t help but consider the source.” Stelsa asks and June hands her the list.

“I’m pretty sure the list is good. Tricksters are usually pretty cool with each other and Loki didn’t seem mad about the moon thing, we’ve never had a problem with each other before now and he’s fun to hang out with at times. But he’s definitely going to go tell Bro’s side about Jake.” June says, nodding towards the board and all the notes around Jake and Jade.

“Why would he do that if he is ostensibly on your side?” Kanaya asks with a frown on her face.

“Well, first of all because tricksters have to pull tricks on people. It’s literally our thing. Second of all no one likes Bro and seeing him find out what happened to Jake and the chaos that’s going to cause on his side is going to be spectacular. No way he can resist that.” June says with a shrug.

“I think I’d like to watch that from a safe distance too, to be honest.” you admit.

“That will almost certainly distract the other side, I have to go tell Zizi!” Stelsa beams and hurries off with the list.

Tyzias, Stelsa and Latula work tirelessly on Roxy’s case. Beyond helping Stelsa organise her notes and the rapidly building amount of paperwork that Tyzias generates you can’t do anything. You’re at a loose end with no real ability to help and everyone else is clearly feeling just as lost. The only one who’s in their element is Terezi, who may not know how this court operates but sneaky logic to make a legal argument is apparently right up her street.

Eventually you just end up wandering around the place that your group has been set in, only to find that the vaguely ancient greeco-roman architecture styled like an office space just loops around. If you walk far enough around one way you come out on the other side.

You pass Hal who’s sat on top of the car preening his feathers and only stop when he calls out to you.

“Did it hurt?” Hal asks and you squint at him suspiciously, remembering Dave’s dumb comment to you before.

“That wasn’t a joke. I’m actually asking what falling felt like.” Hal clarifies.

“It was incredibly painful but I think I got off easier than Mituna did, since I got picked up by Rose and wasn’t left burning for ages. It FELT like ages but I’m sure it was less time in reality.” you answer him.

“Right.” Hal says quietly and looks away, following his gaze you can see Mituna, Kanaya and Latula talking quietly together in the distance.

“You don’t really want to ask Mituna, I’m guessing? I don’t know if it’ll happen to you as well, I think Signless only kicked me out so that I could help Rose and not have to deal with Heaven’s bullshit. I don’t think he’d kick you out if he knew who you really were. If anything June makes it sound like Dirk, and I guess you too, were a victim of Heaven and God as much as Signless was.” you point out.

“I’m not counting on him seeing it that way, besides we’re not exactly morally aligned and I’m responsible for a lot of unforgivable things. Anyway, it’s not like I have another god lined up to serve like you did. I’m sure as shit not serving Bro.” Hal says in clear disgust.

“I don’t ‘serve’ Rose, we’re friends. We’re… moirails?” you say the word a little uncertainly given how new the idea still is to you.

“She’s a god, she’s _your_ god. She can make you do anything she wants to, just like our previous god could. They don’t care about you. The best you can ask for is making friends with a neutral god who finds you interesting, like June. Gods don’t care about the people they have control over.” Hal insists.

“Oh, I’m not arguing with you on that when it comes to Heaven. Fuck that place. Hell didn’t really seem better either, and Bro is the fucking worst so I agree with you on that. But Rose isn’t like that.” you tell him firmly.

Hal snorts and clasps his hands together in a mocking imitation of prayer.

“Yes, other gods are terrible but not mine. My god loves me. That’s what you sound like.” he says derisively.

You stare at him flatly for a few seconds and then shrug.

“I guess you’re right. Dave really had me fooled, I thought he was a genuinely good person who loved Sollux and his family and-” you start.

“Dave is different.” Hal cuts in.

“Rose is his twin.” you retort.

“I still can’t get over that. We really had no idea and I can’t wait to see Bro’s face when he finds out, and about Jake if he hasn’t already. But Dave didn’t deserve everything that Bro and… and I put him through. He’s different, he’s a good kid.” Hal mumbles the last part of that.

You look up at Hal on the top of the car and sigh. Carefully you clamber up the car until you’re on the roof with him and sit down.

“My maker was terrible too. The idea of being made to do things makes my whole soul shudder and itch. Rose knows that, she’s always asked for permission before getting in my senses or compelling me to do anything. Maybe you’re right, that you can never have an equal relationship with a god that has control over you. Maybe that balance is always going to be skewed, but I gave her that control when she saved me and she’s never misused it. She’s my friend. She’s just as good as Dave is and her life wasn’t exactly great when Dave was in Hell the first time. I don’t know about every other god but the three in this room are pretty great if you ask me.” you tell Hal.

“I don’t want to serve _any_-” Hal cuts off and you hear his wings snap tight to him as he tenses up.

You look around and see Dave walking over with Sollux at his side, they’re heading right for you. You can see Sollux still a little on guard as he approaches Hal. Even if Hal isn’t Bro the physical resemblance is probably… unsettling for him. Dave on the other hand seems to have more than accepted the difference.

“Hey, mind if we borrow Karkat?” Dave asks calmly.

“I’m not making him talk to me or anything.” Hal says in response.

“Getting Karkat to shut up is the real challenge.” Sollux mutters but loud enough so you can easily hear him.

“Yeah, yeah.” you say and roll your eyes.

You hop off of the car, only just missing the wing mirror in a feat of gracelessness that you’d hope no one saw but suspect all three of them did. Okay, yeah, based on the amused expression that both Sollux and Dave and wearing you’re saying they did. Damnit.

“Think about what I said.” you tell Hal instead, pretending like that fall never happened.

“...Sure.” Hal says slowly.

“C’mon.” Dave says, the corner of his mouth twitching with a smile that he’s clearly trying to repress.

See, it’s nice that he’s trying to not actively laugh at you being an uncoordinated idiot. Sollux on the other hand has a sharp toothed grin that all but splits his head in half it’s so wide, he’s not repressing fucking ANYTHING for the sake of your ego.

You follow Dave and Sollux away from the car and come to a stop together near a pointless pillar that supports nothing and is entirely on its own. This place seems so randomly generated, whatever spell made this space was clearly pretty vague.

“I wanted to talk about, uh, stuff.” Dave says, leaning against the pillar with his hands casually in his pockets.

“Stuff.” you repeat.

“About you going to Hell, that’s what he means.” Sollux explains.

“Me specifically?” you ask uneasily, the vague feeling that you did something wrong starting to creep over you.

“Yeah, you. Not just coming to Hell either but-” Dave pauses, shakes his head and starts again.

“I have some of Sollux’s memories. Basically everything from when you brought him back to when we were the same person again. I know what you did for him, that you gave up half of your life to bring him back.” Dave says.

You flounder, not sure what to say. You still have the feeling that you must have done something wrong here but you can’t logically think of anything. What you did was reckless, sure, but it was Sollux’s life and without him you couldn’t have got Dave back either. Both of their whole lives were riding on you reviving Sollux so you did what you had to.

“I really owe you. You came all this way for me and you gave up all of that time for him. That’s… that’s huge.” Dave says softly.

“Oh.” you whisper.

“It’s not like everyone here didn’t risk things but you did the most. Look at me, I’m alive and me again.” Sollux says as he waves at his face a little with his now glowing eyes.

“Well, hey, that part was all Dave.” you point out.

“Yeah, I’m out another rib. Check it.” Dave says and pulls up his shirt.

Your brain short circuits a little because suddenly half shirtless Dave, of course it does. But also you can’t help but notice that being a rib short on both sides does lend this slight curve to his silhouette.

“I just thought, I’ve had ribs removed on both sides, right? I know I removed them but that’s not my point. My point is do you think the urban legends are true, can I now suck my own dick?” Dave asks with wide eyed curiosity.

“Maybe, but that sounds like a lot of effort for something that Karkat would-” Sollux begins but breaks off into laughter when you shove him.

“Oh my _God_ why do I talk to either of you?!” you wail, your face already burning up.

“Karkat, are you alright? Your eyes just did a thing, they just lit up.” Dave says in shock, still holding his shirt up as he stares at you.

“I think you called on Rose there?” Sollux says uncertainly.

“I DON’T NEED TO KNOW DAVE, AND PUT YOUR SHIRT BACK ON PROPERLY.” Rose shouts from… somewhere.

Huh, so that’s something new. Apparently as well as Rose looking through your eyes you can also do whatever the holy equivalent of ‘oh shit look at this’ from you to her. Still, poor Rose.

“That didn’t answer anything.” Dave sighs in a way that is both weary and petulant.

“I have horrible taste in men.” you mutter, your hands over your burning face.

“Please, who’s better than me and Dave?” Sollux scoffs.

“Justin Timberlake?” Dave suggests.

“What that instant ramen hair looking- no. Okay, _you_ have terrible taste in men who aren’t me and Karkat. That aside he and I are still clearly great.” Sollux insists after giving Dave a very judgemental look.

“Look, we’re all entitled to one bad hairstyle and-” Dave is going on but no one is listening.

“Maybe it’s not you two. Maybe all men are terrible.” you say thoughtfully.

“You’re a man.” Sollux counters.

“I am also terrible. I’m a fucking stained glass disaster, part time bird, mess of a person. The fact that anyone is attracted to me is frankly an indictment on my entire gender and anyone who is attracted to them. Men as a whole were clearly a mistake.” you groan.

“I don’t know, man.” Dave says as he smooths his shirt down, “You’re talking about guys a lot, sounds pretty gay to me.”

“He’s got you there.” Sollux nods.

“I got kicked out of heaven, gave up half my life and picked a fight with a god for this conversation.” you sigh and lean your head against the pillar.

“It was worth it but you two are still impossible.” you add quietly, looking up at the top of the pillar as you talk.

“Hey, Karkat?” Dave says quietly as you hear him move closer.

You turn your head to look at him but jump when his lips touch your cheek, he’d moved so close to you that when you looked around it got him to kiss you.

“Thanks for coming to help us, you saved our asses.” Dave murmurs against your cheek.

You’re pretty sure that you’re incandescent right now from how flustered you are.

"We both just wanted to say that we're actually really thankful for everything you did. I remember you from before but from your perspective aside from a few things you've managed to get back you haven't known us for all that long. Not in comparison to how long you've been alive." Sollux tells you.

"Are you calling me old?" you ask after a moment.

"He's not. Look, if this trial ends up going badly-" Dave takes over before this derails into insults again.

"It's not going to go badly. And- AND even if it does I'm going down with you both so there's no point starting any of that kind of talk." you interrupt.

"Wow, back on the subject of Dave's dick again." Sollux snorts.

You're about to retort when the sound of a bell being struck loudly startles all three of you. You look around the pillar and see the furies standing near to your car. It'd probably be wise to go over there and it seems everyone else has the same idea because your disparate group all heads to the three furies who are waiting patiently. When you're all present and accounted for they speak.

"We hope you've got your case together, the trial will begin now." they say together.

With a flare of red light the world around you changes. You're still standing but you're in a whole new room. As you look around you at first think that this is some kind of colosseum, the place is circular with rows and rows of bench seats circling around you in extending levels and they are packed with impossible figures. People who are humanoid and part animal, people who are glowing, people whose bodies shift through forms even as you look at them. Each of them looks far too real and you know instinctively that they're gods.

You're standing in front of a chair in a small section of chairs set up for your group. Directly in front of you is a solid fronted desk where Tyzias stands with her back to you as she looks out across the room. On the opposite side there is an identical desk with Redglare standing behind it, in the chairs behind her there's a whole team of demons who look suitably business-like and legal. Needless to say the Devil himself is there too. To your direct left is a sectioned off area of seating that looks like a jury box to you, although it's presently empty. To the side of that on a high up platform which is also empty and in the very middle of the room there's an empty circular stand with a chair in it.

Your heart is in your throat as the furies move to stand before what you think is the jury box and consult a checklist.

"Hades." one fury reads out.

A man drifts down from the observation stands that circle this whole arena. He's not entirely what you would have expected from the god of the underworld. He's thin with skin as pale as Dave's and longish black hair, he's wearing black jeans, a loose black silken shirt and the kind of jewelry that screams 'goth' more than it does 'god'. The man nods to the fury and goes to sit down where another fury guides him.

"Anubis." the first fury reads out and you watch wide eyed as a black furry humanoid figure with a dog head appears in a flash of black smoke.

"Oh, this is... I'm not feeling so great about this." you murmur to yourself.

Rose is standing ahead of you before her chair and she glances back with a sympathetic look. Now that you're looking at her you can't help but notice that she, too, looks more real than everyone else. It's like she's in too sharp of a focus to be natural and her eyes are just a little too bright. Her godliness is showing.

Aphrodite and then Odin join the jury but you really pay attention when Mab herself is summoned. She very carefully doesn't pay more attention than the rest of the gods do to you and you notice that Hades leans forward in his chair to exchange a few quiet words with her. You wonder what kinds of politics might be going on here that you don't know about.

More gods are added to the jury one by one. Sekhmet is genuinely terrifying, Brighid you're embarrassed to admit that you don't know and Lir you think might be Irish. You remember some myth related to him with swans you think. After Lir you see that Loki joins the jury with a delighted grin and a near universal look of exasperation from everyone else on the jury.

Rose perks up immediately when the next god is called, Cthulhu. You look at him and it's not so much that you see him, more that your eyeballs hand you a list of adjectives like 'tentacled' and 'dark' and insist that you'd really rather not actually see this god. All the same you get the vague impression of a supportive glance being cast your way.

The last two gods are Quetzalcoatl and Huitzilopochtil, the first you already knew about and the second you're ashamed to admit you have a moment of going 'oh that's how that's pronounced' because you'd only read it before now.

All the same as you look over the jury you get the same feeling that June and Stelsa expressed, that this a jury that at least seems to be neutral or actually friendly to your side. It gives you at least a modicum of reassurance that this might be okay. All the same if your case is no good then there's nothing that even the most supportive jury can do for you, right?

Your worry is cut off as the jury all stands and the demons on the other side get up too, you'd not even sat down yet so you just stay as you are. With everyone on their feet you see what the fuss was about. Aradia appears at the top of the tall platforms in what seems to be a very elevated bench desk and at her side another woman appears. Her hair is dark and she's wearing a loose fitting blue dress. She takes her time looking over the jury, both sides of the court and the assembled audience.

"We will now begin the case of Roxy Lalonde versus the Devil. I am Athena and I will be the presiding judge over this case, I will be consulting with Death herself although only I will be voting as she must remain neutral. Between myself and the assembled jury we will settle this matter. I warn both sides that only true statements can be given in evidence, lying is not possible here and once something true has been said it may not be contradicted. Of course, if someone believes something to be true but someone who knows better states that it is not so then this statement can be corrected. Other than that anything you say is evidence and will be held accordingly." Athena says sternly as she looks out across both sides.

"Representing Roxy Lalonde is... Tyzias Entyyk, yes?" Athena asks and Tyzias bows to her.

"Representing the Devil is Redglare, correct?" she then asks and Redglare also nods in agreement and then bows too.

"Very well, it has been a long time since we have had any kind of trial like this and we have people here from many planes of reality so I shall explain the structure of this court somewhat. Either side is allowed to call a witness to testify, however once a witness is called both sides are allowed to question this witness, so choose who you call carefully. Any evidentiary support you wish to give to your case is either submitted in advance, some of which we have already, or is submitted during the course of the trial. If new evidence is submitted that is substantial enough either side may petition for a break to investigate the new evidence." Athena explains.

"Do you want us to list the evidence so far?" one of the furies asks Athena from the ground and Athena nods.

You really need to try not to look in Athena's eyes, one of them seems really weird to you, like Mindfang's eyes almost. Shit, class with Mindfang feels like a million years ago. You're shaken from that thought by one of the furies clearing her throat and holding up a sheet of paper.

"Evidence submitted so far are: the prophecy to do with the antichrist's existence, the details of the deal made with Roxy Lalonde, the journals of one Jake Harley, research notes on demons by Roxy Lalonde, records of the destruction of religious iconography for the trickster god June-" the fury reads out.

"What?" June whispers in surprise.

"Demonic records of Dave Strider's custody in Hell and his medical assessment on arrival, and lastly some medical scans of Roxy Lalonde. Both sides should have copies of these with their aides now." the fury says and snaps her fingers.

In a puff of red smoke a thick stack of paper lands on each bench desk with a demon lawyer behind it and on the other side one of the demons grabs the pile and starts organising it, on your side Stelsa and Terezi do the same.

"If both sides could come forward to make their opening- is that a dog?" Athena cuts off as she peers down at Bec who is sat in a chair next to Jade like he's a person.

"A hellhound." Aradia says helpfully.

Athena squints one multi pupilled eye as she stares down at Bec.

"You can't... you can't have a dog or a hellhound in court." she says firmly and either doesn't see or ignores the way Anubis glares at her for that.

"Could I leave him with someone else?" Jade asks uncertainly, speaking up with a concerned expression most likely because she doesn't know if she's even permitted to speak at this point.

"Well, if-" Athena starts but she's cut off by a loud whistle from the gallery of onlooking gods.

Bec perks up immediately, his head snapping up in the direction the noise came from. The whistle comes again and suddenly you pick Queen Jade out of the crowd and at her side is...

"Signless." Mituna whispers behind you in awe.

Bec barks loudly and with a flash of green zips across to where Queen Jade and Signless are sitting. He's immediately given attention from both of them and you grin as Bec starts licking Signless' face.

"Anyone would think you were jealous of the dog." Kanaya whispers and you turn in time to see Mituna elbow her sharply.

"I'm not, shut up. I just never thought I'd see him again. Oh." Mituna waves a little weakly and when you look back you see Signless waving at your group cheerily.

Good for him, you're glad he's free. You're probably not even going to hit him for making you fall. Probably.

"Now that that's taken care of if the prosecution would make their opening statement." Athena says and tucks her hair behind her ears.

Tyzias straightens up a little and looks around at the watching gods and across at the jury, she takes a sip from her mug and begins.

"My client, Roxy Lalonde, is a human who made a deal with the Devil. He asked her to bear his child and made a deal with her to ensure that she would carry out her part, which she did. We are however alleging that the Devil did not uphold his end of the deal. Roxy Lalonde agreed to carry and give birth to his child, then she would hand it over on the promise that it was the antichrist. Her son, Dave, is not the antichrist as he was claimed he would be. This is a violation of the deal that they made. Seeing as he is a god this court is her only recourse to a fair resolution to this violation of contract." Tyzias explains.

There's some muttering among the gods and Dave shifts uneasily in his seat under all that scrutiny. Across the court Redglare taps her folder on the wood and clears her throat.

"My client did not break his deal at all. Dave Strider is the antichrist as promised and though his behaviour has been less than ideal this doesn't change who he is. This claim is wrong and laughable." Redglare says simply.

"You may begin." Aradia says.

Both sides open their mouths to speak but Redglare is faster off the mark.

"The defence calls the defendant, Bro Strider, the Devil to the stand." Redglare says quickly.

Bro stands and the furies open the circular podium box that must be the witness stand. As he steps over the threshold of it his body changes. His skin is the same totally pale colour that Dave's is but now deep black veins are visible through all of it, like his body is pumping crude oil around his system and not blood. His sunglasses fade away and show deep hollows where his eyes ought to be, but the lack of eyes does nothing to take away from the feeling that he is definitely watching. He seems deathly, like some sleep paralysis hallucination and you shudder to look at him. He's even got horns out of his head now but they're not the warm coloured smooth things that Sollux has, his are white and sharp like splinters of long bones jutting from his head. He sits on the chair and folds his arms, blackened fingertips beating out a clearly irritated pattern on his bicep.

"Sir, allow me first to confirm a few preliminary details for the court. Is it true that your title is the Devil, as was the one who came before you in your position?" Redglare asks.

"Yes." Bro says flatly.

"With that being the case then, will you permit me to address you by your name of Bro Strider and keep references to 'the Devil' to refer to the position alone? Just for the sake of clarity." Redglare asks.

"Fine." Bro says with a shrug.

"Excellent. Could I ask that Roxy Lalonde stand up for a moment, please?" Redglare questions.

Roxy looks at Tyzias for confirmation and she nods so Roxy stands.

"Thank you. Bro, can you confirm that this is indeed Roxy Lalonde who you made a deal with regarding the birth of your child?" she asks.

"Yes." he agrees again.

"Thank you, you can sit down. And if Dave-" Redglare starts again but Bro cuts her off.

"That's also him there, get to the point." Bro growls.

"The defendant would be wise to watch his mouth. You can disrespect your council in private all you like, this is my court and you will answer when you are asked to without interrupting anyone. Am I clear?" Athena says curtly.

It's hard to repress a grin at that but you manage it, looking smug or like you find this whole thing funny wouldn't do any good. Even if watching Bro get scolded like a bratty kid is just as satisfying as watching Roxy hit him with a car was. Redglare pauses for a moment and opens her folder and starts to read.

"For the benefit of the court and the jury I will read the details of the deal made between my client and Roxy Lalonde." Redglare says and starts to read, as she speaks you see words glow on the skin of both Bro and Roxy.

"Roxy Lalonde will carry and give birth to the first born and living son of the Devil, and the Devil will take him from her within an hour of him being born. This son will be the antichrist and will be raised in Hell as the antichrist, and end the world. Roxy Lalonde will not tell anyone of the existence of this deal before the birth of the Devil's son or arrange to keep the Devil's son in any way." she reads.

"Did Roxy Lalonde carry your son to term and deliver him alive within the hour?" Redglare asks.

"Yes." Bro answers.

"Did you take her from him and bring him back to Hell?" she continues.

"I did, there's the papers that prove it." Bro points out.

"Yes, there are. These are the papers admitted to evidence from Hell's own records of Dave's arrival. And you raised him in Hell as the antichrist?" Redglare checks.

"Yes." Bro agrees.

"Raised." Sollux sneers under his breath in clear disagreement with the word, not that you can blame him for that.

"That covers the deal then. Bro, can you tell us a little more about why you chose Roxy Lalonde to be the mother of your child? The mother of the antichrist?" Redglare asks, finally seeming to be asking for an answer that's not just a straight yes or no.

"I heard about her, she's a powerful witch. The antichrist needs a human mother, I wanted her to be powerful." Bro says simply.

"I see, and did you coerce her into making this deal with you in any way?" Redglare asks him.

"No. I told her that if she didn't agree I'd just find someone else." he says with a shrug.

Yeah, as Roxy has pointed out to you someone else might not have been able to come up with a plan to avert all of this. Someone else likely wouldn't have got this far. What choice did she really have in that situation? You really hope that Redglare isn't going to try to paint this as Roxy's fault.

"Do you know why she agreed?" Redglare asks.

Bro seems a little confused by that question and you don't know if it's because Redglare didn't run through this with him before in their preparation or if the idea of thinking about what other people want is just too alien of a concept for Bro.

"No?" he says finally.

"Can you think of anything?" Redglare prompts him.

"Objection. My clients motives are irrelevant to whether Bro Strider defaulted on his side of the deal or not." Tyzias interrupts.

"Sustained." Athena agrees.

Redglare pauses for a moment, switching tracks as she looks over at your side of the court and at Dave in particular.

"You raised your son in Hell, correct? Can you tell me about that?" Redglare questions Bro.

Bro leans back in his seat a little and considers his answer for a moment before speaking.

"I told him that he was the antichrist and I told him what he would eventually do. That he would end the world. I taught him to fight and then he went up to Earth. He was supposed to live there for a year, see it and start the end of it.” Bro says and despite the lack of eyes he turns and looks right at Dave who immediately tenses up, at his side Sollux quietly hisses like a pissed off cat.

“What happened instead?” Redglare asks.

Right, the moon. Not exactly a great way to paint Dave sympathetically seeing as you’re in a room with pretty much everyone that he and June locked away.

“Instead of ending the world just before the year was up he and June there got together with Scratch and locked all of us in the _moon_.” Bro growls.

The audience around you and the jury are all murmuring unhappily and you can see a good number of glares being sent your way.

“No further questions.” Redglare says simply, why would she ask more when she can leave everything on that note?

Now it’s Tyzias’ turn. She doesn’t start talking right away, instead she flicks through her papers for a few moments and begins after a slow breath in and out.

“I think I’ll follow my colleague’s lead here and ask you to confirm something about your identity first. The Devil is your title but you go by Bro Strider.” Tyzias states.

“Yes.” Bro answers stiffly.

“But you didn’t always? I understand you started life as Dirk Strider, an angel of the now deceased god of your pantheon. Can you confirm that and elaborate a little for me?” Tyzias asks.

“I was created to kill Caliborn, the last Devil. He was shit at his job and now it’s mine, Hell is mine and I’m not Dirk anymore.” Bro says tightly.

“You’re certainly not an angel anymore. I can see you’ve changed. I won’t call you Dirk, then. But I’ll refer to that person before you taking your current position as Dirk, to be clear.” Tyzias says.

Bro nods, sharply and clearly irritated.

“Great. I was hoping you could identify someone for me.” Tyzias says and gestures behind her back, the letters ‘Hal’ appear in the air for just a second as she motions for him to stand.

You hear Hal’s chair squeak against the floor behind you as he stands, you guess that Tyzias had left him at the back for this reason, to obscure him from sight as much as possible. Again, Bro’s true form doesn’t seem to have eyes as such, at least not when he’s being forced to show himself on the stand like this. You’re pretty sure that he usually has them behind those glasses. All the same his face pretty clearly manages to express shock and then outrage even without eyes.

“You.” Bro hisses, leaping to his feet.

Pink lightning starts to crackle in the air around him and Hal scrambles backwards, his wings flaring out either in preparation to fight or to escape, you don’t know which. June jumps up, hammer suddenly in hand and clearly ready to get in the middle of all of this. All of that is cut short with a deafening bang from across the room as Athena slams her fist on her desk.

“There will be NO fighting in my court!” she shouts, her voice booming across all of you and making even you wince.

Bro seems to consider that for a second and then evidently decides to go for Hal anyway. You watch as he tries to vault the edge of the witness stand, only as he tries to do so his whole lower body turns to stone and he falls to his petrified knees. At the edge of the court the furies start to circle closer, their eyes glowing with gleeful malice. You know your mythology enough to know that before the furies worked with Athena for this kind of thing they used to deal exclusively in vengeance. Bro is clearly wronging Athena and this whole court by caring so little for its rules and they look more than eager to tear him apart for it.

“Answer the question.” Athena commands him, a dark look in her eyes.

At Athena’s side Aradia is grinning like this is all incredibly entertaining to her. It probably is.

“Just to be clear, please tell us who this is.” Tyzias says again, gesturing to a fluffy feathered and alarmed Hal.

“He’s part of what was my familiar.” Bro snarls.

“What’s his name?” Tyzias asks.

“I don’t care. He doesn’t _need_ a name, he’s just a fragment that broke off so I shoved him into glass and then assembled my familiar around him. He’ll be going _back_ in there the moment this is over.” Bro hisses.

“A fragment that broke off? What do you mean by that?” Tyzias asks smoothly.

“When I-” Bro starts and then freezes for a moment, like he can’t quite move his mouth right.

He takes a breath, unsticks his jaw and tries again.

“When Dirk was ready his God sent him down from Heaven to get a sword, Caledfwlch. It can kill gods, it killed Caliborn but there’s a… side effect. Dirk stopped being and then it was me because _he_ broke off. So I used him as part of my familiar.” Bro explains carefully.

Right… since he’s already said that he isn’t Dirk he can’t claim to have done the things that Dirk did. Interesting.

“So, to be clear, you see yourself as the primary person and he is more a shard of a person that broke away due to the sword?” Tyzias questions and you feel like a rope is being carefully let out, bit by bit until Bro has enough to hang himself with.

“Yes. I rule Hell, my familiar runs on his knowledge. I had the sword, he didn’t.” Bro says emphatically.

“This all happened on the day that Caliborn died and you took over Hell in your current role as the Devil?” Tyzias asks, more metaphorical rope spooled out.

“Yes.” Bro agrees somewhat tersely.

“Would that not make him your first born son? And if he was then Dave would be your second and therefore ineligible for the role as the antichrist as prophecy specifies. Granted it’s an unusual method of being born but among gods it’s not as if ‘usual’ means a whole lot.” Tyzias muses and your gaze drifts over to Athena herself, yeah, gods are born in all sorts of weird ways.

“No.” Bro says sharply, “We used to be the same person, we used to be Dirk but now he doesn’t exist and it’s just me and him. He’s not my son.”

Tyzias looks a little put out at this, like what Bro has said has thrown her off of her argument. But… you’re pretty sure that’s not the argument she intended to make, you don’t think her plan was to use Hal to get Dave off of the hook of the prophecy. So if this is deliberate then what’s she doing? Is this just a red herring to throw Redglare off? You’ve no idea but Tyzias shrugs a little and speaks again.

“No further questions then.” she says.

The furies usher Bro off of the witness stand and as he steps off of it, with his now unpetrified legs, he reverts back to the form he had before. He sits back down behind Redglare’s desk, adjusting his pointed sunglasses over the eyes he now has again.

“I call this fragment of Dirk Strider over there to the witness stand.” Redglare says quickly, but you can’t help but notice that Tyzias didn’t seem in a hurry to beat her to it and was in fact drinking from her mug at the time.

You reach forward and tug at the edge of Stelsa’s brightly coloured jacket. The demon turns slightly to look at you and presses a finger to her lips, you’d better be quiet.

“Why’s she letting Redglare call Hal up first?” you whisper as the furies escort Hal to the witness stand.

“Zizi knows what to ask, Redglare can only fish. You don’t give her directions first.” Stelsa whispers, oh… that makes sense.

Hal steps into the witness stand and you expect his form to change to something more eye meltingly angelic, but it doesn’t really. His skin glows a little, as do his eyes. His wings shudder slightly and a few other supplementary pairs sprout out, his halo is as bright and distracting as a JJ Abrams lens flare. Across the room from you it seems like Redglare is just as surprised as you are. She shakes it off and starts her questions.

“Please confirm your name for us.” Redglare asks.

“I’m…” Hal hesitates and glances in Dave and June’s direction, “I’m Hal… Strider.”

“And what exactly are you, Hal?” Redglare asks.

“That’s a pretty big philosophical question, Redglare. I don’t know the answer yet. I used to be Dirk, who was an angel and my body still looks like I’m an angel. That said I only came into being when Caliborn was killed with that stupid sword and I got immediately shoved into glass and eventually Bro’s puppet bodied familiar. I’ve no clue what that makes me exactly. If you figure that out let me know.” Hal says flatly, making Redglare look very unimpressed indeed.

“What kind of angel was Dirk Strider? You look more like what humans think angels look like than what they actually appear as.” Redglare points out.

“There wasn’t really a classification for Dirk, there wasn’t anyone else in that role. He was made to kill Caliborn and that was it, he didn’t have the makeup of a throne or a seraphim. He just was, like I just am, I suppose.” Hal shrugs.

“Do you consider Bro to be your father?” Redglare asks, making Hal sigh loudly.

“No, I don’t. We’re the same age exactly, we both came from Dirk. I didn’t come from Bro. Not that I consider Dirk to be my father either, he’s who I was. Dirk is no more my father than a caterpillar is the father of a butterfly.” Hal explains.

So much for Hal being Bro’s first born, that would have been a nice quick trial at least.

“Has Bro ever referred to you as his son or treated you as such?” Redglare presses, really nailing that point home.

“No.” Hal says firmly.

Redglare nods for a moment and her eyes shift slightly so she’s looking past Hal to your side of the courtroom.

“Please explain this puppet familiar for the benefit of the court.” Redglare asks and Hal winces.

“Bro wanted a familiar but he didn’t want to split any part of himself off to do it, but because we used to be the same person I could still in theory serve the same purpose and bring him back if I wanted to.” Hal starts.

“Did you want to?” Redglare interrupts.

“I’d rather die.” Hal snaps in response.

“So if you weren’t willing to resurrect him as his familiar what happened then?” she goes on.

“Like he said, he crammed my soul into glass. Eventually he put a body together for the familiar and then put me in that, it took my thoughts and memories and leeched off of them to do whatever he asked without me being able to do anything about it.” Hal answers her.

"What was the body?" Redglare asks.

"It changed a few times, but it was more of a... magical shopping list. The exact specifics didn't matter too much, as long as the purpose remained the same. The only unchanging part was me." Hal says with a vague wave of his hand.

"First you needed a body made by Bro. A sort of empty puppet shell. That was easy enough and he even had backups just in case so that his followers responsible for that could step forward and bring the familiar back in case Bro couldn't." Hal starts to list off and your mind flicks to the box on Jake's island with the note, it's empty. Not the box, the puppet inside. That's where Cal's latest body came from.

"Then you need a completely deranged mind on the moment of death, the first time it was a tiny fragment of Caliborn's consciousness that still remained, but it's also been especially unhinged humans or demons in the past. He always kept or made some ready just in case, kept them off the books." Hal goes on.

Gamzee, the killings that he did and how he baited all of you into fighting him to kill him. It was all part of the plan.

"Then you need an empty heart to counteract my magic. I'm heart, as is he and a heart of void thematically makes it harder for any heart magic that I could get through to do anything. The first one was the collapsing heart of a star but most recently it was the heart of an especially gifted void magic user. And then, of course, the last and nonnegotiable part was my soul still trapped in glass. Shove all that together and you've got a monstrous familiar. He was called Cal." Hal explains.

"But you were aware of everything that happened while you were in Cal as he served Bro and went around Hell and wherever else he was sent to?" Redglare asks.

"Yes. My unwillingly conscious and alive mind was subjected to every second that thing existed, trapped unable to move or scream or do anything. Thanks for bringing it up." Hal hisses at her.

"So you saw Dave Strider being-" she starts.

"I object." Tyzias says quickly.

"To... what?" Athena asks, clearly thrown.

"Dave doesn't go by Dave Strider, he takes his mother's last name of Lalonde." Tyzias explains, you hadn't even thought about that.

"If you're trying to change his identity..." Redglare says slowly and suspiciously.

"Not at all. Let it be said that if we're referring to Dave Strider or Dave Lalonde we both mean the same person but out of respect for his own wishes could we please address him by the name he chooses to go by?" Tyzias says quickly.

Is she trying to pull a fast one with who Dave is here or is she genuinely making Dave more comfortable? Or maybe... maybe she's just trying to break up Redglare's flow with Hal to stop him being so talkative.

"I see no problem with that. Redglare?" Athena asks.

"As long as we both acknowledge that Dave is the son of Bro I have no problem in using a different last name." Redglare nods, she doesn't dislike Dave but she's contractually obliged to do this job. It's nice to see that she's not choosing to be a dick to him just because of the sides they've ended up on aren't the same.

"Thank you." Tyzias nods and turns her head to flash Dave a slightly lazy smile.

"Well then, as I was saying, you saw Dave Lalonde being raised in Hell then." Redglare says, picking up where she left off.

"Not every second of it, Cal had plenty of things to do but I saw a lot of it." Hal agrees.

"So he was raised in Hell." she clarifies, another point to the prophecy.

"Yes." Hal says, somewhat reluctantly.

"No further questions." Redglare says with a nod.

Hal casts a regretful glance towards Dave, even if he didn't have a choice there he still ended up helping Bro's side and not Dave's.

"Hal, could you tell us what Dave Lalonde's life was like in Hell since you saw a lot of it?" Tyzias asks.

"It sucked. I say this as someone who was Dirk Strider, who was raised to do nothing but fight and kill and I had no one who gave a shit about me. Dave's life was worse than that. Bro had Cal torment and mutilate Dave on a regular basis and did it himself almost daily too. Dave and Sollux both went through it. Dave was raised in Hell but it wasn't a good upbringing." Hal insists.

"Since you mention Sollux can you tell me who he is?" Tyzias asks.

"He's Dave's familiar. That one there." Hal answers.

Tyzias motions for Sollux to stand up briefly just so everyone can pick him out, if Hal had just given a physical description it's possible people might have confused him and Mituna if Hal hadn't been specific enough. With everyone clear on who Hal means Sollux then sits down again.

"When was Sollux made?" Tyzias asks.

"Dave was... five. I'm not sure exactly how old he was to the day but around there. Bro insisted that he make him and Dave did, from a rib and large parts of his magic and psyche. I don't know what exactly. He's a very complete familiar, he's not made of ingredients like Cal was or just some smart animal like a lot of them are. He's... he's as much of a person as I am." Hal says that last part slowly and again you get that feeling of Tyzias making progress, but you don't know how or exactly what to.

"So the two of them didn't have a great childhood, what else was their life like?" Tyzias asks, clearly fishing for something.

"Uh... they were taught things. Mostly Dave but Sollux usually went wherever he did. He learnt about Hell, he went on legal cases with you and Redglare both to observe. I think most people in Hell saw him occasionally. He lived in the same building as Bro-" Hal continues, watching Tyzias carefully trying to see where she wants this to go.

"What building was that?" she asks, like she doesn't already know.

"The tower. Caliborn had this big gaudy castle in Hell and the tower was the only part that survived. Bro chose to live in the only bit that survived because he didn't need a whole castle or some shit like that. Dave had his own room there that he shared with Sollux." Hal explains.

"So, sorry, who lived in the tower? Dave, Sollux, Bro..." Tyzias trails off and you can almost see the lightbulb moment for Hal.

"Yes, there weren't servants living there or anything. Jake did live there sometimes when he wasn't at his own home." Hal answers innocently.

"Jake? Can you tell the court who Jake is?" Tyzias asks with a subtle smile on her face, that's what she wanted.

"Jake is Bro's long term lover. They got together in 1978 and have been romantically involved ever since, in 1988 he raised an island from the ocean for him as a gift and later when Jake was reaching the end of his natural lifespan Bro helped release him from his body and has provided him with bodies that still have life left so he can stay alive forever and continue his 'scientific' experiments." Hal says in a long stream of very helpful gossip.

Across the other side of the room Bro looks straight up homicidal and a spiteful little part of you is very VERY happy to see that indeed. Hal just worked out what Tyzias wanted and handed it all to her on a platter. It seems he's not done though and what he says next he says with a cheerful chirp in his voice and a look in his eye that is not unlike the eye contact a cat gives you just as it's pushing a priceless vase off of a table to smash on the floor.

"Unfortunately you probably can't talk to him right now. His granddaughter very recently jammed his body into a small puppet and when a portal opened to Winter, the man was very bigoted against the fae you see, I threw the doll in there. So if his remaining lifespan isn't already burning down to nothing without a living body he's now in the hands of the fae!" Hal says gleefully.

Bro is snarling now and starting to actually catch on fire even as several legal aides try to keep him in his chair as subtly as they can.

"Your honours, if Jake is in Winter may I have permission to ask Queen Mab of Winter who is in our jury to bring his soul here for questioning?" Tyzias asks quickly.

"I will allow it." Aradia says with a dark grin, before Athena can even get a word in.

Yeah, shockingly, Death herself is not a fan of a guy trying to cheat her. Jake Harley is hardly in front of a sympathetic audience.

"I am his step grandmother but if my wife agrees I-" Mab pauses and you look up to see Queen Jade nodding very vigorously, "-I shall summon him when the witness stand is free then."

Hal hops out of the witness stand happily, with the satisfied face of someone who has deliberately and successfully pissed off someone he hates. Bro is still very literally smouldering in his half of the court, smoke is curling up in the air above him, so you'd say that Hal did what he wanted to.

When Hal is sat back down on your side of the court Queen Mab stands up and slides past a few other gods to get out of the jury stand. She strides to the centre of the room, stopping just short of the witness stand. With a nod of permission from both Aradia and Athena Queen Mab starts to move her hands in magical patterns in the air. She finally slides her finger down from a point in the air, drawing a white floating line that opens up into a circular portal. As soon as it opens the temperature in the room drops noticeably and the more reptilian gods who presumably run colder wince at the change.

Queen Mab reaches her hand towards the portal without going through it, her hand held out in a gesture that reminds you weirdly enough of a force choke from Star Wars instead of anything magical. As you shake that dumb thought from your mind Mab pulls something through the portal and before you can see what it is she flings it into the witness stand.

A hazy cloud of muted colour reforms slowly into a somewhat younger looking Jake, one who looked like the man you saw in photographs in Jade's home. He's notably translucent and seems to be made of smoke or water vapour as the edges of his form constantly blur out and shift in the air. He's a spirit without a body.

"Hello Jake Harley." Aradia says with a hungry smile as she leans slightly over her desk, as she moves her skin flickers just for a moment to show something far more skeletal underneath.

Jake balks at the sight of Death herself but as he staggers backwards he collides with the edge of the witness stand with a crackle of magic, he's not going anywhere.

"Jake." Bro gasps and Jake looks around at him.

"Love, get me out of here!" Jake pleads and Bro gets to his feet even as the demons at his side try to urge him to sit back down.

"You will do _no such thing_. Jake Harley you have been summoned as a witness in this trial and you will testify. As for you, Bro Strider, if you attempt to remove Jake from the stand I can and WILL forfeit your case and declare Roxy Lalonde as the winner and serve her whatever reparations we see fit. Have I made myself clear?" Athena warns them.

Bro gives Athena a truly poisonous look but eventually sits back down.

"Mmmister Harley, since you missed the beginning of this trial let me explain to you that you've been summoned as a witness and now that you're on the stand you are obligated to tell the truth. I have a few questions for you but first of all can you just confirm who you are?" Tyzias asks with a smile.

Jake's hazy form scowls at her and then glances to Bro who is either unwilling or has realised that he's unable to get Jake out of this.

"I am Jake Harley, renowned witch and research scientist." he answers finally.

"I have some information on you here that I want to clarify, if you could tell me if my information is correct I would appreciate it. You were born in 1929, yes?" Tyzias asks and Jake nods.

"In 1976 you married your now deceased wife, Miss A. Claire. Is that correct?" she goes on.

"Yes. You haven't called her here have you?" Jake asks, if his ghost could sweat nervously it would be.

"No, not unless that might be interesting to the court. I have it in your journals here that you met the Devil, Bro Strider, in Georgia USA in 1978." she goes on, her fingers touching the stack of evidence off to the side.

"I did, yes." Jake nods.

"And you got into a romantic relationship with Bro after that, then?" Tyzias moves on.

"Well I would have struggled to do so beforehand." Jake snorts.

Tyzias looks up from her evidence slowly and stares at Jake with a flat look that lasts several long seconds.

"Because before that I didn't know him." Jake adds, clearly needing to fill the silence.

"Yes." Tyzias says flatly and continues to stare at Jake.

"It was a _joke_." Jake finally snaps.

"I have a trickster god on the jury and one with my team, perhaps they could explain to me why your 'joke' was funny or why-" Tyzias says.

"Fine! I get it!" Jake interrupts but Tyzias goes on speaking like he hadn't.

"-you might think that a court was the right venue for 'humour', given the seriousness of the case. But if you think you can keep that under control we can probably move on. When did your romantic relationship with Bro start?" Tyzias says, perfectly flat.

"I don't- we were probably courting for a while but I... would say that I think it started around 1980." Jake mutters, clearly embarrassed and upset.

"The same year Joey, your first child with your wife, was born." Tyzias says and Jake winces slightly.

"In 1983 your second child, your first son, Jude was born." Tyzias moves on.

"Yes." Jake says tightly.

"And In 1984 your wife died." Tyzias goes on.

"Yes, it was a... terrible tragedy. Nasty way to go." Jake says, looking at the ground.

Across the courtroom Bro suddenly looks uneasy, staring at Jake almost like he's trying to silently communicate with him. The thought slowly seeps into your mind that you don't recall exactly how his wife died, it was an accident... wasn't it?

"Mmm. And you were in a relationship with Bro Strider this whole time?" Tyzias asks.

"Look, the- the heart wants what the heart wants. I know it's not nice and my wife didn't deserve that but I was in love with him then and I am now! It's not always neat!" Jake argues loudly, oh well at least he has some awareness that cheating on his wife for the entirety of their marriage is a shit thing to do.

"I didn't ask for your moral rationalisation, I just wanted confirmation as to whether you two were in a relationship at that time." Tyzias says firmly.

"Yes." Jake mutters sullenly.

"I see that your infidelity is something of a sore subject, Mr Harley. I'll switch tracks here. Can I confirm that your grandmother was one Miss Jade Harley, a human changeling child who returned from the fae lands?" Tyzias moves on.

Your gaze flicks up to the icy stare that Queen Jade is giving her grandson. She is NOT happy about this.

"Yes." Jake says so quietly that you almost don't hear him.

"And what is your opinion on the fae?" Tyzias asks lightly.

"Your honours, is this really relevant? Jake Harley's moral character isn't on trial here, nor his views on other species." Redglare says wearily.

"It's relevant." Tyzias insists.

"Continue then. Answer the question Mr. Harley." Athena says after a moment of consideration.

"Your opinion on the fae." Tyzias reminds him.

"I _hate_ them. They're immoral abominations, they ruined my grandmother and we just allow them to take our children and if I had my way they'd all be studied and then eradicated." Jake snarls at her.

The queens of Winter and your Jade aren't the only fae gods here, in the stands you can see a good number of fae aligned gods and nature spirits visibly turn completely against Jake, and by association, probably Bro as well. Assuming that Bro hadn't already pissed everyone off before this.

"In 1985 Bro offered you your own island for research purposes and in 1988 you accepted. What kind of research did you do on this island prior to the year 2000?" Tyzias questions him.

"I engaged in cryptozoology, especially with animals and creatures that lived with or interacted with the fae." Jake admits.

"And what did you study on the island after the year 2000 and how did you come about this subject?" Tyzias asks.

Jade is practically vibrating with tension and you're glad that Rose is close enough to gently lay a soothing hand on her. This can't be easy to hear at all.

Jake clearly doesn't want to talk about this but he has no choice.

"I had wanted to study a fae, to get a fae child and study their development. They take human children after all. Bro... got one for me. I... named her after my grandmother." Jake answers softly.

"For the benefit of the court I will point out that Jake's grandmother is now married to Queen Mab of Winter, Queen Jade of Winter is in the stands here today. Also, for the sake of transparency the kidnapped fae child in question, Jade Harley, is here with me." Tyzias says and motions for Jade to stand.

To say that the look shared between Jake and Jade was hostile would be like saying that the universe is 'a little bit large' or that Bro is 'slightly unpleasant'. You're just in the vicinity of that exchanged look and you feel uncomfortable.

"So he gave you Jade in the year 2000, I have the date in your journals as the 1st of December 2000. I... mmm... I also wanted to clear something related up here. Your journals indicate that Roxy and you met in '82 and she babysat your first two children and awful lot but that her work involved demonology, also that you told Bro about her. Is that correct?" Tyzias asks as she flicks through her paper notes.

"Yes." Jake says sullenly, unable to deny what he did now.

"But you and Bro were still in a relationship at this point, weren't you? Was it not an exclusive relationship or was his affair with Roxy not something that bothered you? After all Dave was born just days after Bro had given you your own child." Tyzias asks innocently.

"It wasn't like that!" Jake says sharply.

Oh, oh that REALLY made him angry.

"Roxy was just someone useful to carry Dave to term, something my biology wasn't equipped to do and I had no interest in changing that. He and I are together, it wasn't as if he had sex with her, they weren't _together_ they weren't in love like he and I are. She was just a vessel for his child is all. He wasn't romantically or physically involved with anyone but me and after my wife died I wasn't either! Don't you try to act like he was unfaithful to our committed relationship. She's nothing." Jake shouts at Tyzias.

"Fuck you too." Roxy says under her breath.

It's not like Roxy WANTED to be involved with Bro but she isn't 'nothing'. She's more than Jake will ever be in any decent category you could choose to use.

"So tell me about your relationship. From living there I know that you have a home in Hell, could you tell me more about the things Bro has done for you that differentiate his relationship with you from what you insist is a purely transactional relationship with Roxy. Because you two have a history but he gave her a son." Tyzias says leadingly and Jake goes right along with it.

"He took my soul when I wanted to get out of my body to avoid dying, he secured me bodies I would love, that I could study. He gave me free roam of his realm, I could order anyone to do what I liked, I had a home of my own to use for my research and I stayed with him whenever I wanted. He LOVES me." Jake insists.

"Does he take your decisions into account when ruling Hell?" she questions.

"Sometimes, if it's something I know about. He'll talk and I'll offer advice." Jake shrugs.

"So, you're married." Tyzias concludes.

"No they're not." Redglare insists loudly from across the other side.

"They have a long relationship history, he provides him with a home, lends him his authority as a ruler, he gave him a child who was theirs by adoption and furthermore this Jade is the granddaughter of Queen Jade Harley of Winter, she and Jake are biologically related even without the adoption. Bro gave him a child, gives him his power, it's romantic, they've forsaken all others. They're married." Tyzias says, listing each thing off and you swear you can see Bro's lawyers wincing with each new line.

"We never got married, there was no ceremony or-" Jake starts, trying to fix his mistake.

"Or church? It's not as if you two could go into one to get married. He's a god. If you insist that gods have to be married like mortals are then there's a lot of invalid godly marriages in this room." Tyzias says and makes a sweeping gesture to the gods surrounding you all.

Athena drums her fingers on the table and leans over to talk to Aradia for a few moments. Seemingly the two come to a decision because Athena speaks as Aradia continues smiling like a cat that caught the biggest fattest mouse.

"We've decided to rule that Bro and Jake are in effect married. Tyzias continue with what I hope will be a good point." Athena says, waving a hand to her.

"I mentioned earlier that Jade is the granddaughter of her namesake, your grandmother. This means that on a mortal biological standpoint she's your cousin, yes?" Tyzias asks.

"She's not human." Jake snaps back.

"I didn't ask that. Answer the question." Tyzias presses him and the barrier around the witness stand crackles ever so slightly.

"Yes! Yes, she's- technically my cousin. I never called her that though and I never intend to again." Jake grumbles.

"Right, you called yourself her grandfather when you adopted her. I presume to account for the age gap even though she was actually your adopted child." Tyzias says and Redglare's eyes widen in horror.

"Yes." Jake says before Redglare can interrupt.

"So, given that you and Bro are married and Bro brought her to you and she is your child. At the very least he is her step-father but as he brought Jade to you when you were already together I think it's more accurate to say that you are both her adoptive parents. I also want to account for the date of Jade's birth, it's before Dave's. Hal isn't Bro's first born because he wasn't born from him but Jade absolutely is his first born child. Furthermore the fae have different interpretations on gender to humans. The original prophecy was made by humans as listed a son but there's no reason for Jade to not count. If Jade had the potential to be the antichrist and Bro lost that opportunity then Dave cannot be the antichrist and he made a deal with Roxy that he couldn't hold up. No further questions." Tyzias says with a slight smile and a sip at her mug.

The courtroom around you is full of whispering gods and the jury seems highly intrigued by all of this. You're pretty sure your whole side is trying to act like all of this is both true and not new information, but that'd mean that Jade, Dave and Rose were all related at least by marriage. That's... a weird thought to be sure. Across the way you can see that Redglare is caught, she's glaring at Jake and if you were her you'd be wondering if it's worth asking Jake more questions given that him opening his big mouth has already caused her a lot of problems.

"I have no questions for Jake Harley." Redglare says stiffly.

"I'll send him back to Winter again then." Queen Mab says and has to slide out of the jury box to walk back towards Jake.

Jake's spectral form flinches, he tries to back out of the witness stand but it holds him firm. Desperate he turns towards Bro, you can actually SEE Bro through him.

"Love! Help me! You can't let her send me back there! It hurts so much!" Jake begs him.

Bro rises to his feet but Redglare catches him by the shoulder and hisses quiet words at him all while Mab comes closer and closer.

"Please!" Jake shouts.

Mab waves a hand and the same cold portal to Winter appears. The barrier around the witness stand flickers out and Jake is suddenly dragged towards the portal. You cover your mouth in horror as Jake tries to grab for the rail of the witness stand but his hand goes straight through it. He screams as he's drawn towards the portal and the sound turns blood curdling as he falls through it, the sound lingers for several seconds before Mab shuts the way through to Winter with a snap of her fingers.

Queen Mab stares Bro down, stares down the man who killed her daughter and son in law and stole her granddaughter. He took them from her and clearly she's delighting in getting at least a modicum of revenge. She turns and glides back to her seat in the jury box. For Bro's part you'd hesitate to say that he had a heart but if he did you'd almost say that it looks broken right now, no matter how evil he is it's clear that losing Jake actually HURT him and hurt him badly.

"I call Jade Harley, that one, to the witness stand." Redglare says loudly before Bro can do something dumb, she points across the room to your Jade just so she doesn't end up with the Queen Jade instead.

Jade stands up and makes her way to the witness stand, she steps inside and sits down on the seat there with calm and care. Under the magic of the witness stand her appearance shifts to just as sharply fae as it was in Winter itself, if not more so. All the same you fear for her as Redglare fixes her sights on Jade and starts to question her.

"Jade Harley, do you consider yourself to be the daughter of Jake Harley?" Redglare asks.

That question is so obviously a trick but Jade is by far the smarter Harley and unlike Jake she doesn’t immediately start incriminating her side. Instead she just looks curiously at Redglare.

“In what sense? Legally? Since he and your client are officially regarded as married? In a strict family tree sense? Emotionally from when I was a child or now or what? I need to know what you’re asking me.” Jade says calmly and pleasantly enough.

Ah, fae. You couldn’t be happier for Jade to be the species that she is and for her to be as devastatingly smart as she is.

“Have you ever thought of yourself as Jake Harley’s daughter, in any sense?” Redglare asks again.

“Yep!” Jade says cheerily.

“...When?” Redglare presses her.

“Are you really asking me to remember every time I’ve had a specific thought? Who goes through their lives remembering exactly when they thought specific things? If I did that I wouldn’t have time to do anything else!” Jade exclaims.

“Have you thought of yourself as Bro Strider’s daughter at any point in time, in any sense?” Redglare tries again.

“Sure have.” Jade says with a smile.

Of course she has, literally just then. No doubt if Redglare presses her on it she’d just get the same answer about not being able to recall exactly when she did or didn’t have such thoughts. It’d get Redglare no answers and just make her look bad at her job. Redglare’s composure is faltering a little and you can’t help but notice that Athena is biting her lip as she tries to refrain from laughing. Redglare pinches the bridge of her nose and breathes deeply for a moment.

“When was the first time you remember seeing Bro?” Redglare says after her pause.

“On Valentines day, this year.” Jade admits.

“Did Jake ever tell you about Bro specifically as opposed to just the concept of the Devil in general?” Redglare asks, shit a more specific question.

“No.” Jade says and smartly doesn’t elaborate and give Redglare anything to work with beyond that.

“Did he have any part in raising you, to your knowledge?” Redglare asks her.

“I consider him murdering my parents and kidnapping me to give me to Jake to be a large part in how I was raised.” Jade snaps at her, shit, don’t get mad Jade that only gives Redglare more room to work with.

As Jade finally reacts emotionally you see Tyzias start to tense. Behind the cover of the desk you can see the way her foot is tapping quietly on the floor, an outlet for nerves that isn’t visible to the other side. Above the desk she looks perfectly calm and you’re reminded about that stupid saying about ducks looking calm on the surface and furiously paddling underneath the water. You think it was ducks, maybe swans. Either way both birds are jerks and this metaphor is bad.

“But Bro didn’t raise you or talk to you during your upbringing? Do anything a father might?” Redglare asks.

“I’m sure the opposing council isn’t suggesting that a present godly father is a needed criteria for being a god. Unless you’re suggesting that there are far fewer gods in here than I thought…?” Tyzias asks with a smile.

You look up and around the room and scramble mentally for mythologies. A lot of gods aren’t exactly great in the child support department, that’s likely not a road Redglare wants to take at all.

“I can see the discussion of fatherhood is upsetting you, Jade. I will-” Redglare starts.

“I’m not-” Jade cuts off with a hiss as the witness stand stops her from saying anything untrue.

Jade is clearly upset, just not for the reasons that Redglare is implying. As far as it looks to everyone else Jade just confirmed that. That was a dirty trick.

“When you were raised it was by Jake, who was human. Were you exposed to human media?” Redglare asks.

“Yes.” Jade answers unhappily.

“Were you introduced to fae culture when you lived on the island?” Redglare continues, you can see where this is going.

“I saw stuff made by humans.” Jade says, trying to avert the oncoming conclusion.

“So your cultural and societal understanding of gender as you were raised is human, not fae?” Redglare asks.

You glance at Tyzias again. If her argument rests on Jade actually being the one who fitted the prophecy only for Bro to screw it up because he didn’t realise then why is she not more unnerved at how it’s unravelling? What else is going on here? You’re sure there’s something but you just can’t see the wood for the trees right now.

“Yes, but biologically I’m still fae.” Jade tries.

“Have you ever felt male? Have you felt dysphoric at being seen as female by humans or felt euphoria at the idea of being perceived as male instead?” Redglare asks.

“Why the fuck are we doing this?” June mutters as Jade denies each question, confirming in turn that she is a girl and not Bro’s first born son.

“I don’t get it either.” you whisper to her.

You’re both mindful to keep your voice down but June shoots you a look that says quite clearly that she’s not happy about this.

“So, even though Jade is older than Dave she isn’t Bro’s son. Even if we charitably assume that Jade can be described as his child she still does not fit the prophecy, which means that Dave can. And I intend to prove that he does. I have no further questions for Jade.” Redglare says, pulling your attention back to her.

Jade gets out of the witness stand and the moment she has both feet back on the courtroom floor Redglare cuts in and calls her next witness.

“I summon Signless, current God of Heaven to the stand.” she says quickly and your eyebrows about climb into your hairline in shock.

Athena looks up into the audience where Signless is sitting and the furies flit up, either to guide him to where he has to go or to ensure that he actually goes. It doesn’t look like he’s going to put up any fight at all because he just gently eases Bec out of his lap, the hellhound was quite happy sprawled over both him and Queen Jade but takes over Signless’ now vacant seat happily, with the hellhound out of the way Signless floats down to the witness stand.

He lands in the stand and you expect some shift in his appearance but it doesn’t happen, he just looks like the normal guy he’s always looked like. Currently he’s dusting his clothes off with a look of concentration on his face.

“Signless-” she starts.

“Sorry, excuse me just a second. I’m absolutely _covered_ in hellhound fur.” Signless smiles and tries to get the stuff off of his clothes, a struggle you certainly relate to.

“Oh. Ohhh. I see it, the resemblance.” Sollux whispers.

You don’t think you really look anything like Signless at all. Not beyond being roughly the same shade of brown and having the same kind of hair. You don’t look a lot alike at all.

“What?” you hiss at Sollux but when he turns to you it’s clear that he’s looking at him with his little eyes only, not his main ones.

“Stop looking and just see him.” Sollux whispers to you.

What the fuck does _that_ even mean? Signless just looks like Signless, he’s just a guy who happens to be a god as well now. He just got created with all this holy stuff and went around trying to unfuck things as much as he could and was all about asking humans to maybe not be assholes to each other. He’s just Signless, that’s all.

“Redglare, wasn’t it?” Signless asks politely.

“Yes.” Redglare answers but she seems a little thrown.

“Pleasure. How can I help?” Signless asks.

“We’ve been discussing the antichrist, I know you go by Signless so forgive me bringing this up but you were the original ‘christ’ to which there is an antichrist. What do you know about the antichrist?” Redglare asks.

“Oh, well, you’ve already covered all of the prophecy stuff so I won’t go over that again. I would guess that being the antichrist probably sucks about as much as my role did. You get given a life you didn’t ask for and then probably messily die in the end.” Signless shrugs.

“I would appreciate it if you could affirm the identity of the antichrist for the court.” Redglare says.

“That’d be great for you, I’m sure!” Signless says brightly and you know he’s being deliberately difficult just because he can and clearly doesn’t like this, but he’s playing by the rules technically and-

You glance at Sollux who is giving you _a look_. What resemblance? If you weren’t in court you’d shove him off of his chair for that.

“Who is the antichrist?” Redglare rephrases, her tone tight.

“Don’t you know? I was under the impression you were insisting it was Dave over there. That’s the point of this whole trial thing, isn’t it?” Signless says, starting to grin a little as he talks.

You can feel the look Sollux is giving you and you’re not even looking at him.

“You are the son of your god, you’re now the god since Calliope died, you cannot expect me to believe that you do not know the truth of who the antichrist is.” Redglare says flatly.

“Well that’s not a question but I’ll answer anyway, I can expect you to believe that. I was locked away in my own little area in Heaven, I wasn’t informed about anything from anyone in charge and as you pointed out I’ve only just taken over myself.” Signless says with a shrug.

“And you didn’t look into who the antichrist was, during the end of the world?” Redglare says in disbelief.

“I’ve been focusing on my angels.” Signless shrugs.

“Did anyone ever tell you anything about the antichrist while you were in heaven?” Redglare asks.

The smile falls from Signless’ face ever so slightly.

“My only friend in Heaven went looking for the antichrist but seeing as I don’t know the truth as to who the antichrist is I can’t say how that turned out. That’s all I was ever told.” Signless says vaguely.

Ah, shit, that’d be past you.

“Who was that?” Redglare presses, oh no.

“Karkat Vantas, a throne.” Signless answers as briefly as he can.

“I thought no angels spoke to you?” Redglare says quickly.

“No one in charge spoke to me, Karkat wasn’t in charge of anything and also wasn’t supposed to be speaking to me anyway.” Signless points out.

That’s true, but still, ow. It’s not your fault that Heaven didn’t trust you to so much as breathe without fucking it up but- well, actually it kind of was your fault. What with you always disobeying whatever you could and sneaking off to fall in love with and bone the antichrist and his familiar, not to mention being a human’s moirail. Gee, why would Heaven not trust you with things?

“No further questions.” Redglare says, her eyes set right on you.

Signless turns to look at Tyzias but she shakes her head.

“No questions for Signless, your honours.” Tyzias says softly.

Signless nods and then his gaze drifts beyond Tyzias to you, then Mituna and Kanaya. He winks at them as quickly and casually as he can get away with and then floats back to his seat and starts trying to nudge Bec out of it so he can sit down again.

“I call Karkat Vantas to the stand.” Redglare says loudly.

“Shit.” you hiss and in one of those moments of awkward timing the room happened to be a little too quiet then and you think a fair few people heard that. Great, just great.

You get to your feet and shuffle awkwardly sidelong between the chairs until you’re finally out, once you’re free you head towards the witness stand but as you pass Rose you can’t help but look at her. Her eyes meet yours and she nods ever so slightly, she thinks you can do this. Maybe she knows more of Tyzias’ plan than you do and what she expects you to say fits right in with it. That’d make sense, Tyzias spent far more time with her than you.

You hesitate before crossing into the witness stand but when you finally cross the threshold it feels like you go through a full body sneeze as you’re forced to revert back to your throne form. You shudder all over at the sudden change, your rings trembling for just a moment before resuming their spin. It’s not really possible for you to sit like this so instead you just float above the remaining chair.

“Karkat Vantas, yes?” Redglare asks you, her teal eyes boring into your many, MANY, eyes.

YES, THAT’S ME.

“I would like it if you could tell-” Redglare starts but you cut in.

ACTUALLY, BEFORE WE GET ANYWHERE I JUST WANT TO SAY THAT I WAS ON EARTH WHEN THE EVENT HAPPENED AND I LOST ALL OF MY MEMORIES BEFORE THEN. I’VE GOT A FEW BACK SINCE THEN BUT NOT MUCH. you inform her quickly.

“Noted,” Redglare nods and continues, “tell me how you met Dave Lalonde.”

WHICH TIME?

“Tell me both, let’s start chronologically.” Redglare says after a moment of thought.

I WENT DOWN TO EARTH LOOKING FOR HIM, I FOUND HIM SOMEHOW. I TRIED TO TALK TO HIM AND SOLLUX STABBED ME, DESTROYING MY FORM AND SENDING ME BACK. THAT HAPPENED FOR A GOOD FEW TIMES. you’re trying to be as careful as you can with your answers here.

“And the second time?” she continues.

No one has mentioned Rose yet by name and that’s probably a good sign that you shouldn’t do that. Answer her truthfully but carefully.

AFTER THE EVENT I KNEW I WASN’T HUMAN BUT I DIDN’T KNOW WHAT I WAS. SALEM UNIVERSITY SENT ME AN INVITATION TO STUDY THERE BECAUSE I GUESS THEY SENSED MY MAGICAL POWER, WHICH… I’M AN ANGEL SO… THAT’S NOT TOO SURPRISING. WE LIVE IN THE SAME BUILDING, AND GO TO THE SAME CLASSES. WE MET THERE. you don’t mention that you met Rose first, you don’t mention that she introduced you to Dave and Sollux.

“But the first time you sought Dave out, why?” Redglare asks and you wince, you hope at least without having a normal body that your discomfort might be harder to read.

BECAUSE… BECAUSE I THOUGHT HE WAS GOING TO END THE WORLD AND I WANTED TO TALK HIM OUT OF IT.

“You thought he was going to end the world because he was the antichrist, then?” Redglare presses you.

Shit, you can’t lie. You can’t even say that you don’t know because you remember thinking that his position as the antichrist was unfair and you wanted to talk him into a different course of action. You DID think that’s what he was. There’s no smart answer here.

YES, BUT-

“No further questions.” Redglare cuts you off.

Shit, shit, that looked SO bad. If you just fucked this case up you’ll never forgive yourself. Tyzias looks up at you and gives you a reassuring smile.

“Karkat, do you currently work for Heaven?” Tyzias asks.

NO… I DON’T. you answer her.

“Why not?” she goes on.

THEY KICKED ME OUT. I FELL. should you say who you fell _to_ exactly or not?

“But you seem so nice and you’d seemingly been entrusted with stopping the antichrist. Weren’t you an important and well respected angel?” she asks and you laugh, loudly and bitterly.

ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? NO, I WASN’T EITHER OF THOSE THINGS. I’M ONLY A THRONE BECAUSE THAT’S WHAT I WAS MADE AS, AS FAR AS I REMEMBER I WAS DEMOTED A BUNCH OF TIMES FOR NOT BEING A GOOD ANGEL AT ALL. I GOT KICKED OUT REALLY RECENTLY ON A HUGE LIST OF CHARGES. you snort, briefly you wonder how you make that sound without a nose but then again you don’t have a mouth right now so you’d rather not go down that particular rabbit hole.

“Since we have Signless right here could I get the permission of the judges to request a list of the charges against Karkat?” Tyzias asks.

“Only on the condition that you read them all out loud!” Aradia blurts out before Athena can get a word in.

“Signless would you happen to have- oh, thank you.” Tyzias says as Signless is already pulling a long roll of paper out and floating it down to Tyzias.

Tyzias catches it and unfurls the sheet of paper and starts to read. She seems to do so without taking a breath and all in that flat voice of hers.

“Twenty eight counts of directly insulting a superior angel, fifteen counts of blasphemy against the lord, six counts of insubordination against an officer of internal holy affairs, five counts of a lewd and anatomically impossible suggestions to an officer of internal holy affairs,” Tyzias starts.

Yeah, you did tell that one angel to shove his head up his ass so when he talked shit it’d at least be in the right place. You forget the others but you regret none of them and you stand by your words.

“Two counts of threatening bodily harm with handcuffs. At least one count of visiting Earth without approval (further counts pending investigation). Refusing to help in the investigation into the death of his maker, slander on the character of his maker Kankri Vantas, associating with other gods, use of healing magic on mortals without filling the proper forms for peer review.” she goes on.

Did you do that? It’s all sort of blurring together.

“Encouraging mortals to mistrust God and Heaven, associating with demons, attending a demon party, engaging in sexual relations, engaging in sexual relations with several unholy forces. Falsely representing the desires of an officer of internal holy affairs (told another angel who was enquiring if the officer needed anything that he needed ‘to get fucking laid’).” Tyzias continues, unbothered by how much several of your friends are failing to stifle their laughter.

“Making deals with demonic forces, making vows to other gods, exchanging information with demonic forces, allowing his mortal vessel to be possessed by the Devil himself, bathing in holy water with his sinful mortal body-” Tyzias says.

“I have _other things to do_ than listen to this.” Bro interrupts her.

“I think we get the picture.” Athena agrees.

“Just for the record I wasn’t even halfway through, but fine. Karkat, would you say it is accurate that even before you were thrown out of heaven that you were not exactly trusted there?” Tyzias asks.

MY MAKER DIDN’T TRUST ME FOR SHIT. NO ONE TOLD ME ANYTHING AND AS FAR AS I KNOW I WASN’T ALLOWED TO DO MUCH OF ANYTHING. you agree.

“So do you think you would have been told who the antichrist was by other angels?” Tyzias asks.

THE ONLY WAY THEY WOULD HAVE TOLD ME IS IF THEY WERE EXPLICITLY ORDERING ME TO STAY AWAY FROM HIM.

“But you went down to Earth to find Dave.” Tyzias points out.

YEAH, I SNUCK OUT TO SEE HIM. SIGNLESS USED TO BE KEPT SEPARATE FROM EVERYONE AND I WAS ABLE TO SNEAK THROUGH HIS AREA TO GET DOWN TO EARTH. I WASN’T MEANT TO BE DOING IT AT ALL. I REMEMBER BEING WORRIED ABOUT GETTING CAUGHT. you very distinctly remember Kankri demanding you come to him at very inconvenient times for you.

“So you weren’t doing this on Heaven’s orders, or else you wouldn’t have had to worry about that. So, do you remember who told you that Dave was the antichrist?” Tyzias asks.

You’re pretty sure you saw or heard things you weren’t supposed to and then sought out the best seer to get you the rest of the way. You didn’t know how involved Rose was. But that SAID you don’t know that for sure so you can honestly say that…

NO, I DON’T REMEMBER.

Ah, technically true.

“So we have no way of knowing who you got the information about Dave allegedly being the antichrist from or if they were telling the truth. Tell me, when you did find him and finally get to talk to him were you able to talk him out of ending the world?” Tyzias asks.

SORT OF. HE DIDN’T WANT TO DO IT IN THE FIRST PLACE, HE WAS JUST BEING PUSHED ALONG THAT PATH BY HIS FATHER. HE WAS ALL FOR NOT ENDING THE WORLD AT ALL.

What is she getting at here?

“Why did you keep seeing him then?” Tyzias asks.

Oh.

I… I FELL IN LOVE WITH HIM. I LOVED HIM AND HATED SOLLUX. I WAS IN A RELATIONSHIP WITH BOTH OF THEM, I MEAN YOU READ OUT THAT BIT ON MY LONG LIST OF CRIMES AGAINST HEAVEN.

“The fact that you sought them out is no proof that Dave is the antichrist, nor is you staying. I see. So, tell me, Karkat. You’re a fallen angel but I notice that you didn’t become a demon, you still appear to be an angel to me. If you don’t serve Heaven then tell me, who do you serve?” Tyzias asks.

I SERVE ROSE LALONDE.

“Is Rose Lalonde related to Roxy Lalonde?” Tyzias asks.

SHE IS, SHE’S DAVE’S TWIN.

Bro’s side of the court goes nuts about this but it’s not their turn to question you, even so you can see Bro hissing angry words at Redglare. Tyzias gives you an encouraging and sinister look and you figure, fuck it, you’ll go all out.

SHE’S DAVE’S TWIN. SHE WAS MAGICALLY SPLIT FROM HIM WHEN ROXY WAS PREGNANT AND, ACTUALLY, SHE’S THE OLDER ONE. SHE WAS THE FIRST BORN.

Oh man, throwing a hand grenade into the court would have probably been less disruptive. Everyone is suddenly talking and shouting things, all except Tyzias who is hiding her smile behind her mug as she calmly drinks.

“OBJECTION! We’ve never heard of this before! My client picked Dave up when he was born and he never saw ANY sign of another infant. This angel can’t lie on the stand but he can be wrong. There’s no proof that any of this is true!” Redglare shouts over the noise.

“We have plenty of proof.” Tyzias says with a smile.

The court only gets louder still at that and finally Aradia has to slam her fist on her table and the noise around the room drops dead, which is fitting for her if you think about it.

“I think we should have a recess here. You can all submit your evidence in the recess and make requests from the other side. Court is adjourned!” Aradia says loudly and with a snap of her fingers you’re back in the same white and vaguely Greek pre-trial area that you were in before.

“Holy shit.” Dave whispers.

“Quite a show, huh? We’ve still got work to do.” Tyzias grins.

Holy shit indeed.


	45. Tailspin

“Tyzias!” you call out as the demon starts to walk off towards the other demons doing your legal work.

“Mmm?” Tyzias hums curiously around her mug.

“What’s… what’s the plan here? Are you actually going to argue that it’s Rose, or that Rose and Dave combined are-” you start.

“I’m not discussing my plans with anyone who can be called onto the stand.” Tyzias says firmly.

“But I’ve already been up there, can they call me twice?” you ask.

“I don’t think it’s usual but I also don’t think they _can’t_, you know?” Sollux says thoughtfully.

“You just like the idea that someone could be up there twice because it’s a two thing.” you grumble.

Sollux looks annoyed and it’s almost certainly because you correctly called him out. It _delights_ you.

“As I said, it’s not happening. Things are exactly as I need them to be. Roxy, I’m going to need you to testify soon, so be ready.” Tyzias warns and Roxy nods.

You try to talk to her again but Tyzias ignores you and instead waves a hand in the air, teal magic flaring for a moment. Reality parts like a curtain and a small continent pretending to be a man shifts through the space. Looking at him you can work out that he and Spades Slick are the same species but they’re nothing alike in scale, you could probably fit two of Spades side by side in this newcomer’s coat and the ends of it would still drag on the floor. You’d probably silently classify him as ‘fat’, not that you’re skinny yourself, but the guy seems fat in the way that sumo wrestlers or the guys who compete in the highland games are fat. Like, yeah, there’s fat on there but very shortly underneath that is enough muscle to destroy you with. You think the scientific term for his body type is ‘built like a brick shithouse’.

“I am Tyzias Entyyk, I have a request of your boss.” Tyzias bows shortly.

“Hearts Boxcars, but in this job it’s Hegemonic Brute. Whatddaya want?” the man growls, flashing shark teeth in a pitch black mouth.

Is he a psychopomp too, or…?

“Hegemonic Brute, I need to request a summons of a specific person. Sollux, you said you have Dave’s memories of their creation, could you give me a psychic signature of them? I would ask Dave but-” Tyzias begins.

“But I gave myself magical brain damage and I still don’t know how to do lots of stuff? Yeah, it’s cool.” Dave interrupts.

“That’s… not exactly what I was going to say, but sure.” Tyzias nods.

Sollux closes all of his eyes for a moment and then pulls a sheet of glimmering paper out of thin air in something that seems more sleight of hand than real magic. He hands it off to Hegemonic Brute who peers at it for a moment, beady little eyes narrowed at the paper.

“Gonna need a lot of permissions to get someone who can time travel. You need the sword too?” he asks and starts to pick at a gap between his teeth with a black tongue.

“It’s very relevant to the case.” Tyzias says simply.

“Eh, thing is you’re the second to petition for that thing. Other side gets first crack at it.” the brute says with a shrug.

“Fine by me, they can spend time cracking the magic on it and I can just get the results. I get first shot at the witness.” Tyzias grins.

The Hegemonic Brute just grunts and shoulders his way through the fabric of reality and is gone just like that.

“Right, Stels, I need you to itemise all of the evidence Roxy brought from her safe after Dave and Rose became Dave and Rose. Give them as much paperwork as you can, anything to burn their time or misdirect them. Lean hard into any evidence about Rose being born first, same for that blanket.” Tyzias says, turning to Stelsa.

“That’s… they have a whole team honey and I’m just me. But I’ll do my best!” Stelsa nods, smacking her fist on her palm decisively.

“Rose-” Tyzias begins but Hal interrupts her.

“This isn’t _going_ to work! The only way that you can get Rose to be the one who fits the prophecy is if you argue that she and Dave are the same person and everything that happened to Dave had to happen to her too, but they’ll get you on the grammar of that. You can’t argue that it’s only Rose because she’s not his son. You can’t win this on a technicality. It wasn’t me, it’s not Jade and it isn’t Rose either.” Hal insists.

“They have to prove that.” Tyzias shrugs.

“I do agree with you, Hal. Logically this seems like a lost cause but I’ve got a feeling that it’s all going to be fine somehow, I don’t know how but… that’s the feeling I get.” Rose says slowly and thoughtfully.

“Is that a vision? A prophecy?” June asks eagerly.

“No, just a feeling. I can’t explain it.” Rose shrugs.

“Good, that’s very interesting. Now come with me, Rose. We have to talk.” Tyzias says firmly and leads her away.

Stelsa takes Roxy away too so they can go over all of her things together and that leaves the rest of you just stood there.

“So, we’re related.” Jade says after a moment of silence.

“I guess? Does it count when it’s both through people that we wish didn’t exist?” Dave says uneasily.

“It counts. But that means I have years of big sister teasing to get through.” Jade grins.

“Your birthdays aren’t that far apart, like-” June tries but Jade steadfastly ignores her.

“Don’t you think Rose will be mad if you try taking over her brand like that?” Dave laughs nervously as he backs up.

“Hmm, NOPE!” Jade grins, her expression is sharp and fae and as Dave bolts off she _chases,_ alive with the hunt.

“Sollux! Help!” Dave yelps as he sprints around the car.

“I’m giving you moral support.” Sollux calls back.

“I’m still worried about the thing about my temples, what was that about?” June asks, in the distance Dave vaults a table with Jade hot on his heels.

“Could be just trying to overwhelm our side with evidence to look at, or trying to rattle you.” Hal points out.

“Pretty solid legal strategy. It’s not like they can get me for damaging that stuff, I had nothing to do with the moon shit so it’s not like it’s evidence of previous bad behaviour against gods. Not to mention that I did it for you, we were working together. It’s got to be a diversion.” Sollux agrees.

There’s a distant yelp and a cackling laugh, you glance away from the current conversation to see that Jade has caught Dave in a headlock and appears to be trying to noogie his brains out through his skull.

“I’m really not sure what Tyzias’ strategy is though and that makes me nervous.” you admit.

“Same, but at least Bro’s looking REAL bad.” June agrees.

“Redglare and the rest of the legal team have to represent _him_ no matter what, they’re contractually bound to. They don’t look like they’re enjoying it though and even though Redglare is defending him legally she’s not doing an awful lot to protect his reputation, not that I can see that she could do much.” Hal says with a nod.

“I trust Rose’s good feeling on this and I know I don’t know everything about this case but… I don’t see how this is going to go in our favour.” you confess, it feels horrible to admit it but there it is.

“The prophecy is pretty clear to me, even if the whole jury thinks the other side is an asshole it doesn’t mean we’re right.” Hal agrees.

“You’re forgetting about Rose.” Terezi says solemnly, her voice makes you jump because honestly you’d forgotten about _her_.

“No, her and Dave being separate is… weird but it doesn’t rule Dave out. Whoever was before Dave when Roxy was pregnant wasn’t _born_. The prophecy isn’t changed.” Hal argues.

“I didn’t say that.” Terezi grins wide, showing her fangs off.

“Then what? I- hey! Get back here!” June shouts but Terezi has already wandered off with a self satisfied smile on her face.

“Would this be a bad time to ask what happens if we lose this case?” Kanaya asks quietly.

You’d really been trying not to think about that.

“The jury and Athena make the ruling. But… at the very least Dave gets dragged back into ending the world.” Hal tells her.

“But wouldn’t that mean we wouldn’t be alive for very long anyway?” Kanaya presses.

“I don’t know exactly how the end of the world looks. I don’t know if it means that it’s just all the mortals are gone and Earth belongs to Hell and we fracture away from realities with the other gods or if it’s more… everything ceases to be.” Hal admits.

“But if you were in Cal doesn’t that mean Cal didn’t know either? Does… does Bro know?” you ask.

“He probably thinks that even if it’s a bad outcome for everyone else that he can at least keep Jake with him. Or if they both stopped existing then it doesn’t matter.” Sollux points out.

“That doesn’t make any sense. I don’t want you to die that doesn’t mean I’d be cool if we both died _at the same time!_” you insist.

“I don’t think you understand his mentality. You… ok, you were a shit angel-” Hal begins.

“Fuck you, but go on.” you interrupt and Sollux barks out a startled laugh.

“...the point is that Dirk was given a job to do. It was the only thing he had to do, his only purpose for existing.” Hal continues.

“And now I’m sad again.” June mumbles.

“Dirk did the thing though, that’s why I’m even here. You know as well as I do that unlike humans who just squirt DNA at each other, we’re made for a reason. Suddenly, no purpose! You can fuck around with Hell for a while, change things, screw with humans in new and inventive ways, but eventually it’s just wasting time. He’s immortal and you start going nuts after a while. I’m not saying that doesn’t happen to gods like June who came about from a concept, but those people have a purpose built into the thing they are. Angels aren’t like that and even though he’s a god now he wasn’t made as one. He has no purpose. The prophecy was a thing on a to do list and eventually you just have to do it. If it just remakes the world new with him as the only god then at least that’ll be new and interesting for a while and he can keep Jake. If the lights of reality go off and we all stop existing then he takes out everyone else out of spite and doesn’t have to bother with anything anymore.” Hal says with a shrug.

“That’s upsetting in so many ways.” Kanaya says wide eyed.

“I really tried to help him but he wasn’t interested.” June mumbles.

“I doubt that’s your fault, June. I’m going to guess that splitting into two people didn’t do his mind any good.” Sollux assures her.

“Dave seemed fine after making you, and remaking you.” Kanaya points out.

“You say that but he almost immediately started making jokes about being able to suck his own dick now he’s down two ribs.” you say with a sigh.

“I retract my comment.” Kanaya says flatly.

“Dick jokes aside if we win this trial somehow I should probably stay away from everyone.” Hal says softly and glances over at where Dave is currently trying to wriggle out of Jade’s hold, his hair is a total mess now.

“What makes you think almost completely replicating the aforementioned circumstances that Bro went through would work any better on you?” Kanaya asks and you nod in agreement, it seems like a bad idea.

“It’s not-” Hal tries to say but is cut off as June reaches out and grabs the front of his shirt.

June’s eyes are glowing solid blue, her hair floats like she’s underwater and she’s levitating half a foot off of the ground.

“If you even TRY to ghost me after this you’re in big fucking trouble. If you go anywhere where even the slightest breeze can reach you I WILL find you. You think you’re safe in space? Solar winds, bitch! I’m your friend and I’m not leaving you alone!” June snaps angrily at him.

This is getting a little too emotional for you as Hal doesn’t seem to know what to say at June’s assurances. Luckily for you Sollux snags the back of your shirt and pulls you away without even bothering to make an excuse. He pulls you over to a table where Jade has seemingly abandoned a defeated and frazzled looking Dave.

“We came to rescue you.” Sollux tells him.

“My ass you did.” Dave groans.

“Sisters, I guess. Hey, aren’t June and Jade related too, because of June’s dad?” you ask.

“Eh, that’s stretching it. Also, you could argue that if Kankri was made in Signless’ image then aren’t you related to Kanaya? It’s about as close of a connection as that.” Sollux points out as he absently fixes Dave’s hair with his claws.

“It might be Jade trying to get her fist into my brain through my skull but thinking about all that makes my head hurt.” Dave mumbles.

“Same.” Sollux agrees as he works Dave’s hair back into something closer to its normal shape.

“What happens if we win this? I mean, I’d hope the end of the world is cancelled but I’m not sure I feel okay with Bro just being let go back to Hell. It’s not like we can get a restraining order on him.” you point out.

“I guess the house is kind of a restraining order.” Sollux muses.

“Oh yeah, us all crammed in that house all being agoraphobic until we all die of old age. That sounds great!” you snap.

“We don’t die of old age.” Sollux argues.

“I gave you half of my life, we’re dying of something!” you retort.

Dave sighs and sits up, tucking one foot onto the table and wrapping his arm around his knee so he’s hugging it to his chest.

“That’s exactly why I wanted to take him out myself, we’re not going to be safe with him still around.” Dave says softly.

“If this is what we’re supposed to be doing then it has to help one way or another, right?” Sollux says uneasily.

“Maybe if he loses they’ll fix the moon and lock him back in it alone. With no more Cal he won’t be able to get out. Gods are pretty big on ironic punishments, right? That’d fit.” you say hopefully.

You’re not a big fan of anyone being locked in anything alone for obvious reasons, but you think you can make an exception for Bro.

“Whichever way this thing goes I’m sticking with you two, you know that, right?” you say, making sure to look at both of them in turn so they really, REALLY, get the message here.

“Yeah, we have a terminal case of Karkat, we know.” Sollux says teasingly but the smile on his face is still sweet, you see through him.

Dave leans a little closer to you, biting his lip for a moment as he pulls you a little nearer by your shirt.

“You’ve been really great and all. Wait, shit, that sounds like I’m talking all that you’ve done down and I’m not. I’m the most grateful person there is about all that you’ve done, you literally went to Hell for us and that’s like top-tier boyfriend stuff and like…” Dave trails off and his expression goes a little slack.

“Did your brain just turn off or something?” you ask after a second or two of Dave staring silently into nothing.

“Valid question. Dave?” Sollux asks with some concern in his voice.

“Do you two feel that? It’s- everything feels all weird.” Dave says softly.

Sollux's small eyes open up and narrow suspiciously as he closes his larger ones, his gaze sweeps around you and even you have a look for all the good it’ll do.

“I think it’s time, I think time is wrong.” Dave says in a hurry, shoving past you to get to his feet.

“Like there’s a loop you’re supposed to have closed and haven’t?” Sollux asks with concern.

“Nooo? Maybe?” Dave frowns as he looks around.

Reality tears behind him and all but scares the pants off of you, you yelp and scramble for your weapon as the sphinx that’s just appeared leans close to Dave.

“Hi.” it purrs.

Dave had already been alarmed by your reaction but he still jumps when the sphinx greets him. He doesn’t rush for a weapon like you and Sollux do, although Sollux doesn’t so much arm himself as he looks ready to throw down.

“Oh! It’s you.” Dave says.

“Who?” you ask uneasily as the sphinx smiles at him with all those teeth.

“You look like Dave.” Sollux says slowly and uncertainly.

“I was half Dave.” the sphinx says brightly.

“Was?” Sollux asks incredulously, the past tense there is kind of concerning.

“Well, yeah, now I’m all me. You can call me Davepeta by the way.” the sphinx smiles widely. You blink and it’s colours snap from green to orange, or rather the parts that had been green are now orange and vice versa. You didn’t see the change but it happened when you blinked. You blink again and they change once more.

“When I used the sword it splintered off a version of me from another timeline I think. There was a demon, Nepeta, who’d been looking after me that Cal killed and then something happened and… there you go.” Dave says lamely, waving a hand at Davepeta.

“There you are.” Tyzias says, walking around a corner with the Hegemonic Brute at her side.

“I’m telling you, they just slip off like that.” he says, waving an angry hand in Davepeta’s direction.

“Thank you for bringing them, and as for you, I need to ask you questions.” Tyzias says, pointing a finger at Davepeta.

“That’s nice, but I need to talk to Mo- to… Roxy. I need to talk to Roxy first.” Davepeta says, stumbling slightly there.

“Hey, she can still be your mom too you know. Trust me, spending most of your life in Hell doesn’t change her perspective of you. I’m sure she’ll like you when she meets you.” Dave says because he actually is a genuinely good person and you’ll fight anyone who denies that.

“She’s already met me. From her perspective at least. Let’s just talk.” Davepeta says and walks towards Tyzias.

“Did- so wait, Roxy’s already met Davepeta? She never said anything.” you say in surprise.

“She might not remember or might have vowed to not say anything. I know she’s doing a lot better since the apocalypse started but she’s still pretty messed up, she genuinely might not remember meeting them.” Sollux reasons.

“Them?” Dave says with a puzzled little frown.

“Them. Davepeta.” Sollux says like it’s obvious. Maybe he can tell because Davepeta was a demon and was Dave, or maybe he has some sense for this that you don’t. Still, Davepeta is a them, and _they_ are also a giant magical sphinx that apparently can time travel and from Roxy’s point of view they’ve already met. The they/them thing seems a lot less important in the grand scheme of things when you include the rest of that.

You watch Davepeta leave until they disappear around a marble column doorway with Tyzias. You, Dave and Sollux have nothing useful left to do so you’re just left to worry, more accurately it seems like one of you takes a turn to worry as the other two do something that ends up distracting whoever is worrying and then you all change roles.

The three of you don’t get to talk to Davepeta again, or Roxy and Rose. Before you know it the trial recess is coming to a close and you’re waiting with the others as Tyzias checks over sheets of paper and refills her mug. You see her hands shake just a little as she pours and it’s the only sign of nerves you get from her. When the furies show up once more you end up pulled into court with no more idea about what’s going to happen next than the murmuring crowd watching you from every side.

Athena’s nails drum out a beat on the desk before her, far louder than should be possible to hear, but it ushers in a silence across the courtroom as swiftly as any gavel would do.

“I hope that both sides have a little more clarity after that break so we can get this matter all tied up and soon. Are we all ready to begin again?” Athena asks.

Both sides answer with a respectful ‘yes your honour’ and then before Redglare can draw breath Tyzias cuts in. Her slack responses and asking questions after Redglare seems to have been just an act, she’s capable of some speed for sure.

“The prosecution calls Rose Lalonde to the stand.” Tyzias says instantly.

Rose rises to her feet, regal and calm and makes her way around to the witness stand. She steps into it and your breath freezes in your lungs. Rose’s skin glows from within, warm and rich but still as dark and full of life as before. Where Bro was washed out, bleached and corpse-like Rose just glows. Her eyes shine with light and she seems perfectly and completely in focus. She sits, proper and well mannered in the seat that you got stuck floating above of.

“Can you confirm for the court who you are?” Tyzias asks smoothly.

“My name is Rose Lalonde, I’m the daughter of Roxy Lalonde and the Devil himself. I’m Dave’s twin and I’ve started to come into my own title as a god of… knowledge, light, something like that. I understand that this is all very early days for me so I’m still settling into who I am I suppose. I have powerful seer abilities, my own angel now that I rescued from falling, certain light based abilities. Is that a comprehensive enough answer?” Rose asks.

“That’s perfectly fine. Can you confirm that you mean that Karkat Vantas is your angel?” Tyzias asks.

“I can. He’s my only one so it’s not exactly difficult to do, and I think that he’s far better than Heaven ever gave him credit for.” Rose says and casts a look up at Signless.

“Heartwarming.” Tyzias says flatly and picks up a sheet of paper.

“I would like you to tell the court about this evidence that I’m handing you, which I also submitted in the recess.” Tyzias says, walking around the prosecution bench to lay a sheet of paper on the edge of the witness stand.

Rose reaches out and takes the sheet of paper and looks at it for a moment.

“This is an ultrasound scan of my mother. To be clear to anyone who is unaware of what that is, it's a technology humans have that enable us to look inside a person, in this case to observe to some degree of clarity the inside of her womb. She was at this point seven weeks along, at her first scan if the writing on this is correct. I found these scans in my mother’s safe at her home just after this most recent Christmas.” Rose answers.

“I see, and this one?” Tyzias lays a second sheet of paper down and then another alongside it.

“This is another scan, a later one. From the letter that goes with it you can see that her doctor was rather surprised to find that she was pregnant with two children rather than one as they had believed prior to this. This is me right here.” Rose says and holds the scan up to tap at a vague shape on it.

“Tell me, is it normal for a baby to be undiscovered until fourteen weeks along?” Tyzias asks.

“As the letter from the doctor that accompanies this states it is very rare for that to happen. But I don’t believe that I was simply missed until this time.” Rose answers.

“Go on?” Tyzias presses her.

“My mother undertook some psychic damage of some kind during her pregnancy with me and Dave. Before she was the brightest witch of her generation, if not the ones before her too. She was mentally aware, sharp and cunning. She managed to secure your services after all. She is still these things but the process of her pregnancy changed her somewhat, damaged her mind and gave her odd quirks. Among other things she compulsively divides things in two when under stress. I believe that she used that spell on the baby she was carrying and divided it without harming or killing it as per the deal, and that resulted in me and Dave. I will say that my mother is doing well at the moment, I can only assume that the location is helping. It is also prudent of me to mention that I, as one half of the original baby, was born first.” Rose says.

Redglare is halfway through objecting as Tyzias says that she has no further questions and wanders back to her bench.

Redglare narrows her eyes at Rose and then at Tyzias, clearly wrongfooted and suspicious. You can’t blame her, there’s loads more that Tyzias could have asked and perhaps should have asked but didn’t. She didn’t mention a thing about the blanket and you know Tyzias knows about that. What’s she playing at?

“Redglare, if you will.” Athena prompts her.

“Of course your honour.” Redglare murmurs and focuses on Rose again.

“Miss Lalonde, can you prove that Karkat Vantas is your angel?” Redglare asks.

“What the shit?” you say under your breath.

“I said so under oath in your magical truth compelling witness stand didn’t I? What more proof do you need? I haven’t started handing out membership cards.” Rose says tartly.

“You said it and you believe it, that doesn’t make it so. It just proves that you truly believe that he is yours. I want objective proof, not subjective belief. You’re claiming to be a god, a child of a god no less. Up until recently your supposed father had no clue of your existence, for all we know your mother has orchestrated this so you believe a falsehood. An angel could be made to believe things, have his memory falsified and told to act as if he followed you. I want proof, summon him.” Redglare insists.

Rose folds her arms and glowers at Redglare.

“I don’t do that without his consent, he’s my friend and my moirail before he is my angel. He’s not some soulless tool of mine to throw around as I please. I will not summon him for your amusement.” Rose says icily.

“That’s absurd, summon him.” Redglare instructs her.

“No. It wouldn’t prove anything, if your theory is that he and I are both tricked into believing something false then how would any of us know if he’s actually been summoned or if he’s just teleported because he thinks I’m summoning him?” Rose argues.

“Rose, if it’ll help-” you try to stay but Athena interrupts you.

“This is all very irritating, just summon him and prove the point so we can move on. That’s an order, or else be held in contempt.” Athena says sternly.

Rose grits her teeth but looks over at you anyway. You nod, you don’t want her held in contempt of court. Who knows how bad that might be? You don’t know if you’ll _fit_ in there with her but you’ll go if you have to. Rose runs her tongue over her teeth for a moment, flashing a sneer at Redglare under cover of the motion. She seems to steel herself and at once you feel that pull, a command to your soul, somewhat apologetic but a command nonetheless.

In a flash you go from where you were to where Rose is. You’re right that the space isn’t big enough for both of you but Rose holds her arms out and you coalesce into a smaller version of your form. You spin in the air just above her lap, about the size of a globe you’d find in a school geography class. You float there as she curls her arms around you protectively and stares Redglare down.

“I don’t see what that proved.” Rose says sharply.

“Nothing can get in under its own power without court approval, but you can pull your own angels in. He is yours.” Athena answers.

“Well fantastic, that was a wonderful exercise in-” Rose starts, her voice steely.

You interrupt, speaking directly to her in a way that you couldn’t have done deliberately, you just did it because you instinctively knew how to and really needed to. You speak directly to Rose and Rose alone, like a whisper in her head.

[SHUT UP! I KNOW IT’LL FEEL SATISFYING AS SHIT TO CALL THEM OUT BUT YOU KNOW IT’S NOT WORTH IT.]

Rose relaxes minutely and doesn’t finish her sentence.

[SHE’S GOT TO BE TRYING TO THROW YOU OFF YOUR GAME, RIGHT? AND IF SHE’S HAVING TO CHEAT IT MEANS WE’RE WINNING, RIGHT?]

Rose breathes out smoothly, not exactly relaxed but rather more focused. Still, it’s calmer than she had been for sure.

“So, Karkat is mine as I said. I assume that this proves the point about me actually being a deity and him actually being my angel. Did you have a point that you were getting to?” Rose asks primly and you note the sharp and irritated flick to Redglare’s tail.

Redglare settles herself, and nods.

“I did have a point. So, Rose, how come if you and Dave are both Bro’s children and born at the same time how is it that he wasn’t aware of you?” Redglare asks.

Your form spins a little faster in alarm but Rose just runs a finger over the edges of one of your rings, making you close and open an eye at a time as her finger moves.

“I can’t answer that question as it contains an incorrect statement. We were not born at the same time, I was born first.” Rose says calmly.

“How come he didn’t see you? Do you have proof that you were born first?” Redglare asks.

“I do. In the recess Tyzias submitted a blanket made by Kanaya, I don’t know how much attention you paid to it but I’ll explain it to you now. It was made with a sample of my blood, something that’s taken in prenatal testing and my mother got her hands on. It is also made specifically to shield me from the awareness of anyone but my mother and her and specifically targets my father. When I was born I was wrapped in the blanket and undetectable to him, this is why he didn’t see me.” Rose explains.

“I have the blanket here, along with the box that goes with it. Once the blanket is removed from the box and put on Rose then until it’s put back in the box everyone but Rose, Roxy and Kanaya will forget she ever existed. If Bro never saw her or knew she existed then he’d continue to not know of her even when Rose was safely home and the blanket box was put away. Roxy’s own home was similarly shielded from infernal location specifically but also near impossible to be found by people who didn’t already know where it was.” Tyzias explains.

She holds the box out for all to see and removes the blanket before placing it safely away.

“I would like to see this blanket. Weaving is something of a specialist subject of mine.” Athena says, yeah, you’re not going to argue that one.

“Of course.” Tyzias nods and walks over to the judges bench.

Tyzias has to float up in the air to get to them but she hands the box over and waits patiently on the ground as both Athena and Aradia inspect the blanket and its box.

“This is a very well made spell, it would do just as you say.” Athena nods sagely.

“Kind of a risky thing to own though, I’d destroy them both if I were you.” Aradia adds as Athena hands the box back to Tyzias.

[YEAH, WHAT DOES HAPPEN IF THE BOX GETS DESTROYED BUT YOU STILL TOUCH THE BLANKET?]

Rose hugs you a little tighter, so tight that your outer rings stop spinning for a moment. You guess that either Rose hadn’t thought about that or would really prefer not to.

“That doesn’t tell us that you were born first.” Redglare points out after a moment of pause.

“If you consider it at all it does. If Dave were born first there would be no need to hide me. However my mother would still be very clearly in labour with me and labour is hardly subtle, so unless you’re proposing that the Devil is a complete idiot it only makes sense for me to have been born and then hidden with the blanket before Bro turned up and Dave was born. I am the older child.” Rose says flatly.

Redglare gives Rose a long and quiet look and then asks her a question that you’d hope she wouldn’t.

“Rose Lalonde, do you think that you are the antichrist?” Redglare asks.

“I would say that much like my father’s title of ‘The Devil’ it isn’t that the antichrist is a specific person that you simply are, but rather a job whose qualifications one has to meet. It is a role one fulfils by fitting the prophecy. To say one just is the antichrist misses the point.” Rose opines.

“Answer the question.” Redglare presses her and you feel the pressure of the spell on the witness stand press in against you both.

“I don’t think I do, no. But I don’t think Dave does either.” Rose says and you wince.

“Oh, you don’t think so? I thought you were supposed to be a god of knowledge, don’t you know?” Redglare asks, her smile sharp and a little too predatory for your liking.

“I was under the impression that this trial was happening to establish the truth of these matters. Also, two things, first I am a new god and it would be unwise of me to start making sweeping proclamations like that. Second of all I’m hardly the only god of knowledge here and if you really thought someone with my powers knew all the answers then why aren’t you getting them to the stand?” Rose asks innocently.

Ooooh, imply that the matter of Dave’s status as the antichrist might be a little subjective or imply that the other knowledge gods don’t know shit. That’s a rock and a hard place that you’re glad you’re not stuck between.

You jolt in Rose’s arms as a bang rings out across the court. Bro is on his feet with the desk under his fist starting to splinter.

“This is BULLSHIT. Just because some blanket _could_ do that according to _you two_ doesn’t mean it did. There’s NO proof that she’s my kid, just that she thinks she is my kid and has that thing don’t mean that she is. For all I know Roxy went off and fucked some other god!” Bro snarls furiously.

“She didn’t fuck _you_.” Terezi points out from her side of the court.

“It doesn’t matter if she is or ain’t mine, she’s a _girl_ so it’s not her.” Bro sneers at Rose.

He says ‘girl’ like some people might say ‘tapeworm’ or ‘dog shit on the sole of my shoe’. The disdain comes across pretty clearly. Rose seems fantastically unaffected by this, and so she should be, derision from the Devil himself is more an endorsement than anything surely.

“It doesn’t matter what _she_ believes, get Roxy on the stand. NOW.” Bro orders Redglare who is staring in wide eyed horror at him and glancing fearfully at the judges who don’t seem to appreciate this outburst one bit.

“Why, father, you’re getting very emotional about this.” Rose says sweetly and runs a hand over your rings with the air of a bond villain petting a cat as he taunts his victim.

“No further questions. I… call Roxy Lalonde to the stand.” Redglare stays in a tight voice.

Rose stands up with you in her arms and coolly walks out of the witness stand. She moves over to your side of the court and takes her seat, still holding you.

“He’s like… mini version.” Dave whispers and wiggles his fingers near you like he wants to poke your rings but isn’t sure he’s allowed.

As Roxy goes to stand up and listens to a quiet word from Terezi and Tyzias Sollux decides to move. He leans around Dave to look at you and then there’s a ripple of magic and suddenly Dave’s lap and shoulders are full of bicoloured snake.

Sollux leans closer to you, his tongue flickering and his two sets of eyes open wide as he watches you. You bristle at the attention, spinning a little faster closer to your core. Dave sighs and wraps his arm around Sollux’s looping serpentine body a few times and pulls him away from you.

“We’re in court, could you cool it?” Dave whispers, if he gets an answer it’s not one that you can hear.

You pay attention to the courtroom as Roxy steps into the witness stand. Across the room Bro is glaring daggers and for someone whose case seems to be going quite well Redglare looks uneasy. It is going well for her, right? She ruled out Hal, Jade and even Rose as the antichrist. This should be a slam dunk for her and a crushing defeat for you, so why is she staring at Tyzias like she’s suddenly not sure what game these chess moves are being played in?

“Roxy…” Redglare says slowly as she shifts her focus from Tyzias to Roxy.

“I’m Roxy Lalonde, yeah.” Roxy nods.

“Tell us about the birth of your children.” Redglare orders her, not unkindly but not exactly in the friendliest manner there is either.

“More or less like Rose said. I had Kanaya make me that blanket, I knew her from when I worked at the uni. She’s got all kinds of magic that’s been otherwise lost to time, she was able to make what I needed. I got that, I had made a home that people couldn’t find. When the time came I had to go into town so the ambulance could pick me up, they’d never have found my home. I made it so Rose’d come out first. I wrapped her up all safe and all the docs forgot about her. I had to keep her out of the way so no one would knock her over or step on her by mistake. Then Dave came and HE showed up to get him and brainfucked all the docs in the process.” Roxy answers.

“Why did you have two children and not one?” Redglare asks.

“I… I had to.” Roxy says and your eyes all widen at the sight of her.

A glowing white line starts to form up Roxy’s body, from the centre of her forehead spreading out in cracks like an overdone glaze in a pottery studio.

“Why?” Redglare asks.

“I… I…” Roxy’s hands twitch in aborted gestures but all the same you see fractals of magic curling around her fingers and the divide on her gets deeper and longer down her body.

Tyzias gets to her feet and looks up at the judges.

“As Rose mentioned earlier Roxy has the clear results of magical damage, it’s not that she doesn’t know the answer, or that she’s lying, she just can’t access the answer for you. Please don’t maim or psychically damage my client any further. Try a different question.” Tyzias pleads.

“Perhaps rephrasing might work.” Aradia suggests.

Redglare looks at Roxy for a careful moment before speaking again.

“Did you do something to your original baby to make it so you had two instead?” Redglare asks.

Roxy nods and presses a trembling hand to her forehead as if trying to hold herself together.

“Is Dave Lalonde your son?” Redglare asks.

“Yeah, he is. He’s my baby, and… and I’m so sorry he had to go with HIM.” Roxy hisses that last part with a glare at Bro.

“And Bro Strider, my client, The Devil, is his father?” Redglare asks, tying her argument up.

“Yeah.” Roxy agrees.

“And did you have any sons with my client before Dave?” Redglare asks and Roxy shakes her head.

“Can you confirm that your daughter Rose is a girl and has always been a girl?” Redglare questions her.

Roxy’s brows furrow for a moment and then her expression goes cold, pissed off Rose kind of cold. You’ve seen that face on Rose and it doesn’t end well for the people subjected to it.

“Changing my kid’s gender for some prophecy isn’t something I’d think to do. Making someone live as something they’re not is _harm_ and that’s- no. She’s my daughter, never been anything else.” Roxy snarls at her.

“So regardless of Rose existing, do you agree that to your knowledge Dave is my client’s first born son and that he took him and raised him in Hell?” Redglare asks.

“...Yes.” Roxy admits.

“No further questions.” Redglare says with a suspicious look at a very calm Tyzias.

As Tyzias starts to talk you watch the other side of the court. Redglare’s side are all murmuring quietly with looks of confusion and suspicion, they don’t know what’s going on. You narrow your eyes and try to lipread a little.

One demon leans over to Redglare and whispers. ‘Is she throwing the case? Trying to help our side win for his favour?’

Redglare’s eyes narrow on Tyzias and she shakes her head minutely.

‘Tyzias is good.’ Redglare says back too quietly for you to even catch, but you can see her say it. At least you’re guessing at the shape of Tyzias’s name, it’s not one you’ve heard a lot. You suppose that she doesn’t think Tyzias is throwing the case, which is good for you, nor that she’s incompetent, which is also good for you. So then what hasn’t she seen?

“Roxy, I hope you’re feeling a little better. Are you?” Tyzias asks Roxy gently.

“Yeah, sorry.” Roxy mumbles, her hands clenching and unclenching with magical sparks flaring here and here.

“It’s fine. I wanted to ask about Dave and Rose. You made them by splitting the child you were carrying before, between these two scans, right?” Tyzias asks, holding up the two scans from earlier.

“I did but it didn’t hurt or cause harm, it was all above board.” Roxy insists.

“I know, don’t worry. Can you show us the spell you used? If one of the judges was to provide a test subject so we can see what you did and get the magic of it analysed would that be acceptable to everyone?” Tyzias asks, looking up at the judges.

Aradia and Athena talk quietly together for a few moments before Athena stands and leans over her podium. With a wave of her hand she conjures an owl from nowhere and a perch for it to sit on.

“Go ahead, we’ll also be transcribing your magic here.” Athena says and taps at a sheet of paper on her desk.

Tyzias sidesteps out of the way and gestures to the owl and gives Roxy a reassuring nod. Roxy seems to hesitate but finally gets to her feet and faces the seemingly oblivious owl. Her fingers twitch a few times but you watch as she lifts her hand and-

Whatever Roxy does she does it so fast that you don’t catch it. There was one owl on the perch and then there’s two. The perch splits in half as well and one owl squawks as its half falls, that owl taking flight topples the other half of the perch and the second owl bursts into the air as well. Athena looks down at her paper and idly holds one arm out as the two owls fly over and land on it. She turns her attention to the owls with care and then neatly flicks the paper down to Tyzias.

“Neither owl is the one I gave you, they’re both different. They are both made from that owl though, and you split the perch in half.” Athena notes.

“It’s very impressive that you did that on a fetus inside you without destroying yourself in the process!” Aradia beams.

Yeah, well, Roxy’s powerful as fuck. The spell did have some obvious after effects though, didn’t it?

“Thank you very much Roxy, that’ll be all. I’d like to call my next witness.” Tyzias says and Redglare looks even more confused than before.

“I would like to call a sphinx that I had added to the witness list, they’re going by Davepeta, if you could…” Tyzias looks at Hegemonic Brute who is standing at the edge of the courtroom.

You get to see the moment that his face goes from mildly annoyed at having to work to an ‘oh no’ kind of shock horror. But, because you can see in all directions in this form, you can also see Davepeta simply appears right next to and then steps into the witness stand. They catch your many eyes and wink at you. The brute panics but when he turns around to tell Athena and Aradia that he can’t find Davepeta he sees them sitting there all eye-searingly bright and smug in the witness stand.

“Thank you kindly.” Tyzias all but purrs and turns her focus on Davepeta.

“Davepeta, I’d like to establish a little detail before we get to who you are exactly.” Tyzias says, from the way Bro is slightly on fire you think he recognises them all too well.

“The order of things isn’t a big deal with me.” Davepeta shrugs.

“We’ve mentioned before the sword, Caledfwlch-” Tyzias starts.

“Doesn’t really roll off the tongue, does it?” Davepeta interjects but Tyzias ignores that comment, perhaps wisely given the Celtic gods nearby.

“If I could have it from evidence for a moment I’d like you to tell us about it and what it does.” Tyzias says, motioning to the brute who is this time able to get what he was asked to get.

Past Davepeta’s form you see Redglare go very, very, still. Behind her red glasses her eyes go wide and you can see the proverbial penny drop for her. She turns and whispers something to the demons behind her who suddenly are all in a hurry finding paperwork for her. Tyzias smiles as she takes the sword in one hand and sips from her mug in the other, you can see the expression curling around the edge of that mug and it doesn’t do a lot to hide how pleased she is. Tyzias hands the sword to Davepeta who takes it easily enough.

“What’d you like to know?” Davepeta asks.

“Why don’t you start at the beginning?” Tyzias suggests.

“I can’t. This sword is… there are all sorts of legends about it from all sorts of times and I’ve been around and will be around for all of them. But the simple fact is that it doesn’t have a beginning, it’s an… axiomatic item, maybe that’s a good way to say it. It always has been but sometimes it needs to be in the right state in the right place. It exists in different times and hops through time in a way that ‘the beginning’ doesn’t mean anything. But I can tell you where I started with it.” Davepeta says.

“Please.” Tyzias nods, leaning against the bench.

Across the court demons hand papers to Redglare who hurriedly reads.

“This sword can kill gods. Not unmake them or curse them or eat them, but completely kill. Destroys the soul and the life, all of it. But… as with all cool things like that, there’s a price. You kill a god and you’re changed too. Dirk Strider used it to kill the Devil before him and he became him, and him.” Davepeta says, looking one way at Bro with their face orange and then at Hal with their face green.

“I see, so, I have a piece of paper here. A transcription of a spell, could you look at it and tell me if this spell does the same thing as the effect that you’ve just described?” Tyzias asks and holds the paper that Athena wrote on up to Davepeta.

“That spell that I know Roxy did is exactly what this sword does as an effect when you kill a god with it. This spell couldn’t kill a god, it doesn’t do that part but it’s absolutely how the side-effect works.” Davepeta says quite firmly.

You see Bro go to say something and then Redglare jerks slightly and Bro flinches away from her, like she’s stamped on his foot or something. Bro looks at Redglare utterly stunned and she shakes her head at him short and sharp.

“So you mean to say that this spell is the same effect that split Dirk into Bro and Hal respectively?” Tyzias asks.

“Objection, your honours this is pure speculation.” Redglare says quickly, getting to her feet.

“You’re _right_,” Tyzias agrees before either judge can say anything, “it is just speculation if they haven’t seen it used. Davepeta, _have_ you seen this sword used in person? Do you have real first hand experience with its effects?”

Davepeta’s expression is very ‘cat that caught the canary’ as they smile and lean in a little closer to Tyzias.

“I have. I am, actually, a creature made by this sword.” Davepeta purrs.

Bro pulls Redglare closer and murmurs something, her face turns rigid with anger as she hisses something back at him.

“I can time travel, a version of me from my then future had given Dirk the sword and it remained in his vault for many years. One day Dave and Sollux were set to go up to Earth, right before their supposed world ending. Sollux got all sneaky and slipped into the vault and stole this sword, I don’t know if he knew what it was but he gave it to a Dave from the future when he showed up. That Dave was one in the very recent past from a linear look back from here. He was around after the moon broke open again and Bro dragged him back to Hell, that sort of time.” Davepeta begins.

“Bro was clearly angry, demanding that Dave fight him and Dave kept refusing. There was a fight, a demon called Nepeta was killed and she’d really liked Dave and Dave liked her too. Dave had this sword and turned it on Cal, Bro’s puppet familiar. It split him open and freed Hal but killed ‘Cal’ as a thing. It split Dave, that led to a dead Dave and that one.” Davepeta explains, pointing at Dave right next to you.

“The dead Dave merged with Nepeta and stopped being him and her and became me. I took the sword, went back in time and gave it back to Dirk. After that I kept following the sword through time and guarded it and watched what it did wherever it went. I’ve seen what it does, I’ve _been_ what it does.” Davepeta explains.

“What happened to the Dave who didn’t die and become you?” Tyzias asks.

“He was a lot weaker without being part of me, or part of me being- you understand. Bro attacked him and killed him, or near enough. His god powers were weakened and so he was able to die, only Sollux coming back and reviving him helped.” Davepeta says with a shrug.

“No further questions.” Tyzias says and nods at the opposing council.

Redglare pauses for a moment, her eyes on Tyzias and then Davepeta.

“Davepeta,” Redglare says slowly, “you said that Dave died fighting Bro. We all know that gods can be very weakened in a fight but you said that he died and was revived by Sollux. Did you see that?”

“No.” Davepeta says without any elaboration.

“So you’ve just been told that’s what happened.” Redglare presses.

“Yes.” Davepeta agrees flatly.

“No further questions.” Redglare says tightly, not giving Tyzias any more information to work from at all.

“In fact,” Redglare goes on, “I think we’ve covered all that needs covering. I would like to move onto closing statements if it pleases your honours.”

“Interesting though that last witness was, I think we’re about at the end.” Athena says slowly.

“Actually I have a final witness that I need to call.” Tyzias interjects.

“Every witness that we’ve had has made it perfectly clear that Dave is the only person who can be the antichrist, you’re simply stalling for time and trying to make something out of nothing.” Redglare shoots back.

“I just want to call Sollux, that’s all.” Tyzias says insistently.

“Miss Entyyk-” Athena sighs.

“Well, hey, she’s going to run out of people eventually so why not hear from Sollux? If that’s her last witness then why not?” Aradia says and her smile turns a little sly as she looks at Sollux.

Dave makes a slightly strangled sound and you realise that Sollux’s snakey form has tightened around Dave’s throat as Aradia looks right at him. He uncoils hurriedly and with about as much embarrassment on his face as you can imagine on a snake.

“Fine. Call your witness.” Athena sighs.

“Sollux Captor, on two legs if you don’t mind.” Tyzias says with a flash of a smile.

Sollux teleports to the middle of the courtroom and transforms at more or less the same time so he appears with a vague impression of scales that lingers a little longer than it should. Tyzias gestures him into the witness stand and he goes willingly.

“Sollux, you are Dave’s familiar, correct?” Tyzias asks.

“I am. He made me from his rib, his ability to fly, thoughts and feelings, focused wishes, power. A lot of things.” Sollux nods.

“You are a lot more… whole, than most familiars. What’s your true name?” Tyzias asks him.

When Sollux speaks his name it has that same double echo, resonating in your head, quality that it had the first time. It still makes your heart ache to hear it, especially knowing what you know about him and Dave now. More accurately it makes your heart hurt knowing the kind of things that Bro did and has done even recently to Dave and Sollux.

“Made in the bleakest darkness, by a soul bereft of hope or any real life. Taken from blood and pain but not to make more, but to be better. Be something and someone to love and be loved. Be the eyes that watch and protect, the capacity to do harm when needed but the soul to not want to. A spark of desperate hope powers this to be different from everything else this came from, an ally against a universe that’s determined to devour. An undying soul that never abandons or leaves. A blade that doesn’t thirst to cut, a shield that gives and doesn’t rebuff everything, the doom of doom itself.” Sollux intones, it’s different hearing him give his own name rather than reading it from the outside.

It gives you the feeling of being him rather than seeing him, who he is is no surprise to you though. You know him and you love and hate him for it. Dave looks like he wants to pull Sollux from the stand to hug him. More interestingly however is the reactions of the other gods, they weren’t expecting Sollux to have a name like that.

“You’re a lot more than most familiars.” Tyzias points out.

“I AM a person. I’m a friend and a moirail to Dave, I’m his first real ally, not some tool to be used.” Sollux says hotly.

“And how did you come to be?” Tyzias asks.

You can see Sollux’s tails flick slightly as he thinks, he wasn’t prepped for this interrogation so he’s clearly guessing at what would be best to say.

“Bro asked Dave to make me. Well, ordered him, actually. He insisted on the rib part for symmetry with Adam or whatever the fuck.” Sollux answers.

“Right, right, I see. Which rib were you made from?” Tyzias asks casually and Sollux’s eyes widen a little.

He stands up from his seat and pulls his shirt off. You quietly despair because he didn’t need to go that far but of course he would. Sollux points to his original mark on his torso but there’s a very obvious second there now too.

“The first time I was made it was from the rib for this side. When Bro got back to Earth after the moon he _ripped it out of me_ and killed me. He destroyed the rib. Karkat brought me back to life but I wasn’t fully me without a rib. When we found Dave in Hell he was dead and I had to go back into him to bring him back, I gave him back all the little parts of him that he gave me. Then he made me again with this rib and I got all my memories, parts and powers back like I was never gone.” Sollux answers, confirming the very thing that Davepeta hadn’t been present to confirm for themselves.

“Karkat brought you back to life? How exactly did he do that?” Tyzias asks and Sollux glances your way, still shirtless.

“He… he’s my kismesis. When Bro showed up I got killed and Karkat’s body got destroyed, so he got sent back to heaven, kicked out and then Rose got him. He... apparently he didn’t like that I was dead and called in a favour with his boss’ husband who’s a psychopomp. He went to Midnight City to find me.” Sollux says slowly.

In the jury box you can see that Anubis, Aphrodite and Hades are all paying a lot of attention to this. Shit, are Tyzias and Sollux playing the jury here?

“Karkat tracked Aradia down. I couldn’t go anywhere without Dave so I was just… there. He managed to steal our life timers and he gave me half of his life.” Sollux says softly.

Aphrodite looks like she might cry and Hades looks pretty goddamn swayed by what Sollux is making out to be some epic quest of yours. It’s not like that, it… you’re not some hero or anything. You just weren’t willing to accept losing him and Dave and, frankly, the forces of life and death can suck it.

“He had Rose summon him back and then he used a summoning spell I’d given him before to bring me back into my body. I didn’t have any magic or anything, not until I got back to Dave. He even carried me through Winter when it was too cold for me to survive on my own.” Sollux adds that last part that isn’t in any way relevant.

You’re spinning a fair bit faster and you can see Rose’s amused expression pointing at you but you’re NOT going to acknowledge it, you’re NOT. Fuck, the jury are looking at you now too!

“Was there any chance Dave would have healed without you being given back to him?” Tyzias asks.

“No way. I’m sure Aradia can confirm that.” Sollux insists.

Everyone looks at Aradia who looks a little put on the spot for a moment but then nods in agreement with Sollux.

“...No further questions.” Tyzias says and returns to her place.

Redglare stares at Sollux, her fingers drumming on the desk and Sollux puts his shirt back on and stares right back. He’s got more eyes to stare with as well.

“Yeah, go on, you gave him legal training. See how that goes.” Dave says under his breath.

“No questions, your honours.” Redglare says finally.

“Since you were so eager, I think it’s time for the closing statements. Redglare, what does the defence have to say?” Athena waves her hand to Redglare as she speaks.

“Of course.” Redglare says with a nod and walks over to the jury box.

“Assembled members of the jury, the case here is plain. Dave Strider or Dave Lalonde, whichever name he wants to go by, is the only possible antichrist. He was born from the Devil himself and Roxy Lalonde. The prosecution might try to tell you that the baby that was split was the antichrist and Dave can’t count, but that baby was never born, it became Dave and Rose and it is DAVE who fits the criteria. Who he was part of before doesn’t matter.” Redglare says and you watch as Tyzias smiles into her mug.

“Dave was raised in Hell and sent to Earth where he started to end the world. The fact that he tried to wriggle out of it by locking most of you in the moon doesn’t change this. I have proved that Hal cannot be the antichrist, nor Jade or Rose. He is simply trying to avert the prophecy, as his mother is doing. It’s all perfectly understandable but it doesn’t change the facts. Dave is the antichrist. That’s all there is to say on the matter.” Redglare nods and moves to her seat.

Tyzias sets her mug on the table with a clink that echoes through the tense room. She walks leisurely to the jury box and comes to a stop.

“My colleague is… correct.” Tyzias says slowly and a bolt of terror runs through you.

“Dave is the only person who could have met the criteria of the antichrist, the only one who could have ended the world as per prophecy. Dave was born to Roxy, given to Bro. He was raised in Hell by the Devil himself. He went to Earth and, yes, tried to resist his destiny by trapping the gods away. Then he was brought to Hell to presumably be punished and then returned to Earth to do his job. The Antichrist being his job, not the person he is but his job title just as much as the Devil is Bro’s title.” Tyzias says emphatically, pointing at Bro as she speaks.

“But he got hold of Caledfwlch and he used it and it split him. Dave who was born to a human mother from The Devil, Dave who was taken and raised in Hell and sent to Earth is _dead_. He became part of Davepeta and that Dave sitting over there. That Dave wasn’t raised in Hell or born of a human mother or taken to Hell. He wasn’t sent to Earth and he hasn’t ended the world, he isn’t Bro’s first born son. The original Dave met all of the specifications for the job of the antichrist but then he died because he used Caledfwlch and then Bro himself killed him!” Tyzias says emphatically.

She backs up and points to Aradia.

“Death herself has confirmed that if Karkat had not brought Sollux back to life, a job he did without any help from Bro, then he would not have been able to bring the body of a Dave back to life. It has been firmly established that using the sword splits a person into two entirely different people and destroys the original person, you’ve all seen it in action. That Dave there cannot be the antichrist.” Tyzias goes on, her voice building to a fervour.

“Moreover, simply having the characteristics to qualify to be the antichrist doesn’t make you the antichrist. The original Dave pre-sword never got to end the world before being killed so he never was the antichrist. Which means that the defendant made a deal with my client that he could not uphold, furthermore if he hadn’t pushed Dave into a fight, hadn’t made him use Caledfwlch and then KILLED HIM then this wouldn’t have happened. Not only did Bro not uphold his end of the deal but he took my client’s child under false pretenses and then murdered him. He is guilty, the world should never have started ending and all of the chaos that has ensued from trying to force that Dave to take a role he didn’t fit has caused countless divine deaths.” Tyzias says almost breathless with how fast she’s speaking now.

“My client was wronged and cheated. You have all been wronged and Bro Strider, the Devil himself, is the one responsible. I implore you to punish this man for all that he’s done, thank you.” Tyzias concludes and marches back to her stand.

The courtroom is buzzing with gods talking to one another and Athena has to bang her gavel several times to get quiet.

“That… is quite a lot to think about.” Athena says slowly.

“Court is adjourned as the jury makes their decision.” Aradia says and with a snap of her fingers you’re back in the recess area.

Rose lets you go and you shift your form back at once.

“That… I’m not sure that’s actually true.” Hal says slowly.

“I said that truth doesn’t necessarily matter.” Tyzias points out.

“Am I a different person?!” Dave demands in a strangled voice.

“That’s a difficult question.” Rose says thoughtfully.

“If you still have all the same memories then I would assume not.” Kanaya adds.

“You’re you, that’s what matters.” Sollux assures the quietly panicking Dave.

“This all hangs on Caledfwlch though. Why did you pay so much attention to Roxy using that spell if all that mattered was the sword? Also, just because the sword does that it doesn’t mean it always does it, and Dave didn’t use it on a god he used it on Cal and-” Hal starts talking but Tyzias holds up a hand.

“Shut up. We just have to wait for the verdict.” Tyzias says firmly.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s true, it matters if the show was good enough.” June whispers and wraps her arms around herself.

The sharp line of Hal’s angry shoulders softens a little and he looks at June for a quiet moment.

“It’s not like you did anything wrong.” he reminds her.

“I think everyone me and Dave shoved in the moon would argue against that!” June retorts and Dave quietly says ‘oh God’ and goes a little paler, not that you’d thought that was possible.

“You only did that because of _his_ bullshit, besides they all hate him. It’s not like either of you were even on trial here, it’s him and Roxy.” Hal points out.

None of that seems to really make June feel much better and all of you are just sitting in uneasy silence as you wait. You pace anxiously around the endlessly looping space. You’re not entirely sure of what the actual facts of the case are, whether Dave is or isn’t the antichrist or whether he is or isn’t who he was. You’re also not keen to discuss that for fear that the space around you may well be listening.

Terezi and Rose are doing their best to keep Roxy distracted which is obviously important. The demons are all together talking, barring Sollux of course. Kanaya is sat with Mituna just listening to what the demons are discussing. You keep walking. June and Jade are together with June braiding Jade’s hair all while Hal sort of lingers uneasily nearby at the car.

You pass Dave and Sollux for a third time before Sollux tries to trip you. You’re all ready to curse him out just out of sheer built up nerves but Sollux jerks his head in Dave’s direction. Dave is perfectly still and completely tense all over.

“Hey, Dave…” you say slowly, “you doing ok there?”

“Am I dead?” Dave asks in a small voice.

You exchange a look with Sollux, clearly this is serious.

“You mean because of the sword thing?” you ask him.

“Yeah. And Bro killed me and then I woke up as someone else that wasn’t me or Sollux but kind of both and neither and then became this. How many layers removed am I from the person I was when you met me? Am I me?” Dave asks in a panicked voice.

“I think you are.” you say simply.

“Thanks for the help, great insight.” Sollux mutters.

“Shut up, I mean it. I mean… look, your body is different from when you came into being but so’s mine. You saw my body get destroyed. And I can’t say our memories are what make us who we are because both you and I lost most of ours or in your case got a lot of fake ones.” you go on.

“This is the opposite of helping!” Sollux hisses at you, you ignore him.

“But here’s the thing, when I see you I know you’re you. I forgot you and found you again and fell for you all over again because you’re still you. I feel the same things now. And Sollux knows you more than anyone ever could and he knows that you’re you. I don’t know about magic swords, Davepetas and splitting selves and I can’t prove that or argue it in court but I think you’re you. I still care about you.” you say that last part gently and reach out for his hand.

Dave holds your hand and gives it a weak squeeze. He’s sat on one of the pillar based desks so he’s a little lower down than you, so when he looks up at you from behind his shades you can see that brilliant flash of red in his eyes.

“If we lose this and they make me end the world you’ll stop me, right?” he asks softly and earnestly.

“I’m chronically incapable of not helping people, I was doing it last time, right?” you ask, shooting a look at Sollux.

“We were trying to keep people as safe as we could, keep as many alive as possible when Dave and June went to go start their plan. So, yeah.” Sollux nods.

“Also I’m Rose’s angel now so I think meddling with things to do with you is something that I’m effectively contractually obliged to do. I mean, you know Rose, meddling is entirely part of my angelic code now, I’m sure.” you say with a nod as Sollux breaks down laughing.

“I guess you have a point there. You know…” Dave trails off, glancing in the direction where his mother and sister are sat in the distance.

“What?” you prompt him.

“I was just thinking about Rose. This never would have worked without her. I mean, let’s say that she never existed, right? You’d probably still have snuck down here trying to find me but you’d probably have had less luck without her. And you’d probably have been caught too, but even if you hadn’t then it would have been harder for us to meet again.” Dave says slowly.

“You say that but I saw Karkat without Rose introducing us, I’d still have found him at Salem and I’m pretty sure you and June set us getting invited there up in the first place. She was always cagey about it but it seems obvious to me.” Sollux points out.

“Right ok, but none of the stuff in that belt would have been there without Rose existing. There’d be no belt, Karkat couldn’t have brought you back so you couldn’t have brought me back to life, he wouldn’t have had the tape that made Tyzias help mom out if she sued him without us being alive.” Dave says and then laughs.

“What?” you ask, feeling lost.

“It’s a loop, a time loop. None of this works right without Rose. Rose needs the same connections that I have but she needs to be an outside… actor or something. She needs to steer you to where you have to be and set things up so we have all the cards when we need them. The spell Mom used to make us ‘Dave and Rose’ is the same fucking spell as the sword effect has. That’s not a coincidence, Davepeta TAUGHT it to her off of it. Davepeta only exists because me and Rose aren’t the same person, because I was me when I used the sword. It’s a stable loop! Rose not being here makes this whole thing a paradox.” Dave laughs weakly.

“Seems like it’d be a waste to go through all of that machiavellian planning only to blow it at the last minute, right?” you point out.

There’s a distant tearing noise and you look around to see the furies standing by a rip in space.

“The judges will see you now for the final verdict.” they announce as one.

“I guess we’ll see, huh?” Dave says and catches your hand, he has yours in one and Sollux’s hand in the other.

Together you walk to the furies and the rest of your group collects there too. When you’re all present and accounted for you are all ushered into the courtroom once more. Bro and his legal team are standing behind the defence bench so all of you stand behind the prosecution’s bench.

Athena and Aradia walk to their high up benches and look over the court and waiting audiences of gods.

“The decision of the jury in regards to the verdict was a relatively short one. The decision of punishment, however, took far longer and required input from other gods beyond the jury.” Athena says loudly, her voice echoing around the room.

Queen Mab stands with a sheet of paper in her hands and Athena and Aradia nod at her to go ahead.

“It is the decision of the jury that the case of Roxy Lalonde versus The Devil in the matter of the deal made to produce the antichrist that we have had no choice but to decide…” Queen Mab lingers for a moment, her eyes flickering to her granddaughter.

It’s a good thing that you don’t need to breathe because you’ve been holding your breath this entire time, your grip on Dave’s hand must be bruising.

“...we have decided, unanimously, in favour of Roxy Lalonde. The deal that she made was upheld on her end but not on the part of the Devil. As such he has broken their deal and will be punished accordingly.” Mab says and sits.

You… won?

“WHAT?!” Bro shouts, slamming his hand into the desk at his side. It bursts into flame and splits in two under his fist.

Aradia vaults her desk, flying across the room. A black cloak that’s more shadow than it is the mere suggestion of fabric comes into appearance on her shoulders. She hits Bro and knocks him to the floor and as she moves her skin shifts translucent and her bones become visible, the promise of death which is something that comes for all of you, makes itself very plain on her.

d0 n0t interrupt 0ur c0urt

She doesn’t say it loudly but everyone hears it clear as anything. Fittingly the fire around her dies and the defence’s bench starts to age and chip apart just for being near her. Redglare and the rest of the legal team back up quickly with their heads respectfully bowed to Death herself.

Aradia turns her head to Athena who is waiting patiently, you get the impression that Aradia gave her a polite smile but it’s hard to see how when you can see every tooth in her dead skull.

“Hot.” Sollux says under his breath.

“What the fuck?” you hiss at him but Sollux just grins at you.

“As I was saying, the matter of punishment has to be decided. For the crime of breaking such a hefty deal your title of The Devil will be stripped from you as well as all powers and privileges such a position affords you, you will be a god no longer. The matter as to who should take your place it is standard that the person who defeated the previous Devil takes the position, in this case it is only fitting that Roxy Lalonde should hold the title and all that comes with it.” Athena says and you can see Roxy’s jaw drop.

“But wait, I don’t want that.” Roxy protests, loud enough to make Athena pause.

“Well, what would you suggest instead?” Tyzias asks quickly with a rather urgent look in her eyes.

“I… I never wanted to control demons. That’s all humans ever try to do. You’re all people capable of making your own choices can’t you decide for yourselves what’s supposed to happen with Hell?” Roxy says as she looks at the demons on your side.

“Are you saying demons should _democratically elect_ a Devil in charge instead of just getting whoever killed the last one?” Sollux asks in obvious horror.

The other demons around all start reacting in clear disgust or horror at the idea of _democracy_ in their plane.

“Absolutely not, godhood is a sacred thing. You can’t simply vote on something like that!” a god from somewhere in the stands objects.

Gods and Godesses around the room are expressing their agreement with this statement, it seems highly against their collective beliefs about their places in the universe. For some reason your eyes land on Signless and Queen Jade who are grinning. Queen Jade gets to her feet and loudly shouts her opinion.

“Next they’ll be saying ANYONE can be a god!” she yells and other gods shout their agreement with that.

“What next? CARPENTERS?” Signless shouts and doubles up laughing.

To your left you hear Mituna wheeze with laughter for a moment before he reaches over and snaps his fingers near Tyzias and Stelsa. Redglare and the rest of her legal team even drift a little closer, both to be away from Aradia and to hear what’s going on.

“They’re trying to tell us what to do. They think they’re better than us.” Mituna points out.

“They always think that.” Tyzias agrees with a mutter.

“But it’s not like Bro killing Caliborn was any better for us, right? I mean some things changed but we’re always going to be dealing with whoever kills the last one. If we have _elections_ then we control things.” Latula points out.

“I mean you’d all be better suited to determine what you need than me.” Roxy agrees.

“Democracies are certainly no barrier to evil on Earth, if anything proving that you can rig them efficiently would be proof of competency for the job.” Redglare agrees.

“It would make some sense to have checks and balances in place, have Roxy as a… figurehead god and then whoever wins the thing actually has the power. Like a… mmm… a democratic monarchy. Those are really messed up.” Tyzias nods.

“We would have to organise Hell into voting districts, we’d need whole levels of bureaucracy for that to keep up with how the geography changes all the time, think how much of a challenge that’d make gerrymandering.” Stelsa says with stars in her eyes.

“That’s my girl.” Tyzias beams.

“Think of the sex scandals, I’m good at those!” Latula gasps.

“I really don’t want to think about that.” Sollux grumbles and is thankfully far enough from Latula that he’s not in much risk of her hugging him and cooing over him just to embarrass him.

“I’ll accept being a god and the powers that come with that if I can do what I want with them, I’ve decided.” Roxy says loudly, turning back to Athena now that the demons have collectively decided to do the exact opposite of what the gods want them to do purely BECAUSE it’s what the gods want.

“...Good.” Athena says suspiciously.

Aradia steps back from Bro and reaches down with a half skeletal, half flesh hand to haul him to his feet. She floats in the air and pulls Bro up with her. When they’re at the same height that Athena is stood at, Aradia stops.

“As punishment for your crimes, your goodhood, powers, abilities, privileges and titles will be stripped from you entirely and given to Roxy Lalonde.” Athena intones.

She slams her gavel down and with a bright flash of light Bro’s whole form is taken over. Roxy flares bright like the sun and even though watching it leaves your eyes stinging you can see something tangible transferring from him to her. When the light finally recedes you can see Bro hanging in Aradia’s grip, he looks far more mortal and his feathers are dirty and mangled even as his formerly angelic wings droop towards the ground. He squirms in Aradia’s grip but she’s not letting him go. Instead she holds out her other hand and a life timer floats up from out of sight and it is so very nearly empty.

Aradia lets Bro go a millisecond before he starts to burn. He’s falling because of course he is. He would have been expelled long before Signless even got into power, he’s just not been an angel since then. Rose reaches for you so you can bury your face in her shoulder, you don’t want to see him falling and burning. Hearing it is bad enough when it’s already happened to you once. There’s no one willing to catch him here and even though you hate him you feel like no one deserves this.

When the screaming stops you carefully lift your head up and see Aradia standing on the floor over a charred mark, the now spent life timer in her other hand. She sweeps a dark shifting something from the floor and hands both that and the life timer to the Hegemonic Brute, he must be a psychopomp sometimes after all.

In the wake of Bro’s death it seems that Athena doesn’t have to do anything to call the room to silence or attention, everyone’s eyes are on this scene.

“That is not the only matter this court was concerned with, however. Dave was not the antichrist and so the world should clearly not end and should never have started to. The horsemen have all been officially called off but we will have to unwind time back past the point at where this all started. Ordinarily I would be inclined to suggest that this cost should be covered by the Devil and Hell but that’s not going to be appropriate here.” Athena says and glances at the charred outline on the floor.

“It would also be remiss of me to not point out that almost all of us were, as a result of this mess, forcibly imprisoned within the moon and some of us died. Certain gods argued that this would not have happened if it was not for Bro’s failure to uphold his deals, however the culprits of this specific crime are still with us today.” Athena says, her cold blue gaze shifting to Dave, Rose and June.

“It is quite clear that the three of you cannot be trusted with your divine powers and the world is in the mess it is in now precisely as a result of your actions. We recognise that you were put in a position where you had little choice but every action has a price.” Athena says firmly.

What is she going to do? Should you do something? Can you do something? Given that she just ripped the divinity from Bro and gave it to Roxy you doubt that you, a mere angel, can do anything at all.

“We need to put the world back to how it was as closely as we can and you three need to be punished. We have a neatly dovetailing problem here. It will take significant magical power, especially time based power, to do this. Rose Lalonde, Dave Lalonde, and June will all have their godly powers taken from them. They will remain mortal humans for one human lifetime and their powers for that time will be used to restore the world to as close to how it should be as possible. I suggest you use that time wisely to think about your actions. At the end of your lifetimes you will get your powers back, you will regain your divinity. In that time any prayers that would power you, anything that would feed your specific domain will fix the mess you made.” Athena says firmly and lifts up the hammer on her desk.

“Wait, but what about-” Rose starts to say, pulling away from you to argue with Athena.

Her hand slips from yours and your eyes widen as the hammer falls and everything…

Stops.

Your phone next to you buzzes, old and cheap that it is. Blindly in your half sleeping state you reach for it and knock it from your bedside table and onto the floor. The buzzing stops so you just lay there on your back with your eyes shut and your arm dangling off of your bed.

Your head is thick with sleep in the way that you get when you’re woken up in the deepest part of your sleep cycle and you can’t really think of anything much at all. You might have been dreaming because it feels like something was just happening. You drift a little in a half daze before your phone alarm buzzes again. You’re just drifting back into sleep when it startles you and you nearly fall off of your bed trying to grab it.

8:40 AM, your original alarm was for 8:30. Why were you getting up then?

Sitting up you rub at your face and look around your small and shitty apartment, standard cookie cutter bullshit that every brain damaged magical fuck in the building gets. It’d be nice if it hadn’t been constructed out of such cheapass materials. You yawn, get up, go to the bathroom and pee. There’s a vague feeling that you’ve forgotten something, yet you can’t quite place anything.

Once you’ve done everything you need to do in the bathroom and you’re leaving with the heavy toothpaste tang of mint in your mouth you wander out into the rest of your apartment. You vaguely feel the urge to dig out your old DS and replay the ace attorney games, those last minute turnabouts in the cases were always… something.

Damn, there’s still that lingering sense that you were meant to do something. You look around in the hopes of something to jog your memory when you spot a letter opened on the side and it all comes rushing back. YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO MOVE TO SALEM TODAY! SHIT!!!

You scramble to your wardrobe and fling it open, thankfully past you packed most of your stuff already but you’ve got enough clothes to throw on today and more to stuff haphazardly into your bag of holding. Fuck there’s so much you have to pack still and you OVERSLEPT!

You sprint all around your small apartment in a mad panic and when the knock comes on your door you’re not surprised. It’s either your asshole neighbour or his bitch girlfriend who hates your every atom, you’ve probably been making a ruckus by running around so much or else you’ve been swearing too loudly without realising. Perfect, just what your day needs, someone to yell at you.

With reluctance you open your door and come face to face with… yourself.

No, no you.

Kankri.

_KANKRI_.

Now it all comes back, going to Salem the first time, Rose, Dave, Sollux, June and Jade. Your job, Kanaya. Kankri summoning you and Sollux explaining, watching him die. Finding out what you were, Valentines day, the moon breaking open. You rescued Sollux, brought him back to life, went to Hell, got Dave, the _trial_ and now…

“What the FUCK?!” you shout and Kankri winces.

“We should probably talk.” Kankri says with a sigh.

“Talk? You’re fucking _dead_. Wait, am I dead?” sudden existential dread grips you and Kankri ducks under your arm and into your apartment.

“I- hey!” you protest and turn back into your apartment.

You shut the door after you and with a thoughtful wave of your hand you silence the place, the last thing you need is to explain to your neighbours why you have a slightly older and far shittier version of you in your place.

“I’m not dead anymore. Those of us who died between the Event and the trial were brought back, angels had a certain caveat with that but I am alive again. I thought I should come and see you.” Kankri says vaguely.

You look at him and watch as he looks around your place, a place that’s a mess because you were packing to leave and you can see the judgement in his eyes and it makes you feel like you’re an inch tall and the feeling is real fucking familiar.

“Well, you’ve seen me. You can fuck off now.” you tell him firmly.

“I came to apologise.” Kankri says flatly.

“Really.” you say.

You are WILDLY unconvinced about that.

“As I’m sure you know Signless is in charge now which is… quite the adjustment, though I’m sure you’re pleased.” Kankri says with a half shrug.

“I don’t care. Not my circus anymore, not my stupid assclowns to deal with. I’m on a better side.” you hiss at him and unfurl your stained glass wings with venomous pride.

Oh, hey, you’ve always wondered what barely contained irritation looked like on your own face and now you know.

“I am well aware of your… choices. Regardless, Signless offered to help pay the difference of the magical cost to restore the world and the lives of the lost angels by making us all live a mortal life for one lifetime, same as your… god. He was also very explicit that we should use the time to understand humanity and make amends by doing good.” Kankri says primly.

Speaking of your god you need to call Rose. You move past Kankri and pick your phone off of your bed and realise that it’s your old phone and more than that Rose’s number isn’t in it. Ugh, you know her pesterchum handle but you need her phone number to add her and who remembers phone numbers these days? Not you.

“I’m here to talk to you. I… I understand that I wasn’t perfect and I’m here to apologise.” Kankri explains, his voice taking on a very ‘are-you-listening’ kind of tone.

“You say that but you’ve not actually apologised for anything since you’ve been here, not that I invited you in, I told you to fuck off and you shoved your way in anyway. None of this seems different to before except you’re not shoving me in an entirely endless void because I apparently did something wrong.” you growl at him.

“I never hurt you, I was just trying to-” Kankri starts but you cut him off.

“Do NOT try to justify that shit to me. I’m- I’m not interested in hearing it.” you hiss.

You could threaten to fly him up into the stratosphere and let go just so that HE can experience terror at your hand but that wouldn’t make you feel any better so you’re not going to. You should just go to Salem, Rose will know that you’re going to go there if you can’t get her number so that’s where you should go. Sollux will also know to find you there and if you’re still here with an angelic form then he has to have some powers too, right? You get yours from Rose and he gets his from Dave so if you’re at least this level of okay then he ought to be as well. You just need to go somewhere he can find you.

“I’m sorry you feel that way, I really am.” Kankri says quietly and calmly.

You tip your head back and laugh bitterly.

“That’s not an apology. You’re not admitting that you were wrong for anything, you’re saying that you’re sorry that I had the wrong reaction to something you still think is fine. You can’t even apologise right. Did Signless tell you to come here and apologise to me? Did he?” you ask, getting in his space.

“No, he- he said that I was supposed to think about what I did and make amends. That I should be better.” Kankri answers you a little tartly.

“Yeah, he didn’t say for you to come to my place and demand that I forgive you without you actually admitting that you did anything wrong. Without admitting that the control you had over me was fucked up, that the way you treated me for being exactly what you made me was horrifying or that the SENSORY DEPRIVATION was hideously amoral.” you shout at him, anger coming to the surface now that there’s nothing he can do to stop you.

“Look, I- I am sorry that our relationship wasn’t better. I wanted to be better, I felt like a failure too. Maybe it wasn’t fair to make myself better by creating you but my environment wasn’t easy and we’re all supposed to deserve a second chance.” Kankri insists.

“I’m going to leave the second chance thing aside on a theological level because that’s a whole can of worms that I don’t want to open because I have places to be today. But, sure, you get a second chance. You blew it, so get out of my apartment and don’t talk to me ever again.” you snap.

“I didn’t do anything! I just got here!” Kankri protests.

“No, see, this is your third chance. Your second chance happened when you woke up on Earth thinking you were mortal, without all the structural pressures of Heaven, without knowing what you were supposed to be. You didn’t have any of that. You had a whole clean slate, Kankri. And you became a far-right human purist. You incited violence against people who weren’t human, because even when you don’t remember anything you’re still an asshole. I don’t want anything to do with you.” you say, your voice low and quiet because he needs to hear this and not just dismiss you as yelling.

“You know what, Kankri? I hope that Signless being in charge is good for you, that he changes things up there and has the patience to make you a better person, I really do. But I don’t have to do that. I don’t have to sit around and let you hurt me, I don’t have to break my neck to try to make you better. And- and even if you do become a good person all that tells me is that you always could have and I just wasn’t worth that for you. So, whether you become better or not fuck off and leave me alone. If I ever see you again… just don’t let me ever see you again.” you mutter that last part, your mind was going to that angel killing knife but you don’t want to say it.

You’re so tired of being around him.

You grab your letter up from the side, check your passport and ID and leave. If Kankri tries to follow you then you’ll just fly away and if he stays you don’t care because you’re not going back there. You’re done with him.

You leave your building and walk to the bus stop, you wait for a bus a little numbly and ride it to the port. There’s still the adverts for the people who offer to bring you your memories back. You think you’re good how you are, thanks. The Southwest Georgia Regional Port looks just like you remembered it and you follow through the procedure of checking yourself in and then following through the specialist security section because of your ‘unknown’ species. Needless to say you have to lie a lot on that form but it’s not like you’re actually any danger, you know because you’ve done this before.

As you’re getting to the part about whether you’ve been cursed or not you hesitate and pull your sleeve back a little, you look at your remaining questions that you have with Sollux. You could have summoned him here with that but… well, you have something in mind now.

You finish the form and wait and when your name is called you’re surprised to see that you have the same woman as last time. You’re pretty sure you arrived at a slightly different time thanks to Kankri but you still got her. She asks you for your form and leads you into the teleportation room. You see the teleportation circle on the floor and vaguely wonder who’s going to be the first mortal who finds out that the gods are working again. That’ll be something newsworthy for sure.

“Okay Mr Vantas, my name is-” she starts.

“Opal.” you interrupt as it comes to you.

It’s so stupid, you saw her once months ago but you remember her name. She looks at you in shock.

“Are you psychic?” she asks in surprise.

“A little. I guess I just know things sometimes.” you say, not entirely untrue.

“Oh, wow. Ah, about your magic-” she starts to ask but you’re already holding out your invitation to Salem University.

She reads over it in awe, both from what she probably assumes is your psychic abilities and at the prestige of Salem itself. You can’t really correct her because the truth is just way more bizarre and perhaps more awe inspiring to someone who doesn’t know what Rose, Dave and June are really like. When she hands you the letter back she checks you for curses, thankfully Sollux’s deal doesn’t count, and you decline the test for magical power. You’d feel really bad breaking her thing twice.

The teleportation goes off without a hitch and you all but run off the other side and to the desk to get your key and a map you absolutely don’t need. You straight out sprint to your dorm, not looking at anything or anyone on the way there.

You jam the key in the door and hurl yourself into your dorm, only the person you run into isn’t Rose at all.

“Roxy?” you say in surprise, looking up at her.

“Heya! We did it!” she squeals and picks you up in a hug.

“Auugh, you’re like… seven foot tall.” you choke out as she squeezes you tight.

“Yeah, I’m getting the hang of this seeming human thing. Got the horns to go away. I think most of it will be better when they finally finish their election in Hell and I can give this power away but until then I’m all devil-y. You know what was such a bitch this morning? I woke up in the forest, I couldn’t find my house! I hid it from MYSELF. I had to go to June’s a get _her_ to call the kiddos for me.” Roxy laughs.

Rose’s door opens and you make eye contact with her and immediately try to squirm out of Roxy’s hold like a cat who suddenly wants down. You get free and collide with Rose in a hug that makes you feel finally home.

“Oh, Karkat! Are you okay? I was so worried that they’d take you away. We had Sollux still but he said he’s pretty sure he’s still limited and I feel so… so weird.” Rose says in a rush.

She pushes back from you and she’s right, she looks a little more… it’s hard to describe. It’s not like when Rose was in full god mode and was in perfect yet too sharp focus, she didn’t always look that way. Yet now when you look at her she just looks like an ordinary girl, still Rose, but maybe less… bright? Less true? Less real? Something in that feel. But she’s still Rose even if she’s all human right now and you’re so SO fucking happy to see her.

“I’m okay. I’m- ugh, I have a lot to tell you about what happened when I woke up but I can do that later. Are you okay?” you ask her.

“I’m good. I still have magic but I have to really try with it now, it’s really odd.” Rose says with a frown.

“Now you gotta study!” Roxy cackles from the other side of the room.

“I already did that. Dave will be more in trouble with that than me.” Rose snorts.

“Is… ah…” you look upwards hopefully.

“They’re up there, go on.” Rose laughs and shoves you towards the door.

“You’re the best!” you call after her and hurry out.

You run up to the right floor and see Dave standing in the open doorway writing his name on the whiteboard on the door.

“Dave!” you shout and throw yourself at him, you’re pretty sure he accidentally draws on your hoodie as you grab him into a hug.

“Holy shit, Karkat! You’re okay! We were so worried about you. Well, Rose was more worried. I figured if you could survive hell then Georgia would be fine, right?” Dave says with a sly smile.

“I’m not commenting on Georgia, I’m _here_ now. I think that trial did awful things to my blood pressure, I’m so stressed out.” you whine and lean your head on his shoulder.

“Insert blood pressure creating boners joke here.” Dave says with a snicker and rubs your back.

“No, fuck you, either come up with your own jokes or don’t. I’m not letting you half ass it like that.” you snap at him and pull back just so you can glare at him.

You don’t really mean it, you love him, but you have to give him shit. You know, because you love him.

“So where’s your pet snake, then?” you ask as you look around his dorm.

Sollux’s stuff appears to be all dumped in one corner and none of it is set up at all yet, you suppose they got here later this time so things haven’t been as done this time around.

“I’m getting real mixed messages about whether you want me to make dick jokes or not.” Dave says, oh, right. You did mention snakes which are _vaguely_ phallic and therefore Dave HAS to make innuendo about them.

You roll your eyes so hard you think that you might sprain them, just to really let Dave know how you feel on the matter.

“Sol isn’t here, actually. He moved his stuff in and- well kinda dumped it actually and then ran off saying he had somewhere to be. I thought he might have gone looking for you to bring you here but I’m guessing no since you didn’t see him.” Dave says slowly.

You hope he’s not run into Kankri or anything but it seems weird that he’d go to Georgia at all looking for you when it’d make more sense to think that you’d retrace your steps last time which… ah.

“I’ve just realised, I need to be somewhere.” you say slowly.

“Yeah, it was just like that.” Dave laughs.

“I bet.” you agree.

“Hey, uh, before you run off like he did… Do I need to ask you out again? It could be cool, we could have a normal non-apocalyptic valentines day. Actually go on dates without dodging holy and unholy interference.” Dave says hopefully.

“I’d… I’d really like that.” you say softly.

“Sweet.” Dave says with a smile that’s just that.

“I’ll see you later.” you promise him.

For a second you hesitate and then kiss him in the doorway just because you can and then run off to the staircase. Or at least you’re going to the staircase when you’re suddenly face to face with Bro. You shriek and backpedal, colliding with the wall behind you as multiple doors in the hall open.

“Fffff… augh, my _ears_ are bleeding.” he hisses and pulls a hand from one ear to show it smeared with red.

The panic hammers in your chest but fades when you see a little clearer. Slightly smaller than Bro, narrower… younger.

“I heard Karkat!” June’s voice shouts up from the stairwell.

“What’s going on?” Dave asks, leaning out of his door.

Dave looks at the door to the stairwell and then to you.

“He’s Hal, it’s not _him_. He’s helping June move in.” Dave explains, he must have seen him already.

“Oh. Oh right, shit. I’m so sorry.” you apologise, reaching for him.

“I can’t hear you!” Hal shouts at you, though he sounds like he didn’t mean to shout at all.

You have the vague feeling that you can fix this, you’re not entirely sure how but things seem to work best when you do them on instinct. You reach out for Hal, placing your hands on either side of his head and will him better, you want to apologise for what you’ve done. You didn’t mean to scream right in his face, you thought he was Bro instead.

Pulling your hand back you watch as Hal works his jaw a little like he’s trying to make his ear pop or something.

“That’s… better. Still feels like it’s ringing.” he says with a wince.

“I’m so sorry.” you apologise earnestly.

“It’s… fine. I get it.” Hal shrugs but he seems unhappy.

“Please watch the glass, you’re a lot more delicate than before.” Mr Egbert warns as June hops over shattered glass from a window in the stairwell.

June grins up at you and bounds up the stairs, a big duffel bag under one arm and a load of blankets held in the other.

“I knew that was you!” June beams at you both.

“I told you people wouldn’t be pleased to see me.” Hal grumbles.

“It’s fine, Karkat is easy to startle. But hey, look, we got Hal!” June says, bouncing a little on her feet as she talks.

Mr Egbert comes up the stairs after June with a standing lamp in hand and several boxes too.

“I should sweep that up in a moment. Hal, could you keep watch on that broken glass and make sure no one hurts themselves?” Mr Egbert asks.

“Uh… sure?” Hal says uneasily.

Mr Egbert nods at him and then with a smile he slips past you and walks down to June and Jade’s room.

“Signless let Hal stay with us!” June explains and gives Hal the sweetest look ever.

“We’re all supposed to be down here, I’m pretty sure he only agreed because your adopted father has experience with ‘difficult cases’.” Hal says flatly.

“He agreed because you were raised in a messed up way and Dad is really good at being super normal, even if he does run my whole cult. Not that that’ll do me any good for a while. But it’s great, you’ll learn all sorts of stuff.” June assures him.

“Oh, are you studying here as well?” you ask in surprise.

“No. Despite being thousands of years old Mr. Egbert has decided that I’m ‘about sixteen’ and I should be ‘homeschooled’ for a while.” Hal says, sounding entirely unconvinced about the whole thing.

“You know Signless is here, right? He said he was going to miracle his and Kanaya’s mom here. He also said he wanted to see how Hal was doing.” June explains.

“I didn’t know that, it makes sense though. Where did you say he was though? Because I have some things I need to punch him for. Several things.” you say and raise your fist up as if to demonstrate your willingness to throw down.

“Wow. How many gods are you going to fight in one week?” Hal snorts in amusement.

“As many as I fucking have to.” you tell Hal.

A student coming down from a higher floor pauses, clearly having heard your conversation. He’s just looking at you both in alarm with June acting like this is an entirely normal conversation.

“What?” Hal says sharply.

“Uh. Nothing?” the guy mumbles and shuffles past you.

“There’s glass on the stairs. Be careful you don’t slip on it and fall down the entire flight of stairs, breaking your fragile human meat body by snapping one of your many wet vertebrae.” Hal says in a voice that is both intense and ominous.

“Wh-what?” the guy says in horror, frozen halfway down the staircase.

“You heard me.” Hal says flatly.

“Everything okay here?” Mr Egbert asks and you all turn to look at him as he stands in the doorway with a dustpan and broom.

“Yeah. Told him about the stairs.” Hal nods.

“Excellent, thank you very much Hal.” Mr Egbert smiles warmly at him.

He heads down the stairs either unaware or not caring about how that other student is frozen in complete terror. Instead he starts sweeping the stairwell free of glass.

“Dad doesn’t remember anything. I told him about it all, caught him up and he believes me obviously but… yeah. As far as I can tell only the people who made it to court remember, Jade was calling Joey and Jude to introduce herself all over again. I think she’s going down there tomorrow to prove she’s really family. She’ll probably tell us all about it.” June explains quietly.

Shit, the same probably applies to Dolorosa then. But you suppose that like Mr. Egbert she’s used to the weirdness of parenting a god and all the oddness that goes with it. Actually, shit, Mr. Egbert must not remember you at all. He was still so nice to you anyway, but you suppose that’s just who he is.

Hal shifts uncomfortably as the intruding student hurries past Mr. Egbert and down the stairs. Hal goes down a few steps himself and looks at Mr. Egbert uneasily.

“I… might have deliberately unsettled him about the stairs and the glass.” Hal admits.

Mr. Egbert clicks the dustpan and broom together with the little plastic contraption that affixes them neatly together and then looks up at Hal with a gentle smile.

“It means a lot to me that you’d tell me that, thank you. I’m proud of you.” Mr Egbert says seriously.

Hal looks like someone’s just thrown a bucket of water on him and even you feel… something.

“Hah… that makes even me feel weird hearing that.” you say with an awkward laugh.

“Yeah, right? I… I guess you’d get it right? Heaven and having a job you’re never good enough for, endless surveillance and persecution.” Hal says weakly.

“Yeah, constant guilt about everything and then paranoia about whether someone saw you do something and then feeling guilty about that because you should behave right no matter if you’re being watched or not. Even though you probably always are.” you laugh but without any real humour in it.

“You two should get together for very dark and awkward coffee. Or maybe therapy.” June points out.

Mr Egbert’s mouth presses into a thin line and he sets his dustpan and broom down, then heads up the stairs to you and Hal. He catches Hal in one arm and then goes up the few steps to reach you and snags you in a hug that is at least two thirds alarmed and awkward.

“Dad, no, you can’t adopt this one too. Karkat is Rose’s, he’s already out.” June groans and manages to free you from Mr Egbert’s supportive hold.

“I’m gonna…” you whisper and point down the stairs.

“Yeah, go before you get adopted too.” June hisses and gives you a gentle nudge.

Mr. Egbert is very nice if… exceptionally terrifying in his own way. People shouldn’t see incredibly powerful celestial beings and feel the need to go to a PTA meeting for them and give them hugs. It seems to work but it really SHOULDN’T.

Still, you need to find Sollux. You hurry down the rest of the stairs and out of the dorm building, you run past the cafe that you so often go to with Dave, that’s not your destination. You sprint to the library as fast as your feet will carry you.

You’re about to go in when you spot very familiar figures outside the library. You sneak up on one in particular and punch him right in the arm.

“Ow!” he yelps and pulls back from you, though no doubt it didn’t hurt at all.

All the same Dolorosa looks ready to rip your arms off and you’ll thank Kanaya later for holding her back and quietly telling her who you are.

“That’s for making me fall.” you snap at him.

“I am sorry that it hurt, but I did need to do it. All the same I forgive you anyway.” Signless says all wise and shit.

“You can’t forgive me, I’m not sorry.” you retort.

“Forgiving people who aren’t sorry is sort of his whole thing.” Mituna comments from where he’d been sitting on the ground.

Huh, you thought he’d be an angel again, but you don’t blame him for having feelings about Heaven. You certainly do. You don’t know if you’d agree to work for Heaven again even with Signless in charge.

“Also, Kankri showed up at my apartment in Georgia. Pulled a whole ‘I’m sorry you feel that way’ on me. Apparently he’s meant to be making amends, care to explain?” you ask Signless sharply.

Signless goes through a whole face journey between surprised, irritated, frustrated, and finally grudging acceptance.

“What I specifically said was that he needed to use his lifetime to understand why his past actions were wrong and to make amends for them by making the world better and being more empathetic. Not to make amends specifically with you by giving you a non-apology. I’ll… talk to him.” Signless sighs.

“Yeah, you might want to check if the others all have the same bright idea. If I keep seeing asshole angels about I’m going to start… I don’t know, setting your churches on fire or something.” you warn him.

“I mean don’t do that. I’m sure there are people who love those places and it’d be terrible for them to catch fire. But yes, I’ll talk to them. I’m not surprised this is a huge job but I still find myself surprised by how wildly misinterpreted I can be. Despite the last… two thousand years.” Signless adds that last part in a quiet mutter.

“You have fun with that. I’ve got to find a demon.” you say, turning towards the library.

“Oh, wait! Take this!” Mituna says quickly and holds his hand out to you.

Uncertain as to what you’re inviting here you hold your hand out and Mituna drops something round and plasticky into your palm. When he pulls back you see that it’s a button, it depicts Mituna using Bro’s body as a skateboard as he goes over a railing and says ‘Mituna 4 Prez’ on it.

“I’m pretty sure I can’t vote in your elections but I’m holding onto this anyway.” you laugh and pocket the button.

Mituna gives you thumbs up and so you head inside the library. The moment you’re past the barriers the excitement for why you’re really here builds in you again and you can’t help but run to the stairwell. You know the floors by heart so you run up them without having to check the signs at all. When you reach the right floor your heart is hammering in your chest.

You know exactly where you’re going, right to the demonology section. It’s empty, not a soul to be seen.

Your breath is coming a little fast so you take a second before you speak.

“This is deal question, Sollux are you here?” you ask quietly.

“Yes.” Sollux’s quiet voice says behind your ear.

You spin around to see Sollux smiling at you like he’s caught you exactly in his trap, all like he planned. You reach up and grab him by the shoulders and pull him in to kiss him intently. Sollux certainly has no complaints about that and kisses you back just as urgently.

You’re not going anywhere now, Hell and Bro are dealt with, Rose, Dave and June are all going to live human lives. Jade has a proper family now and Jake has got what was coming to him. You’re all okay. You pull back from kissing him and watch him closely for a moment.

“Sollux… this is a deal question, did you miss me?” you ask him softly.

“Yes, always.” Sollux says simply and honestly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks so much everyone for the wild ride that this whole work has been. I've got a few more things on the way so either follow me here or you can also follow me on twitter @undanewneon

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [The One Where Karkat And Rose Both Fuck Up But It Works Out Somehow](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28704705) by [AiviloQuillMaster](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AiviloQuillMaster/pseuds/AiviloQuillMaster), [Missyomite](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Missyomite/pseuds/Missyomite)


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